Draw a line from Minot to Barksdale on the map and keep going south.....does it extend too or cross Venezuela ?
Someone mentioned Israel's Syria raid as well, and there might have been a wee bit of a retaliatory deterrent there as well.
Who was rattling what saber on the 29th of August, when this happened?
(Of course, deterrents aren't worth squat if no one knows about them...so I reckon, even the apparent 'leak' was intentional, too.)
From the article: No acknowledgment was made until service members leaked the story to the Military Times, which published a brief account Sept. 5.
Hmmmm. They would know better, I think, unless it was intentional all the way.
(Where did the "I can neither confirm nor deny..." bit go all of a sudden?)
It will be interesting to see where the officer 'relieved of his command' ends up.