Update: On 26 November 2014 the Pentagon announced the deployment of A-10 ground attack jets to battle ISIS, nearly three months since this article had published, four months since the USA had begun bombing, five months since Iraq had requested help and many months since ISIS (IS, ISIL) had begun to consolidate control over large areas of Iraq, drawing on resources developed in Syria (oil revenue and American or American ally trained & equipped jihadis.) In the meanwhile, much ground has been lost and it will be much more difficult to roll ISIS back. Now, the question is, will the A-10 be used against Assad’s forces in Syria? If so, the policy is not to defeat ISIS but to overthrow the most effective force battling ISIS. If this happens, ask yourself, is the strategy to create chaos?
The Islamic State for Dummies, Part 2
So, we have the Pentagon claiming there are limits to air power halting the expansion of IS (ISIL/ISIS) into Iraq, as they drop one bomb at a time on a Toyota or Dodge Ram pick-up truck here and a captured humvee there, using F-15, F-16 & FA-18 fighter-bombers, the most expensive and inefficient option available. Huh?
So, what happened to the A-10 ground attack jet whose rapid fire cannon could bag IS columns like a lawn mower bags grass?
“The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” is the only aircraft in United States Air Force (USAF) history designed specifically for the close air support mission.
“It was designed to be able to survive in an intense anti-aircraft environment including anti-aircraft guns, radar-guided and infrared missiles and be able to absorb battle damage and keep flying. In fact, the A-10 is probably the most difficult plane to shoot down ever built due to its extreme maneuverability, electronic countermeasures, self-sealing fuel tanks, widely separated jet engines, twin tails, manual backup flight control system and redundant wing spars.
“A total of 165 of these most recognizable and feared aircraft from 5 different units participated in Operation Desert Storm. All units were formalized under the 354th Provisional Wing 144 aircraft at a time. The remaining aircraft were replacements standing by at an off-site location to replace aircraft damaged beyond continued combat status or aircraft destroyed.
“Together, these A-10 and OA-10 aircraft conducted 8,624 sorties maintaining a 95.7% mission capable rate, 5% above A-10 peace-time rates, had the highest sortie rate of any USAF aircraft. They achieved:
- 967 tanks destroyed
- 1026 pieces of artillery destroyed
- 1306 trucks destroyed
- 281 military structures destroyed
- 53 Scud missiles destroyed
- 10 aircraft on the ground destroyed
- 2 air-to-air aircraft (helicopter) kills with the GAU-8A 30mm Avenger cannon
“Pilots often flew up to three missions per day with A-10’s accounted for destroying 1/4 of Iraq’s entire arsenal”
Now, with IS required to move in convoys across the desert…
…and not having nearly the weaponry and territory of Saddam’s Iraq, it stands to reason a couple of dozen A-10 ground attack jets could be decimating IS expansion into Iraq, in short order. But instead we have a Pentagon claiming they have limited options. Again, huh?
“The Syrian opposition said ISIL gained control of more than 60 percent of Syrian oil production. The opposition said ISIL was pumping nearly 100,000 barrels per day in the provinces of Dir Al Zour and Raqa. The sources said ISIL was selling the oil to neighboring Turkey. They said the Al Qaida force was preparing to capture the largest Syrian oil fields, located in the Hasakah province. An opposition figure, Yamin Al Shami, told the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat that oil sales marked a significant source of revenue for ISIL. Al Shami said ISIL was employing Syrian and foreign brokers for oil deals”
Hey! That ‘Syrian opposition’ is the people the USA claims is their preferred partner to replace Assad… …as that same USA’s military leadership sits on its hands as IS kicks its partner’s (so -called ‘opposition’) butt.
