Picard's Worst Command Decisions

[Graham Kennedy]

You're right, GK. The film itself makes it clear that it isn't legal for the UFP to do so. Picard uses the threat of exposure as a club against Dougherty, which strongly implies that the admiral knew that his actions wouldn't be accepted by the UFP at large.

Yet Dougherty says he is acting on orders from the Federation council. So the council issued illegal orders, basically. I can see why they didn't want public exposure.

[Mikey]

I know I'm reading into it, but I always preferred to take that as referring to a type of cabal within the Council. No basis, really, but it seems to make sense to me.

[Tyyr]

Not like anything else in Insurrection makes sense. I wouldn't worry too much about this point.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Maybe... he was lying?

[Sionnach Glic]

It's not entirely analogous, but this review points out that Picard faced a somewhat similar situation before - he was ordered to move a bunch of primitive settlers off of a planet that the UFP had agreed to give to the Cardassians. So it's quite possible that the UFP Council did order Dougherty to get rid of the Ba'ku.

[Graham Kennedy]

It's not entirely analogous, but this review points out that Picard faced a somewhat similar situation before - he was ordered to move a bunch of primitive settlers off of a planet that the UFP had agreed to give to the Cardassians. So it's quite possible that the UFP Council did order Dougherty to get rid of the Ba'ku.

But in that case the primitive settlers were Federation citizens on a Federation planet that had been ceded to the Cardassians under an open treaty that everybody knew about. A government has every right to move its own citizens around for the greater good; it's doing it to some bunch of random aliens because they're in your way that's the issue.

[SomosFuga]

how is that they had cloaking tech in Insurrection???

[Graham Kennedy]

how is that they had cloaking tech in Insurrection???

I don't think the suits were "cloaking" tech as such. More a mobile version of the duck blind, like a holographic image projected over the suit of whatever is behind you. Or something.

Now the cloak on the ship... that's another matter. Dead clear violation of the treaty right there. Which, I suppose, is proof that authorised or not, at least SOME aspects of the mission were clearly illegal.

[Coalition]

I don't think the suits were "cloaking" tech as such. More a mobile version of the duck blind, like a holographic image projected over the suit of whatever is behind you. Or something.

IIRC, all the suits were no longer cloaked once the base's holographic disguise was gone. Also, if you watch the movie, you'll see that the shadows of the observation teams were in the same direction as the shadows of the Ba'Ku/Na'Vi/innocent space farmers. I'd agree that the observation post simply projected images over the teams, using the hot pink color to key on (like green-screen technology today).

[USSEnterprise]

how is that they had cloaking tech in Insurrection???

I don't think the suits were "cloaking" tech as such. More a mobile version of the duck blind, like a holographic image projected over the suit of whatever is behind you. Or something.

Now the cloak on the ship... that's another matter. Dead clear violation of the treaty right there. Which, I suppose, is proof that authorised or not, at least SOME aspects of the mission were clearly illegal.

It was a pretty crappy cloak too...