Ironduke

Six die in US helicopter crash

A US Black Hawk helicopter has crashed outside a US military base near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing all six soldiers on board.
The American army is investigating whether the chopper was attacked or suffered mechanical problems.

US troops have secured the crash scene near the Tigris River in northern Iraq.

Last weekend, a Chinook helicopter was shot down, killing 16 soldiers in the biggest single strike on US forces since they invaded Iraq.


The Black Hawk went down on a riverbank along the Tigris River about a kilometre from the US base in Saddam Hussein's former palace in Tikrit.

"We don't know if it was a mechanical failure or hostile fire," said US Major Josslyn Aberle.

She said officials were looking into reports that loud booms were heard just before the Black Hawk went down.

Some American soldiers have been reported as saying the helicopter was probably shot by a rocket-propelled grenade.

US helicopters could be seen flying over the scene hours later, scouring the area for possible attackers, while US tanks, Humvees and infantry took up positions around the site.

All the soldiers killed were from the 101st Airborne Division.

If confirmed, it would be the third American helicopter to be brought down in two weeks.

As well as the attack on the Chinook, another Black Hawk helicopter was shot down near Tikrit on 25 October, injuring one crew member.

Tikrit lies in the heart of the "Sunni Triangle" - the region around Baghdad seen as most loyal to the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.

It has been the scene of continued resistance to US-led forces.

Residents watched the smoke rise from the wreckage, barely hiding their glee, the French news agency AFP reported.

"I saw one of the helicopters shot from the side and I saw smoke and a ball of fire. I felt happy and started shouting 'God is great'," 19-year-old Saqr Ghani told the news agency.

Turkish refusal

In continuing violence, two American soldiers have been killed within the last 24 hours in Mosul.

One died and six were injured when their convoy was ambushed early on Friday, the US Army said.

A soldier from the same division - the 101st Airborne - was killed by a roadside bomb on Thursday.

Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and close to the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas which border Turkey, was quiet until relatively recently.

Correspondents say there is concern among US commanders that guerrilla attacks are spreading north from the Sunni Triangle.

In a blow for the Bush administration, a Turkish Government official says Ankara has decided not to implement last month's decision to send troops to Iraq.

Washington is trying to build up an international force to help shoulder the burden of patrolling and stabilising the country.

Poland, which heads a 9,000-strong multinational force across a large area of central and southern Iraq, lost its first soldier in an attack on a military convoy on Thursday.

'Warning?'

The attack on the Black Hawk came a day after a memorial service was held for the men killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down on Sunday.

"Death was in the cause of freedom. They were serving our country and answering our nation's call to fight terrorists," Colonel David Teeples, commanding officer of the men's unit, said.

Army officials said the Chinook's crew apparently had a warning of an approaching missile seconds before it struck, the Associated Press reports.

The crew managed to launch flares designed to draw the heat-seeking missile away but the defensive measure did not work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3249493.stm

__________________
The Buck Stops Here

Ray

One more river
and thats the River of Babylon


thats how the song goes.
When will it end?

How many down?
How many to go?:brick

__________________


"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Lunatock

Ungrateful bastards. They get saved from Saddam's leadership. And this is the thanks America gets.

Being blessed with the short temper that was passed down to me.

The thought of using a scorched earth tactic on an Iraqi village or town, and pro American slogans yelled into a camera afterwards crossed my mind.

Praxus

Beware of the patient man(country in this case).

Ray

Ungrateful. Saved from Saddam.

These are matters of perception. No nation, how useless it might be likes to have another Nation deciding their future or their destiny. E.g. Canda does not like US's big brother attitude even though their independence is not at stake or under the US leadership.

Likewise, US rejected the UN since it did not want the UN to tell them what to do. When the majority in the UN was against the war in Iraq, US felt the other way and went right ahead.

Therefore, what is 'ungrateful' for the US citizen, is 'defiance against an occupier' for the Iraqis. Saddam was bad. We feel so. Many Iraqis feel so too, but maybe not the whole lot or else how come these chaps shoot off missiles, RPGs and they are not reported against to the US Army in Iraq?

While I do not condone the senseless killings by both sides, one must look at it from a pragmatic point of view. Maybe I have that luxury since I am not affected. If I were, maybe I too would have felt that the Iraqis are ungrateful.

ChrisF202

On CNN last night, it said that a US Army major general was killed, is this true? They are not reporting this anymore

Ray

It is stated in another forum that the JAG was on board another helicopter and he was the actual target.

The news states that it was an RPG. How can an RPG take on unless it was flying low.

Leader

Don't make this sound like the Israel/Palestinian mess. There is a clearly defined good side here. Us. I'm tired of people putting terrorists and fascists on the same level as American troops.

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ChrisF202

I feel your pain

s_qwert63

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- Military sources say they believe a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile brought down a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, killing all six aboard.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/me...ain/index.html

It was a SAM.

ChrisF202

This is the second shootdown in a week, overall this was our bloodiest week with 32 KIA