last full day of the obama administration. but it turns out that b-2 stealth bomber run around the world and into libya, that might not have been the last combat mission ordered by president obama because those b-2s flew on wednesday. the next day on thursday, u.s. planes were flying a major series of strikes in syria. again, targeting isis. in this case targeting al qaeda. in this case they used a b-52 bomber and drones and the u.s. says it struck a long-standing militant training camp west of aleppo near the turkish border. so right up until the moment he left office on wednesday with those b-2 strikes, on thursday in syria with the b-52, president obama up until the moment he left office he was ordering aggressive u.s. military strikes ainst al qaeda and isis targets in countries like libya and syria. and there are american pilots who are carrying out these
these billion dollar planes. and they re almost never used in real, live fire military missions, but the military deci decided in this case the b-2 stealth bomber was the best plane for the job, and the mission was considered to be a success. honestly, i have no idea why they picked these very unusual, very expensive planes to fly this particular mission from so far away, but it is hard not to note the incidental effect that former president barack obama left office as president of the united states with this as one of his last acts, with this demonstration to any country or any u.s. adversary anywhere in the world that there are sucht pilots and planes that can start the day just north of tight wad, missouri and end up at your house anywhere on earth if need be that same day. so, again, this happened on wednesday. it was announced by the pentagon on thursday. you know, it was a busy time.
whiteman, it is the home of our b-2 bombers. on wednesday of last week, two of our b-2 bombers remember, we only have 20 in total, only 20 exist, but two of them last week, the spirit of pennsylvania and the spirit of georgia they re all named after states two b-2 bombers took off from whiteman air force base in missouri with full pay loads. 40,000 pounds of 500-pound bombs, and tse two planes flew all the way across the world from missouri to libya. and when they got to libya, between them those two planes dropped about 100 500-pound bombs on two isis camps in the desert. now, the city of sirte in libya was controlled by isis until recently. libyan ground forces retook the city last month. the u.s. military says isis fighters who escaped the ground offensive that retook the city, the isis fighters flew to the two camps in the desert.
clear isis out of the city of sirte in libya, and when the u.s. military was convinced that isis fighters who escaped that had regrouped in the desert, u.s. military pilots flew this remarkable mission from all the way around the world. it cost $130,000 an hour to fly one of these planes. these billion dollar planes. and they re almost never used in real, live fire military missions, but the military decided in this case the b-2 stealth bomber was the best plane for e job, and the mission was considered to be a success. honestly, i have no idea why they picked these very unusual, very expensive planes to fly this particular mission from so far away, but it is hard not to note the incidental effect that former president barack obama left office as president of the united states with this as one of his last acts, with this demonstration to any country or
security adviser tony blinken said earlier on npr. he said it is neither the president s desire nor his intention to move forward with the military strike without congressional authorization. that is a comment that i think is going to be posed to the president at this news conference, if a reporter gets an opportunity and our brianna keilar, my colleague, will be there at the news conference. she will be front and center. i understand she s ready and willing to ask that question. jim acosta reporting live. if the united states does, indeed, launch military strikes against syria, new talk that long-range bombers could take part in the mission. this is a b-2 stealth bomber returning. the bombers would be outfitted with missiles so they wouldn t have to enter syrian air space and air defenses. a u.s. official tells cnn that no decision has been made on which assets would be deployed. in the meantime, military action in syria is proving to be a very tough sell for a lot of