(PatriotWise.com)- Remember the reports that the United States wasn’t on board with Poland’s plan to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Poland? Well, Republicans heard about it, too, and grilled intelligence officials about the bizarre decision not to assist with the effort during a hearing on Thursday.
Republican senators slammed U.S. government officials for failing to assist an ally of the United States in sending fighter planes to Ukraine, with Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas saying that the U.S. government was “failing to help Poland.” The original plan was for the fighter jets, which are Soviet-built but updated to include NATO-compliant technology, to be sent to a base in Germany where they would be deployed to Ukraine.
The U.S. was then expected to send fighter jets to Poland to resupply the military.
Cotton slammed intelligence officials, asking why Putin might be happy to accept the U.S. transferring missiles, but not planes. He questioned why government officials believed that, while the U.S. supplies tens of thousands of missiles for Ukrainians to take out Russian tanks, it would be unacceptable and an act of war to supply planes.
If the U.S. government is scared of supplying jets, why isn’t it scared to supply anti-tank Javelin missiles? None of this makes sense.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of common sense between the distinction,” Cotton said.
When Poland made the offer on Tuesday last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shut down the proposal and said that he wouldn’t support the plan at this time, describing it as a “high-risk” strategy.
During the hearing, Defense Intelligence Agency director Scott Berrier said that there was an “escalation ladder” that legislators should be aware of, whereby Putin might see the transfer of fighter jets as an act of war.
One thing is for sure, and it’s that everything about this unprovoked war is uncertain…and likely will be for a long, long time.
