From the final report of the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (p31) --
Senator [John] McCain recounted how he was “stunned” when, during one of his many visits to Iraq, a general told him that project oversight of a contractor’s work was being conducted by drone aircraft.
The anecdote is presented as favourable to McCain since it shows his interest in post-invasion in Iraq, but it should also prompt a realization that McCain had wildly unrealistic notions of what could be achieved in Iraq. Is his preferred alternative to drone supervision that there should have been even more soldiers not just to fight insurgents but to help supervise projects? And just how many more troops would that have been?
Senator [John] McCain recounted how he was “stunned” when, during one of his many visits to Iraq, a general told him that project oversight of a contractor’s work was being conducted by drone aircraft.
The anecdote is presented as favourable to McCain since it shows his interest in post-invasion in Iraq, but it should also prompt a realization that McCain had wildly unrealistic notions of what could be achieved in Iraq. Is his preferred alternative to drone supervision that there should have been even more soldiers not just to fight insurgents but to help supervise projects? And just how many more troops would that have been?