The List 6088 TGB
Good Saturday Morning May the 7th
I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. Remember Mother's day tomorrow.
Regards,
Skip.
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History May 7
1779 The Continental Navy sloop Providence, captures the British brig Diligent off Sandy Hook and is later acquired for service in the Continental Navy.
1934 The frigate Constitution completes her 3-year tour of 76 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and then returns to Boston, Mass. Prior to her journey that began July 1931, the 137-year-old frigate undergoes a refit and overhaul. Congress authorized the restoration of Constitution in March 1925.
1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea resumes as Task Force Seventeen (TF-17) intercepts the Japanese intending to invade Port Moresby, New Guinea marking the first naval battle where aircraft carriers engage each other out of sight from one another.
Today in World History May 7
558 The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapses. Its immediate rebuilding is ordered by Justinian.
1274 The Second Council of Lyons opens in France to regulate the election of the pope.
1429 Joan of Arc breaks the English siege of Orleans.
1525 The German peasants' revolt is crushed by the ruling class and church.
1763 Indian chief Pontiac begins his attack on a British fort in present-day Detroit, Michigan.
1800 Congress divides the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part will become the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remains the Northwest Territory.
1824 Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" premieres in Vienna.
1847 The American Medical Association is formed in Philadelphia.
1862 Confederate troops strike Union troops at the Battle of Eltham's Landing in Virginia.
1864 The Battle of the Wilderness ends with heavy losses to both sides.
1877 Indian chief Sitting Bull enters Canada with a trail of Indians after the Battle of Little Bighorn.
1915 The German submarine U-20 torpedoes the passenger ship Lusitiania, sinking her in 21 minutes with 1,978 people on board.
1937 The German Condor Legion arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
1942 In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attack each other with carrier-launched warplanes. It is the first time in the history of naval warfare where two fleets fought without seeing each other. Two crucial battles in 1942 marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
1943 The last major German strongholds in North Africa--Tunis and Bizerte--fall to Allied forces.
1945 Germany signs an unconditional surrender, effectively ending World War II in Europe.
1952 In Korea, Communist POWs at Koje-do riot against their American captors.
1954 French troops surrender to the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu.
1958 Howard Johnson sets an aircraft altitude record in F-104.
1960 Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union.
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Thanks to Dutch It has been a rough 15 days for our brothers in arms and we miss all of them. skip
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Thanks to Dutch……turn the sound up and hang on. My brain wanted to jump up and to the Watuci but my body said forget it…skip
watch this young lady!
Another from Dutch
And yet another
good night! Peace be with us!
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
… For The List for Saturday, 7 May 2022… Bear 🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 7 May 1967… Nation building from scratch: (1) Political/Military stability (2) Constitution (3) Elected representatives (4) an elected President… Noble cause? Impossible task?…
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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Thanks to Barrel……..I saw a video of Watters doing this and we tried to find the URL but no luck. I wrote it down and was working on typing it out when Steve sent this. A real eye opener .skip
Getting the Facts Straight
Truth or Nonsense
"PERCEPTIONS" OF THE TRUTH
A recent poll was conducted by a national polling outfit, "yougov."
Here are the results to the questions asked of average people on the street:
What percentage of the country is black? Answers 41%. Actual, 14 % and growing due to indiscriminate breeding and the fact that the government pays the Mom to have babies.
What percentage is "Latino?" Answers 39%. Actual numbers 17% but growing with our open borders.
How many families make over $500,000 a year? Answers 26%. Actual figure? 1% (We think a quarter of the country is rich).
What percent of Americans are vegetarians? Response? 30% Actual? 5%.
What percent of Americans live in NY city? Answers? 30% Actual 3%.
What percentage of Americans are 'transgender? 22% Actual number, 1%. (People believe this BS!)
What percentage of your fellow citizens are gay? Result? 30% Actual 3%.
So why do people have such inaccurate perceptions on these counts? THE MEDIA! The media run race, gender, wealth stories constantly. Result? You are being brainwashed by the national left with media. Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would be proud if he had half the success.
