President Donald Trump and company tried to make lemonade out of lemons today as they endeavored to convey the rescue operation of a downed F-15 operator as the greatest, most exciting event of Operation Epic Fury so far.
“A resourcing demonstration of American resolve and captivity,” charged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said the fact that the U.S. was able to rescue the second airman Sunday meant the “Iranian military is impotent.”
Suddenly it sounds like the rotating mission and objectives have changed once again. Engaging in a successful rescue and leaving “no one behind” is now “mission accomplished” and proof positive that the U.S. is the the most powerful military on earth.
“It's a record that is unparalleled in the history of military air operations. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. It's such an honor to be involved with it,” Trump said of the rescue. He claimed to have listened to the operation in real time and called it "the only time this was done” ( not true ) and said that “hundreds of people could have been killed” because the Iranian military is “so powerful” and it was so dangerous."
During the Monday press conference, Trump did a play-by-play of the Sunday morning operation to extract the second individual on the downed plane, which resulted in at least two C-130 planes and at least one Little Bird helicopter completely destroyed on the ground because they were reportedly unable to lift off, and the military did not want to leave them behind to fall into Iranian hands. He did not talk too much about that other than calling the invaluable C-130’s “very old,” like they were headed to the boneyard anyway.
These “very old” cargo and refueling aircraft were responsible for helping to bring other assets, including the helicopters, into the country for the rescue in the highly planned operation. They also cost taxpayers a reported $100 million each. Some 76 aircraft were involved in total, according to reports, including B-1s, Apaches, Reaper drones, Jolly Green Giant helicopters, and A-10s, in addition to the Little Bird helicopters. Credible military observers also say Seal Team 6, Delta Force, Air Force special operators, and the CIA were all involved. “It was a lucky hit,” Trump said, calling the one manned plane that went down in enemy territory a “record” in military history. He did not mention that there were other planes, including an A-10 near the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, that have gone down since the war began on Feb. 28, several of which were reportedly hit with friendly fire.
Trump did not recall that just two days before the shoot-down, he told the nation the war was nearly “complete” because they had destroyed the Iranian military. Hegseth, for his part, said at the beginning of the week that the U.S. has total air total air superiority over Iran . Nevertheless, Hegseth played a human spin machine Monday, taking his turn at the press room podium, saying the fact the airmen were rescued proved the Iranian military is “impotent” and as a result Iran is now "humiliated."
"God is good every day, and to our adversaries watching from Tehran, let this be a clear message: the United States military will go anywhere at any time to protect our own and complete the mission," he said. "We execute with precision. We control the sky. Do you see we flew for seven hours in daylight over Iran to get the first pilot, and we flew seven hours in the middle of the night to get the second and Iran did nothing about it."
We know that is not true because two minutes later, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine took the podium and in more sobering terms reported that the rescue missions — the one on Friday and on Sunday — came under heavy enemy fire each time.
In a matter of a week, the mission and objectives of this war have seemingly changed, and in the course of a press conference the story has changed: Iran goes from "very powerful" to "impotent," from "doing nothing" to unleashing fire on our military and putting them in "the most dangerous" conditions possible. Beyond narrative spinning, it's head spinning, and not very clarifying as far as what is really going on.