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.

[Let's Roll]

We gotta get some serious bang for our buck soon or the muzzies' allies in congress will shut everything down.

[jveritas]

I am not trying to hide it, I am just saying that we should not make in the breaking news section in particular when the "Operation to Control Baghdad" which started 12 hours ago is not in the breaking news section.

[repubmom]

They use helicopters to medivac our wounded...they can't ground them.

[jveritas]

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

You are a real coward, you know!

[reagan_fanatic]

The russians would still be in Afganistan if we didn't help the freegin mooslum scum

It's easy to look back at something and say it should have been done differently. The cold war was still going strong then, and this was an historic moment in time where we could sap Soviet military power without direct confrontation. It also hastened the end of the Soviet Union itself and brought about an end to the cold war. At the time, the islamist threat wasn't near as dire as it is now, and was not considered as great a threat as the Russians were.

[reagan_fanatic]

Our leaders are gutless pussies. When are we going to respond? Pardon my slang. This pisses me off.

They will never respond in the way that's necessary to win the war because the majority of the American public is against it along with most of the Congress.

I hate to say it, but we're doomed to either a long, bloody drawn-out conflict which will seem to have no end or to a cowardly withdrawal aka VietNam.

[leadpenny]

I understand your concern, however, I don't think there is anything we get here that gives an advantage to our enemies. The mods and Freepers with varied expertise catch most things that are out of line, and 99% of what is posted has already been released by the military and further filtered by the media.

[rahbert]

worries about the effects on the oil price and stock market,
not to mention on allies such as SA and Jordan.

[Madame Dufarge]

BTT

[ozzymandus]

Time for some massive, bloody payback. Both to the terrorists firing at our helicopters, and to whoever is supplying them.

[Levante]

"...how best should we punish the Iranians?"

Launching massive attacks on their terrorist camps and training centers, and killing several thousand of the bastards is a good start.

[jwparkerjr]

We are going to have to face those worries sooner or later and my belief is that you face bad situations as soon as you can, while you still have some control over the situation.

It's not going to be pretty when it comes along, but if you can't avoid it I say, get on with it.

[jwparkerjr]

Sorry, I didn't mean to say that we were powerless or a paper tiger, rather that Iran has that notion of us because we have let them attack us and our interests for over three decades now and they've never paid a price for it. You and I know that Iran could be a sea of shinning glass anytime we decide it should be that way. We understand that restraint is the better part of valor. To the Iranians though our approach is seen as a weakness.

Words cannot explain how proud I am of our strength in a dangerous world and I apologize if I seemed I was calling us 'names'.

I agree Iran is an acutely self-limiting problem, but I'm tired of waiting. It's like the picture of the buzzards sitting in a tree and one of the saying, "patience hell, let's kill something."

[tarator]

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.

I don't buy this. The mullahs are very much in control there. Look at the ease with which they got their guy (Ahmadinejad) elected. Forget the students. I was one of them in Eastern Europe in 1989. It's BS. There have to be forces far more powerful than a bunch of ragtag students for the regime to fold.

Perhaps as powerful as a couple of carrier battle groups. ;-)

[Tommyjo]

Iraq has thousands of MANPADS. Everything from basic SA-7s all the way up to the more sophisticated SA-18. Think of all those stockpiles that went missing before Coalition forces could secure weapons dumps?

[Sword_Svalbardt]

That ain't no crash - somebody just bagged our bird, and somebody else, 1 guess as to who it is, supplied these people with the weapons to shoot our birds down.

Ben Grim says it best: "It's clobberin' time!"

[Big Horn]

Is their any defense from these missiles?

[Big Horn]

Easy: sink their Navy, destroy their air force (if they have one), destroy all their armor, obliterate all their air defenses, MOAB all their nuclear plants, and execute all their agents inside Iraq.



This would break the rats heart, but I could live with that.

[RightWhale]

It is hard evidence

It is hard evidence the war is getting serious. The ground must be cleared of enemy.

[moose2004]

Russia is selling them to Iran and Syria, and Iranian Syraian agents are funneling them to Iraq.