Remember a few weeks ago when the Chronicle editorial idealists ridiculed the notion that the F-16s at Ellington Field had any real role to play in homeland defense or the war on terror?
The subheadline was: Fighter jets are not the most useful weapons in waging today’s war on terror.
KHOU-11’s Jason Whiteley reports tonight that fighter jets from Ellington Field will be deployed in Iraq:
Members of 147th Fighter Wing, which protects the skies over Houston, will be deployed overseas Tuesday night.
Earlier this year the Pentagon put the fighter wing on its list of bases to close.
The Texas Air National Guard unit has been ordered to leave from the base in southeast Houston and to head to Iraq for its first major overseas combat mission since the Korean War.
This could also be one of its last missions because the base is targeted for closing.
The F-16s at Ellington Field are on standby around the clock, able to be airborne over Houston in minutes.
Perhaps the editorial idealists were watching KHOU tonight and can update their editorial at some point.
For that matter, they might want to update that editorial extolling the shuttle’s “nearly flawless launch” (since the flawed launch grounded the program again one day later).
