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If true, crazy...

Exclusive: all the details about the air ops and aerial battle over Turkey during the military coup to depose Erdogan

Jul 18 2016

By David Cenciotti

F-16s, KC-135Rs, A400Ms: known and unknown details about the night of the Turkey military coup.

Here below is the account of what happened on Jul. 15, when a military takeover was attempted in Turkey. It is based on the information gathered by Turkish defense journalist Arda Mevlutoglu, by analysis of the Mode-S logs and reports that have been published by several media outlets in the aftermath of the coup.

Shortly after 22.00 local time on July 15th, air traffic control (ATC) operator in Akinci 4th Main Jet Base (MJB), an airbase located to the northwest of Ankara, contacted his counterpart at Esenboga Airport ATC. Akinci airbase is the homebase of 141, 142 and 143 Filo (Squadrons) of the Turkish Air Force (TuAF) equipped with F-16Cs.

4MJB operator informed that two local-based F-16s were going to take off, fly at 21-22,000 feet and coordination with Esenboga ATC could not be possible.

Shortly after, two F-16s calsign “Aslan 1” (“Lion 1”) and “Aslan 2” (“Lion 2”) from 141 Squadron took off from 4MJB.

After take off, Aslan 1 contacted Esenboga and requested permission to climb to the designated altitude, which was granted. When asked about the intention, the pilot replied “special mission, going to fly over Ankara city.”

Shortly after this communication, telephone calls from the city began reaching Esenboga, telling jets flying at very high-speed at low altitude. The time is around 22.20 – 22.25, as videos of F-16s flying over Ankara at rooftop level were filmed.

Puzzled by the reports, Esenboga ATC called 4MJB ATC for an explanation. The reply was: “They took off with IFF transponders switched off.” 4MJB also informed Esenboga that a new pair of F-16s with callsign “Sahin” (“Hawk”) also took off at very low altitude.

The Sahin pair threatened civilian air traffic, which was diverted through alternative approach routes.

Shortly after that, Esenboga ATC detected a KC-135R callsign “Asena 02” from Incirlik 10th Main Tanker Base (MTB). The presence of this KC-135R, from 101 Filo (whose radio callsign is “Asena”), is confirmed by Mode-S logs collected by a feeder in Ankara.

At this point Esenboga ATC had no contact with the mentioned F-16s and KC-135R. The Turkish Vipers began air-to-air refuelling from “Asena 02” periodically. Noteworthy, as many as 4 KC-135R reportedly flew from Incirlik (Asena 01 to 04 – the first appearing on the Mode-S logs).

It was reported that coup supporting aircraft and helicopters opened fire at:

Police Special Operations Forces headquarters at Golbasi (bombed by F-16. 47 policemen killed)

Police Aviation Division headquarters at Golbasi

Turkish Grand National Assembly building (TBMM)

Turkish Police general headquarters

MIT (national intelligence organization) headquarters at Yenimahalle

TurkSAT (state satellite operator) headquarters at Golbasi

Presidental Palace at Bestepe

For a few hours, coup F-16s flew over Ankara at very high speeds, often breaking the sound barrier at very low altitudes, releasing flares.

It was reported also that F-16s from both sides entered dogfight over Ankara and Istanbul, however no aircraft has been shot down according to the reports obtained thus far. Interestingly, one of the coup plotters aboard a “rebel” F-16 was the pilot who shot down the Russian Su-24 Fencer that had violated the Turkish airspace back in November 2015.

F-16s from Dalaman, Erzurum and Balikesir took off to intercept coup F-16s that according to the reports were as many as 6.

Merzifon 5MJB, which is one of the closest MJB’s to Ankara was at renovation and closed. All its fighters were temporarily based in Erzurum.

Meanwhile, “Asena 02” left Ankara and climbed to max operational altitude, circling over Kastamonu. Asena 03 took over its role of supporting coup F-16s. A couple of arriving F-16s were directed to Asena 02 to shoot it down, but did not do so probably due to the fact that it was flying over residential areas.

