Bizpac Review) – Frustrated American pilots and retired
generals are striking out at the Obama Pentagon’s restrictive rules of
engagement and White House micromanagement they say are crippling the war
against Islamic State terrorists before it even gets off the ground.
“There were times I had groups of ISIS fighters in my
sights, but couldn’t get clearance to engage,” one F-18 Navy pilot told
Fox News.
“They probably killed innocent people and spread evil
because of my inability to kill them,” he added. “It was frustrating.”
Pilots are forced to seek approval before engaging each
target, a process they say takes an hour on the average. By the time approval
is received, conditions on the ground or the air often change.
“You’re talking about hours in some cases, which by that
time the particular tactical target left the area and or the aircraft has run
out of fuel,” retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, a former director of the Combined
Air Operations Center in Afghanistan, told Fox News. “These are excessive
procedures that are handing our adversary an advantage.” And he places the
blame directly on the steps of the White House.
“The ultimate guidance rests in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,”
he said. “We have been applying air power like a rain shower or a drizzle. For
it to be effective, it needs to be applied like a thunderstorm.”
The U.S. Air Force’s Central Command pushed back at the
complaints. “We refute the idea that close air support strikes take ‘an hour on
average.’ Depending on the how complex the target environment is, a strike
could take place in less than 10 minutes or it could take much longer,” a
central command spokesman said, according to Fox News.
“As our leaders have said, this is a long-term fight, and we
will not alienate civilians, the Iraqi government or our coalition partners by
striking targets indiscriminately.”
Fox News Pentagon correspondent Jennifer Griffin told
Shepard Smith Wednesday that U.S. pilots are averaging 14 strikes per day
targeting the Islamic State. “Compare that to the first Gulf War,” she said.
“The United States averaged 1,125 strikes per day. In Kosovo 135 strikes a
day.”
But a senior defense official called those unfair
comparisons. “The Gulf War and Kosovo are not reasonable comparisons. In those
instances, we were fighting conventional forces. Today, we are supporting a
fight against terrorists who blend into the civilian population,” he said. “Our
threshold for civilian casualties and collateral damage is low. We don’t want
to own this fight. We have reliable partners on the ground.” But it’s not just
the pilots who are frustrated — allies are too.
Iraqi officials are complaining that the Obama
administration’s excessive caution in approving airstrikes is giving the
terrorists a huge advantage, according to The New York Times.
The seven buildings comprising Islamic State headquarters,
located in Raqqa, Syria, for instance, have been off limits for targeting in
the 10 months since they were first identified, out of a fear of collateral
damage to the civilian population.
They also cite numerous missed opportunities to strike troop
movements. The Times reported:
And
just last week, convoys of heavily armed Islamic State fighters paraded
triumphantly through the streets of the provincial capital Ramadi in western
Iraq after forcing Iraqi troops to flee. They rolled on unscathed by coalition
fighter-bombers.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., recently charged that 75 percent
of U.S. pilots return to base without having released a single weapon,
according to Fox. It’s not a way to win a war.
Source:http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/05/28/isis-in-my-sights-pilots-blast-obama-combat-rules-they-say-are-crippling-the-war-effort-208241
http://www.teaparty.org/isis-sights-pilots-blast-obama-combat-rules-say-crippling-war-effort-100908/?promocode=tpo-1727316&utm_source=newsemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tpo-1727316
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