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Pakistan gave China access to the previously unknown "stealth" helicopter that crashed during the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May despite explicit requests from the CIA not to... The revelation, if confirmed, is likely to further shake the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which has been improving slightly after hitting its lowest point in decades following the May 2 bin Laden raid. ... "The US now has information that Pakistan, particularly the ISI, gave access to the Chinese military to the downed helicopter in Abbottabad," ... Pakistan, which enjoys a close relationship with China, allowed Chinese intelligence officials to take...

Report: Pakistan Gave China Access To 'Stealth' Chopper In bin Laden Raid Chinese military allowed to take photographs, samples of aircraft's 'skin', despite CIA objections, Financial Times reports ISLAMABAD — Pakistan gave China access to the previously unknown "stealth" helicopter that crashed during the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May despite explicit requests from the CIA not to, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The revelation, if confirmed, is likely to further shake the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, which has been improving slightly after hitting its lowest point in decades following the May 2 bin Laden raid. During the...

Pakistan to Return U.S. Chopper Tail By TOM WRIGHT and MATTHEW ROSENBERG ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has agreed to return the tail section of a U.S. helicopter used in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden earlier this month. Sen. John Kerry, who met Monday with senior Pakistani civilian and military officials in Islamabad, said the gesture was among a number of steps both countries had agreed to take to rebuild shattered relations. Pakistan is angered over the unilateral raid that targeted bin Laden in Abbottabad, a military garrison town 40 miles from Islamabad.

Secrets: Good news of bin Laden's death may be followed by bad news of Pakistan giving China a peek at our downed helicopter. Will we be threatened by our own technology? They are something out of the latest Batman flick, the modified Black Hawk helicopters that were used in the raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistani compound. With a curious hublike housing around the unusually configured rear-rotor, among other things, it was clearly designed to be as quiet and stealthy as possible. When one of the copters clipped a wall in bin Laden's compound, it had to be destroyed, leaving...

Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggest the Chinese are as well. The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also "very interested" in seeing the remains. Another official said, "We might let them [the Chinese] take a look." A U.S. official said he did not know if the Pakistanis had offered a peak to the Chinese, but said he would be "shocked" if...

Stealth Blackhawk Used In Bin Laden Raid? May 4, 2011 By Glenn Pew, Contributing Editor, Video Editor Images of what appears to be the tail-rotor of one the helicopters used in Sunday's raid on Osama bin Laden's compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan, are hitting the internet, and may be a glimpse at something special. The parts don't appear to come from the standard military catalogue. According to the Army Times, the aircraft "were a radar-evading variant of the special operations MH-60 Blackhawk." That aircraft has hard edges like those on the F-117 Nighthawk and incorporates similar low-observable technology.

I’m still skeptical, but Army Times’ ace reporter on all things special ops, Sean Naylor, used his very good source base to produce this piece saying that the secret helicopter that crashed during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was indeed a stealth version of the MH-60 Black Hawk. The helicopters that flew the Navy SEALs on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden were a radar-evading variant of the special operations MH-60 Black Hawk, according to a retired special operations aviator. The helicopter’s low-observable technology is similar to that of the F-117 Stealth Fighter the retired special operations...

Sikorsky Aircraft's international variant of the Black Hawk helicopter, being produced Poland, has been flown there for the first time. The company, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., said the flight marked a milestone for the S-70i program. "The S-70i Black Hawk helicopter program has been executed seamlessly and Sikorsky Aircraft celebrates this landmark moment," said Robert Mastronardi, S-70i senior program manager, Sikorsky Military Systems. "With each milestone our team was focused on producing an exceptional and unique product, while continuing to globalize our company.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. will compete jointly for the contract to replace the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of combat search and rescue helicopters. The two companies signed a teaming agreement formalizing their intent to offer an advanced version of Sikorsky’s UH-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter for the Air Force’s HH-60 Personnel Recovery Recapitalization program (HH-60 Recap). The agreement positions Sikorsky as prime contractor, with Lockheed Martin as the major subsystems supplier. The HH-60 Recap program seeks to replace the 112 existing HH-60G PAVE HAWK™ helicopter fleet with an equal number of new...

The first S-70iTM BLACK HAWK helicopter has successfully completed its first flight, officially launching an international variant and the newest Sikorsky Aircraft product to follow in the legacy of the BLACK HAWK helicopter. Aircraft 0001, the first in the new product line, was built at PZL Mielec, a Sikorsky Aircraft company in Poland. PZL Mielec has been established as the hub of the S-70i program for international customers. The successful first flight of the S-70i aircraft took place on July 1 at the Sikorsky Development Flight Center. "Aeronautical history was made with the first flight of the S-70i BLACK HAWK...

