US helicopter crash in western Iraq causes fatalities: Official

[herding cats]

Source: ABC

An American HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter has crashed in western Iraq on Thursday and at least some aboard were killed, according to a U.S. official.

The official said the aircraft went down near al Qaim in western Anbar Province.

A separate official told ABC News there were seven people on board the helicopter.

There was no sign of hostile fire, that official said, but it is not being ruled out at this time.

It's believed to be the first fatal helicopter crash in Iraq since the U.S. began fighting ISIS there in 2014.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-helicopter-crash-western-iraq-fatalities-official/story?id=53782732

[Skittles]

1. people still die EVERY day because of George W. Fucking Bush

remember that the next time you're tempted to wax nostalgic about how much "better" Dubya was than Trump

[llmart]

2. True!

"Mission Accomplished" said the Dunce in Chief.

[IcyPeas]

3. I hate the fact that there is no

coverage of our ongoing wars in the news.

[Sam McGee]

4. Why is a US helicopter flying over Iraq?

This could be a hint: The aircraft was an HH60 PAVE HAWK. Military aircraft named with the PAVE prefix are SIGINT aircraft. That is, they are loaded with electronic equipment and are engaged in intercepting broadcast communications.

They likely were intercepting Iraqi or ISIS cellphone traffic and other communications.

If the intercept equipment was not destroyed in the crash, this will be a serious loss.

[EX500rider]

5. Special Forces:

The MH-60G Pave Hawk's primary mission is insertion and recovery of special operations personnel, while the HH-60G Pave Hawk's core mission is recovery of personnel under hostile conditions, including combat search and rescue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_HH-60_Pave_Hawk