Bush's speech noted:
"We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous."[10]
"Our mission continues...The War on Terror continues, yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide."
The speech also said that:
"In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."

From the cited article.

"Major Combat Operations" were over. The guerrilla insurgency was stronger than expected to be sure, but there's a big difference between that and the kind of heavy combat that the crew of that aircraft carrier were there to perform.

Apparently people are confused about what the word "mission" means.

Ridiculous. Pirates always find away around DRM. Always. It's naive to think otherwise. Creating a simple DRM system that ensures that 95% will buy the game and will not be impeding is fine. These 'always on' systems are seriously impeding, however, and I won't be purchasing games that use them.

Not that I don't think we could use to reduce our military expenditures, but even if we reduced our spending to .1% of GDP (which would put us below all industrialized nations) we'd still be spending billions on weapons.

In a dogfight, a drone's combat behavior would presumably be controlled by some sort of AI (using that term loosely) which, if combined with superior flight dynamics, would most likely be extremely effective.

Turns out there is an extra solar planet that is 'proven' to be tidally locked, but given that we can't confirm some bodies in our own solar system are tidally locked (moons of Jupiter and Saturn) I'm guessing that's based on the physics, since direct observation of extra-solar planets is pretty difficult.

Oh and I'm wrong.

Mercury.

Through hardship to the stars! (Kansas state motto)

Doesn't sound like alot, but 75km/s would still make it the fastest man-made object in history.

You are far overstating the value of having a damaged unmanned system in their possession. You are also overstating the value of the RQ-170, which is notably absent of many cutting edge technologies.

They're called Amnesians, and they have a hard time remembering.

Referring more to this happening in the future, than in the past. The might of carriers in the past is well known, but if we're discussing whether or not they are a relic now then discussing in terms of their dominance around the time of their genesis is moot.

Evenly matched sides... that seems unlikely.

Aphelion 152,098,232 km

Perihelion 147,098,290 km

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

So yes, I'd say it's between them. Further, the numbers I cited are the exact ratios adjusted for your example.