all aboard the board the command plane "war wizard."

[kirsten neilsen]

this morning the nyt ran a piece purporting to give readers the inside
scoop on what it's like to be on board the command plane "war wizard."
the author dutifully reported that "the military made no
effort           to limit the access of the reporter to the crew or to
censor his
account." of course it is lost on the reporter that they have no desire
to censor such a breathless piece of gee whizzery. or that he is
complicit in their propaganda propagation. he thinks he's writing an
objective report. how quaint.

i found the following excerpt particularly interesting:


>A laptop computer details maps of Kosovo. Developed by
>the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the maps are
>used by officers on the EC-130 to direct pilots to their
>targets. 


>Unlike the faulty maps that were blamed for the bombing of
>the Chinese embassy in Belgrade recently, these maps are so
>accurate that an EC-130 was able to warn a search and
>rescue team about electric power lines when they swooped
>in to extract the pilot of a downed F-16. 

the reporter doesn't ask, why such sophisticated maps were (supposedly)
not used during attacks on a heavily populated city, where "errors" such
as bombing the chinese embassy could cause so much "collateral damage."
and what downed f-16?

full story:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/060399kosovo-plane.html