But There's No Reset Button In This Video Game

Armchair pilots striking Afghanistan by remote control

"CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada (CNN) -- From a desert outpost northwest of Las Vegas, elite fighter pilots journey to a war zone in Afghanistan, some 7,500 miles away.

It might be the world's longest commute, except that these armchair pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada never leave the air-conditioned comfort of their command center.
Air Force pilots are employing remotely controlled fighter-bomber aircraft -- known in military parlance as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs -- to fly combat missions over Afghanistan, hunting for insurgents bent on undermining Afghan President Hamid Karzai's fragile government.

Seeing bad guys on the screen and watching them possibly get dispatched, and then going down to the Taco Bell for lunch, it's kind of surreal," says Captain Matt Dean."

Drone kills 11 Pakistani soldiers

"Pakistan accused US forces yesterday of killing 11 of its soldiers in an “unprovoked and cowardly” attack on a border post, an act that it said threatened to undermine the two countries’ joint effort in the War on Terror. (...)

...the use of Predators to launch air attacks in Pakistan remains a highly controversial strategy because they have killed many civilians and are alienating the population further against the Americans."