Disney just went full-on "gender" They will no longer welcome guests with the traditional "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls" Why? Because 1% of the population dictates to the other 99% (that would be the vast majority) and corporate America falls for it! (aka: Tyranny of the Minority)
Regardless of what you think? Less than 20% of Americans use "twitter", yet twitter controls 80% of public opinion; why? The media.
And about that stat that the MEDIA refuses to ever acknowledge: America is 14% Black. So black men make up about 6% to 6.5% of the population. That small number is responsible for over half the murders annually in America!
Next time you are thinking Americans have changed and not in a good way, remember, it's fake. It's all a lie. Most people think just like you do, but the media has brainwashed Americans with constant broadcasting of "LIES!"
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Thanks to Gary,
The only way I would go back in time would be to take all my memories with me so I would make some better decisions and actually learn from my mistakes. And there were a bunch of them. skip
In reply to Micro's latest offering. Unfortunately all those observations are true.
Also true is that my huge store of memories from 23 years of USN flying is more than enough to affirm to me that -
If God would make me a 21 year old Ensign starting flight training I would gladly do it all over again.
Vr,
Zoo
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: Russia's Broken Logic for Invading Ukraine
Thoughts in and around geopolitics.
By: George Friedman
May 6, 2022
History shows that in war, a rapid victory doesn't require a carefully considered justification. A country goes in, wins, and makes the case later. An extended war, however, must be justified to a government's own people so that it can have the full force of the public behind it, and to the rest of the world so that it doesn't invite retribution.
I thought about this when Russia invaded Ukraine. From the start, it was clear that Moscow expected a rapid collapse of Ukrainian resistance, given the careless and poorly considered deployment of the initial thrust. But that didn't happen. There was a quiet justification initially, which was that Ukraine was corrupt and riven with Nazis.
For Russia to invade because it was offended by corruption is laughable. Russia is the home of oligarchs who were allowed, after the collapse of communism, to take ownership of state-run enterprises that were being privatized. The former communist politicians were instrumental in this process and in benefitting from it. Vladimir Putin himself, who was in charge in St. Petersburg, catapulted to political power because of the debts the oligarchs owed him, and because he knew where the bodies were buried. Moscow's clutching its pearls over corruption deserves a chuckle; Moscow attacking another country because of corruption deserves another.
The Nazi claim is weirder still. Though there are certainly some elements of Nazism in Ukraine – as there are in many countries – there was no mass goose-stepping in the streets of Kyiv, no concentration camps, and no other hallmark of the Nazi tradition. When the Nazis were in power in Germany, few other regions of the world suffered as mightily as Ukraine, which was also persecuted under the Soviet Union. And this completely ignored the fact that Moscow accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, of being a Nazi. If the Nazis were so powerful, then surely they would have prevented a Jew from taking power. I honestly believe that whoever was in charge of Russian propaganda devised the Nazi charge without knowing Zelenskyy was Jewish.
But that's the thing about propaganda. A campaign, once launched, is difficult to stop. It has a life of its own. This is particularly the case when your side is losing. Failure can be papered over by showing the necessity of war. Ending corruption and eliminating Nazism are noble pursuits that anyone can get behind.
The fact remains that this is all a fabrication. Moscow knew as much, and so it had to strengthen and broaden the edifice of the claim. After all, how can there be Jewish Nazis? The solution: Russia said that Hitler was a Jew. In fact, this is an old claim, one that many reject because Hitler instigated the mass murder of Jews. If Hitler was Jewish, then the Nazism he created is Jewish too, so the Jews were responsible for their own genocide, and national socialism is in the clear. It's a broken logic, of course, but when applied the natural endpoint is: Ukraine must be saved from the Jews and the Nazis.
To be clear, Putin has since reportedly apologized to the prime minister of Israel for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's claim that Hitler was Jewish. An apology may close this particular chapter of fiery talk, but it doesn't change the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine ostensibly predicated on the fact that its Jewish president was a Nazi.