Sikorsky Aircraft builds 1st Black Hawk in Poland WARSAW, Poland Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. says it has built its first Black Hawk helicopter at a Polish facility that once helped arm the Soviet bloc. The Stratford, Connecticut-based helicopter-maker and military contractor said Monday it has completed assembly of the first S-70i Black Hawk, an international variant of the helicopter, destined for European armies. It was assembled at PZL Mielec, a fixed-wing aircraft manufacturer that Sikorsky bought three years ago and is modernizing. Sikorsky plans to produce 20 Black Hawks a year at the site in southeastern Poland starting in 2012. The...

With nearly $12.5 billion in the proposed U.S. Navy and Army rotorcraft budget for Fiscal 2011, it would seem the services are flush with funding. And yet there is an eerie theme common to the programs receiving dollars: None of them is new. The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released Feb. 1 in conjunction with the Fiscal 2011 budget request, puts availability of rotary-wing assets at the top of its list to ensure success in counterinsurgency, stability and counterterrorism operations. The UH-60M Black Hawk is the big winner for the Army, with $1.25 billion requested to sustain production of 74 aircraft....

We're going to be leaving VBC in a little over two hours to head back to Kuwait. We got back so late after a long day and night of traveling that a couple of us just decided it would be easier to stay up and try to post something. The first couple of days here were spent sticking pretty close to Baghdad and never dealing with flights of more than twenty minutes or so. Today they looked to the edge of the map and decided to send us there. It was the first time we had to catch connecting Blackhawks....

Light and small unmanned aerial vehicles, like the Blank's Predator, are increasingly common -- though rarely spotted in the sky. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. wants to bring that same technology to its much heavier Black Hawk helicopters. The company announced a billion-dollar venture, Sikorsky Innovations, to help transform the Black Hawk from mechanical workhorse to computerized aircraft, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle. The Black Hawk is a mainstay of the U.S. arsenal in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it is perfectly suited to traverse vast stretches of deserts and mountains. But its heavy use has also led to deadly...

What a day. Went to work on a Blackhawk, which was different. But A FREAKIN' BLAST! [caption id="attachment_1552" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Limo Is Here"][/caption] We haven't determined exactly whether we're allowed to mention the names of the places we're going now right away. We'll clear that up tomorrow. I understood that we were allowed to tell you all about it as soon as we finished and return to Baghdad but a couple of my colleagues thought differently. So I'll err on the side of caution. All I will say for now is that we went to two different places today....

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2010 – Unlike many of her peers, Army 1st Lt. Kerney Scott, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, didn’t grow up dreaming of flight. Army 1st Lt. Kerney Scott, far right, her five siblings and brother-in-law John Gowel, second from left, pose for a picture at her family’s home in Lorton, Va. Scott is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and aviation officer serving in South Korea. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. It wasn’t until she learned about the lifesaving impact of flight on soldiers that she shifted gears. “After my brother, Andy, deployed at the...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 12, 2009) — Tammy Duckworth is now a major in the Army National Guard, a former Democratic Party congressional candidate, and an assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs. But on Nov. 12, 2004, Duckworth’s life was likely saved by the quick action of other National Guardsmen when she was piloting a helicopter that insurgents shot down in Iraq. Those Missouri National Guardsmen assigned to helicopter duty at Fort Leonard Wood attended Duckworth’s fifth “Alive Day” Thursday in Washington, D.C. Staff Sgt. Christopher Fierce, a Dixon resident who was also wounded that day, has...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Sept. 14, 2009) — The Missouri National Guard now has the capability and training to provide hoist extractions with some of its UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 106th Assault Helicopter Battalion of Fort Leonard Wood and the Springfield-based 1107th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group trained using hoists from Aug. 28 to 30 in Springfield. The hoists can be used to extract up to 600 pounds of personnel or cargo per lift into a Black Hawk during appropriate state or national emergencies. Possible uses are lifting stranded people off cars and rooftops...