At least one AH-1 Cobra, probably an AH-1W type opened fire with its 20mm gun to protesting crowd and TBMM. This helicopter or another one repotedly opened fire at TurkSAT (State satellite operator) headquarters at Golbasi. This helicopter was reportedly shot down by a loyalist F-16.

A S-70A opened fire at the front gates of MIT campus. Reportedly tried to insert commandos to take over the facility and kidnap Hakan Fidan, head of the service. This helicopter is reportedly shot down (not confirmed).

One or two Air Force AS532 CSAR helicopters raided a wedding ceremony of a high rank general in Istanbul which was attended by many generals. CSAR commandos kidnapped them.

8 cargo aircraft (C-160 and A400M included – one using callsign “Esem 26” was in the air when the takeover unfolded) took off from Kayseri and landed at Malatya 7MJB. They were full of weapons to be used by coup.

Coup F-16s searched for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plane, TC-ATA around Istanbul to shoot it down. According to some media reports rebel TuAF F-16s had the plane in their sights: it’s unclear whether they had a real lock-on, rather that they probably were searching the sky for the Gulfstream IV.

Furthermore, TC-ATA used a callsign THY 8456 to disguise as a Turkish Airlines airplane (Turkish’s callsign is THY) and the risk of shooting down another plane, and losing credibility too, could be a factor affecting the coup’s F-16s to shot down his plane and kill Erdogan.

TC-ATA was flying from Dalaman to Istanbul Ataturk, which was raided by coup supporters. ATC was taken over, all lights off. Shortly before TC-ATA’s landing, it was taken from rebels.

Early morning of 16 July, fighters (probably F-4E 2020) from Eskisehir 2MJB bombed the main runway of 4MJB whilst at least one Turkish Air Force F-16C Block 50 was circling to the west of Ankara most probably in Combat Air Patrol. In the afternoon on the same day an E-7 AEW of 131 Filo and an F-16 of 142 Filo were flying in Ankara area, likely ready to intercept any helicopter or small plane trying to flee towards Greece.

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Unfortunately, it appears to be true (at least the general breakdown). Even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t not see a TuAF F-16 bombing the TBMM, but is has happened. It’s beyond belief. I have lots of family and friends in Ankara and Istanbul. It was an absolute nightmare from what they have been sharing with me. I grew up in Eskisehir (where the F-4E 2020s supposedly took of to bomb 4MJB), went to school in Ankara, did my internship in Turkish Aerospace Industries (right next to 4MJB), and have routinely gone to summer vacations in Marmaris (where Erdogan was early during the coup). What possesses a highly educated soldier to pull that trigger on the most critical and cherished institution of his nation is beyond me. But this goes to show that it can happen. I’m still in utter disbelief.

What’s going on in layman’s terms (these are not political views, just a brief synopsis for background): The coup is the result of an internal power struggle between the followers of Erdogan (current president of the republic, former TR prime minister and leader of the AKP party) and Gulen (an Islamist, resides in Pennsylvania since 1999, seemingly non-political but hugely influential in TR with tons of followers in key positions in politics, legislation, justice system, military and police). Both Erdogan and Gulen cater to the right-wing/religious conservative base with copious amounts of Islam in their rhetoric. My personal view is Gulen’s followers tend to be more educated, are technologically savvier, and tend to be from a slightly higher class of the society compared to Erdogan’s. Also, Gulen draws from secular, non-religious elite at times so his reach is a little more diverse. Both are proponents of capitalism and view US an ally (at least their elites do).

These two were political buddies between 2002 - 2011 working together to instate a soft Islamist government. In fact, around 2010, while still the prime minister, Erdogan purged a whole bunch of high-ranking military officers and generals (who were viewed to be very secular, representing a historically core value of the Turkish military) and appointed tons of Gulen’s followers into key military positions (many who were not qualified for these positions). But a power struggle has ensued and recently Erdogan and Gulen have engaged in a fierce battle of political conspiracy (I will not cite the reasons, because that could be political). Essentially, Erdogan now wants to remove all followers of the Gulen movement from the political system. Erdogan refers to these people as the “Parallel State” or a state within the state.

