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US Planes Left ISIS Fuel Tankers Unharmed Because 'They Ran Out of Ammunition'
CNS ^ | November 24, 2015 | Susan Jones

Posted on 11/24/2015 10:56:16 AM PST by xzins

The U.S. military conducted a second wave of attacks on (parked) ISIS oil tankers in Syria on Sunday, Nov. 22, but the attack fell short of its goal:

"The goal was to destroy every truck there. They ran out of ammunition before they were able to do that. But the desire was to destroy every single truck there," said Army Col. Steven Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coaltion fighting ISIS.

At a news briefing on Tuesday, Warren played video of the ISIS fuel tankers being bombed or shot with machine gun fire from the air. Warren said all the trucks were targeted, but the video just shows "the good shots that you'd like."

As was the case with an earlier U.S. strike on ISIS fuel tankers, the Americans dropped leaflets warning the truck drivers that an attack was coming, so the tankers were not moving.

Warren called the airstrikes "another example of the type of accuracy that we're capable of here in the coalition."

A total of 283 fuel trucks were destroyed by American planes on Sunday: "A bomb would have been from an A-10, and then when you saw the guns, you know, the machine gun fire, that could either have been an A-10 or AC-130 Spectre Gunship."

"It's not a movie where you kind of fly along and just strafe, and you know, the trucks blow up. No, it's -- they struck each truck, or groups of two or three trucks. It is a machine gun, so there is a certain area aspect to it, right? You know, the gunfire isn't laser guided...So it's individual strike a truck, or two or three trucks; move to the next batch, strike them; move, strike; move, strike.

"So the goal was to destroy every truck there. They ran out of ammunition before they were able to do that. But the desire was to destroy every single truck there."

Combined with an earlier U.S. strike on ISIS fuel tankers, the U.S. military has now destroyed 399 of them, but Warren would not say how many are left: "I'm not going to tell you the total number of trucks out there...but we've still got a long way to go on trucks," he said.

Warren also disputed Russia's recent claim that it had attacked and destroyed 500 ISIS fuel tankers in the "same general region" last week.

"From what we saw, the battle damage assessment they issued seemed to be exaggerated. More than likely the Russian attacks did not produce the results that they claimed it produced."

Warren said the U.S. estimates that Russia destroyed only around 100 tankers.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airstrikes; isis
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1 posted on 11/24/2015 10:56:16 AM PST by xzins
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To: All

I can think of absolutely no good reason why the US Command would be announcing such a thing about an on-going operation.

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2 posted on 11/24/2015 10:56:38 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: xzins

I can think of absolutely no good reason why the US Command would be announcing such a thing about an on-going operation.


Because the Russians bombed fleets of parked tankers all in a neat row and people started to ask questions why this was not done in 2 years of Obama bombing ISIS and they are scrambling for excuses.


3 posted on 11/24/2015 10:58:24 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: Trumpinator

It makes no sense to say we ran out of ammunition.

How does that make us look better than the Russians?


4 posted on 11/24/2015 10:59:39 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: xzins

Those leaflets are going to get somebody shot down.


5 posted on 11/24/2015 10:59:41 AM PST by lacrew
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To: xzins

It does not make America look better than the Russians - its an excuse to explain why the Obama bombing campaign produced no results in almost 2 years.


6 posted on 11/24/2015 11:00:33 AM PST by Trumpinator (You are all fired!!! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!)
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To: xzins

The dog ate my homework.


7 posted on 11/24/2015 11:01:50 AM PST by glorgau
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To: lacrew

Yep.

“Look Ahmed, must be the stoooopid americans. They are dropping leaflets.”


8 posted on 11/24/2015 11:02:18 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: xzins
The most powerful military force the world has ever known is being rendered inconsequential
because the dumbass liberals in America have elected an enemy agent as Commander-In-Chief.


9 posted on 11/24/2015 11:03:17 AM PST by Iron Munro (The wise have stores of choice food and oil but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20)
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To: xzins

Huh? They used to have extra ammo pods and napalm in the day.. And know how to use them .. Effectively.


10 posted on 11/24/2015 11:04:19 AM PST by NormsRevenge (SEMPER FI!! - Monthly Donors Rock!!)
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To: xzins

...”But the desire was to destroy every truck there”.....

It’s the thought that counts.


11 posted on 11/24/2015 11:04:51 AM PST by markoman (The man with the rubber glove was....surprisingly gentle.)
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To: xzins

I say orders from Obama.


12 posted on 11/24/2015 11:05:17 AM PST by Parley Baer
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To: xzins
BS. A military spokesman calling an A-10s primary weapon a “machine gun”. WTF?
13 posted on 11/24/2015 11:07:06 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ ("It gets late early around here..." Yogi)
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To: xzins

Why don’t they destroy the fuel source?


14 posted on 11/24/2015 11:07:29 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: NormsRevenge

Something doesn’t add up.

Mission Brief:

“We have tankers at Highway Xray and Foxtrot intersection. Intel says there are 250 fuel trucks. We’ll have a sortie of 5 and we want each of you to take 30 rounds. Obama’s orders.”


15 posted on 11/24/2015 11:07:39 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: xzins
Okay, you can only carry so much ammo and ordnance on a sortie. Give them the full nine yards, then hit 'em again and again until they are out of trucks.

When they start whining to the UN about how they don't have any water tankers to take water to poor little Ahmed's village, then it is beginning to hurt them.

16 posted on 11/24/2015 11:08:45 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: xzins

283 tankers destroyed is still pretty impressive. Would like to know how many A-10s were involved, and how many sorties, which would give a good indication of how much ammo was expended per truck. There is such a thing as running out of ammo before targets, even for the A-10.

I recall pretty vividly the images of the “Highway of Death” during the Iraqi retreat from Kuwait, which was a maximum effort by several squadrons, using area weapons (cluster munitions) rather than the en vogue GBUs. In addition to guns.


17 posted on 11/24/2015 11:08:50 AM PST by tanknetter
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To: xzins
They ran out of ammunition before they were able to do that.

I believe it was mentioned in that Benghazi video.

18 posted on 11/24/2015 11:09:04 AM PST by Libloather (Embrace the suck)
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To: tanknetter

How much weight did the leaflets that were dropped take up?


19 posted on 11/24/2015 11:10:00 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: tanknetter

But do you announce: “We ran out of ammo????”


20 posted on 11/24/2015 11:10:42 AM PST by xzins (HAVE YOU DONATED TO THE FREEPATHON? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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