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Comment by 4gotunameagain | Hacker News Reader

Yeah obviously bombing a state is an escalation of conflict.

I wonder how much the US taxpayer paid for 6 B2 bombers to drop 12 mega bombs for the benefit of Israel.

Over and above the cost of maintaining the B2 fleet, at least $100 million for the mission, logistical support, munitions, plus the reported feint-mission using additional B2s on the westward route.

Not much more than is spent in training missions, I’d guess, and this training is much more valuable.

That said, I’m just a programmer and have no idea.

Can you point to a training mission where multiple aircraft & refueling flying tankers cross half the globe to drop multiple huge, presumably very expensive bombs ?

I doubt they are conducted that often at this scale.

They do it all the time with simulated targets and ordnance.

I'm just a civilian on the internet but the total cost was much much more than a just the bomber flight. Getting the equipment and related crews across the globe to the target in a highly secure way is non-trivial. Just based on public info the preparations for potential retaliation were significant across many different US properties in the region and abroad.

I am not sure about the benefit of Israel. But it was impressive demonstration of power. I mean flying around half globe undetected and delivering huge bombs no one else has. I have hard time calculating dollar value of such future negotiation argument.

I’m not sure about this. B2s were heavily used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well, so Iran is well aware of their range. To me, I think this mission just demonstrates how little we get out of all that money. The small number of B2s, the extreme mission time, the relatively low payload, and the ultimate lack of clarity of success for this mission don’t make me feel like the US is particularly powerful or is spending its money well.

As a South American, I'm not impressed at all.

C’mon stop being so naive. All the Middle East wars the US has fought has been for the benefit of Israel. Read project for a new American century. It laid out all the countries the US should take out for benefit of Israel. The only one we haven’t so far is Iran.

I think you got it backwards. Israël is just another military base for the US. Everything the US does "for Israël" is to keep a fat finger in the middle eastern porridge.

The base is not entirely in their control, but also doesn't shed US military lives when it stirs the pot. Using a local minority to project influence over their majority neighbors. A play as old as colonialism.

I love it when two conspiracies start conflicting.

If that’s the case, then why does almost every US politician have an AIPAC handler? It’s obvious Israel is the one who controls our politicians, not the other way around.

Demonstration of power?

We don't even know if it worked.

What if the demonstration of power was for Americans?

I heard a number of 260 million in an article, if that’s any help.

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