After years of struggle, the picture is such that Gulen seems to have a strong hold in the military (especially the air force and the gendarme), and Erdogan seems to have a strong control over the police and the intelligence office.

The news indicate that there was a plan by Erdogan to crack down on a large segment of the Turkish Army on July 16th and 17th. It’s alleged that his goal was to detain and prosecute those associated with the parallel state. So the Gulen followers hear this and sped up their operation by starting it Friday afternoon, early evening (it was originally to begin early hours of Saturday).

Lots of unimaginable events took place afterwards that you see in the news and summarized above in the log). Anyway, some reasons that have been circulating about why the coup was not successful:

- The leaders of the coup (very high ranking generals from what’s been reported) failed to coerce the top #1 commander and some other generals to join the coup. This lack of a proper chain of command was recognized quickly by Erdogan and made public by the primer minister and others early on.

- The coup leaders overestimated the buy-in from the rest the military.

- Those involved did not seem to be fully committed to what they were doing. There seems to be a tinge of half-heartedness. That, or a gross misplanning and execution.

It is anticipated that Erdogan will set in motion an even bigger crackdown on all elements of the republic, and further cement his singular authority on Turkey. There is a considerable amount of people who think it was a staged coup all along, driven by Erdogan. The utter incompetence of those involved, the order in which the events took place, major miscalculations and execution of high-priority tasks (failing to get the tvs of the air, failing to shut down internet and social media etc.), no arrests of civil powers, are all cited as reasons why this was staged. From what I gather, the general belief (at least now) is that this was an unsuccessful coup attempt, but there are others who believe otherwise as I said.

It’s too early to speak conclusively, but I am not very optimistic about both the internal and international developments surrounding TR. I anticipate that secularism, which I think is fundamentally important when governing a state, will become increasingly more removed from the TR governing system. I hope I am wrong.

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Well, regardless of whether or not it would have been successful, the coup did make an already screwed up situation even worse. When I first saw reports of what was going on this past weekend, I was thinking surely it was only Army units and not Turkish AF units as well. Guess I was wrong. I can only imagine what is going to happen inside the military as if the reports are true that there were 6,000 arrests made, that likely affects A LOT of tactical level officer positions which will now need filling and presumably some very messed up command structures and logistics for quite some time. I can only imagine how many (or rather few) of those 6,000 arrested will even survive the executioner.

Crazy!

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Forgot to add. It is the above division in power (Erdogan holds the police and intelligence, Gulen holds the army) that led to the major clashes between the military and the police. Military helicopters and allegedly an F-16 attacked the National Intelligence Organization killing 47 secret service policemen. Then, you see all the images on the web where the police and the soldiers are battling, and when all is done, the police (and loyal military flanks) detaining tons of coup soldiers.

That said, you also see images of the police trying to protect the surrendering soldiers from the wrath of the blood-thirsty protestors (on the Istanbul bridge especially). What is extremely horrifying is to see the fear in the privates' eyes when they realize they were there not for a military exercise but as part of a coup. There a re multiple different videos taken at different locations showing that these 18-20 y.o. soldiers on the ground had no idea what they were doing. They were caught in between following the orders (or risk being executed on the spot) or hoping that their lives would be spared if surrendered. Some were apparently not so lucky. The same goes for the Airforce Academy in Istanbul where essentially high-school students were detained (if the reports are accurate). I hope these kids who had no involvement in the events, will be united with their families soon.

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I wish the news would talk about this topic some more. To me, anyway, it seems like an important world event that's being greatly overlooked.

I guess the part that I'm still confused about it why it all happened. Janissary, thank you so much for shedding light on the subject! It's more than what I've heard from my local news outlets. But if Erdogan and Gulen have seemingly a lot in common, then why the power struggle? Where do their ideologies differ to the point where one wants to wrest power from the other? I understand where you say one seems to appear to a different class than the other but, in the end, aren't they still aiming towards the same goal?

