“It is strange,” responded Norris, “especially when those people interviewed were asked that very question. In terms of what airplane does the Air Force possess that could have prevented this mishap. This tragedy, and the answer was the A-10 from all those individuals but that was not put on the air.”
“It’s like any interview that you do,” explained Norris, “that pick and choose whatever points they want to hit on to cover a topic area and to me I came away with the agenda from 60 Minutes being ‘oh no, here we go, we’re going to put more troops in Afghanistan. Everybody get ready for more horrific stories about our sons and daughters dying.’ That’s what I took away from that story last night and CBS’s agenda. But they were asked that question, they answered the question honestly, and their answers were not there.”
“I will also tell you that there are key members on the CBS Board that have close ties to not only the Air Force but certain industry leaders such as Lockheed Martin. So, as an old friend and a legend in the A-10 community, Pierre Sprey, always says, ‘TC you just don’t get it buddy. You got to follow the money. There’s always a reason for agendas and, if you follow the money you’ll figure it out.”
When asked to clarify his comment, Norris responded, “I’m not saying it wasn’t done on purpose. I do know that when I did my interview with the Smithsonian Channel a few years ago and they asked me specific questions about the difference in the communities, the equipment, and the culture – the attack community – the A-10 community, I gave them a lion’s share of information about what distinguishes one community from another, a detailed, focused explanation of CAS and what it does; what it provides to soldiers on the ground, and they cut all of it. They cut all of it, and they had some analyst at the end, who had zero time in a cockpit, zero time getting shot at, and she came on there and spouted that the F 35 would be able to do Close Air Support just fine. So they cut out that whole section, so these brothers went through the interview I’m sure feel the same way; that they were let down in terms that they spoke this long of this horrific event and it never came out how this could be prevented.”
Northrup Grumman produces parts for the money pit known as the F-35. For years, in an effort to justify the tremendous amount of money the government has spent on the airframe, Air Force officials have claimed it can perform Close Air Support. Bruce Gordon, is a member of the Board of Directors for Northrop Grumman and CBS.
Northrop Grumman is also developing the B-21 Raider. Like the B-1B Lancer, the Air Force is claiming that bombers can adequately provide Close Air Support.