NEW MOVES AGAINST TERROR – AT 10:43 A.M. ET:  The Obama administration, which favors the use of pilotless drones in the war on terror, is expanding our drone capabilities, as Fox News reports:

The Obama administration is expanding its drone program far beyond Pakistan, building secret bases in the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula in a move to target dangerous al Qaeda affiliates.

A senior U.S. military official with knowledge of the program told Fox News that the expansion has been underway for over a year. It started with a base in Seychelles, an archipelago northeast of Madagascar, followed by the development of one in Ethiopia -- which the official described as "the basing location of choice."

The locations were first reported by The Washington Post. The drone program has ramped up significantly in recent years under the Obama administration, being used primarily to take out top terror leaders in the vast tribal areas of Pakistan.

Drone attacks have also been reported in Libya, Somalia and Yemen, as well as the two more formal war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. officials had confirmed to Fox News earlier this year that the CIA would mount an operation in Yemen with drone strikes, virtually identical to the mission in Pakistan.

COMMENTS:  The main advantages of drone attacks, of course, are that American air crews are not put at risk, and drones are far less expensive than conventional aircraft.  The main disadvantage is that there is no human eye directly on the scene, expanding the possibility of mistakes that can cost civilian lives. 

We give credit where it's due here, and the Obama administration has done some good things in the war on terror.  Sadly, that good is negated by an overall foreign policy that makes a train wreck look elegant.  If only Obama could get his foreign act together, he might have something to show to the American people.  I'm not optimistic on that score.

September 21, 2011