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| Re: Obama says we should throw our lot in with Al-Qaeda (911117) | |||
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Re: Obama says we should throw our lot in with Al-Qaeda |
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Posted by Dave on Sun Feb 19 22:21:05 2012, in response to Re: Obama says we should throw our lot in with Al-Qaeda, posted by bingbong on Sun Feb 19 21:40:52 2012. (Libya succeeded as it was alliance-centered,our role being minimal)Our role being minimal? The U.S. provided the lion's share of airpower and virtually all of the intelligence. We helped NATO with everything from munitions to surveillance aircraft. We spent well over $1 billion - that's minimal to you? We had a dozen U.S. warships on station, the biggest contingent in this naval force. In the opening hours of the campaign, an American submarine, the USS Florida, launched 100 cruise missiles against Libyan air defenses, crucially opening an entry corridor for the airstrikes that followed. U.S. tanker aircraft refueled European aircraft on the great majority of missions against Gaddafi’s forces. The Europeans have tanker aircraft, but not enough to support a 24/7 air offensive that averaged around 100 missions a day, some 50 of them strike sorties. The U.S. flew 30 of the 40 tankers. When the Europeans ran low on precision-attack munitions, the U.S. quietly resupplied them. That explains why European air forces flying F-16s (Norway, Denmark, and Belgium) carried out a disproportionate share of the strikes in the early phase of the campaign. The U.S. had stocks of the munitions to resupply them. When Britain and France, which fly European-built strike aircraft, also ran short, they couldn’t use U.S.-made bombs until they had made hurried modifications to their aircraft. To target Gaddafi’s military, NATO largely relied on U.S. JSTARS surveillance aircraft, which, flying offshore, could track the movements of rival forces. When more detailed targeting information was needed—as in the battles for Misrata and other towns defended by Gaddafi’s troops—the U.S. flew Predator drones to relay a block-by-block picture. U.S. Air Force targeting specialists were in NATO’s Naples operational headquarters throughout the campaign. They oversaw the preparing of “target folders” for the strikes in Tripoli against Gaddafi’s compound and the headquarters of his military and intelligence services. U.S. AWACS aircraft handled much of the battle-management task, acting as air-traffic controllers on most of the strike missions. Again, the Europeans have AWACS, but not enough crews to handle an all-hours campaign lasting months. Eavesdropping by U.S. intelligence, some by aircraft, some by a listening post quietly established just outside Libya, gave NATO unparalleled knowledge of what Gaddafi’s military planned. When Gaddafi began to launch Scud missiles into towns held by the opposition, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer offshore negated his offensive by shooting down the Scuds. Geez, how much longer are you going to keep making this stuff up? |
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