US Copter Shot Down in Iraq, at Least 20 Casualties

[Aimster]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. Chinook helicopter flying toward Baghdad airport was shot down Sunday and there were at least 20 casualties, the U.S. Army said.
A spokesman said the downed helicopter had been carrying 32 to 35 people. He said rescue teams were in the area where the helicopter came down.

 

[Drift3r]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031102/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_helicopter&cid=540&ncid=716

 

[Piano Man]

MSNBC

 

[VioletAura]

The Chinook was shot down by an unknown weapon

Kind of ironic.
They went to war looking for certain specific weapons and are now being attacked by unknown weapons.

Tank also attacked by unknown weapon

 

[Aimster]

blah it now says 1 died.

News media rushing information to be the first to report it.. as always

Great news better than 20+

 

[LilBlinbBlahIce]

Originally posted by: Aimster
blah it now says 1 died.

News media rushing information to be the first to report it.. as always

Great news better than 20+

but not better than 0.

 

[SViscusi]

Originally posted by: Aimster
blah it now says 1 died.

News media rushing information to be the first to report it.. as always

Great news better than 20+

Now it's up to 13 killed with 20 injured.

 

[mastertech01]

"Meanwhile, in Abu Ghraib (search), on the western edge of Baghdad, U.S. troops clashed with townspeople Sunday for the second time in three days, and witnesses reported casualties among both Americans and Iraqis. There was no immediate official confirmation."

 

[Red Dawn]

It seems that the Iraqi's were more afraid to mix it up with Hussien and his Army than they are of our Army. If they would have shown this much resistence to Hussien maybe we wouldn't of had to go there in the first place.

Fighting an Army or an organize resistence is a much easier task than battling spontaneous resistence. This is not looking good at all!

 

[mastertech01]

Even if we decided to pull our troops out, it would be much like the final days of the pull out from Vietnam I am afraid. They will hit our soldiers from all sides and the people will join them.

 

[LilBlinbBlahIce]

15 as of latest count.

 

[Red Dawn]

Incidents like this is only going to embolden the Iraqi Resistence Withdrawing now isn't the answer, maybe it's time to go back to the UN and see what kind of compromise we can come up with to get them to participate and send troops. Maybe if it is seen as an International Force instead of an American Force it might ease the tensions.

 

[tnitsuj]

Now is the time to redouble our resolve. We can not be run out of Iraq.

 

[hominid skull]

Originally posted by: tnitsuj
Now is the time to redouble our resolve. We can not be run out of Iraq.

But that looks like what's going to happen, they want to speed up the transfer of power to the Iraqis quickly now. This will only leave a power vacuum when the coalition forces leave, leaving Iraq in a state of civil unrest.

 

[dmcowen674]

and what's with this labeling the attackers Insurgents? They're uniformed Iraqi soldiers damn it. Call it what it is, they're re-organized, doing Guerilla Warfare and kicking our A$$.

Should've never made that stupid declaration "Major Combat is over" especially the publicity stunt.

We need to re-launch into full attack mode like it is Day One everyday.

History repeating itself as normal, it's 1968 all over again.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
and what's with this labeling the attackers Insurgents? They're uniformed Iraqi soldiers damn it. Call it what it is, they're re-organized, doing Guerilla Warfare and kicking our A$$.

Should've never made that stupid declaration "Major Combat is over" especially the publicity stunt.

We need to re-launch into full attack mode like it is Day One everyday.

History repeating itself as normal, it's 1968 all over again.

So what happened when we attacked Iraq? They went away. You have an army armed to the teeth (ours). Who are you going to shoot? Everyone? There was a sentiment in the 60's about what would happen if someone threw a war and no one came. Well, you have that now. They aren't going to fight us head on and I believe there was never a major effort to do so.

1) We never HAD to go into Iraq. We wanted to. Probably a lot of macho shyte to re-establish our tough guy image. It was bull then and it was now. There was never a significant threat. Iraq is now more of a danger than ever. We have provided a breeding ground for terrorists operations like there never was before.

2) Iraqis never wanted the US there. They do not want us there now and they never did in spite of the stupid polls asking the wrong questions. They wanted Saddam out and to be left alone, but the ones who really pushed for it were Iraqis who assumed power, who hadnt been there in decades in some instances. Iraqis in name only, for practical purposes. The US troops represent some degree of security. If they did, they would be turning in the resistance. I dont see that happen to any great degree, nor have I yet seen the flowers strewn along our path.

3) We will be lucky if we get out with half our ass. Mastertech is right. To stay is to get shot, and to get out is to get shot. This is a lose/lose situation. It combines the worse scenarios of both Vietnam and the last "liberation" by the Brits after WWI.

