An uninvited, undefined vague mission in an active theatre of war
And sending our most expensive equipment there, too
—- more attractive targets than $500,000,000.00 - plus planes couldn’t be injected into that war
(Maybe aircraft carriers but they’re a lot harder to sink)
This has all the hallmarks if another Gulf of Tonkin provocation
“This has all the hallmarks if another Gulf of Tonkin provocation”
Oh, so Russia is Syria now? Another notch in Putin’s belt?
And I don’t recall the US and the North Vietnam having an agreement on deconfliction and de-escalation -which the US and Russia have had in Syria since 2019.
Russia has been doing stuff like this for many decades. Agreeing to international treaties when they cannot project forces or maintain control of areas. Then renegging on their agreements by violating agreements and even outright assaults by proxies such as PMC Wagner.
Here’s a BBC article from an event in Syria in 2020. Russia has a long history of breaking agreements. The F-22s are warranted since the Russians are belligerents and are not doing S-1 in eastern Syria to counter ISIS activity or protect the Kurds. They just don’t want the US in eastern Syria now because they and Assad fancy themselves able to hold eastern Syria -which they cannot. But they don’t care cuz ISIS uses it to destabilize Iraq and Jordan -which Syria and Russia don’t care about either as Iran is their ally.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53930795
So some F-22s will be in overwatch when Russian jets harrass US forces and supply flights in eastern Syria -because Russia is escalating. Deterrence.
I have faith in our F-22 pilots. Don’t let the Ukraine military anywhere near those planes.
Having said THAT, they shouldn’t even be going over there. But what do I know, I’m just a taxpayer….