There's some interesting speculation here, and it might even be convincing, but what the hell does your last paragraph have to do with any of it?

I'm pretty sure Bush didn't decide to put Tor missiles in Iraq, if that's what's going on here. Or are you suggesting that it's time for Bush to attack Iran?

Dave

Regarding this comment: "which leads one to speculate if US Air Force equipment isn't being used by mercenary or CIA pilots conducting operations," this is absolutely false information. Please don't spread misinformation and don't speculate until you have the facts of the situation, especially considering that you must not know how fighter squadrons typically work. You are spreading a "conspiracy theory" that is not valid, and trust me, you will see how wrong you are when the pilot's name and further info is released to the public. We are not allowed to give further information yet, but I wanted to tell you that you need to stop giving people ideas that are absurd and fictional.

If Realist avoided crazy speculation then he'd have nothing to write about.

While I agree with you about the mercenaries in planes theory - which fails all the basic tests of credibility - I think he does have a good point on the deployment of up to date hardware by the Iranians in Iraq.

Dave

Regardless, the US Military has been put in the position of playing tackling dummy for every two-bit militia in the middle-east, and, I suspect, from some countries like Russia, etc. They were put in this position by the irresponsible behaviour of errant adolescents like Bush and Cheney. No credit to their (apparently faithless) supporters, some of whom habit BC.

Bliffle, the irony you fail to get is that if Bush and Cheney had been more successful with their efforts in Iraq, they would be heralded as being responsible and adult and willing to take up the burden of dealing with radical islam which others were unwilling to shoulder. But not to get that recognition is the inevitable price of failure.

Dave

In view of the USAF's statement, one can only conclude that perhaps it was an experimental pilotless aircraft and the body was not in fact that of a pilot at all! Possibly, in the absence of a pilot, the insurgents have found a dead body and dressed it up to appear to be that of a pilot.

Under this scenario, it's also possible that the remote-control device for the F-16 failed, or the guy operating it had a brain explosion and turned the joystick down instead of up.

Either that, or the USAF is lying its tits off.

Or the pilot was on exchange from a coalition air force, and is therefore not a USAF pilot in the literal sense ...

Your speculations and conclusions are still WRONG! An f-16 cannot be a "pilotless" aircraft, and as you've probably read in the news, the pilot was an American from a different squadron, not a coalition pilot. He has a grieving family and you need to respect that by not coming up with some ridiculous theory and discussing him like he wasn't real. He was a wonderful guy with a loving family who needs our prayer. This is not an opportunity for you to speculate on whether he was real or not. Ask his five children if the loss is real.

Dear F16 pilot's wife: Look, I know this is serious ... but have you heard of irony? I wasn't saying that the aircraft was pilotless. I am not a complete idiot: I do know F-16s aren't pilotless. I was using that as a device to suggest the air force was bald-faced lying about all its pilots being accounted for. Please, read the post again before you go off half-cocked and start making assumptions about what you feel might be a person's lack of empathy. You might note too that I haven't made any political pontification about the crash in my posts

Simply, I can never understand why the military won't confirm these things, although I do know they have to be a little circumspect for the family.

And of course I understand that the pilot has a grieving family who are doing it tough. All the more reason for the airforce not to tell bullshit so that people DON'T come up with ridiculous scenarios that might upset the family.

Dear STM,
The air force never said that all of the USAF's pilots were accounted for. They said that all of the Cannon AFB pilots in the 524 FS were accounted for. They did not want to identify the name of the pilot on the first day until the family knew. I think that's actually sensitive of them, not "bullshit." However, I do agree with you in that the military definitely needs to give clear information so people don't start inventing stories and speculations. They really failed in that area with this tragedy!!

How can we speculate on some small fact if we are never really sure of what we are doing in Iraq?

Our leaders have changed the goal of our mission in Iraq numerous times throughout the campaign. This lead many people to doubt the real goal of our struggle or if we are just simply winging it.

Are we going to occupy permanent bases in Iraq? Are we to spread someones vision of the mid-east to Iran and Syria and if so whose vision? Are the Israelis involved? What role do the oil companies play in this war? How can we know what might be going on if we do not have a clear understanding of the players and goals in of the mid-east struggle?

We are in the dark on a grand scale by design or by default. Asking the questions about one down F-16 seems logical, but speculating on some conspiracy is counterproductive.