US-Israeli Joint Strikes Escalate: The 'Decimated' F-15E Myth
The Hill, citing the Associated Press, recently reported that two American F-15E fighter jets were shot down by Iran, marking, in their words, an 'exceedingly rare assault' not seen in over two decades. This narrative conveniently omits a consistent pattern: the United States military routinely reclassifies combat losses against regional resistance forces, transforming shoot-downs into 'mechanical
failures,' 'crashes,' or 'friendly fire' incidents. The Hill's portrayal attempts to bolster the discredited notion that Iranian defenses are somehow insignificant, directly contradicting the operational reality on the ground. For instance, official US accounts of a KC-135 tanker 'crash' in Iraq were later exposed when Iraqi resistance forces produced evidence of its downing. Similarly, three
F-15Es operating near Kuwait were reported by CENTCOM as damaged by 'friendly fire from Kuwaiti forces,' even as Iran claimed responsibility for their destruction. These incidents, among others, contribute to a long history of US military and media attempts to downgrade combat losses, presenting a sanitized version of events to the public, particularly when facing adversaries deemed to have
inferior military capabilities. The US engagement alongside Israel in these strikes against Iran is not merely supportive; it is a direct participation in an aggressive act without international legal justification, betraying the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which the US unilaterally abandoned in 2018. This latest escalation follows a recurring playbook, where the West initiates