Posted on 04/08/2017 6:23:38 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Trump defends decision not to hit runway on Syrian airbase
By ERIN DOOLEY Apr 8, 2017, 5:14 PM ET
Following reports that two Syrian jets took off from the airfield hit by U.S. missiles Thursday night, President Trump defended his decision not to strike the runway.
"The reason you don't generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!" the commander-in-chief tweeted.
According to one U.S. official, initial assessments indicate that up to 20 Syrian aircraft were destroyed after the U.S. hit Syria's al Shayrat airbase with more than 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles Thursday. However, the runway -- as well as storage areas suspected to contain chemical weapons -- remained untouched.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
There are plenty more airplanes in Russia. Depending on how Putin wants to play it, he can sustain losses like that for a long, long time.
Both Assad and the Russians are broke. If they had an unlimited budget they would have slaughtered all the rebels by now. The main reason for them using chemical weapons is probably the low cost.
The Russians have been showing an undamaged aircraft as evidence the the US strike was ineffective. Oops! What they are actually showing is how amazingly effective the US Military can be: the photo shows that the US targeters chose to not use up a $1M missle on a nearly worthless Mig21. Blow up the Mig23 and Mig29 aircraft, but don’t waste missiles on the Mig21.
Sweet.
What the Russians are saying, and what they are doing, does not jive. The Russians evidently did not attempt to intercept the US cruise missiles, even though they have boasted that their system could. The Russians apparently did not notify the Syrians of the incoming US attack...
Things may not be as they seem. I’m getting the feeling the World will be a much more pleasant place in the coming years.
We have a haggler working for us; a winning haggler.
The Russians evidently did not attempt to intercept the US cruise missiles
They just removed the planes. The Syrians knew -as twitter did- in advance.
>They just removed the planes. The Syrians knew -as twitter did- in advance.
They didn’t have time. According to US sources, not the Russian ones we destroyed 20 planes of which 14 where ground attack models. That’s a 23% reduction in their total ground attack force.
Many analysts say it was more of a symbolic thing. It makes sense, otherwise it would mean Trump is helping ISIS.
“My question is why did he not hit the storage facilities that would have contained the chemicals bombs?”
The way I understand it, the chemicals are a two part mix that are stored in separate containers as in this picture:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3286709/is-this-the-proof-syrian-butcher-bashar-al-assad-ordered-chemical-weapons-attack-on-syrian-women-and-children/
They didn’t want to risk mixing the two containers with a bomb blast....makes sense.
Which explains the puddles of aluminum...not.
I watch RT sometimes. You see footage and hear about stories you just don’t hear about in the western media. Of course they have an agenda, and you have to take that into account. But then that’s true of America’s left stream media too. Or conservative media for that matter. Doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything from it, or that there’s nothing true in what they are saying. You have to be smart enough to put it in perspective.
You’re right about runway repairs, especially at Russian built airfields. I worked at K2 airfield in Uzbekistan before the US was kicked out by the Uzbeks. The old Russian runway was built of identical concrete slabs about 10” thick. This made for a really rough runway, but a damaged slab could be lifted out, the ground underneath leveled, and replaced by another in a matter of hours. Any decent construction crew with a dozer, backhoe, and a crane could do this. Extra slabs were stockpiled at locations around the airfield.
No use wasting a perfectly good Tomahawk on concrete.
First FR post :-)
You are absolutely right, of course Derry wasn’t part of the destroyer-for-bases deal.
By 1941 Derry was the biggest convoy escort bases for the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy. With the loss of the Irish Treaty Ports Derry became the furthest west port available to the British on the Western Approaches but it was an inconvenient little port badly in need of upgrade.
I don’t think it can be held against FDR if he did some forward planning to secure the North Atlantic convoy routes across which it was fairly obvious millions of American boys would soon be transported.
Post 54 has it. Marston Mats.
This helps explain why the Seebees hit the ground running in the Pacific War whereas their Japanese counterparts really struggled. They started on the learning curve during the Battle of Britain, so got a roughly 18 month head start. My father was a junior officer on one of those landing ships during World War II and was in awe over how the Seebees could get the ship unloaded so quickly when it pulled into a remote Pacific island.
“...Up to 20” can mean 6...The number will not exceed 20.
I recall a substitute teacher back in the early 70’s talking about Vietnam. We would bomb the Ho Chi Min trail and that night they would have the women and children filling in the holes by hand and it would be ready the next morning.
Some Freeper posted a you-tube on “fastest workers” a few days ago - probably something like that!
That was taken locally here in S.E. Michigan about two miles from my house. It was a typical winter pot hole here on M-59 that likely won't be patched till mid May......
Are you a moron?
Ever seen the debt clock.
You are damned stupid. Like deliverance stupid with the banjo.
It pains me to share the Internet with you.
You Dum Dum. You Dont Know Ass From Hole In Ground. Your Idiocy is EPIC!!!
I can play banjo better than you ever dreamed, and I am only a beginner!
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