In what is shaping up to be another unprecedented government power grab under President Obama, Democratic Senator Mark Udall has signed on to a letter volunteering Colorado as one of six Federal Aviation Administration testing sites for drones. As trust in government has been trending near multi-year lows recently, the introduction of these controversial surveillance vehicles is wholly inappropriate for our state at this time.
What is perhaps even more troubling about Udall’s position is that he has been an advocate for actually using fewer of these military platforms in combat, lest we offend the sensibilities of the Afghan people. From a 2009 Pueblo Chieftain article:
“A major source of anti-American emotion in the region has been rooted in missile strikes by unmanned U.S. drone aircraft, strikes that often kill civilians as well as insurgents.
‘When we get more troops on the ground here, that will give us more reach, so our need for those drones will lessen,’ Udall said.”
The fact that Udall wanted to scale back the use of these highly effective military platforms in Afghanistan is a topic for another day, and his flawed judgement may be somewhat explained by the fact that he has never served a day of his life in uniform.
But for him to express this strange concern for the opinions of Afghan civilians, and then advocate for our state to be an FAA testing ground for the non-military development of these surveillance vehicles on the homeland, is a troubling act of mental gymnastics.
It simply would be nice if our U.S. Senator had the same concern for the sensibilities of his fellow countrymen as he does for those in Afghanistan.
UDALL LIED…………….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h081hCN2xBg
MARK UDALL GETS HIS UNDERWEAR TWISTED
No dumb questions here.
"Can the Drones be used for environmental surveillance of oil and gas wells?–could be useful!"
Dumb! Nothing about this is legitimate. What exactly would you expect to find in your air sample genius? Then you can prove that your air sample was taken where you claim and that your precious drone hasn't contaminated the sample. Did I say this was dumb?
May as well just queue up the imperial march & don all of our soldiers in Storm Trooper outfits…
It's only a matter of time before they begin threatening to turn these, or actively turning these on the American public, for not blindly agreeing with whatever corporate agenda the government is trying to cater to at the time….
Spying of citizens by any government is very concerning but with what obozo and company are doing, inviting this is madness. You really trust them to act benignly? As far as the people in Afghanistan, how are the ones we kill any different than the Afghanis that they regularly kill just because the believe differently? muslims do not care about innocents, we do and that is why this war has been so costly to us. Big difference!
That's Udall's thank you for playing golf with Obomo last week, Udall is another elected dufus.
Mr. Udall, I am sorry to say this, but I think you have lost your everloving mind! Maybe you should look again at the polls again, notice that the people are tired of all the bs that Dems are pulling is making your future of all dems are in a tailspin. Will this bring thousands of jobs to the state, enough to offset the jobs lost by the policies of the of current administration? I think not.
They COULD be used for legitimate purposes as you describe, but I suspect they will be used against the People when they oppose fracking in their back yards.
This may be a legitimate jobs program— Colorado's AE companies have been losing new defense contracts due to sequestration. Can the Drones be used for environmental surveillance of oil and gas wells?–could be useful! In flight air samples and MW photos would be revealing.
Hate to be this way, but it appears as if you are stretching it a bit. I honestly don't believe that the people of Afganistan give a rats butt about how the missles are delivered, just that they are killing innocent people (your take is kind of like our government trying to ban assault weapons because someone killed kids in a school). And yes, if we have more troops on the ground, there might be a lesser need for drones being used. As for testing drones in Colorado, if they are testing benign functionality of drones and high altitude testing that just brings additional jobs and monies into the state.