<p>Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 | 3:15 a.m.</p> <p>The U.S. military says a Blackhawk helicopter has crashed inn an American base in Iraq, killing 1 service member and wounding 12 others.</p> <p>The military says the helicopter went down Saturday night at the Balad Air Base, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad. It says the cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation.</p>

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The Army has identified four soldiers killed in a helicopter training accident in Colorado. Those killed in Wednesday's crash were 40-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Terrance Geer, 41-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Robert Johnson, 33-year-old Staff Sgt. Paul Jackson and 28-year-old Staff Sgt. Chad Tucker. The soldiers identified Friday were all members of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell. Army Special Operations Command officials say their MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed while conducting mountain and environmental training near Colorado's second-highest summit, Mount Massive -snip-

A US Black Hawk helicopter was forced to crash land outside the Afghan capital Friday but all seven US crew and passengers on board were safely evacuated, the US military said. The incident came one day after an Afghan army helicopter crashed in the west of the country, killing a senior general and 12 other members of the Afghan National Army. Thursday's accident was believed to have been caused by poor weather which may also have played a part in Friday's crash-landing of the Black Hawk, officials said. SNIP

The New York Times is criticizing Ave Maria Mutual Funds, whose Web site promises “smart investing and Catholic values.� Now, I'm not getting into the merits of the company which I don't know. I don't have the money to do much investing anyway. But the Times Editorial Staff used a little story about Ave Maria as a jumping off point to make a political point about the Church. Ave Maria says it is designed for people who want to put their money “in companies that do not violate core teachings of the Catholic Church.� It says it screens companies using...

Excerpt - In March 2007 the U.S. government charged Axion Corp., a small business in Huntsville, Ala., with illegally giving technical drawings for a Blackhawk helicopter part to manufacturers in China. The prosecutors seized Axion's assets and took away its government contract business. The company won an acquittal at trial a year later, but by that time, it was out of business. Axion is the latest in a string of aggressive prosecutions brought by Birmingham U.S. Attorney Alice Martin. Those prosecutions are marked by convictions overturned and innocent men wronged. Two judges have openly questioned whether she knowingly prosecuted innocent...

TIKRIT, Iraq – A UH-60 Blackhawk experienced an in-flight emergency which required a precautionary landing in At Ta’Mim Province, Feb. 15. The Blackhawk made a safe landing in an unsecured area while its wingman provided security and called for Coalition air and ground security forces. The Iraqi Police from the Sargaran Police District were the first to arrive on scene and immediately secured the area, allowing crew members time to troubleshoot their Blackhawk. Coalition forces said that the IP response, support, and cooperation allowed the safe evacuation of passengers and eventual safe recovery of the aircraft. “Sargaran Iraqi Police, without...

12 Heroes supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom died in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 20, 2007 when "Easy 40", the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter they were in, crashed. These Heroes have been honored in their home towns, and they are now to be honored as a group with a common burial in the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, with calling hours from 1800-2000 hours on 11 October at Murphy's Funeral Home in Arlington, VA and burial services from the Old Chapel at Ft. Meyer on 12 October at approximately 0900 hours. PGR will stand tall and honor these Heroes Who Stood...

BAGHDAD -- A Black Hawk helicopter went down Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, lashed out at American criticism a day after President George W. Bush expressed frustration with the Iraqi government's inability to bridge political divisions. "No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people," the Shiite leader said at a news conference in Damascus at the end of a three-day visit to Syria.

Iraq crash kills 14 US soldiers Fourteen US soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash overnight in northern Iraq, the US military has said. The UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter carrying 10 soldiers and four crewmembers crashed after experiencing a mechanical malfunction, a US statement said. There were reportedly no indications of hostile fire and the cause of the malfunction is under investigation. The Task Force Lightning helicopter was one of two Blackhawks carrying out a night operation, the military added.

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 9 (UPI) -- A new facility will speed up refurbishing of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters used by the Army in Iraq as well as the National Guard's domestic missions. The opening of the Black Hawk Retrofit Center in Fort Worth, Texas, will enable technicians to work on as many as 10 choppers simultaneously and ramp up the work flow as the Black Hawk racks up flight hours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Texas Aviation Services, which operates the Fort Worth facility, says it expects to get more UH-60 aircraft in shape faster as Army and National Guard...

BLACK Hawk 221 was hovering only metres above the deck of HMAS Kanimbla, a few seconds from landing, when it became clear something was wrong. * Video: Black Hawk crash The helicopter's engines began screaming, its rotors seemed to droop, and the pilots were heard to swear. "It was either 'Oh shit' or 'Oh f..k, then I heard them start talking to each other really quickly and I could tell they were trying to sort it out," one of the Black Hawk's crew yesterday told the board of inquiry into last November's crash off Fiji, which claimed the lives of...

‘Black Hawk’ Troops Persist in Bringing Peace to Haifa Street Attacks on coalition forces in area drop more than 50 percent. By Spc. Alexis Harrison2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division BAGHDAD, April 10, 2007 — Troops from 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division patrol the Haifa Street area daily, shadowed by scores of children who greet them at every stop they make to ask for chocolate or a soccer ball.   Most of the soldiers don't mind handing out sweets for the children while walking through the war-torn neighborhood the children call...

