Laura Ingraham criticized the media Thursday for its "war hawk consensus," stressing that now is the time for vigorous and open debate on "The Ingraham Angle."

LAURA INGRAHAM: Military strategists who specialize in battlefield tactics game out every move, and every step of the way, they ask serious questions like, "Will MiGs actually help turn the tide in Ukraine? And can Ukraine even maintain these older fighter planes?" Or is the media's position that it's better to consider these issues after we've spent billions replacing Poland's MiGs? Now this "spin now, ask later" approach is how the U.S. ended up without a victory in Iraq, and an embarrassing defeat in Afghanistan — we spent trillions. We lost thousands of our brave troops. We lost contractors and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians to fight a war that created an exodus of Iraqi Christians and also the rise of ISIS. Saddam was gone, a great thing, but much of Iraq was as well. A total nightmare. 

FLASHBACK: RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: CONGRESS EYES MIG-29 FIGHTER JET TRANSFER AS NEXT WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE POINT

This is precisely the time, now is the time for vigorous and open debate. And one voice that should be heard is that of U.S. Navy Reserve Officer Blake Herzinger, who writes in Foreign Policy that, "Most of Ukraine's fighter aircraft are still in the fight, flying approximately five to 10 missions per day using a pool of about 50 jets. Russian aircraft are flying nearly 200 missions per day, but keeping their planes primarily within Russian airspace. Both sides are likely exercising extreme caution to avoid ground-based air defense systems. Given this knowledge, a score of Soviet-era air superiority assets would not meaningfully improve Ukraine's military situation." And there's more. "Poland's MiGs are decades old, and many were hand-me-downs when the Poles receive them. Fighters, especially older ones, require considerable maintenance, as well as an insured pipeline of spare parts and munitions. Ukraine's capability to sustain those extra aircraft is unclear."

ZELENSKY-US-ADDRESS-CONGRESS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers a virtual address to the U.S Congress. (Drew Angerer/Pool via REUTERS)

So asking how Soviet-era MiGs will hold up against newer Russian jets with advanced avionics and defensive capabilities is an entirely rational question. So why is the establishment so afraid to answer it? Why are they afraid even to allow the question to be asked at all?

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