In the genre of wartime propaganda, this is truly a work of art. Once you accept the idea that Ukraine is full of Nazis, the rest follows with elegance and beauty. The fact that the whole thing is demented should not detract from the profundity of saying the Jews killed themselves.
There is a root to all this. Russian agitprop, like Soviet agitprop before it, is designed not only to motivate Russians and divide the enemy but to obscure the fact that there is no moral justification for what must be done. Stalin first built an anti-Nazi global movement, then turned around and signed a treaty with Hitler, then went to war against Germany when Berlin broke the treaty. The party apparatchiks understood that communism required amoral flexibility. Then there were the ones whom Lenin called "useful idiots," people who actually believed the complex lies. These people were invaluable; active communists were not credible, but sympathizers who ignored reality could be.
Moscow's current problem is this: The war in Ukraine isn't especially popular, and the Ukrainians are resisting well. Apart from a few who accepted the idea that Russia was justified in invading Ukraine because Ukraine is corrupt and filled with Nazis, there has been to date no substantial resistance to fighting back against the Russians.
Unlike Stalin, who was a master at muddying the waters, the current Russian generation is clumsy. Turning to propaganda to cover a failing war effort requires some sense of reality. If the Russians have a second wind, it is time to produce it.
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This Day in U S Military History…….May 7
1864 – Following two days of intense fighting in the Wilderness forest, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Union General Ulysses S. Grant, moves south. Grant's forces had clashed with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in a pitched and confused two-day battle in which neither side gained a clear victory. Nonetheless, Lee could claim an advantage, since he inflicted more casualties and held off the Yankees, despite the fact that he was outnumbered. When Lee halted Grant's advance, Grant proved that he was different than previous commanders of the Army of the Potomac by refusing to fall back. Many of his veteran soldiers expected to retreat back across the Rapidan River, but the order came down through the ranks to move the army south. The blue troops had just suffered terrible losses, and the move lifted their spirits. "We marched free. The men began to sing," recalled one Yankee. In some ways, warfare would never be the same. Grant had promised President Abraham Lincoln that there would be no turning back on this campaign. He would aggressively pursue Lee without allowing the Confederates time to retool. But the cost was high: Weeks of fighting resulted in staggering casualties before the two armies dug in around Petersburg by the middle of June.
1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea: American Admiral Fletcher sends Task Force 44 to attack Japanese troop transports bound for Port Moresby. The Japanese retaliate with attacks from land based aircraft. The Japanese also sight the American tanker Neosho and the Sims, they send aircraft after the ships and the Neosho is sunk. The Americans find Japanese Admiral Goto's close support force and they proceed to sink the carrier Shoho. Meanwhile, Japanese Admiral Takagi sends planes out in an attempt to find the American fleet. Twenty-one of the Japanese planes are lost without engaging the enemy, including a small group which attempt to land on the American aircraft carrier Yorktown. The Japanese troop transports return to Rabaul to await the outcome of the battle.
1944 – The US 15th Air Force and British Bomber Command attack railway yards in Bucharest during the day and night, leaving the city in flames.
1944 – The US 8th Air Force conducts a massive raid on Berlin with 1500 aircraft.
1944 – The US 9th Air Force attacks the railway yards at Mezieres-Charleville with Marauders and P-38 Lightnings.
1945 – On Luzon, the US 43rd Division advances about 5 miles toward Ipo. American troops attacking towards a ridge near Guagua are repulsed by Japanese defenders.
1945 – On Okinawa, the US 7th Division completes the elimination of Japanese units that infiltrated into the Tanabaru area. Fruitless attacks on the Japanese held Shuri Line continue. Note"still have over 6 more weeks of this battle.