Peace in Iraq will happen about as quickly as it has for the Palestinians and Israelis. Welcome to reality. It sucks.

It seems that our push for "liberation" and "democracy" is the Crusades warmed over and dressed up in the clothes of the new Manifest Destiny, to rescue the world from itself.

 

[Cesar]

LOL

 

[Martin]

Bush and his team fcuked up and now they're paying the price (or more precicely soldiers are paying the price). It sucks, but what the US is doing now is probably the best thing possible. What are the alternatives? running away would stop the american deaths, but would cause a civil war in iraq and a huge humiliation for the US. Using saddam-like tactics would probably anger the iraqis rather than make them want to submit and would mean the US would have to torture and kill lots of people.

So the only thing you can do is stay the course, accept the deaths and make sure there's no more wars like this in the future.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Cesar
LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

 

[Cesar]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

you know why because they think they're there to fight for Freedom and Democracy and thats BS. and another thing no one forced them to join the army you know

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Cesar

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

you know why because they think they're there to fight for Freedom and Democracy and thats BS. and another thing no one forced them to join the army you know

Yeah, go sit behind your monitor and laugh about soldiers dying, you miserable piece of sh!t. This is the last time I will respond to a post of yours. Fvck you.

 

[Cesar]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

you know why because they think they're there to fight for Freedom and Democracy and thats BS. and another thing no one forced them to join the army you know

Yeah, go sit behind your monitor and laugh about soldiers dying, you miserable piece of sh!t. This is the last time I will respond to a post of yours. Fvck you.

hahahahahahahahahahah

Get thee lost Troll!

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Cesar

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

you know why because they think they're there to fight for Freedom and Democracy and thats BS. and another thing no one forced them to join the army you know

Terrible thing to say, Cesar. You neither know what any one soldier thinks, much less the mass of them, and in an insane world you need to be able to protect yourself from the insane even if it requires insanity to do it. Don't blame the trupops, blame the dicision makers. This hidious mess is Bush and his andimistration's fault. Have some sensitivity for those mangled and dead on the ground. It's profoundly sad. If you died trying to protect your family from a killer should somebody laugh and say you should have run. Just something to think about.

 

[Aimster]

You know..
I am against the war in Iraq.
I do not agree with Mr.Bush (I did vote for him)..
I have been harrased by police constantly for having olive skin color. I should hate this country, but I don't.

It is sad to hear about anyone dying in Iraq. Soldier/civilians , etc.

It is also sad to hear about any Israeli/Palestinians dying (both sides).

My point is, please don't wish death upon anyone.

Sure, there are probably people in our military who just want to go out and kill some Arabs regardless if they are civlians or military. Does that mean the majority of them do it? NO.

There is hate in every system, every country, every nationality. This doesn't mean anyone has the right to die even if they are in a war I do not support.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Cesar LOL

WTF is so funny about soldiers dying? Why don't you get off your fat ass and go stand a post? Or perhaps you just like the freedom provided for you by the very soldiers you laugh about when they get killed, but you're too much of a wimp to go anyhting about it yourself? (I'm assuming you live in the US, even if not, you're still a wimp.) I hate people like you, I really do.

you know why because they think they're there to fight for Freedom and Democracy and thats BS. and another thing no one forced them to join the army you know

Yeah, go sit behind your monitor and laugh about soldiers dying, you miserable piece of sh!t. This is the last time I will respond to a post of yours. Fvck you.

His words might sound mean but you know he is right. Where are the WMD's that Bush Jr. and company were talking about ? Why was it that Rumsfield and the gang did not deploy enough troops to the conflict for post war security detail, not to mention enough supplies in some cases ? Why are companies like Halliburton ripping off the Army and getting away with it ? Why are we locking up clerics and why did we install our own Iraqi council without a vote ? This thing is one giant turd that Bush made this nation step into and now we reek of shit because of this AWOL president. Face it we are going to pull out someday no matter what. Sure we can pull out later and hope we did enough to fix things but at the same time if we stay too long we can cause just as much damage as if we left now. People have a habit of getting tired of so called guests in their home's who treat them like second class citizens. No one likes being pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and dragged out of their homes for security searches.

Things like this and much, much more eventually build up and explode into an orgy of popular up-rising and violence. I would advise everyone to look at the British experience when they were in Iraq before us. They were cheered the day they came into Baghdad but then the next day they faced guerilla attacks up the ying, yang. No one likes an occupier in their nation no mater how nice they may seem. Face it these guys are dying for a lie and someone elses profit margin. To tell you the truth all this makes me want to cry when I think about the state of affairs that has befallen this great nation of ours and the amount of good men and women who shall die in this un-just conflict which was based on a lies and greedy motives. I truly feel sorry for the familes of everyone who has been killed on both sides.