Thank you again for the explanation and I hope your friends and loved ones are safe.

Eric

PS. A couple of days ago, I read an article (very lacking in details) that stated the American air bases had their power cut in order to prevent communications going in and out. My greatest worry was for the safety of our military personnel based in Turkey. Can I assume the U.S. bases were left untouched during this coup attempt?

Edited by echolmberg
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USA intelligence backed up the attempt.

They knew this for sure it would happen.

I'm sure they did, given the close relationship the US has with elements of the Turkish military.

Given the path that Turkey has been on for the last few years, I'm guessing that few tears would be shed if the military would have taken over power.

Anyone know if Erdogan has restored power to Incirlik yet?

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Given the path that Turkey has been on for the last few years, I'm guessing that few tears would be shed if the military would have taken over power.

Agreed, but this was not "the military". Had the coup been planned and executed by the high command, it would certainly have succeeded. As Janissary explained, this was a small, rogue group of officers who thought they would just kick start a coup, and the rest of the military would follow. Well, they did not follow - and we all know what happened.

I seriously doubt the US intelligence community had anything at all to do with this. The average US intelligence agency probably spends more time and effort to plan a change in the brand of coffee they serve in their cafeteria, than the effort this band of Keystone Koup guys had spent planning this.

I am flying there tomorrow morning. I am not sure what kind of vacation I can hope to have in that environment, but my family is already there and I need to be with them. At any rate, I think a high-end holiday resort on the Aegean coast should be safe enough. I can not wait to bring them back home to the States safely.

I had scheduled to meet a few old friends in the military; but two of them are not answering their e-mails and phones. I fear the worst for both of them.

Edited by KursadA
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Kursad, all the best. I was hoping that in time you could fill us in with more technical details of the coup, TuAF's involvement, preparation etc. Safe travels and I hope your friends are doing well.

Operations seem to have resumed at the Incirlik base. My view is that neither Erdogan nor Gulen can afford to jeopardize their relationship with the U.S.

Major crackdowns are underway in the entire state functions. Military, universities, police, judicial system are all being pretty much ‘reset.’ Erdogan is setting the stage for a presidential system, practically intending to be the singular power in the republic. Historically, the TR president has had more of a symbolic role and the executive power has been with the prime minister and the cabinet. Erdogan is likely to change that now.

The reasons why the cozy relationship between Erdogan and Gulen have dissolved are complex. But, to the extent that I understand:

- Core reasons: Gulen and Erdogan have different worldviews and philosophies despite having largely the same supporting base.

Gulen is more open to global partnerships, good relations with Israel. Those who support him don’t seem to be too fixated on establishing a heavily Islamic state. Gulen has schools all over the world and has the support of not only within the Turkish population but also abroad. Gulen’s movement does not seem managed by a tangible organization. Rather, it is his years of efforts (since 1960s) of disseminating his worldviews through his schools that has established his prominence. He has lots of support from the middle and upper class of the society. He has a more tamed approach to the Kurdish issue.

Erdogan has more of a nationalist and traditional stance on the world affairs. He draws heavily from the middle to lower class (economically) conservative base. Since 1970s, this base has been suppressed in various forms (military, weak politicians pushing secularism against personal freedom in religion etc.). So, this base has awakened in 2002 and has kept AKP in power since then.

Erdogan and Gulen collaborated in 2000s to reform the constitution to bring TR closer to what the EU is expecting. After all those efforts, when the EU signaled that TR’s entrance is still not likely, there have been major frustrations within TR.

During these times, Erdogan and AKP kept getting re-elected over and over again, with relatively large margins over the completely incompetent liberal left wing. Erdogan has been enamored by his own success. Staring early 2010, this has caused him to develop autocratic tendencies. Granted, it is a major success when you get elected with 40-50% of the votes in a pool of 20 or more parties. He started to view the Gulen movement as an impediment to his views.

