Are the Iraqi insurgents so well armed they have the means to shoot down our fighter jets, now? Certainly sounds like it’s a possibility, based on this report at IraqSloggger:
A U.S. Air Force F-16 plane with one crew member aboard crashed during a mission in Iraq on Friday, the Air Force said in a statement.
The plane “was flying on a close air support mission”, the statement said, when it crashed at 12:27 am.
“The cause of the accident is under investigation,” it said, without mentioning the fate of the crew member.
What is a fighter jock doing flying close air support missions, anyway? Aren’t those missions usually performed by Apache helicopter gunships and A-10 Warhogs? What the hell are they thinking? Or are we so strapped for serviceable Apaches and Warthogs in Iraq that we now have to regularly use F-16’s on ground support missions, to make up the difference?
