U.S. Flew Hundreds of Refueling Missions for French in Mali

Not so uninvolved

U.S. aerial tankers have flown more than 200 missions this year to fuel French airpower supporting Paris' intervention against al Qaeda linked extremists in Mali.

The aid underscores NATO's reliance on U.S. military capabilities to stage even their own unilateral operations.

Air Force Times reported the U.S. Air Force's 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, forward deployed to Morón Air Base, Spain, from RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, England, has offloaded more than eight million pounds of fuel in 204 separate missions in support of the French Air Force as of May 15.