Civilian helicopter said crashed in Baghdad

Reuters) ^ | January 23rd 2007 | Reuters

[Cardhu]

Civilian helicopter said crashed in Baghdad

1 hour, 49 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday reports that a helicopter had gone down in central Baghdad appeared to refer to a civilian aircraft.

"No coalition forces aircraft are reported as down. Coalition forces are investigating what appears to be a crashed civilian aircraft," a U.S. statement said, responding to a query on reports of a crashed helicopter.

Some private security firms use helicopters to guard civilian convoys and personnel in Iraq

Residents in central Baghdad told Reuters earlier they saw a helicopter come down and some said it had been shot first -- there were differing accounts of whether it crashed or made an emergency landing. One resident said he saw four bodies in the wreckage though there was no immediate confirmation of that.

On Saturday a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing all 12 on board. CNN quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying it was most likely brought down by a shoulder-fired missile.

[Cardhu]

No word on how it happend.

[rhombus]

On Saturday a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing all 12 on board. CNN quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying it was most likely brought down by a shoulder-fired missile.

Made in Iran?

[Fighting Irish]

Blackwater?

[Cardhu]

Possible...

[dc-zoo]

Man that really sucks.

[af_vet_rr]

Hopefully they can get to it and retrieve the bodies before they are messed with by certain groups - unfortunately there are parts of Baghdad we do not control, and I could just see one of these groups taking the bodies and doing some nasty stuff just so they'd have another video to upload to the internet.

[Cardhu]

If it has been shot down, then, that adds a new and more dangerous development to the conflict, making it two in three days.

[Cardhu]

I hope they were on the scene fairly quickly so that what you fear has not happened.

[Paco]

unfortunately there are parts of Baghdad we do not control

Now that's a statement that just boggles my mind! I understand that its true, but knowing that, why is it that we don't just carpet bomb those areas and clean them out the old fashioned way? I'm so disappointed that Bush has turned out to be a weak Commander in Chief. Having politicos fight the war is no way to win a war. Turn our military LOOSE!!!

[La Enchiladita]

No word on how it happend.

Hmmmmm......

[AFPhys]

Please report in. Prayers for you and all our countrymen.

[af_vet_rr]

Now that's a statement that just boggles my mind! I understand that its true, but knowing that, why is it that we don't just carpet bomb those areas and clean them out the old fashioned way? I'm so disappointed that Bush has turned out to be a weak Commander in Chief. Having politicos fight the war is no way to win a war. Turn our military LOOSE!!!

Because it's 2007, not 1945, and because nobody in the administration has made the case that this is an all-out war. If we went in and carpet-bombed those areas, for every terrorist we kill, we'd be killing a dozen or more civilians. The American public would not stand for it, nor would the rest of the world.

It's beyond the scope of this thread, but it's a fundamental issue about who we are as a nation - we would rather (in most cases) let terrorists live than to risk killing large numbers of innocent civilians. Does that make us better than the terrorists? You betcha. Does that make us weaker than the terrorists? Yep, you betcha. They know we would rather let them go than to go after them and risk civilian casualties, and they use this to their advantage.

I'm not saying it's bad that we don't try to eliminate every one of these terrorists - we have the luxury right now of allowing them to live (and by proxy the civilians around them), but there could be a time where we don't have that luxury, and when it happens, we have to have somebody in the White House that not only has a backbone, but that can explain their decision to the American public and to the world.

[Cardhu]

Blackwater?

Snip

...A senior Iraqi military official said the aircraft was shot down, but this was disputed by a U.S. military official in Washington. The Iraqi said the helicopter was hit by a machine gunner over the Fadhil neighborhood on the east side of the Tigris River, while the American official said there was no indication in initial reports that the aircraft, owned by Blackwater USA, had been shot down.

A second U.S. official, in Baghdad, said the five killed were Americans. All the officials demanded anonymity because the details had not been made public. The Americans said they did not know what caused the aircraft to crash.

The U.S. official in Baghdad said there was no information to substantiate reports that the bodies had been shot.

Witnesses in the Fadhil neighborhood reported seeing the helicopter go down after gunmen on the ground opened fire and were believed to have shot the pilot or co-pilot or both. Accounts varied, but all were consistent that at least one person operating the aircraft had been shot and badly hurt before the crash.

The helicopter was believed to have been flying escort above a VIP convoy on the ground as it headed away from the heavily fortified Green Zone to an undisclosed destination.

A spokeswoman for Blackwater USA, which is based in far northeastern North Carolina, declined to comment Tuesday. "We really don't have any information for you yet," said spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell. The company provides security for State Department officials in Iraq, trains military units from around the world, and works for corporate clients.

Katy Helvenston, mother of Scott Helvenston, a Blackwater employee who died in March 2004, said Tuesday's crash "just breaks my heart."

"I'm so sick of these kids dying," she said.

snip...

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