- Surface reasons: During the Gaza flotilla raid, Erdogan was extremely critical of Israel whereas Gulen suggested that Israel should have been informed in advance. Major differences in views started to surface. Then, Erdogan decided to close down what are the “auxiliary schools” within the K12 system that helps students prepare for the national college entry exams and other national exams. The majority of these schools were instituted and controlled by Gulen. Then, the state judiciary (controlled by Gulen) decided to interrogate the chief of the National Intelligence Organization controlled by Erdogan. This chief was one the prime targets during the coup.

Gulen was very vocal when the imprisonment of many military officials and journalists by the government seemed to have been excessive. Tapes showing alleged illegal dealings and corruption of high-ranking politicians (close to Erdogan), their children’s alleged embezzlement schemes, and alleged adultery of various politicians (not associated with Erdogan but other parties) surfaced like mushrooms at one point. All these highly technical setups have been attributed to the Gulen’s movement. But there have been so many of these that it is difficult to keep tabs on who did what.

So all these strikes on each other has led to the power struggle whose latest chapter is now playing in front of our eyes.

The Turkish media is also completely fragmented across political lines (like many other places). So, to get a clear picture of what is going on, one has to read many different resources and come to a conclusion on your own. Each time you read an article from a journalist you don’t know, you got to right-click and google the author to see ‘where he/she is coming from.’

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Kursad, be dang careful when you get over there. Having two friends in the military who aren't answering phone calls or replying to emails would get my antennae up and on a swivel. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get names and phone numbers of whom to call in the U.S. Embassy should problems occur when you get in country and have them programmed into your phone. Also, put a plan into place to get you and your family out quick, should you need to. Okay, Turkey isn't exactly like say Iran in the late 1970s. But at the same time, if Erdogan keeps working to consolidate his power base with this massive detainment I've been hearing about of 18,000, that means things are likely more unstable than they have ever been.

Yes, I know to the world Erdogan has to portray that Turkey is "stable" right now and "safe" for tourists to visit. But a portrayal of that and it actually being the case as two different things.

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I seriously doubt the US intelligence community had anything at all to do with this. The average US intelligence agency probably spends more time and effort to plan a change in the brand of coffee they serve in their cafeteria, than the effort this band of Keystone Koup guys had spent planning this.

I am flying there tomorrow morning. I am not sure what kind of vacation I can hope to have in that environment, but my family is already there and I need to be with them. At any rate, I think a high-end holiday resort on the Aegean coast should be safe enough. I can not wait to bring them back home to the States safely.

Safe travels to you and your family Kursad.

I agree, I don't think the US instigated this coup in any way. I do think it's quite possible that they got wind of it through their numerous contacts in the Turkish military. Sad to see what is going on post-coup, looks like it is being used as an excuse to clean house on a massive scale.

Just stumbled upon this article.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-h-bombs-in-turkey?hl=1&noRedirect=1

Incirlik has more special weapons stored than any other NATO base. 70 miles from the Syrian border in a country with serious "issues". Not sure I think that is a particularly good idea, especially since the majority of the forces assigned to secure these weapons are provided by the host country.

Edited by 11bee
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Any chance Turkey ever had of joining the European Union, must surely be extinguished now. In my opinion their membership of NATO needs to be questioned as well.

Edited by scotthldr
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Any chance Turkey ever had of joining the European Union, must surely be extinguished now. In my opinion their membership of NATO needs to be questioned as well.

As long as we are talking about cleanin NATO house, why stop there?

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Any chance Turkey ever had of joining the European Union, must surely be extinguished now. In my opinion their membership of NATO needs to be questioned as well.

Turkey is a critical force that is currently containing hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. They have already used this as a bargaining chip with certain European countries. "Give us what we want or if not, you will shortly see another bunch of "guests" crossing over your borders".

Personally, under the current regime, I don't think Turkey has a place in NATO. Personally, I could care less about whether they do or do not get in to the EU.

Should the current regime be replaced with a moderate, democratic one, I'd revisit this issue. Until then.....

