Posted on 12/13/2013 3:34:52 AM PST by lowbridge
To outfit Afghanistan’s security forces with new helicopters, the Pentagon bypassed U.S. companies and turned instead to Moscow for dozens of Russian Mi-17 rotorcraft at a cost of more than $1 billion.
Senior Pentagon officials assured skeptical members of Congress that the Defense Department had made the right call. They repeatedly cited a top-secret 2010 study they said named the Mi-17 as the superior choice.
Turns out the study told a very different story, according to unclassified excerpts obtained by The Associated Press.
An American-made helicopter, the U.S. Army’s workhorse Chinook built by Boeing in Pennsylvania, was found to be “the most cost-effective single platform type fleet for the Afghan Air Force over a twenty year” period, according to the excerpts.
However, Boeing is on the outs with the hard left for standing up to unions. Obama has even used his Marxist National Labor Relations Board to prevent the company from opening new facilities.
The 63 Mi-17s are being acquired through a contract that was awarded without competition to Russia’s notoriously corrupt arms export agency Rosoboronexport.
(Excerpt) Read more at rightwingnews.com ...
Oh, my. That is so reassuring.
Russia's Medvedev hails "comrade" Obama
Associated Foreign Press (AFP) ^ | April 2, 2009 | Anna Smolchenko
"Russia's Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade" Thursday after their first face-to-face talks"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gEo4B1heuBvO6KK7EiBHKigO1UrA
April 1, 2009:
"Obama, Medvedev pledge new era of relations":
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/specialreport/news/419496_88/1/.html
Another example of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, with the enthusiastic support of Pentagon cheerleaders.
Some folks just need killin’.
Pooty's boy toy comes through
Why are we in Afghanistan again? Oh right, building hospitals and bridges.
Surely this Commie Putz has passed the threshold of Treason.....
The headline alone boils down the Obama’s leadership of our nation to its bare essence.
Look at it as a National Rohrshach Test. Upon reading that headline, what is the first thing that comes to America’s mind?
Don’t be so quick to judge the administration over buying Russian helicopters. They looked at the situation and saw how single handedly these copters helped Russia devastate the Afghani warriors. Oh wait that was a Sylvester Stallone movie, never mind.
“Another example of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, with the enthusiastic support of Pentagon cheerleaders.”
Anybody in the military who says anything other than the authorized story is in trouble. At best, they’re bounced out for some trumped up reason. As for the helicopter deal, as angry as it makes me some of the reasons I’ve read is that the pilots and ground crews are already trained on Russian made helicopters, which saves training.
But, this begs the question, should we be supporting Muslim anything? They’ve demonstrated their hatred of all things non-Muslim; which includes our military and civilians and anything American.
From another angle, Nixon could go to China because he had anti-Communist cred. But Obama has no cred whatsoever, unless it’s his anti-American cred. If Obama wanted to have the decision spoken well of, he’d have made it an American deal. However, he does have more flexibility now.
Why are we buying the Afghani’s anything.?
Lets get the hell out of there and let them stew in their own juice.
Sounds pretty stupid to bring the Afghan pilots all the way to FL to train them, but that was the story I heard.
I think it's also reasonable to assume that the "Afghan pilot training" story is at least partly a cover for U.S. acquisition of these Russian helos. A U.S. Chinook is readily identifiable as an American chopper, but CIA spooks could fly these Russian helos all around Central Asia, Africa etc and not lose their cover.
And they did what, say "ok, sure, that's cool"? Don't conservative 'pubs control the purse strings? Maybe Issa could have an investigation. (sarcasm)
“Sounds pretty stupid to bring the Afghan pilots all the way to FL to train them, but that was the story I heard.”
I imagine it’s a lot easier, cheaper and SAFER to train them here. And, to find qualified people to train them here, as opposed to the huge bonus it would cost them to send a contractor there. Even private wiring technicians in danger areas are earning well over $100k.
Let them buy their own (bleeping) helicopters with their own (bleeping) dope money.
‘zackly.
Good point. And if dozens of CIA pilots are also being trained to fly them, who is going to know?
But it’s sort of funny and sort of not funny that so many Afghan officers finagle a training trip to the USA, and then they simply disappear.
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