The US hawk and other hardliners "have placed a 'political shield' over terrorist targets in Iraq and Syria," he claimed. McCain, according to Duff, coordinated these efforts with Turkish, Israeli and Saudi intelligence.
The "derailing," according to the US veteran, boils down to preventing US pilots engaged in counterterrorism efforts in Iraq and Syria from hitting actual militant targets.
Duff cited unnamed American military pilots in the region as saying that "they have flown over oil tanker convoys 4 lanes wide at times and been told to stay silent." They also allegedly saw "mysterious aircraft dropping supplies" for Daesh and al-Nusra Front.
"The most common report, however, is massive parking lots filled with hundreds, even thousands of Humvees, Abrams tanks, artillery pieces, support vehicles of all kinds, all 'hands off' at the orders of the Pentagon," Duff asserted. "Some pilots are totally dispirited from seeing the same 'fat targets' over and over while they are sent after road checkpoints or abandoned buildings."
Daesh and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's offshoot in Syria, are the main terrorist groups, which have been trying to oust Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic State in the war-torn country. Although the US launched an aerial operation against Daesh in mid-2014, the group still holds a firm grip over large territories under its control.
Duff added that Rockwell B-1 Lancer and B-52 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers stationed at the US airbase in Qatar are not allowed to take part in the anti-Daesh operation.
The fact "that Russia, within weeks, was able to destroy hundreds of 'fat targets,' command centers, fuel and ammunition depots, equipment storage facilities and training camps, most of which had been “up and running” through the entire coalition bombing campaign but untouched, speaks volumes as to the truth of reports by American pilots of 'hands off' orders," Duff noted.
