5th February, 2015
Jordan’s King Abdullah, a trained pilot, could lead revenge airstrikes on Islamic State himself, it has been revealed.
DailyMailOnline reports that the monarch may personally take part in bombing raids on extremist strongholds on Thursday, according to reports in Arabic-language newspapers.
It comes after the former general told members of Congress that he was ready to exact a blistering revenge against the ISIS terror army for the brutal execution of military pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh – and he quoted a Clint Eastwood movie character to make his point.
According to the dailycaller, reports have emerged suggesting he could take part in airstrikes on ISIS targets today.
California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter told the Washington Examiner that the king quoted the scene where Eastwood’s character announces his plan for retribution.
“Any man I see out there, I’m gonna kill him,” Eastwood’s William Munny says in ‘Unforgiven.’
“Any son of a bitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only going to kill him, I’m going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down.”
“He said there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn’t seen,” Hunter said. “He’s angry. They’re starting more sorties tomorrow than they’ve ever had. They’re starting tomorrow. And he said, ‘The only problem we’re going to have is running out of fuel and bullets’.”
“He’s ready to get it on. He really is. It reminded me of how we were after 9/11. We were ready to give it to them.”
Hunter told the Examiner that no one in the king’s meeting on Tuesday with members of the House Armed Services Committee made any mention of President Obama, who is seen by some anti-ISIS coalition partners as a weak and indecisive actor.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said after a separate meeting with the king that Jordan would have a “strong and forceful” response to the fiery execution.
“The Jordanian response will be more engaged, not less engaged, when it comes to destroying ISIL,” Graham said.
“The king feels that the gloves are off and that it now is time if you can’t negotiate with these people, you’re going to have to take it to them, and I think it’s going to be more than Jordan.”
Obama and Abdullah met Tuesday evening in a hastily arranged meeting just hours after a grisly video emerged showing al-Kassasbeh, who was 26 years old, being burned alive in a cage by ISIS.
They emerged from the meeting, vowing to continue their fight of the extremist group gaining control over large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
In addition, the State Department said Tuesday that the administration will increase its annual aid to Jordan to $1 billion from $660 million to help it pay for the cost of housing refugees from Iraq and Syria – and provide new resources to fight ISIS.
Al-Kassasbeh was captured in December when his F-16 jet crashed over northern Syria, a mission that was part of the U.S.-led coalition campaign against the jihadists.
During the meeting, President Obama offered “his deepest condolences” to the king over the pilot’s death
“The president and King Abdullah reaffirmed that the vile murder of this brave Jordanian will only serve to steel the international community’s resolve to destroy ISIL,” said White House spokesman Alistair Baskey.
Obama earlier decried the “cowardice and depravity” of the Islamic State, saying the brutal killing would only strengthen international resolve to destroy the extremists.