"C J Campbell" writes:

But an armed TR-2 or Global Hawk are useless for searching for WMDs in a
hostile country.

Why is that?

Ascertaining whether such weapons exist can mean the difference
between going to war or not. Some SR-71 overflights of Iraq a couple
of years ago might have meant all the difference in the world. They
would also give us more information as to whether Iran or North
Korea actually have WMDs and where they are located. Besides, even
terrorists can shoot the drones down. It is too easy to hide things
from satellites. The satellites' orbits are known. One reason we
were led to believe that Iraq had WMDs was the evidence of vehicles
and people scurrying around to hide things whenever a satellite came
over the horizon.

During the period in question, we had total air superiority over Iraq;
so we could have flown Piper Cubs over the installations to take
pictures if we'd wanted to. If we didn't fly thousands of
reconnaissance missions over Iraq during the period between the two
ways, then everybody involved is an idiot.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
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Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/