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I am flying there tomorrow morning. I am not sure what kind of vacation I can hope to have in that environment, but my family is already there and I need to be with them. At any rate, I think a high-end holiday resort on the Aegean coast should be safe enough. I can not wait to bring them back home to the States safely.

I had scheduled to meet a few old friends in the military; but two of them are not answering their e-mails and phones. I fear the worst for both of them.

Safe travels and wish you and the family a safe return to the States. I hope your friends are ok as well. Cheers.

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Well, concerning Turkey in NATO, would we really want Turkey to go rogue and not be allied with NATO and potentially under their dictates? Imagine what would happen between Turkey and Greece? Imagine what would happen if the scales really got tipped and TR got more influence from their neighbors to the south and east? As it stands, Turkey's NATO membership might be the only carrot that could be dangled in front of them to keep the scale from tipping too far into the abyss. If anything, the old Arab saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" as relevance here I would say.

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Well, the airport looks normal. I do not see any evidence of heightened security or anything. Airport Wi-Fi works normally, I am able to access social media.

But someone decided to change the 30+ yr old packaging and logo of my childhood's favorite cracker brand, and I am mighty upset.

Edited by KursadA
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Well, concerning Turkey in NATO, would we really want Turkey to go rogue and not be allied with NATO and potentially under their dictates? Imagine what would happen between Turkey and Greece? Imagine what would happen if the scales really got tipped and TR got more influence from their neighbors to the south and east? As it stands, Turkey's NATO membership might be the only carrot that could be dangled in front of them to keep the scale from tipping too far into the abyss. If anything, the old Arab saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" as relevance here I would say.

This. Besides he is "our SOB" the 1600 Penn house came out on his side. Why would we suddenly change our minds now? We really want to see another destabilized ME country? It's a no brainer.

Edited by TaiidanTomcat
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But someone decided to change the 30+ yr old packaging and logo of my childhood's favorite cracker brand, and I am mighty upset.

So that was the reason behind all the chaos then?

Stay safe.

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This. Besides he is "our SOB" the 1600 Penn house came out on his side. Why would we suddenly change our minds now? We really want to see another destabilized ME country? It's a no brainer.

I supposed it's the lesser of two evils, until they rename themselves the Islamic Republic of Turkey. For a while, I've been expecting the military take on the current regime. It was disappointing to see the outcome but for quite a while the military has been losing power, both from a popular and a political standpoint. All they've done now is given the regime the unchecked ability to clean house on a grand scale.

Anyone want to wager that the state of emergency that was just declared will be extended far beyond the initial three month period?

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I supposed it's the lesser of two evils, until they rename themselves the Islamic Republic of Turkey. For a while, I've been expecting the military take on the current regime.

[/Quote]

isolating them even further from the Western world is a brilliant way to guarantee that outcome. What's the alternative? US backed regime change?

Anyone want to wager that the state of emergency that was just declared will be extended far beyond the initial three month period?

You mean like 15+ years while continually tightening restrictions? Why what kind of democracy would allow such a thing?

And luckily no one in the West would you know fire Generals and/or weaken the military for political gain.

So let's check the score....

More power to the state. MoRe laws, less freedom, a person in charge who operates BEyond the law, a continually weakening military with an ever growing police state. Looks to me like they are westernizing just fine. Why are we concerned?

I keed I keed, Erdogan is more extreme, quicker. but if one looks at trends turkey is following the west. He is backed by the west and not surprisingly at all. It's not like the west would use a national crises to advance political agendas and "clean house" on things they didn't like.

I hate to say it but at this point the enemy is chaos. People in charge elsewhere prefer police states in their nations as well as the ME, as these dictators fall chaos ensues and the most brutal factions exploit that. The latest being ISIS. The honeymoon phase of taking down the bad guy passes all too fast.

The west Is in dire straights, and still not really realizing it. Where is my safe space? What "important" topic will we be talking about when someone gets nuked? Bathrooms? Random

Edited by TaiidanTomcat
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