The Lessons Of Afghanistan

BUSH AND RUMSFELD promised to transform the U.S. military into a faster, more lethal force. But critics say their new $2 trillion, five-year spending plan is full of expensive, outmoded cold war hardw

After lurking for hours above the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the Predator drone found its target: a truck surrounded by a group of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists who had been threading their way along precarious mountain roads amid 11,000-ft. peaks. From several miles away, the unmanned surveillance plane, operated by the CIA last Monday, locked in on the gathering. An agent somewhere in the region, viewing a live feed from the Predator's belly-mounted camera, thought the men were wearing Arab--not Afghan--garb, and that the leader was tall. After conferring with U.S. Central Command officials at their Florida headquarters, the agent signaled the...

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