ICYMI: The drone that almost killed bin Laden
Angry Planet29 Dec 2016

ICYMI: The drone that almost killed bin Laden

Months before 9/11, U.S. Air Force captain Scott Swanson patrolled the skies over Afghanistan with a Predator drone. Swanson and his team were hunting Osama bin Laden. And they found him. But this was months before the new drones could fire missiles, and the pilots could only watch as bin Laden walked away. On Jan 23, 2001 – just three days into George W. Bush’s presidency – a Predator drone test fired a Hellfire missile for the first time. A new age of war had begun. Swanson is the first human to use a Predator-fired Hellfire missile to take a life. From a trailer truck in a garage behind CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Swanson loosed a missile from a drone roughly 7,000 miles away in Kandahar. The missile struck its target – a pickup truck outside a building that intelligence said was hiding Taliban leader Mohammad Omar. The missile hit and killed two of Omar’s bodyguards. This week on War College, we replay our conversation with Swanson. He walks us through the early years of the drone program, how it changed him, and how it changed the world. (Corrects distance from Langley to Kandahar from 2,500 miles to 7,000 miles in fourth paragraph)

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avsnitt(497)

Neutralizing Iran’s Nuclear Material During a War Is ‘Nearly Mission Impossible’

Neutralizing Iran’s Nuclear Material During a War Is ‘Nearly Mission Impossible’

America went to war in Iran, we’re told, because the idea of the country developing nuclear weapons was intolerable. Nukes are complicated and technical weapons that require scientists and experts to ...

27 Mars 54min

The ‘AI as Nuclear Weapons’ Obsession

The ‘AI as Nuclear Weapons’ Obsession

AI enthusiasts love to say that the technology is as revolutionary and important as nuclear weapons. Even the Trump administration has adopted the metaphor. The President and the Department of Energy ...

13 Mars 1h 2min

A Killer True Crime Fandom & Islamic State’s Digital Caliphate

A Killer True Crime Fandom & Islamic State’s Digital Caliphate

Things have gotten very surreal in the dark corners of the internet. AI-generated prophets are preaching jihad in Facebook groups, Minecraft servers host digital caliphates, and school shooting fandom...

4 Mars 1h 22min

When Americans Became ‘Splendid Liberators’

When Americans Became ‘Splendid Liberators’

America spent most of the 19th century at war with itself. It conquered its western expanse then collapsed into civil war. Once the North beat the South, partisan politics consumed the country for a g...

20 Feb 1h 5min

Puffins, Zyn, and ‘Polar War’

Puffins, Zyn, and ‘Polar War’

Greenland fever has faded for now but it will return. The world’s polar region, you see, is pretty damn important. As the planet heats and the ice melts, what was once an impassible warren of ice and ...

6 Feb 55min

Online Culture Is the Whole Culture

Online Culture Is the Whole Culture

There was a time, just before the pandemic, when folks would say “Twitter isn’t real life” as a means of dismissing the horrors of social media. This was a cope, a way to ignore the worst political an...

30 Jan 1h 24min

How We Thought the First Year Would Go

How We Thought the First Year Would Go

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.comOn January 28, 2025, I sat down with Aram Shabanian to talk about how we thought the first year of the Trump administration would go...

16 Jan 1h 2min

On Spectacles of Cruelty

On Spectacles of Cruelty

On the last Angry Planet of 2025, novelist and Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay returns to reflect on a year of spectacle and cruelty.Between the Pentagon’s boat strikes and the administration’s constan...

9 Jan 52min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
p3-krim
rss-krimstad
fordomspodden
spar
flashback-forever
rss-sanning-konsekvens
aftonbladet-daily
motiv
rss-krimreportrarna
rss-aftonbladet-krim
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-flodet
rss-klubbland-en-podd-mest-om-frolunda
krimmagasinet
rss-frandfors-horna
politiken
grans
olyckan-inifran