Goodbye F-22

In World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker downed 26 enemy planes. In World War II, Richard Bong notched 40, while Francis Gabreski killed 34 across World War II and Korea. In contrast, when Cesar Rodriguez retired from the Air Force two years ago, his three air-to-air kills (two over Iraq in 1991 and one over Kosovo) were the most of any American fighter pilot on active duty. The steep decline in these numbers is no accident. They are the residue of a purposeful strategy to avoid war through unquestioned strength. As Ronald Reagan told the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984: “There are some who’ve forgotten why we have a military. It’s not to promote war; it’s to be prepared for peace.”

Yesterday, the Obama administration significantly undercut our strength by killing production of the Air Force’s best fighter: the F-22. For Obama, the victory was purely symbolic. While he sends our nation spiraling into trillions of new debt, his $1.75 billion in savings by cutting the F-22 amounts to a third of one percent of the overall 2010 defense budget.

Read the rest of the article: Vulnerable Again