Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
The Pentagon made it clear from the start that a no-fly zone and the use of air power to protect civilians from ground attack would require attacks on air defenses. Not reasonable to put aircraft and pilots in harm's way without taking the most elementary steps necessary to keep them as safe as possible.
I disagree. The DEAD (destruction enemy air defences) phase has become a custom, it was no necessity. Most of those air defence missiles are 1960's vintage, they could probably not even kill civilian aircraft any more.

If someone had challenged me to fly in a Learjet over those air defences in a 1 € : 1 million € bet, I would have accepted. To survive the landing would have been the biggest challenge to me.