1954 – In northwest Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh forces decisively defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu, a French stronghold besieged by the Vietnamese communists for 57 days. The Viet Minh victory at Dien Bien Phu signaled the end of French colonial influence in Indochina and cleared the way for the division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel at the conference of Geneva. On September 2, 1945, hours after the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender in World War II, communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, hoping to prevent the French from reclaiming their former colonial possession. In 1946, he hesitantly accepted a French proposal that allowed Vietnam to exist as an autonomous state within the French Union, but fighting broke out when the French tried to reestablish colonial rule. Beginning in 1949, the Viet Minh fought an increasingly effective guerrilla war against France with military and economic assistance from newly Communist China. France received military aid from the United States. In November 1953, the French, weary of jungle warfare, occupied Dien Bien Phu, a small mountain outpost on the Vietnamese border near Laos. Although the Vietnamese rapidly cut off all roads to the fort, the French were confident that they could be supplied by air. The fort was also out in the open, and the French believed that their superior artillery would keep the position safe. In 1954, the Viet Minh army, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, moved against Dien Bien Phu and in March encircled it with 40,000 Communist troops and heavy artillery. The first Viet Minh assault against the 13,000 entrenched French troops came on March 12, and despite massive air support, the French held only two square miles by late April. On May 7, after 57 days of siege, the French positions collapsed. Although the defeat brought an end to French colonial efforts in Indochina, the United States soon stepped up to fill the vacuum, increasing military aid to South Vietnam and sending the first U.S. military advisers to the country in 1959.
1965 – 6,000 Marines of the 4th marine Division are sent to Chu Lai, a sandy pine barren along the coast 55 miles south of Danang to build a second jet air base. Chu Lai will sport a new type of field, the Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS) — a 4,000 foot long airstrip of aluminum matting with arrestor wires like an aircraft carrier. Initially all planes will take off via jet assist, but a catapult will be installed two years later. By 1 June, A-4 Skyhawks and MAG-12ss will be using the field.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
JONES, WILLIAM H.
Rank and organization: Farrier, Company L, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Little Muddy Creek, Mont., 7 May 1877- at Camas Meadows, Idaho, 20 August 1877. Entered service at: Louisville, Ky. Birth. Davidson County, N.C. Date of issue: 28 February 1878. Citation: Gallantry in the attack against hostile Sioux Indians on May 7, 1877 at Muddy Creek, Mont., and in the engagement with Nez Perces Indians at Camas Meadows, Idaho, on 20 August 1877 in which he sustained a painful knee wound.
JORDAN, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company K, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., 14 May 1880; at Carrizo Canyon, N. Mex., 12 August 1881. Entered service at: Nashville, Tenn. Birth: Williamson County, Tenn. Date of issue: 7 May 1890. Citation: While commanding a detachment of 25 men at Fort Tularosa, N. Mex., repulsed a force of more than 100 Indians. At Carrizo Canyon, N . Mex., while commanding the right of a detachment of 19 men, on 12 August 1881, he stubbornly held his ground in an extremely exposed position and gallantly forced back a much superior number of the enemy, preventing them from surrounding the command.
*FARDY, JOHN PETER
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S Marine Corps. Born: 8 August 1922, Chicago, Ill. Accredited to: Illinois. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a squad leader, serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, 7 May 1945. When his squad was suddenly assailed by extremely heavy small arms fire from the front during a determined advance against strongly fortified, fiercely defended Japanese positions, Cpl. Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a nearby drainage ditch. Shortly thereafter, an enemy grenade fell among the marines in the ditch. Instantly throwing himself upon the deadly missile, Cpl. Fardy absorbed the exploding blast in his own body, thereby protecting his comrades from certain and perhaps fatal injuries. Concerned solely for the welfare of his men, he willingly relinquished his own hope of survival that his fellow marines might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. A stouthearted leader and indomitable fighter, Cpl. Fardy, by his prompt decision and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death, had rendered valiant service, and his conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
*HANSEN, DALE MERLIN
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 13 December 1922, Wisner, Nebr. Accredited to: Nebraska. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company E, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain, 7 May 1945. Cool and courageous in combat, Pvt. Hansen unhesitatingly took the initiative during a critical stage of the action and, armed with a rocket launcher, crawled to an exposed position where he attacked and destroyed a strategically located hostile pillbox. With his weapon subsequently destroyed by enemy fire, he seized a rifle and continued his 1-man assault. Reaching the crest of a ridge, he leaped across, opened fire on 6 Japanese and killed 4 before his rifle jammed. Attacked by the remaining 2 Japanese, he beat them off with the butt of his rifle and then climbed back to cover. Promptly returning with another weapon and supply of grenades, he fearlessly advanced, destroyed a strong mortar position and annihilated 8 more of the enemy. In the forefront of battle throughout this bitterly waged engagement, Pvt. Hansen, by his indomitable determination, bold tactics and complete disregard of all personal danger, contributed essentially to the success of his company's mission and to the ultimate capture of this fiercely defended outpost of the Japanese Empire. His great personal valor in the face of extreme peril reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service.
