Droni dall’alto, operazioni segrete sul campo. Ecco le guerre americane (ed europee) del futuro

Dopo aver esordito affermando che:

"Despite the talk of massive cuts, the U.S. military will continue to be the profligate, inefficient, and remarkably ineffective institution we’ve come to know and squander our treasure on";

il testo si concentra sul concetto di guerra offshore:

"Even if the U.S. military is dragging its old habits, weaponry, and global-basing ideas behind it, it’s still heading offshore. There will be no more land wars on the Eurasian continent. Instead, greater emphasis will be placed on the Navy, the Air Force, and a policy “pivot” to face China in southern Asia where the American military position can be strengthened without more giant bases or monster embassies.

For Washington, “offshore” means the world’s boundary-less waters and skies, but also, more metaphorically, it means being repositioned off the coast of national sovereignty and all its knotty problems. This change, on its way for years, will officially rebrand the planet as an American free-fire zone, unchaining Washington from the limits that national borders once imposed".

L'archetipo delle operazioni militari del futuro lo abbiamo già visto lo scorso anno, ed è stato il blitz che ha portato all'uccisione di bin Laden:

"the raid that killed Osama bin Laden as a harbinger of and model for what’s to come. It was an operation enveloped in a cloak of secrecy. There was no consultation with the “ally” on whose territory the raid was to occur. It involved combat by an elite special operations unit backed by drones and other high-tech weaponry and supported by the CIA. A national boundary was crossed without either permission or any declaration of hostilities".

Ecco il punto. CIA e Pentagono stanno progettando un futuro in cui le operazioni segrete sul campo e i droni dall'alto giocheranno un ruolo sempre più importante nelle operazioni di guerra e antiterrorismo:

"Since November 2002, when a Hellfire missile from a CIA-operated Predator drone turned a car with six alleged al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen into ash, robotic aircraft have led the way in this border-crossing, air-space penetrating assault. The U.S. now has drone bases across the planet, 60 at last count. Increasingly, the long-range reach of its drone program means that those robotic planes can penetrate just about any nation’s air space.
...
War has always been the most human and inhuman of activities. Now, it seems, its inhuman aspect is quite literally on the rise".

La conclusione, tutt'altro che rassicurante, è che:

"Onshore, American power in the twenty-first century proved a disaster. Offshore, with Washington in control of the global seas and skies, with its ability to kick down the world's doors and strike just about anywhere without a by-your-leave or thank-you-ma'am, it hopes for better".