Another U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=6383471&cKey=1137415849000

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter came down near Baghdad on Monday in what appeared to be the second shooting down of an aircraft in three days, and rebel violence is expected to escalate as Iraq's election results are confirmed.

Local witnesses said the aircraft went down after coming under rocket fire in the small town of Mishahda just north of the capital. The U.S. military confirmed that the helicopter went down but was still investigating the cause.

A military spokesman had no comment on the fate of the crew.

An Iraqi insurgent group said it had shot down the U.S. helicopter.

[BuyingThyme]

1. Since when is a Black Hawk downing a big deal?

[bigtree]

2. since we began caring about the individuals inside

[BuyingThyme]

4. Sarcasm. When Clinton was president, a downing was

grounds for impeachment, the basis for a movie, fodder for thousands of hours of talk radio; but nowadays, it's just another blip on a screen that nobody's watching.

[bigtree]

7. good points

[H2O Man]

3. I'm curious

what you mean by your post?

[BuyingThyme]

5. See above.

[H2O Man]

14. Thanks.

You scared me. It didn't seem like the BuyingThyme we know and respect on DU. I'll forgive you for being funnier than me early in the morning.

[Toots]

19. When the Afghans started downing Russian helecopters Russia's days were

numbered. that was what stopped them in their tracks. The US supplied Al Qaeda with SAMs and Stingers and Russia was defeated. I suspect a little payback is in the works.

[shoelace414]

6. It just means they are getting desperate

http://www.hairyfishnuts.com/archive/00_desperate.htm

[leftchick]

8. The THIRD Shot Down in a Week!

bush is so lucky to have the complicit M$M in his pocket otherwise there might be some outrage.

<snip>

A military spokesman had no comment on the fate of the crew. It was the third helicopter to be lost in little over a week.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-16T121310Z_01_L14609110_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml

[0007]

10. Didn't hear about the second one. Probably bad weather was the

big factor on this one going down

[leftchick]

13. nope

in the reuters article it says it was shot down. Though the military is "investigating"...

<snip>

Local witnesses said the aircraft went down after coming under rocket fire in the small town of Mishahda just north of the capital. The U.S. military confirmed that the helicopter went down but was still investigating the cause.

....that always means the witnesses are correct.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-01-16T121310Z_01_L14609110_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ.xml

[H2O Man]

15. Correct.

It is indeed the third. I am afraid that, as the US increases "air" operations, it may become more common.

[leftchick]

16. and the Iraqi coverage will go from a brownout

to a blackout.

[0007]

22. I was being facetious

[tanyev]

9. Pentagon to families: Go ahead, laugh

When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.
With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."

No joke.

"I laugh every chance I get," says the instructor, retired Army colonel James "Scotty" Scott. "That's why I'm blessed to be at the Pentagon, where we definitely need a lot of laughter in our lives."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-12-pentagon-laughter_x.htm

[xchrom]

11. it's really a part of the welcoming celebrations the iraqi's

have been meaning to give us.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Somebody forgot to notify the insurgency that they "failed".

Apparantly, they aren't listening to Boobya, Rummy, Lieberman or Hillary.

[Binka]

17. How Fucking Wide Is That Corner We Are Turning

Cuz we are still turning and it is getting mighty deadly. I think the "corner" and the "last throes" have left the building. STOP THIS FUCKING WAR!

[The Stranger]

18. "in what appeared to be the second shooting down of an aircraft . . . "

They aren't in the air any longer. They were hit by rocket fire. They ended up burning on the ground.

It "appears" to be shot down, but it could have been something else entirely.

[lectrobyte]

20. Isn't this the third helicopter lost in less than a week? I thought

there was another crash last Wednesday or so.

[catmandu57]

21. I wonder if some of the shoulder fired rockets

We supplied the Afghans with are finding their waqy to Iraq, or if the Iraqis are finding a suppliers somewhere?