4 Americans in Iraq Crash Shot in Head Wednesday January 24, 2007 3:01 PM By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Four of the five Americans killed when a U.S. security company's helicopter crashed in a dangerous Sunni neighborhood in central Baghdad were shot execution style in the back the head, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Wednesday. A senior Iraqi military official said a machine gunner downed the helicopter, but a U.S. military official in Washington said there were no indications that the aircraft, owned by Blackwater USA, had been shot out of the sky. In Washington,...

(AP) CAIRO, Egypt -- An insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for the downing this week of a U.S. helicopter in Baghdad that killed five Americans posted a video on an Islamic Web site showing the wreckage and two bodies. The 1-minute, 14-second video carried the logo of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a known Sunni militant group. It showed wreckage of a helicopter with bricks scattered around it. The naked bodies of two men, one with gray hair and the other with dark hair, were seen near the wreckage. "Our heroes were able to shoot the film of the helicopter...

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. military's chief medical officer for Iraq was among a group of 12 high-ranking soldiers killed on Saturday in a helicopter crash outside Baghdad, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Col. Brian Allgood, 46, was an orthopedic surgeon serving as command surgeon in Iraq. He and 11 other officers, mostly combat support personnel, were on what defense officials said was likely an "orientation flight" ahead of the arrival of other soldiers. Defense officials, however, declined discuss the group's specific mission at the time of the crash. Army officials also declined to say why a dozen...

Cairo: An al Qaeda-linked coalition of Iraqi Sunni insurgents claimed yesterday its fighters shot down an American military helicopter in a crash that killed 12 United States soldiers on Saturday, while in Baghdad two car bombs ripped through a busy market, killing 88 people. The insurgent coalition, the Islamic State in Iraq, posted the claim about the helicopter on an Islamic website, saying “the lions of Iraq’s Islamic state managed to down a Black Hawk on Saturday, which was followed by a clash with the Crusaders, and that led to the destruction of two Humvees and the annihilation of those...

THE Navy will use more high tech equipment to determine whether it is practical to try to reach the Army Black Hawk helicopter which crashed into the sea of Fiji last month, killing two defence personnel. The Navy has now pinpointed the location of the Black Hawk's locator beacon nearly 3km under the sea. ..... The Navy said a special pinger locating drone, borrowed from the US Navy, was towed by the survey ship HMAS Melville and located the beacon on its first pass over the crash site on Friday. ..... The Black Hawk crashed into the sea on November...

THE bagpipes that played Amazing Grace had just fallen silent when Black Hawk pilot Mark Bingley's widow, Melissa, stopped following his flag-draped coffin, clutched her baby son tight and waited at the top of the stairs outside the cathedral in which his funeral had just been held. She looked up to the sky and broke down as four Black Hawks flying in formation swept into view, a tribute to a soldier, husband and father who was described yesterday as a "perfectionist with a gift for flying". About 400 people filled StJames Cathedral in Townsville, northern Queensland, to say goodbye to...

THE Australian pilot killed in a Black Hawk crash has been revealed as one of the country's most experienced soldiers. Captain Mark Bingley, 35, a veteran of conflicts in East Timor, Cambodia and the Solomon Islands and a father-of-one, was named yesterday as the pilot of the helicopter that crashed into the ocean south of Fiji. Hopes were fading last night for 28-year-old Corporal Joshua Porter, an SAS soldier missing since the helicopter sank into water 2000m to 3000m deep. Last night Prime Minister John Howard said: "The search goes on for the missing trooper. We are hoping and praying...

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Sept. 23 — They call her the “Black Hawk Down” lady. And in the corner of her dirt yard, beneath rags drying in the sun and next to a bowl of filthy wash water, she keeps a chunk of history that most Americans would probably like to forget. It is the battered nose of a Black Hawk helicopter, from one of the two that got shot down in Mogadishu on Oct. 3, 1993, in an infamous battle that killed 18 Americans, led to a major foreign policy shift and spawned a big movie. The Black Hawk Down lady...

Sikorsky Black Hawk choppers to be made in Poland The PZL Aviation Company in Mielec is to become the production and assembly center for the American Black Hawk helicopter. Story by Slawek Szefs 21.09.06 An agreement on this has just been signed by the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Poland's Industrial Development Agency, the owner of PZL. The PZL plant in Mielec is one of the most experienced aviation works in Poland. However, ruthless mechanisms of economic transformations and lack of profitable contracts have undermined its financial standings. Now, the ailing company could receive Sikorsky investments to the tune of several...