*PETERSON, OSCAR VERNER
Rank and organization: Chief Watertender, U.S. Navy. Born: 27 August 1899, Prentice, Wis. Accredited to: Wisconsin. Citation: For extraordinary courage and conspicuous heroism above and beyond the call of duty while in charge of a repair party during an attack on the U .S .S. Neosho by enemy Japanese aerial forces on 7 May 1942. Lacking assistance because of injuries to the other members of his repair party and severely wounded himself, Peterson, with no concern for his own life, closed the bulkhead stop valves and in so doing received additional burns which resulted in his death. His spirit of self-sacrifice and loyalty, characteristic of a fine seaman, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
*SCHWAB, ALBERT EARNEST
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 17 July 1920, Washington, D.C. Entered service at: Tulsa, Okla. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a flamethrower operator in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Rykuyu Islands, 7 May 1945. Quick to take action when his company was pinned down in a valley and suffered resultant heavy casualties under blanketing machinegun fire emanating from a high ridge to the front, Pfc. Schwab, unable to flank the enemy emplacement because of steep cliffs on either side, advanced up the face of the ridge in bold defiance of the intense barrage and, skillfully directing the fire of his flamethrower, quickly demolished the hostile gun position, thereby enabling his company to occupy the ridge. Suddenly a second enemy machinegun opened fire, killing and wounding several marines with its initial bursts. Estimating with split-second decision the tactical difficulties confronting his comrades, Pfc. Schwab elected to continue his l-man assault despite a diminished supply of fuel for his flamethrower. Cool and indomitable, he moved forward in the face of a direct concentration of hostile fire, relentlessly closed the enemy position and attacked. Although severely wounded by a final vicious blast from the enemy weapon, Pfc. Schwab had succeeded in destroying 2 highly strategic Japanese gun positions during a critical stage of the operation and, by his dauntless, single-handed efforts, had materially furthered the advance of his company. His aggressive initiative, outstanding valor and professional skill throughout the bitter conflict sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
WAINWRIGHT, JONATHAN M.
Rank and organization: General, Commanding U.S. Army Forces in the Philippines. Place and date: Philippine Islands, 12 March to 7 May 1942. Entered service at: Skaneateles, N.Y. Birth: Walla Walla, Wash. G.O. No.: 80, 19 September 1945. Citation: Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he was in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world.
