Regardless of what some presidential candidates say, I’ve always been glad that Russia is bombing ISIS and other Islamos in Syria. Now it’s even better since France has joined the fight and both France and Russia are now actively bombing Raqqa. According to Gen. Jack Keane, both Russia and France are hitting targets that Obama won’t allow the US to hit because of collateral damage:
FOX NEWS – In the wake of Friday’s deadly terror attack in Paris and the confirmed bombing of a Russian airliner, Russia and France are pounding the Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa as, while the number of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS still dwarves all others combined, America appears to be in a slap fight while others are punching hard, say military experts.
U.S. rules of engagement and the overarching desire to minimize collateral damage are holding back the true force of U.S. air power, while Paris and Moscow have taken off the gloves following the bombing of a Russian airliner and Friday’s horrific attacks in the French capital, according to one retired four-star general.
…
On Sunday, France began bombing key targets in Raqqa, Syria — the capital of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate — in retaliation for coordinated terror attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris on Friday injured about 350. After receiving intelligence from the U.S., the French military said it independently hit command and recruitment centers, an ammunition storage base and one of the terror network’s training camps in Raqqa — and it released video of the moment French fighter jets took off from bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Russian planes and missiles, meanwhile, attacked ISIS strongholds in the de facto capital overnight Tuesday, while the Kremlin announced an ISIS bomb was responsible for last month’s Russian passenger jet crash that killed all 224 people on board. Twelve Russian long-range bombers including supersonic Tu-22M “Backfires” flew from a base in Mozdok, Russia, near the border of Georgia and Azerbijan, and launched cruise missiles inside Syria against ISIS targets in Raqqa shortly after midnight, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the mission.
While France and Russia tout their aggressive air campaign, the U.S. has carried out 95 percent of the airstrikes in Syria since the coalition air campaign against Islamic State militants began in August 2014. But the U.S. rules of engagement greatly restrict combat missions, say former military officials, because ISIS immerses its members in civilian populations making them virtual safe havens for terrorist operations.
“I think the French went after a lot of targets that we would not hit and I’m convinced the Russians are doing the same thing,” said Keane, while noting the ISIS targets are not “out in the middle of a desert totally exposed.”
“What ISIS has done — because they know our rules of engagement – every function and critical node they have is tucked in some place with the population,” he told Fox News.
“All that said, we have the capability, with our target planners, to be able to hit that target and not hurt civilians. We have proven it over and over again,” he said. “Too many restrictions. I’m hoping we will remove those restrictions now.”
Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, however, said it’s unrealistic to expect to win a war without civilian deaths and advocated a plan that would “flatten Raqqa.”
“The rules of engagement imposed upon our fliers are no civilian death and limit collateral damage,” said Peters, a Fox News contributor.
“President Obama, who approved these rules of engagement, has no understanding of history, no understanding of warfare,” Peters said. “Obama believes in this illusion that you can somehow wage clean war. But you can’t have a standard of no civilian casualties and expect to win like that. It never has and it never will.”
It’s a crying shame that the most powerful country on earth is being shown up by the militaries of France and Russia. They are serious about defeating ISIS and we might as well be playing tiddlywinks with them.
It’s sad to say but I have much more respect for Putin and Hollande than I do Obama. He’s the worst joke ever played on America.