
Originally Posted by
Androidpk
If we need to be there is irrelevant. You don't declare war then go home 3 days later. We are about to start air strikes in Syria. Without Syria's cooperation. We're going to be arming and training "moderate" Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia. We're knee deep in the shit now and it's only going to get worse or at least protracted. The Islamic State's advance has been halted for the moment, due to the air strikes. ISIL has switched up and gone from conventional warfare to more unconventional/guerrilla warfare. Most of the heavy vehicles they looted from the five Iraqi battalions that fled Mosul have been abandoned. This is where the A-10 would come in handy. Right now you have jets like the F-18 and F-16 dropping bombs and missiles. These platforms were built around taking out armored columns, not insurgent style fighters. They're flying at about 30,000 feet too, since ISIS has shoulder fired missiles. The A-10 can fly low and loiter over an area which means they can respond faster to threats and targets of opportunity. Not to mention the psychological effect of hearing that monster of a cannon spit out depleted uranium death.
We can beat any army in the world but we can't instill democracy. Time passes and they'll just go back to their old nonsense.