Israeli Military Helicopter Goes Down

[Binka]

No link yet. Will add link as soon available. Edit to add link.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/24/mideast/index.html

[Binka]

1. Haaretz Article

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742148.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Israeli Copter Crashes Near Lebanon Border

July 24, 2006, 7:34 AM EDT

REHANIYA, Israel -- An Israeli Apache helicopter crashed Monday near the Lebanese border while attempting an emergency landing, and there were two casualties, the army said.

The army said the gunship crashed when it apparently hit an electric wire. The military said earlier that six people were wounded in the crash. It did not provide any further details about the two casualties.

Israeli troops have been battling Hezbollah guerrillas on the other side of the border, but it was not immediately clear if the helicopter had been part of the fighting there.

The crash sparked a huge blaze the engulfed a hilltop orchard overlooking the town of Rehaniya, about 2 1/2 miles south of the Lebanese border. Firefighters were struggling to contain the flames to allow rescue workers to reach the burning helicopter.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-mideast-fighting-helicopter,0,168307.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[Binka]

3. Dupe

[IndianaGreen]

4. Is beginning to look like Iraq, doesn't it?

Had we has a ceasefire, these guys would be alive today rather than looking like bacon.

War solves nothing!

[Binka]

5. Indeed And The Same "Crashed" Meme

Fighting in the area has been intense but this chopper purportedly crashed into high wires. BAH. Utter bullshit!

[Canadian_moderate]

6. There's a huge difference

Israel is fighting for its survival in a region that is very hostile to its citizens. The USa being in Iraq is no comparison. It's not about the USA's survival. I think Israel's response has been very heavy-handed at times, but they are in a very tough situation where a neighbouring country is not able to control the actinons of a terrorist group within its borders.

My opinion is probably not that popular here, but I think Israel has every right to take action if the Lebanese gov't not able to stop Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli civilians.

[The Stranger]

7. Israel is not fighting for its survival, but is bombing innocents who

who never attacked it nor had anything to do with anyone who did.

Israel is a nuclear power, the world's fourth or fifth best armed and trained military, and is not fighting for its survival, in any sense of the word.

So regardless of popularity, your opinion is simply not based in fact.

[Karenina]

10. Water is crucial to Israel's survival

so bombing any and all Lebanese out of the area south of the Litani River to create it's "buffer zone" and seizing the water is part of the strategy.

[The Stranger]

12. Although I am sure water is key in the Middle East, it doesn't appear

that they have even approached the Litani River.

[mom cat]

13. And that strategy is against International Law .

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ShortnFiery]

9. Then I must conclude that Israel's leadership are just as clueless

and authoritarian as the Warmonger in our (USAs) Exectutive Branch. :(

We must rid ourselves of these power brokers: striving for perpetual warfare and treating "their enemies" with cruel and callous indifference. :grr:

[furman]

14. I agree with you

Hezbollah sympathizers and anti-Israel posters should really read up on history.

[funnymanpants]

15. This is just a smear

Posters are not against the state of Israel, nor are they for Hizbollah. They are against Israel *agression.*

[funnymanpants]

16. Disagree

Israel kidnaps people all the times from the occupied territories. In fact, it started the latest round if kidnapping sprees on June 24 by going into Gaza and kidnapping a doctor and his brother. Israel has 10,000 Palestinian prisioners, most held without charges, a practice condemned by human rights groups.

Also, see this artice:

http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/2348/1/

It's the wee hours of the morning, still dark outside. A guerilla force comes out of nowhere to kidnap a soldier. After hours of careful movement, the force reaches its target, and the ambush is on! In seconds, the soldier finds himself looking down the barrel of a rifle.

...

This description, you'll be surprised to know, has nothing to do with the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. It is the story of an arrest I carried out as an IDF soldier, in the Nablus casbah, about 10 years ago. The "soldier" was a 17-year-old boy, and we kidnapped him because he knew "someone" who had done "something."

In addition, Isael continues to steal land from the Native Palestinians. Their practices speak of aggression, not defense.

