...I just had an orgasm. I don't even own the chip yet so I guess that was a bit premature... (yeah, I went there.)

And I was clearly provoked.

Considering the advance of lightweight materials, CPU's, and software, it's only a matter of time before we can build an unmanned fighter that, like the fictitious Peacemaker, can fly rings around F-22's. With the pk (probability-of-kill) of modern air-to-air missiles being so high, if you've merged into a "knife fight in a phone booth" scenario then you've most likely screwed up. Air combat today is basically sniper-v-sniper with the advantage going to the pilot who sees his enemy's aircraft first. "First look, first kill," is the term of the art.

"I'm sure it receives a lot of special modifications." One of those modifications is the ability for air-to-air refueling, a not insignificant mod.

The United States military has a term for soldiers trained not to think: "Corpses".

Iraq lost its sovereignty back in 1991 with the establishment of the northern no-fly zone (Operation Provide Comfort). The United States returned Iraq's sovereignty back in 2004. If Iraq claims soveriegnty (it does) and the US recognizes it and is willing to help Iraq enforce it (it does and is) then Iraq IS sovereign. Unless some power manages to invade Iraq while preventing the US from acting in its defense, Iraq is a sovereign nation.

...it's just sleeping. Or pining for the fjords, I can never keep those two straight.

Software that is still pre-Beta is getting compared to software that is already at sp1. That's a *really* fair test.