It's begun. God only knows where it's going:
The U.S. and five Arab countries launched airstrikes Monday night on Islamic State group targets in Syria, expanding a military campaign into a country whose three-year civil war has given the brutal militant group a safe haven.
Using a mix of manned aircraft — fighter jets and bombers — plus Tomahawk cruise missiles, the strikes were part of the expanded military campaign that President Barack Obama authorized nearly two weeks ago in order to disrupt and destroy the Islamic State militants, who have slaughtered thousands of people, beheaded Westerners — including two American journalists — and captured large swaths of Syria and northern and western Iraq.
Is it just me, or does that description - "a mix of manned aircraft....plus Tomahawk cruise missiles" (remember that Obama cancelled that weapon, so this is using up whatever stocks of it are left) - sound like leftovers scraped together to make a make-shift meal?
U.S. officials said the airstrikes began around 8:30 p.m. EDT, and were conducted by the U.S., Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Interesting; they seem to be last-minute additions to the Coalition Of The Unwilling. Particularly Qatar, which at previous report was an ISIS supporter. A "serpent" in our midst, perhaps? Invited in for precisely that purpose, even?
The first wave of strikes finished about ninety minutes later, but the operation was expected to continue for several more hours, according to one U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly by name about an ongoing mission.
The "operation" - singular - as in that's our strike into Syria? Any more to come after that? Under any other POTUS I wouldn't feel the need to ask that question, but under this one....yeah, I do.
Hard not to notice, from the map pictured above, how we seem to be taking the long route to Syrian territory from the Persian Gulf when we could simply park ourselves in the eastern Mediterranean and reach our targets in a third or less the time. That is most likely because Syria's Russian-supplied air defense system is concentrated in and around Damascus in the west of the country. It's also hard not to point out that if The One hadn't canceled fifth-generation aircraft like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning, we wouldn't have to bother with any Syrian air defenses because they wouldn't be able to see us coming, going, or hovering over Boy Assad's palace jerking off.
Still, that does raise a couple of other questions: First, what happens when our first warplane is shot down? O is allergic to army casualties, but Air Force or Navy casualties are no less casualties, and that takes out an expensive and literally irreplaceable aircraft as well. Second, and more to the point, what if such a shoot-down comes at the hands of the aforementioned Syrian air defense system? How much daylight do we have via-a-vie the Russians and Iranians to operate in Syrian airspace? Has any consideration been given to the possibility of blundering into an escalation into confrontation with either or both of Boy Assad's sponsors? This would be a really bad time and place for President Relentless Pursuit's vaunted "incompetence" to manifest itself.
And then there's what I've made reference to over recent weeks: With ISIS sleeper cells already present on American soil, what retaliatory attacks might be about to be sprung?
No wonder this has the feel of something that starts off routine and ends up in disaster.
UPDATE: Video added.
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