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An American airman who was missing after an F-15E was shot down over Iran has been found and rescued, and officials say he is wounded but expected to recover. The dramatic extraction capped a multi-day, high-stakes effort to recover two crew members after the jet went down, and it should settle any doubt about who will answer the call when our boys are in peril.
What unfolded was not improvisation but precision: a coordinated campaign of intelligence, deception and lethal firepower that pulled a wounded airman out from a mountain crevice while hostile forces closed in. Reporting shows the CIA employed a ruse, special operations teams including SEALs were involved, and air assets suppressed enemy forces so the rescue could be executed with surgical efficiency.
The mission also forced hard, necessary choices — U.S. forces demolished two transport aircraft in place rather than let them fall into enemy hands, a grim reminder that in war tough decisions protect lives and sensitive capability. Iran’s propaganda organs predictably tried to spin the story, but the facts are the facts: American commandos went in, got their man, and brought him home.
This is exactly the kind of grit and competence our military culture promises: no one left behind. Conservatives should be bluntly proud that our warriors and intelligence professionals pulled off a rescue that many said was too risky, and that they paid the price to save a comrade rather than abandon him to an enemy’s custody.
Let’s be clear about who the villain is here — a theocratic regime that celebrates bounties for turning in an enemy pilot and broadcasts triumphal lies when confronted with American resolve. Tehran’s violent reach and propaganda machine cannot erase the fact that U.S. resolve and American bravery prevailed, and that Iran will be held to account for its aggression.
Credit is due to the commanders who greenlit the operation and to the President for announcing the successful recovery; leadership matters when lives are at stake and the nation needs to show strength. If we are going to deter future attacks and protect American lives and freedom of navigation, this kind of decisive action — backed by a willing commander in chief and an uncompromising military — is precisely what the moment demands.
As the rescued airman recovers, every American should remember the cost of freedom and the competence of those who defend it. Support our wounded, honor the men and women who went into harm’s way, and keep pressure on a hostile regime that thought it could humiliate the United States; we answered the call, and we will do it again for any American in need.