[Chulanowa]

20. About this "fighting for survival" thing...

About the last place to find a Cheyenne would be among the 7th Cavalry.
Last place you would want to be as a black man is in the midst of a Klan Rally.
Crips don't hang out with Bloods.
You don't want to be a single pregnant hispanic woman in a Republican county.

Why do the Israelis insist on staying - inded, emmigrationg - to a place that they INSIST wants nothing but their mass and utter destruction?

Don't mistake me I'm not saying they need to all get the heck out or whatever... I'm simply curious what this mentality is., "If I go there, I;m certain someone will try to kill me.. .C'mon kids, let's go live i na war zone!"

Strikes me as odd.

[heliarc]

21. I don't pretend to know anything specific...

but I like Jon Stewart's remembrance of the Ugandan situation here. Israeli hostages were taken and a very surgical strike freed the hostages and avoided all out war. Why is the policy different now? Perhaps its because they are being attacked by rockets from the north, but that condition is an old one. I want to know more about the soldiers who were kidnapped. While I don't think its plausible, I can imagine a situation where these soldiers went NOC to create a crisis that would serve an Israeli interest in occupying or attacking Hizbollah targets in Lebanon. Anybody have a link to information about the 2 soldiers who were kidnapped? Any Moussad ties there?

[smacky44]

8. "Goes down?" Interesting choice of words.

The propaganda genie has been very good for the US and Israel. However, propaganda does not reality make. Make no mistake about it, Israel is suffering much more than the media is allowed to show and for the first time their economy is suffering in a way that they have caused the economy of the Palestinians' economy to suffer in the past, though not nearly as much. Israel will take more desperate measures now, having begun an affair that is quickly making them look like the US in Iraq. The first mushroom cloud may not come from Saddam's Iraq but it may come from Israel's panic mood now that the ugly genie has been let out of mega bombs. The US and Israel have been touted as having the best intel and armed forces in the world yet, unless they blow up the planet, it seems that neither is able to subdue the soul of the people they oppress. Now that Israel has suffered a bit more than anyone had anticipated, a diplomatic course is surely in the making now.

[ShortnFiery]

11. Excellent commentary

"neither is able to subdue the soul of the people they oppress."

I thought we learned that lesson from the Vietnam War? :spank:

Kudos for your above post.

Well put. :applause:

[bemildred]

18. Two IAF pilots killed in Apache helicopter crash in Upper Galilee

Story still seems incoherent.

Two pilots were wounded when an Israel Air Force Apache helicopter crashed Monday afternoon in the Upper Galilee. It was the second accident involving the Apache helicopters in one week.

The Apache Longbow, an advanced model of the attack helicopter, was at a high altitude when it crashed and the circumstances of the incident are still not entirely clear.

Though the crash was initially thought to have been caused when the helicopter hit power lines, a preliminary investigation revealed this was likely not the cause.

---

The IDF is not eliminating the possibility that the helicopter, on its way to support ground force fighting in Bint Jbail, was brought down by Hezbollah gunfire.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742148.html

[Scurrilous]

19. Day of fighting: 2 pilots, 2 soldiers killed

Combat helicopter pilots hurt after aircraft begins taking to ground for unknown reason, hits power line, crashes and catches fire within seconds. Two IDF troops killed, 18 injured in exchanges of fire between ground forces, Hizbullah members in area between Maroun al-Ras, Bint Jbeil

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3280804,00.html

<snip>

"A day of fighting in the north Monday claimed the lives of the Apache pilots, following a combat helicopter crash near Safed. Two soldiers were killed and 18 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were injured in exchanges of fire between ground forces and Hizbullah members in the area between Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil.

Among the injured were four fighters of the Golani's Orev company, who were lightly to moderately wounded by a combat helicopter that accidentally fired at them.

The helicopter pilots were hurt after the aircraft began taking to the ground for an unknown reason, hit a power line, crashed and caught fire within seconds.

Magen David Adom crews and security forces were dispatched to the area, while more than eight firefighting crews worked to put out the fire that broke out in the area near the scene of the crash.

Light aircrafts were also dispatched to the area to assist in the operation. IDF officials estimated that the accident occurred as a result of human error or a technical malfunction."