UPDATE 1-Sikorsky targets buyout of Polish aircraft maker Wed Sep 20, 2006 11:27am ET By Ewa Krukowska WARSAW, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft maker Sikorsky on Wednesday announced plans to set up a Polish assembly plant for its Black Hawk helicopters with a view eventually to buying out state-owned Polish firm PZL Mielec. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. President Jeffrey Pino said the company, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), was considering a "substantial" deal to buy Mielec, but declined to give details. Under a preliminary memorandum signed on Wednesday, Sikorsky will fund Mielec's investment in the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2006 – The bodies of two soldiers missing after an Aug. 8 helicopter crash in Iraq’s Anbar province have been recovered, U.S. officials announced today. Both soldiers died as a result of the accident. “Our thoughts are with the families of the soldiers,” Marine spokesman Maj. Riccoh Player said. The U.S. Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the 82nd Aviation Ambulance Company, in direct support of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, went down with six servicemembers on board during an area familiarization flight. The remaining four servicemembers, two Army and two Navy, are in stable condition. Aircraft recovery efforts...

Multi-National Corps – Iraq Press Release Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory APO AE 09342 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 9, 2006 Release No. 20060809-01 Coalition Force helicopter goes down in Al Anbar CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq – A U.S. Army UH – 60 Blackhawk helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing went down August 8 in Al Anbar Province with six Coalition forces on board during an area familiarization flight. The aircraft has been located. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing for two missing crewmembers. The remaining four are in stable condition. “We are using all the resources available to find our...

A new bird soon will be flying over Fort Hood. While negotiations are ongoing on how much the UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopter might cost the Army, the West Fort Hood-based Operational Test Command is set to try out the helicopter this fall. Pilots with the 21st Air Cavalry Brigade began training on the helicopter last week, and the first tests are scheduled to begin in October, said Lt. Col. Chip Lunn, product manager from Redstone Arsenal, Ala., who is coordinating the tests with the local command. The version is a solution to needing an upgraded helicopter but not having...

Satisfied with the first twelve NH90 helicopters it bought (and will not receive until next year), Australia has ordered another 34, at a cost of $44 million each. The first twelve were bought to replace Vietnam war era UH-1s. The new lot will replace aging Sea Kings and Blackhawks. Delivery of the 34 helicopters will take place over the next nine years. NH Industries, the European firm the makes the NH90, has been eating into the export market for American made Blackhawk transport helicopters. Over 500 NH90s have been sold so far, and often they beat out Blackhawk for sales....

Ex-Marine Colonel and current leader of the Cowardice Caucus in the House of Representatives, John Murtha has now made the transition from gutless Congressional peace activist to outright laughingstock. He began his atmospheric rise to liberal icon status by breathlessly intoning the President to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq so that they can be extracted from an Iraqi "civil war". Not content to merely serve as Defeatist in Chief, Murtha doubled down to be come one of the biggest Blue Falcons in Marine Corps history by prematurely condemning as guilty several of his ex-comrades- Semper Backstabis. Now from the NRO...

LOW-key services in Townsville, Perth and East Timor tomorrow were to mark the 10th anniversary of one of the worst tragedies in Australian military history. Survivors of the 1996 Black Hawk helicopter collision – which killed 18 soldiers and air crew – will join families and other colleagues of the victims in remembering those who died on the High Range training course, near Townsville. The biggest remembrance ceremony will be held in Perth, where 60 family members have been flown at the defence force's expense. Fifteen of the 18 servicemen killed were members of the Special Air Service Regiment based...

Will watch for terrorists, drug-runners and illegal immigrants EDMONTON --The United States will be using Blackhawk helicopters and planes along the Montana border with Alberta and Saskatchewan to watch for terrorists, drug-runners and illegal immigrants. The aircraft will be equipped with cutting-edge photographic surveillance and monitoring equipment to watch for any suspicious activity, a spokesman for Montana Republican Senator Conrad Burns said Friday. Matt Mackowiak said the beefed-up border security comes in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. "(Sept. 11) taught us a lot, and the northern border requires greater security and greater surveillance,''...

Four Civilians Died in Iraq Chopper Crash, Officials Say By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2006 – U.S. military officials in Iraq say four civilians were killed in a Jan. 7 helicopter crash along with eight U.S. military members aboard, a senior official said here today. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters that Multinational Force Iraq officials confirmed civilian passengers were aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk, which crashed in a remote area 12 kilometers east of Tal Afar, Iraq. "They haven't ruled anything in or out as a possible cause," Di Rita said. "There...

Breaking headline. Details to follow.

With all the finger pointing going on over the "disastrous" disaster relief efforts on the part of the federal government, I thought it would be informative to share an exchange between a well-intentioned sideliner who is critical of the response time of the military to relief efforts in New Orleans, and a U.S. Naval officer.