What gives here? Pick your option
1) IS (ISIL) is selling Syria’s oil on the cheap to get the crude out through NATO member Turkey and people at the Pentagon have a hand in the wind-fall profit pie (recalling when stationed at Vung Tau, Vietnam, myself and other soldiers often had to buy our own food back from street stalls in town, to get a decent meal, as well recalling the command staff car that would meet the CIA’s Air America flights delivering heroin and high-grade marijuana to the base, our command structures were corrupt to the core)
2) The Pentagon doesn’t like Obama and wants him to fail (recalling General Petraeus escalated in Afghanistan with policies that totally alienated the populace, a recruiting gift to the Taliban that saw that war theater come apart like hell in a hand-basket)
3) The Christian al-Qaida at the Pentagon (and in Brussels) want literal Armageddon based on Bible prophecy, to get Jesus back, you know, the story line is we destroy the planet in high style, because that’s a certain road to paradise and predicted all through the Bible according to NATO military chaplains (and Pentagon darling Rick Perry’s evangelist buddies, the Pentagon’s choice replace Obama in 2016)
4) It’d be too embarrassing to admit the Israelis, Saudis and Turks, our allies, are up to their arms in IS bloodletting and have been from the get-go, with ample CIA assistance (especially not to mention our ally Saudi Arabia is on track to have beheaded 80 people in 2014, by the end of September, includes anyone criticizing the Wahabi sect of Islam and persons in possession of new age literature because obviously they are witches)
5) Because generating war is good for business with the generals moving over to corporate sector on retirement (the ‘triple your retirement pay’ plan, by moving over to selling and delivering bombs, from buying and dropping bombs)
A report released Monday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Brave New Foundation found that 70 percent of retired three-and-four star generals took jobs with defense contractors or consultants, a figure that has actually declined in recent years.
The report found that 76 out of 108 top generals took such jobs from 2009 to 2011, and a few continued to advise the Department of Defense while on the payroll of contractors. The report cited Gen. James Cartwright, who was elected to a paid position on Raytheon’s board of directors while serving on the Defense Policy Board. Adm. Gary Roughead also served on the board while joining the board of Northrop Grumman, earning $115,000 per year.
Eighty percent of generals retiring from 2004 to 2008 took such jobs, according to a 2010 Boston Globe investigation.
6) Terror is necessary to consolidate a ‘Dominion Theology‘ police state (see point 3, preceding)
Dominion theology refers to a line of theological interpretation and thought with regard to the role of the church in contemporary society. Dominion theology is also known as Christian reconstructionism and theonomy. Dominion theology states that biblical Christianity will rule all areas of society, personal and corporate. Christian reconstructionism reasons that society will be reconstructed by the Law of God as preached in the gospel and the Great Commission. Theonomy is a post-millennial view believing that all of the moral laws contained in the Old Testament are yet binding today
Think that’s overstated? Check this out:
In October of 2013, the Air Force quietly modified Air Force Instruction 36-2606, which [now] states that all enlistees must sign the oath to God and swear it aloud. Prior to the change in the regulation, secular and atheist service members were allowed to omit the phrase
So what mainstream journalists will generate adequate gonads and question the sanity of NATO Supreme Allied Commander (United States Air Force General) Phillip Breedlove, who seems to be playing a role in Dr Strangelove, on how it is only those who swear to serve Almighty God are permitted in NATO’s majority air wing:
7) The Pentagon is comprised in its entirety of egg-heads & idiots:
^ Joint Chief of Staff chairman Dempsey’s egg-heads & idiots
8) The Pentagon has moved on from ‘the only good Indian is a dead Indian’ to ‘the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim’ where ‘Manifest Destiny’ is become the goal for the entire planet via empire:
^ 19 Medals of Honor remain on the books for this 1890 massacre
9) Any combination or all of the above
^ 21st Century US Military Chaplain Corps
So, ask yourselves, why is it every Pentagon policy only causes a bad circumstance to degenerate? And then ask this Commander-in-Chief picking his nose the same question (you can email the White House), maybe he’ll stop eating boogers long enough to think for himself:
NATO’s de facto Commander-in-Chief
But don’t hold your breath waiting for anything intelligent to happen, considering Obama is practically in love with CIA chief John Brennan…
The story that Hastings was working on at the time of his death centered around CIA Director John Brennan, the chief architect of President Obama’s foreign drone program. It related specifically to Brennan’s role as the administration’s point man tracking investigative journalists and their sources in Washington-
The Arab Spring for Dummies
Overview Egypt, Libya & Syria
Egypt Round Two The Generals take it back
Syria Part One Al Jazeera (Stooge TV)
Syria Part Two Chemical Madness
Syria Part Three Obama-McCain-al Qaida alliance
Syria Part Four Syria, al Qaida & Iraq
The Islamic State for Dummies The K.I.S.S. principle
NATO, God & Military Mafia Islamic State for Dummies Part 2
Ronald Thomas West 