KAYS, KENNETH MICHAEL
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. place and date: Thua Thien province, Republic of Vietnam, 7 May 1970. Entered service at: Fairfield, Ill. Born: 22 September 1949, Mount Vernon, Ill. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. (then Pvt.) Kays distinguished himself while serving as a medical aidman with Company D, 1st Battalion, 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Maureen. A heavily armed force of enemy sappers and infantrymen assaulted Company D's night defensive position, wounding and killing a number of its members. Disregarding the intense enemy fire and ground assault, Pfc. Kays began moving toward the perimeter to assist his fallen comrades. In doing so he became the target of concentrated enemy fire and explosive charges, 1 of which severed the lower portion of his left leg. After applying a tourniquet to his leg, Pfc. Kays moved to the fire-swept perimeter, administered medical aid to 1 of the wounded, and helped move him to an area of relative safety. Despite his severe wound and excruciating pain, Pfc. Kays returned to the perimeter in search of other wounded men. He treated another wounded comrade, and, using his own body as a shield against enemy bullets and fragments, moved him to safety. Although weakened from a great loss of blood, Pfc. Kays resumed his heroic lifesaving efforts by moving beyond the company's perimeter into enemy held territory to treat a wounded American lying there. Only after his fellow wounded soldiers had been treated and evacuated did Pfc. Kays allow his own wounds to be treated. These courageous acts by Pfc. Kays resulted in the saving of numerous lives and inspired others in his company to repel the enemy. Pfc. Kays' heroism at the risk of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MAY 7
THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
May 7
1945: Mass produced B-17s, B-24s, B-25s, B-29s, P-38s, P-40s, P-51s, and C-47s led to Victory Day
in Europe. On 7 May, the German High Command surrendered unconditionally at Reims, effective
9 May. With that surrender, ATC began Projects Green and White, for personnel and aircraft,
respectively, to move 250,000 people and 5,900 aircraft from Europe and the Mediterranean
theaters to the US by September 1945. (4) (12) (18)
1953: The 63 TCW (Heavy) at Donaldson AFB, S. C., received the first C-124 aircraft. Service testing
for the aircraft occurred in February-March 1952, and the first live paratroop drops from
these aircraft took place at Fort Bragg. (11)
1956: The 762d Air Control and Warning Squadron began operating the "Texas Tower" radar defense
installations erected on Georges Shoal some 100 miles east of Cape Cod, Mass. (24)
1958: Flying a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter at Edwards AFB, Maj Howard C. Johnson set a
91,243-foot FAI altitude record for class C jets. (9)
1962: Operation QUICK KICK. Units of all US military services cooperated in the largest US
land-sea-air exercise since World War II. (24)
While submerged, the USS Ethan Allen successfully launched a Polaris missile on the full-flight
test with a nuclear warhead for the Operation Dominic nuclear tests in the Pacific. This launch
was reported as the first US firing of a missile with a live nuclear warhead. (16) (24)
1963: Dr. Theodore von Karman, sometimes called the Father of Astronautics, died at Aachen, West
Germany, a few days before his 82d birthday. (5) (16)
1966: The Minuteman Force Modernization program started at Whiteman AFB, when SAC removed
the first flight of 10 Minuteman I missiles from their silos. These missiles were replaced with
Minuteman IIs. (1) (6)
1984: The HH-60D helicopter completed its first data flight at Edwards AFB.
1985: Exercise DISTANT HAMMER: Through 17 May, USAFE EF-111 Ravens participated in
their first NATO exercise. (16)
1994: Through 9 May, six USAF airlift aircraft moved 623 people, including 448 Americans, from
Yemen to Saudi Arabia after civil war broke out. (16)
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: Iran's Threats of War Are a Bluff
Tehran has no desire for military confrontation with the U.S. or Israel, despite its escalating rhetoric.
By: Hilal Khashan
May 5, 2022
Iran has ambitions that it is ideologically incapable of dropping. They include joining the global nuclear club and gaining the status of regional power. But its nuclear program and rogue regional policies led to the imposition of austere Western sanctions that crippled its economy and slowed down its regional activities. The sanctions have impoverished the Iranian people, drained Iran's financial reserves and left its outdated infrastructure in need of an overhaul. Iran's antagonistic rhetoric and manipulation of Western and Middle Eastern countries have resulted in its isolation and distrust of its intentions. To achieve its objectives amid this hostility, Iran has shrewdly adopted a foreign policy of demagoguery politics and frequent threats of war – though it has avoided direct armed conflicts, preferring to rely instead on its regional proxies.
Instruments of Regional Subversion
Immediately after the triumph of the Iranian revolution in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini introduced the Quds International Day to remember Israel's capture of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967 and to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. The annual event, held on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was a cornerstone of Iran's Arab policy, which aimed at exporting the Iranian revolution throughout the region.
