Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Can we call it something else now?


It is just silly to call this a no-fly zone anymore.
A U.S. Navy P-3C Maritime Patrol aircraft, a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft and guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52) engaged Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller crafts after confirmed reports that Vittoria and accompanying craft were firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels in the port of Misratah, Libya, during the evening March 28, 2011.

The P-3C fired at Vittoria with AGM-65F Maverick missiles after multiple explosions were observed in the vicinity of the port rendering the 12-meter patrol vessel ineffective and forcing it to be beached.

Two small crafts were fired upon by an A-10 using its 30mm GAU-8/ Avenger Gatling cannon, destroying one and forcing the other to be abandoned.
When you have a P-3C putting AGM-65F into Coast Guard boat and A-10 chewing up the coastline ... it is just silly to call it a no-fly zone.

This is a war, full and simple. We are covering the Air & Sea - some Libyan tribes the Land ... but we are a player in this civil war. To call it anything else is to just feed cynicism and the public's habit of not believing anything someone in uniform is saying.

We need to be honest about this. We need to win - win decisively - and be honest with the taxpayer.

We are at war. Full stop. Let us hope it ends soon with as little cost in blood as possible - our blood.

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