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F-15E jet shot down over Iran

theguardian.com

411–420 of 1001 posts

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#411
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Iran has been buying and building all of this military infrastructure at the expense of living conditions for its people Iran spends about 2.5% of its GDP on defense, compared to USA at around 3.5%. How much should they be spending? https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locat...

They should probably be closer to 0 or more in line with European countries but these numbers aren’t accurate and don’t tell the full story. They don’t, for example, include money paid to and missiles transferred to Houthis to launch from Yemen. Nevermind Hamas and Hezbollah, rebels in Iraq and so forth.

EU countries spend about 2% of GDP on their militaries. It's not at the high US levels, but it's closer to Iran's number than it is to zero.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…against the viet cong, where the biggest risk was the pilot getting pierced from small arms fire (in addition to the helo going down from pilot error). Quite different from the anti-air weapons modern day Iran possesses.

Are you aware that hundreds of American fixed wing aircraft were lost to surface to air missiles in North Vietnam? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._aircraft_losses_t...

Ah yeah, well I didn’t know it was that high!

But I’m responding to the rescue mission comment, which, since Vietnam, have overwhelmingly employed helicopters (Huey’s then, Black Hawks today). But machinery aside, the larger point is that air operations will likely go worse here than they did in Vietnam, unfortunately for both sides.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is a perfect setup for the cynicism olympics where people rush to say you could never trust the govt.

You should never trust this administration. The US government in general has a spotty history, but this administration does nothing trustworthy.

I think the problem is that in previous administrations at least they had some skill in lying in ways that were not so constantly contradicting one another.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#414
post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Of course I'm serious, why would my age affect how I feel about a soldier dying invading another country? But you are right that probably in the big context of things a POW is better for negotiating an ealier cease fire, which would ultimately be the better outcome.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#415
post #391

At what point is congress gonna grow a spine and retake their power? Every day the goalposts just get moved a little farther.

Republicans in congress support it. It is not about congress not having abstract spine. It is about republican congressmen actively supporting all of this.

And bonus, they don't have to go on record voting for all the things they support but know are immensely unpopular.

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the situation I think of when I hear news of rescue missions. Running a rescue in a place with functional air defense is a recursive rescue problem that could quickly get out of control.

The US did it all the time in Vietnam.

Not sure if it was actually used, but a fun idea for pilot recovery..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiller_ROE_Rotorcycle

Re: F-15E jet shot down over Iran

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Time to put on your big boy pants and take some personal responsibility. The American people voted for this, they wanted this.

> The American people voted for this, they wanted this.

Less than half of the people who bothered to vote actually picked the guy.

I even believe that a non-trivial number of those folks actually believed their own rhetoric about America first, no wars, etc. But their commitment to one man is stronger than their commitment to ideals, and so here we are.

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