If we have such high-tech weapons like Predator, why isn't the military able to use them more in Iraq?

Answer 1

We do use it, but it has limitations just like any weapon. And every single weapon you can think of has this one crippling limitation: you need a target. The Predator is great if you have a target that is clearly identified, but it's not like you just have a bunch of these flying around, looking for things to blow up. In Iraq, the insurgents are fighting a guerrilla war against coalition forces. We don't know which individuals are involved, or where they might be at any given time, so we don't have a place to aim a weapon. Only when somebody takes a pot-shot at our troops do we have some idea where to look, and often it's too late for the guy who got shot. The Iraqis we're fighting against don't have training camps out in the middle of desert any more, because they know out in the open, they're vulnerable. They're hiding among the civilian populace, so unless we know for a fact that they're all hiding in such-and-such a building, we can't use a big weapon like the Predator or any remote missile or mortars because they're too big and would take out too many innocents, assuming we even knew where to aim them.

Answer 2

Because the predator is barely mission-ready. They may use them occasionally, but they are still working out issues with them. Plus, why use an fa-22 to drop bombs, when an f-16 can do the same thing, for less cost?

Trust me, I watched an FA-22 crash at our air force base about 2 years ago...it's not there yet.

Answer 3

How do you know they are not being used? I work in Iraq and I can say that the military cannot report everything to the public that it does or does not do. Soldiers lives are at stake here.