Iraqi official: U.S. chopper downed by missile: 5th helicopter crash in 2 weeks

MSNBC.COM ^ | 2/7/2007 | AP

[Smogger]

CAIRO, Egypt - The U.S. military said Wednesday a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter went down about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, while an Iraqi air force officer said it was downed by an anti-aircraft missile.

Al-Qaida-linked Sunni insurgents claimed responsibility for the alleged attack.

The claim was issued in an Internet statement signed by the Islamic State in Iraq, an umbrella group of several Sunni insurgent groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq. The authenticity of the statement -- posted on a Web forum where the group often issues statements -- could not be independently confirmed.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Aren't Iranians Shia? It was Sunnis who took credit for the attack.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Different times. We were at war with the Russians then.

Yes, Oceana is our friend now. Any thought that it was ever different should be tossed down the memory hole.

[tobyhill]

I'm sure MSNBC will take the terrorist word for it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17021136/

"Official says chopper not hit by hostile fire, but Iraqi insurgents claim attack"

Prayers for the troops and families.

[Seajay]

We are by no means a paper tiger or powerless

However, there are three main reasons why military action will not be taken against the Islamic Republic of Iran:

1) It will implode on its own in the near future. Military action will only unite them again. Better yet to let the middle class and students do it themselves.
2) We do not need a confrontation with the Ruskies now. The bear is now warming his frozen paws in the Persian Gulf.
3) Oil and Petrodollars.

This being said, the Israeli/US air option is on the table. This will, I fear, set us back with #1 above

[Americanexpat]

As far as I can see Afghan was pay back for Russian doing the same to us in Korea and Vietnam. They just got some payback, but not enough in my opinion.

[FreedomNeocon]

We know exactly where they are getting the missiles.

We knew and watch the transfer and sale of the missiles.

At the time we just 'warned' that the sale of them "better not show up in Iraq", because we knew they would be much more effective than what was currently in theater.

Hint... the nation also has no problem overtly selling nuclear technology to rogue nations.

[cll]

"I like the way you think"

Or as Ann Coulter would say: "Invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"

[ibtheman]

I am here presently in Iraq, I am not far from the iranian border, our troops are doing some things to interdict the movement of bad guys on and near the border. Also one of the helos that was shot down, was by an old type of anti-air heavy maching gun, an antique of a weapon! Many of the helos fly low to the ground, big problem! The media is always going to be liberial, so get used to it there negative perspective on the news here in iraq. I will say this, our troops are doing there job, but I believe the rules of engagement need to be changed, in order for the troops to be able to have more aggressive tactics here, I am talking about the army troops.

[baubau]

I think you're right, but 5 copters?

I thought this would have been the second or third.

[Albert Barr]

I am no expert but from what I know Iran is mostly Shia with some Sunni areas. However, they are Persian Shia while southern Iraqis are Arab Shia.

There have been some posts here on FR about Iran and Al-Queerda playing both sides of the coin to stir up the sectarian violence. I would not put it past them to arm both sides both to further that end and also to make life miserable for the USA.

The goal, as I see it, on the Iranian side is to destabilize Iraq, or have Iraq be viewed as unstable to draw support to the surrender monkeys in the USA.

Somehow we need to follow the trail of how the terrorists are getting weapons and support. They seem to have an unlimited supply of weapons. I read reports of weapons caches being destroyed everyday, yet the enemy always seems to get more weapons, and the weapons seem to get more sophisticated as the war goes on.

Are these weapons coming from Iran or Syria? The US government seems reluctant to supply this information. Could it be we are fighting another proxy war against Russia and the weapons are just passing through Iran or Syria? Would that be enough to make us back down on Iran? I don't know, I do know that when we have fought proxie wars in the past we have always been reluctant to go after the big guys.

[Gritty]

Jihadis don't manufacture missiles. Somebody else does and sells/gives the missiles to them. It shouldn't be too hard to determine who.

The hard part is mustering the will to do something about it other than wringing our hands and maybe sending some stripped pants babbler to "negotiate" about it.

[leadpenny]

Posted as Breaking News at 4:20 this morning:

U.S. says checking reports helicopter down in Iraq [helicopter down]

[leadpenny]

Why would you want to hide news that is being furnished by the military?

[leadpenny]

Sorry, meant to address 32 to you too.

[tubasonum]

"We shouldn't have helped those afgans against the russians... "

These are exactly my thoughts 22 years ago when I served in Soviet army. Russia never was a real threat to the US, because Russians love their children too. But Muslims are suicidal.

[detch]

I think if the President said a two star flag officer (or above) must be a passenger on each helicopter flown in Iraq, we would see a stop to this nonsense.

Helicopters are like taking candy from a kid -- proved in Afghanistan against the Russians, in Somalia against the US Army, in Vietnam, and in Iraq.

This is another case of the US Army saying, "We want an air force also."

Mr. President, please ground all helicopter ops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Russia, via Iran.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anza_%28missile%29

Anza (missile)
Mistral
FIM-43 'Redeye'
FIM-92 'Stinger'
9K32M 'Strela-2' (SA-7)
RBS 70
9K36 'Strela-3' (SA-14)
9K38 'Igla' (SA-18)
9K310 'Igla-M' (SA-16)
KP-SAM "Shin Gung"
Blowpipe
Javelin
Starburst
Starstreak
Type 91[3]
Type 93
China HN-5A/B
China QW-1/2
China FN-6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mornin' Ya'll,,, These are all the types of MANPADS
(shoulder-fired)That I could find ,,,There is a factory in T-Ran that makes
the Iranian version of the Strela SA-7
These are "tail-chasers",,,Passive-IR,,,Track the heat from the rear,,,
That (AP) "Witness" said they watched the Helo fly over,,
Heard the missile launch,,,saw the Helo on fire,,,then crash,,,The "Witness" must have been very close to the launch-site for this to have happened like he said,,,
FOX-NEWS now reporting that it was not shot down...

I have read that there are between 5,000 and 10,000 of these types of weapons in Iraq...
This will be costly...

[Finalapproach29er]

Our leaders are gutless pussies. When are we going to respond?


Pardon my slang. This pisses me off.

[IndyTiger]

In this image made from video broadcast by AP Television News, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007, smoke and flame rise from the crash site of a U.S. military CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter which went down about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Baghdad. The U.S. military did not give the cause of the crash or comment on casualties, though one U.S. military official said there were reportedly fewer than 10 people on board.