Since 1979, Iran has been taking advantage of the Middle East's political, economic, religious and identity crises, creating an intense revolutionary atmosphere wherever an opportunity arises. Iran prodded Shiites in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to rebel against religious persecution, political exclusion and economic deprivation. It provided material and political aid to Yemen's Zaidis, a branch of Shiite Islam, and backed their Houthi insurgency when it started in 2004, leading to the seizure of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
In 1982, Iran capitalized on Israel's invasion of Lebanon by sending forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to Lebanon to establish Hezbollah, which grew to become its long-arm regional proxy with global reach. The ideological underpinnings of Khomeini's revolution depend on the regional activities of the IRGC. Iran's conservative clerics are striving to win international legitimacy for the IRGC as the country tries to insert itself in all aspects of Middle Eastern politics.
For Iran, however, winning support from the Arab public has been a difficult feat. The Quds International Day lost its appeal to Sunni Arabs in recent years, especially after Tehran began marginalizing Sunnis in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The Iranian revolution revealed its sectarian orientation in 1980 when Tehran struck an alliance with Syria's Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, who backed Iran during its eight-year war with Iraq. After Syrian President Hafez Assad died in 2000, Iranian influence in Syria increased under the rule of his son, Bashar. Tehran, in collaboration with Moscow, even helped the regime survive following the 2011 Sunni uprising.
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Iran now finds itself increasingly isolated in a rapidly changing regional dynamic that started two years ago when Israel signed peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Saudi Arabia allowed Israel to use its airspace for commercial flights and labeled it a potential ally. Turkey, meanwhile, mended relations with Israel and critical Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt – which increased Iran's sense of isolation and marginalization. Dismayed by Ankara's regional policy shift, Tehran instructed its Houthi allies in Yemen to destroy a Sanaa memorial honoring fallen Ottoman soldiers. Whereas Iran continues to show belligerence in international affairs, most other Middle Eastern countries have determined that promoting peace, stability and trade best serves their national interest.
Meanwhile, years of Western sanctions have decimated the Iranian economy. The sanctions, Israel's persistent bombardment of Iranian assets in Syria, and its unrelenting targeting of Iran's nuclear facilities have exposed Tehran's security vulnerabilities. The 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to advance its ballistic missile program and expand its regional activities, relying more extensively on its proxies, whom it supplied with financial and military support to act on its behalf. But now, the Biden administration is facing mounting congressional pressure – from both Republicans and Democrats – to refrain from reaching a new deal on Iran's nuclear program. Forty-six retired generals and admirals sent an open letter to President Joe Biden and Congress warning against signing a nuclear agreement with Iran, viewing the potential new deal as dangerous and weaker than the defunct 2015 agreement. The Iranian parliament has insisted on binding guarantees that the U.S. would not unilaterally cancel the deal, as President Donald Trump did in 2018, but the U.S. cannot issue a written commitment to that effect since, according to U.S. law, political agreements are not legally binding.
Iran is aware of the split in the Biden administration over removing the IRGC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations. Tehran's insistence on the move demonstrates its desire to legitimize its activities. It also believes that the U.S. preoccupation with Russia's invasion of Ukraine will compel Washington to give in to its demands, especially because the 2015 deal faced more opposition than the current negotiations. The Russian delegation in the current talks demanded that the sanctions on Moscow not impact any economic agreements with Iran – a request that led to suspension of the talks and could give Biden an excuse to abort the deal. For the Biden administration, partisan opposition to an agreement that wouldn't halt Iran's regional ambitions and nuclear pursuits seems too risky ahead of the critical midterm elections.
Demagoguery Politics
To defend its claims to regional power, Iran engages in bellicose rhetoric, which once appealed to Arabs and Muslims who saw the Iranian revolution as a staunch advocate of their causes. But Iran's self-serving policies alienated Sunnis and many Iraqi Shiites, who lost faith in its promises.
