Osborne wrong: Britain’s bombing of Syria will cost hundreds of millions
At the beginning of 2015 the United States Air Force
significantly increased the level of its attacks on the so called
Islamic State in Syria, effectively dropping even more of its
sophisticated weaponry than at any time since it officially started in
September 2014.
At the time it meant that 60 percent of all airstrikes carried out
was by the U.S. Air Force alone. The remaining 40 percent of bombs
dropped on ISIS were by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and coalition
partners in its various guises.
Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in a statement – “We
are now expending munitions faster than we can replenish them. We’ve
dropped 20,000 bombs and missiles on ISIS since the war began 15 months
ago.”
Welsh supported this extraordinary statement with “B-1s have
dropped bombs in record numbers. We need the funding in place to ensure
we’re prepared for the long fight. This is a critical need.”
Pentagon data shows that as of October 31, there have been 24,255 air combat missions flown since September 2014 but there is uncertainty over the levels of munitions actually fired.
In the meantime, British Chancellor George Osborne has made claims that the cost of launching British airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria would be in the “low tens of millions of pounds.” This vague statement was made in an environment of an unpopular austerity and privatisation drive of public services.
“That’ll come out of the special reserve which we established for the purposes of military action like this” – Osborne added.
