That's the point. They weren't flying (since before he took office) and they were being retrofitted to shoot Hellfire Missiles. Yes, there was a successful test of that system completed in May 2001. At that point, all others were to be retrofitted. Are you of like mind to one of our illustrious former members to think that the military could build out, design and test a system in 6 months and then magically deplay it to the field in less than 3???

Come on now. Reality is over here somewhere.

If you want to look at what Rice and the Administration have stated, it fits perfectly into the strategy that they say they had of no longer "swatting flys" but instead outfitting the intelligence community with tools that could actually shoot.

Spin.