Over the past several days, Iran's anti-Israeli rhetoric and threats of war have accelerated. On April 29, Iran and its proxies spoke defiantly against Israel at Quds International Day celebrations. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah focused on the beginning of a new aggressive phase in the confrontation with Israel and suggested that a new war was looming. He declared that Iran and Hezbollah would respond to any Israeli strike against Iranian positions in Syria. He also warned Israel that violating the sanctity of Muslim and Christian places of worship would lead to its annihilation.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran was prepared to confront Israel should it try to test its resolve. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar promised to break Israel's blockade on Gaza and reopen its sea access by working with the Jerusalem axis, an allusion to Iran. He also saluted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his unwavering support of the Palestinians. The leaders of the IRGC, Hezbollah and Hamas also said they expected war with Israel soon.
Middle Easterners are familiar with rhetorical escalation, but the recent, clearly coordinated, warlike statements from Tehran to Gaza could be linked to the impasse in the Vienna nuclear talks. Iran frequently organizes large-scale military exercises to demonstrate its achievements. When the talks hit a snag in December, the Iranian military held extensive drills to show it was ready for war. The commander of the aerospace force bragged that the IRGC's drones were "splinters in the eyes" of Iran's enemies. But Iran knows its military limitations and wouldn't enter a military confrontation with the U.S. It's also careful to avoid a showdown with the Israelis. Although Washington wouldn't authorize a major Israeli offensive on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Biden administration wouldn't obstruct increased Israeli attacks on Syria to degrade the IRGC and affiliated Shiite militias. Iran likely isn't willing to risk the fallout from a direct response to Israeli attacks that have been ongoing for nine years.
Indeed, the severity of Iran's rhetoric is inconsistent with the strikes it has launched, which have been limited in their scope and damage caused. In March, the IRGC claimed responsibility for launching a salvo of ballistic missiles allegedly against an Israeli Mossad intelligence office in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The rockets landed near the U.S. Consulate late at night to avoid inflicting human casualties. Iran said it carried out the attack in response to an Israeli air raid that killed two IRGC colonels in Damascus.
Iran also fired a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops in January 2020, in retaliation for the assassination of Quds Brigade Commander Qassim Soleimani, Iran's most powerful official after Khamenei. It was a calculated attack that avoided inflicting casualties. Iran's minister of foreign affairs stressed that his country was defending itself and did not want war or escalation with the U.S. (Notably, this and the Erbil attack marked a departure from the standard Iranian policy of using regional pawns to hit Iran's enemies.) In contrast, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks against Iranian assets in Syria, some targeting its nuclear facilities and one killing Iran's top nuclear scientist.
Despite the combative statements, neither Iran nor Hezbollah would dare to attack Israel. In 2018, Hezbollah watched passively as Israel destroyed six cross-border tunnels it dug to storm the Galilee in the event of war. Iran's regional proxies, be they in Gaza or Lebanon, are also disinterested in a military confrontation with Israel – which was made clear by their unwillingness to intervene in Israel's Al-Aqsa Mosque policy.
The Israelis are also not keen to go to war with Iran. Two months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett noted that his country would have to deal with Iran's nuclear weapon capabilities in the next two and a half years, hinting that a general war is not imminent.
Iran is exhausted and needs a respite from conflict. It's working vigorously to strike a comprehensive deal with Arabs, even if only in the interim. It convinced the Houthis to sign a renewable two-month truce in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait responded by returning their ambassadors to Beirut, ending their boycott of the Hezbollah-dominated Lebanese political system. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who is mediating normalization talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, believes the two countries are close to restoring diplomatic relations after five rounds of negotiation since April 2021.
Iran's regional pursuits will have to wait while the world order reshapes itself. It's unlikely that Iran will modify its behavior and agree to become a normal Middle Eastern state. But for now, it needs to focus on the home front, placate its restive population, relaunch its economy and revise its approach to governance.
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