This is what I was talking about with regards to people who have not experienced combat judging the actions of others during combat. I have not commented on whether or not I believe that the crew acted properly or not, and I won't. That was settled by the 15-6. You don't have to like it but that is the way it is.
I will say this, however, it is very easy to second guess the actions of the crew when you have to the benefit of hind-sight and plenty of time in a stress free environment with which to make those judgments. At any given time, the aircrew must be aware of where other aircraft are, where friendly forces are, where the enemy is or is reported to be and what each of those entities is doing now and what they will likely be doing next and they have to do all this from a moving aircraft. They often must make snap judgments based on whatever information they have on hand because the enemy has an annoying habit of not waiting for them. On top of all that they have the additional stress of knowing that if they fail and don't see or don't engage an enemy then the consequences could be a dead or severely wounded US or coalition soldier.