Vice President Dick Cheney, who was on the road Monday speaking to marines at Camp Lejune, N.C., slammed US leaders over the past 22 years for weak responses to terrorist attacks across the globe. Listing several terror attacks from the 1983 marine barracks bombing in Beirut to the 1993 Task Force Ranger raid in Somalia to the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, Cheney said American response to the incidents emboldened our enemies. “Time and time again … the terrorists hit America and America did not hit back hard enough,” he said. “The terrorists came to believe they could strike America without paying any price.” Cheney told the marines that the terrorists would fail because men and women like them are “standing in their way and saying, ‘Not on our watch.’ ”
Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury make this crystal clear: Bombers that can precisely deliver large payloads halfway around the world are crucial assets. Given the small size and advanced age of America’s current bomber inventory, it is time to boost investment in the B-21 Raider to ensure long range strike remains a viable option at scale for the foreseeable future.