SU 22 shoot down and how Trump is boxing in the Pentagon...

via Military.com

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Su-22 on Sunday after the Soviet-era fighter-bomber dropped munitions near U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, U.S. Central Command officials confirmed.

The strike was believed to be the U.S. military's first air-to-air kill involving manned aircraft in nearly two decades. The last known such instance was when a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon shot down a Serbian MiG-29 in 1999 during the Kosovo campaign.

"A Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet," the command said in a release.

The attack comes after pro-Syrian forces attacked SDF fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of SDF fighters, officials said. The town is south of Tabqah and a known area where U.S. works with Russia to deconflict the airspace.

This is where some of you will roll your eyes and call me a Russia sympathizer or idiot.

Ok.  I can live with that, but consider the US policy in Syria and Afghanistan now.  Trump is taking a hands off approach and allowing the Pentagon to do their thing in both areas.

Sounds lazy don't it?

It ain't!  It's positively brilliant.  Why?  Because the Pentagon will have no excuses.  We've heard back channel bitching (and I engaged in it too) with regard to how the Bush Jr and Obama administration handled both problems.

While I doubted the planning from both administrations one thing was true throughout.  They both said that the military backed the planning.  Anytime we heard of doubts from within the Pentagon with the plans, we would see the Joint Chiefs trotted out to say how wonderful everything was and how this would take a long time.

In steps Trump with his idea of building up a weakened military AND to end these useless wars in far off lands so what did we see?  A defense budget that started down that road and a new push to work with the Russians.

Just a week ago we saw that the Pentagon actually asked the Russians for assistance on the Jordanian border and the Russians DID IT!

Now?  Now some out of control cowboy orders a Super Hornet to shoot down an SU 22.

Someone in the Pentagon is on crack.  Someone has lost their damn mind and is wrecking the chance to finally kill ISIS.

This war will drag on longer than it should and it will be the blame of the Pentagon.  This was the bridge for better relations between the US and Russia and some undercover neo-con in the Pentagon...some cold warrior wrecked it with this stupid action.

Trump is getting slammed for turning over the war to the Pentagon but the plan is perfect politically.  This will be a loss for the generals and they don't even see it yet.

The Mattis fanclub should be aware though.  This is shaping up to be the final act of a great career.  Trump has been sloppy as hell but he's lining up Mattis, Dunford and company as fall guys for the wars in Afghanistan and against ISIS.