When you see a warplane overhead in Iraq, and its backing Kurdish Peshmerga forces in a battle against ISIS, you automatically think of the United States. They are, after all, the one with hundreds of planes in the area doing that.
But a video released today shows that their “anti-ISIS coalition” isn’t the only ones, as an Iranian F-4 Phantom is seen backing Kurdish fighters in trying to retake a pair of lost towns.
That Iran is involved in the ISIS war is hardly news, but the use of a warplane in a traditional US role is a major story, as it is all-but-impossible that Iran would be doing so without direct coordination with the US.
The US is desperate to the point of paranoia to say they “control the airspace” in Iraq, and having other nations’ warplanes just flying around willy nilly would make no sense, and would almost certainly make those planes a target. Iran would not be sending warplanes into Iraqi airspace in mid-US war, and in the vicinity of several US warplanes, without the US having confirmed that it was okay with them.
The US continues to deny any coordination with Iran and Syria on the ISIS war, but this denial seems to be primarily a diplomatic ploy at this point, and has no bearing on the policy.
The way we are held back by our grudges, prejudices, past mistakes, strategic failures, obtuseness and manic-obsessive desire for full-spectrum dominance and control over every single last minute detail from top to bottom…in short, tying our hands with our own big mouth and eternal, imperial hubris that does not allow us to admit mistakes and accept forgiveness and treat others as equals rather than vassals…this is our undoing.
strange bed fellows
To hell with coalitions fighting these barbarians are the Iranians, Iraqi and Syrian government responsibility. Coalition is the one which created all and every problem for the people in middle east when they created Israel apartheid regime 60 years ago, ISIS is yet another of their deceptive creation.
netenyahoo must be having ministrokes at this point. how dare his puppet, the US, deal with Iran on any reasonable terms!
Yup, there you are.
It must be time for Bibi to make another speech to a joint session of Congress – to press home the point that they should be doing what he wants. The Israel-Firsters in Congress haven't kissed his butt in a couple of months.
Senator Warren apparently showed up there a couple days ago to perform fellatio on Bibi. We also have the other Israeli Agents in Congress trying to pass more sanctions that are written at AIPAC.
Didn't take her long to fall into our current Congressional character, did it?
To — FarFlungStar
Horse pucky and gun smokey, does not the upper half of our Empire hoard all the wealth — and for no other purpose then to enslave the rest of us?
If we wanted to read Haaretz, New York Times, CNN, Fox etc. why would we turn to Antiwar which is exactly where Jason Ditz gets his information from – that is, misinformation and hasbara.
So what are you doing here?
pendulum — “strange bed fellows”
And most profound it is, for Iran is a true democracy, most moral and striving to do what is in the best interest of the Middle-East — Empire USA is a big money dictatorship, saturated with sex perverts most promiscuous and terrorizing the Middle-East as their personal war materials market.
Which begs the question, exactly what is so terrorizing to the Iran-USA coalition about the Islamic State that bombing it to hell and back is the only option on the table?
For Saudi Arabia beheads more people, Iraq is by far more criminal and corrupt, Israel the leader in peace destruction and state sponsored terrorism and Empire USA the ringleader of it all. So, what greater harm could ISIS possibly do?
But surely, the danger of a good example, the coming out of a wrong way and into a better way, the danger of an example so right that it could bring the downfall of our Empire.
Most of the US fighter pilots recognize the silhouette of the old F-4, even at a distance. The biggest danger is that air-to-air missiles can be fired from miles away. The US is hopefully smart enough to make some phone calls before charging in to fire Hellfire missiles or drop bombs. Most of those F-4's had cannons, which would really work great for strafing a column of Isis trucks.
F-4 Phantoms over Iraq? OMG!; I hope they offload all the napalm and Agent Orange left on board from the Vietnam war. Well, on second thought, at least it will burn-off some of the rust in those ancient, (1975) engines.