Well, the inspector general in charge of overseeing the Treasury Department's bank-bailout program now says the massive endeavor could end up costing taxpayers almost $24 trillion in a worst-case scenario. Yet we can't afford to build just seven more F-22s?
Speaking to the Economic Club of Chicago last Friday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates repeated his assertion that "the F-22 is clearly a capability we do need — a niche, silver-bullet solution for one or two potential scenarios — specifically the defeat of a highly advanced enemy fighter fleet."
Air dominance is not a "niche scenario,"
It would prove quite useful over the skies of North Korea, if necessary, or in thwarting a Chinese threat in the Taiwan Straits. Gates forgets that it was high-tech "Cold War" weapons such as the stealthy F-111A that shattered Saddam Hussein's air defenses and infrastructure and controlled the skies during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.
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