In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.
The movie is going to be epic.
Having flown literally thousands of sorties over Iran without incident during Operation Epic Fury, thanks to near-total U.S.-Israeli air superiority, an American military aircraft was shot down late last week. It’s unclear whether the Iranians got help or got lucky, but they finally got one of our planes. Both U.S. Air Force Officers were able to eject and survive the strike, touching off a frantic rescue mission. Our men were stranded deep inside Iranian territory, far behind enemy lines.
It was a race against the clock. The pilot was recovered rather quickly, thankfully, but the fate of his flying partner, a weapons systems officer, remained publicly unknown for days. Behind the scenes, our military marshaled every resource at its disposal to bring him home safely. Late Saturday night, the spectacular news arrived: success. The nation breathed a collective sigh of relief. Citing a dozen sources, the New York Times reported in detail on how this extraordinary extraction was achieved.
An excerpt:
On the ground in Iran, the downed officer’s mission boiled down to two words: evasion and survival. Surrounded by potential enemies, he hiked up a 7,000-foot ridgeline and wedged himself into a crevice where he hoped he would be safe until American forces found him. … Iran had launched several search parties, one of which had assembled at the base of the mountain where the weapons officer was hiding. For the Iranians, the downed Air Force colonel was a powerful asset they could use as leverage in high-stakes negotiations with the United States. For the U.S. military, which lives by the mantra of “no man left behind,” finding the downed officer was a moral imperative. Battered by the force from his ejection, the weapons officer waited. He knew that both U.S. and Iranian forces were racing to find him.
Imagine the stakes. Imagine the tension. The United States of America was trying to beat the Iranian regime’s forces to this man’s location on regime soil. To do so would require exceptional, fast planning and overwhelming force. And that’s exactly what the United States brought to bear:
[The U.S. launched] a vast and complex rescue mission that involved about 100 Special Operations forces, led by elements of SEAL Team 6, with Delta Force commandos and Army Rangers on standby if needed. A far larger conventional force made up of helicopters, surveillance planes, fighters and aerial tankers was readied to provide support. … A senior U.S. official described the rescue mission as one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. Special Operations. The commandos had to contend with the mountainous terrain, the Iranian forces that they assumed would rush to attack them and the injured airman’s health, which remained uncertain. As the commandos landed on the objective, U.S. and Israeli warplanes dropped bombs whose bright orange blasts lit up the silhouettes of the surrounding mountains. The commandos fired their weapons ferociously to keep any Iranians in the area from advancing toward them.
Remarkably, that intensive firefight seems to have never happened, although the first extrication reportedly came under heavy fire. U.S. special forces “did not engage in a firefight with enemy forces,” the New York Times’s sources said.
U.S. officials described the territory where the airman was hiding as strongly opposed to the Iranian regime and said it was unclear how close Iranian forces ever got to the site. He was rushed to a helicopter that whisked him off to a sandy, austere airstrip inside Iran that Special Operations forces had previously developed for possible rescues or other contingencies.
Our military actually created a rudimentary air strip inside Iran, then used that strip to evacuate our downed Air Force officer.
One struggles to summon the appropriate superlatives for such an accomplishment. Mix in a successful CIA plot that sowed confusion within enemy ranks regarding the missing Americans’ location, and harrowing logistical snafus that necessitated flying in backup rescue aircraft and bombing two rescue planes that had gotten stuck (rather than letting them fall into regime hands), and the whole series of events truly felt like a Hollywood script.
But it was real. The drama was real. The risk was viscerally real. And the heroism was, too.
“All of the commandos were safe and accounted for. There were no U.S. casualties,” the New York Times reported.
In a blow to much of the media’s relentless negativity and defeatism, the American military managed to fly thousands of missions over Iran and pummel regime targets for weeks on end without losing a single plane. When that streak ended late last week, the American military pulled out all the stops to recover their missing men and succeeded, pulling off a daring rescue, replete with the construction of a makeshift airfield inside enemy territory.
It’s breathtaking. While some international elites sneered at how many resources the U.S. expended to save these two people (imagine how such performative eye-rolling must have landed with the members of their own armed forces), most Americans cheered.
“It takes a year to build an aircraft, and it takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind,” former CENTCOM Commander Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday. Stirring stuff.
It is also worth noting that Israel directly aided this dramatic rescue mission, providing military and intelligence support. They worked hand in glove with our men and women to help ensure a positive outcome. Contrast that with the conduct of some of our European “allies,” who have actively hindered our mission against the nuclear and weapons programs of a regime that has been the world’s leading terrorism sponsor for decades.
This European intransigence and worse-than-uselessness — as called out forcefully and deservedly in the Washington Examiner’s recent editorial — comes despite the very recent revelation that the Iranian regime was lying through its teeth about its missile arsenal’s range, which we now know includes most of the European continent. When this conflict is over, hopefully with Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities crippled for the foreseeable future, and God willing with the regime mortally wounded or toppled by the victims of its brutal predations, there will need to be some very difficult conversations with some of our supposed friends in NATO.
But that can be sorted out later. For now, Americans should continue to pray for our military and our actual allies as they wage this fight, as we cherish the words the stranded Air Force Officer initially transmitted, helping secure his own rescue: “God is good.”
He was saved on Easter morning, local time.
I’ll leave you with this observation from a foreigner who clearly doesn’t share much of the “international community’s” disdain for America, who rejects the “American decline” storyline, and who is happy to celebrate undeniable American exceptionalism:
THE JUDGES WHO KEEP SETTING CRIMINALS FREE
“The US lost one 40 year old fighter jet over the course of 12,000 combat sorties then immediately rescued the pilot in hostile territory — while simultaneously sending astronauts to the moon.”
Fortunately, he’s not alone in this sentiment. Not by a long shot. And some Americans, far too many, frankly, ought to take notes. Only America is capable of such feats. It’s not just okay to be proud. It’s profoundly warranted.
