From Defense.gov on April 11th, 2011:
American forces are not conducting strike missions in Libya. U.S. forces are supporting NATO with air-to-air refueling, reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities and unmanned aerial vehicle support.From Voice Of America on April 14th, 2011:
The Pentagon confirmed Wednesday that 11 U.S. fighter jets have been transferred to NATO command to conduct airstrikes as assigned. U.S. military officials said the planes have flown 97 sorties since the transition to NATO command, firing weapons during three of those missions. Washington had announced earlier that the U.S. role in Libya had become one of support rather than active combat.Wow. That was a quick one-eighty! Good thing I used Google, because otherwise I wouldn't have noticed the total policy reversal that the hard-nosed investigative reporters of our watchdog media have been uninvestigating as hard as they can.
Or, "Which ASM for Toyotas." :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I did not realize a B-2 had the capability of aerial refueling a fighter jet or was used for reconnaissance... :)
ReplyDeleteAs much as I'd like to see Quaddafi dangling from a rope, has anybody in the media considered that we would be better off with him staying? Something about the lesser of two weevils.
ReplyDeleteHe hates Al Quida and their stooges in the Muslim Brotherhood, the eastern tribes rebelling against him are tight with both of the aforesaid groups, and it looks like Daffy Kaddafy actually has an army that is willing to fight, a rarety in that part of the world.
Maybe we should be hiring Tuareg mercenaries as proxies forces. They don't seem to be frightened of all those bombs and technology being thrown at them.
Off topic:
ReplyDeleteOur elections (Finnish) are over now.
Interesting results. Now it remains to be seen if this will actually change anything, and if, in what direction.
I voted for the True Finns. They are painted as a populist nationalist almost nazi party in local papers, but their anti-immigration stance, for example, when you actually read what they say themselves, seems to be that immigrants are welcome, as long as they willing to work and willing to become, well, true Finns if they stay.
I suspect a lot cast they vote with the same reservations as I did - seemed like the only way to get some change to the old, and rather unsatisfactory, situation, but now we'll see what happens and what these new guys do when they actually can do something instead of just talking. And then decide about them again next elections.
Not really a 180: the pilots are not 'American forces' they are NATO forces with an American component.
ReplyDeleteThe New Transparency: are you liking it yet?
Tam, we've ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia.
ReplyDeleteTam unbellyfeels Ingsoc.
gvi
So that's: "No War For Oil, Unless It's For The French!" ?
ReplyDeleteIsn't sortie a French word for not really a bombing in a warlike way.
ReplyDeleteMon Capitan,shall we sortie over Bengazi and get rid of those ugly bombs? They do not go with this years fashions colors.
Gerry
The most confusing part for me was understanding that it's not a "war" unless they are actually shooting down our planes or on our soil.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, if Mexico shot a bunch of missiles into Arizona, that would be war.
But if we shoot a bunch of missiles into Libya, that apparently isn't war, because we didn't get shot down.
We are now proxy-pilots in a Euro War for Oil. I think this is exactly the "Foreign Entanglements" that George warned about.
ReplyDeleteOne must remember who's side the "hard-nosed investigative reporters of our watchdog media" are on...
ReplyDeleteGmac
The chocolate ration has been increased from 30 grams to 20 grams.
ReplyDelete(Totes stealing from Shootin' Buddy. Don't think he'd mind.)
"Wow. That was a quick one-eighty!"
ReplyDeleteWait 'till the break out the one-legged 360's...Until the wheels smoke off.
"Wow. That was a quick one-eighty! "
ReplyDeleteGet used to the rapid, random changes in direction..... or policy ... or .... lack thereof ....
Why do I keep hearing PeeWee Hermann in the background, goin', "Hee-hee-hee, I meant to to that."
"This is the Captain, we may be encountering some turbulence ..... and then ...... explode ......"
Unfortunately, 0bama does not have Wash at the controls .... he's got a committee of focus groups, all trying to figure out how to make the crash in progress look like it is totally under control.......
Were they American fighter jets, or were they "Air America" fighter jets flown by the Decedents of Francis Gary Powers? Distinctions are important if your Military Prowess comes from the LBJ Play Book, after all.
ReplyDeleteBTW, where's Hillary? 2 weeks ago, you couldn't turn on the TeeWee w/o seeing her mug plastered all over the MSM Propaganda Outlets. Or has she been erased from the Revised Histories? Oh well, so much for that 3:00 AM phone call, huh?
It would appear that I need to call my broker and buy some stock in light blue paint, for the new paint schemes on our (their) helmets and aircraft insignia.
ReplyDeleteDarn this working for a living, Matt G stole my comment(and blog post)!
ReplyDeleteThis is reminiscent of seeing pictures of F-86s with latter-day captions identifying them as "U.N. fighters". Yah, just where is that U.N. jet fighter factory, exactly? Where is the U.N. Flying Establishment located?
ReplyDelete