4 US Dead in the Helicopter Crash were Mercenary Dynacore Employees

[leftchick]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP & WCSC) - Arsenio Domingo, a police officer from Charleston, was among twelve people killed when their helicopter crashed in Iraq over the weekend.

The military says eight service members and four civilians were killed when the UH-60 crashed late Saturday near the northern city of Tal Afar.

The area has seen heavy fighting but officials aren't saying what brought down the chopper. There's been bad weather across the country.

It was the deadliest helicopter crash in Iraq since a CH-53 Sea Stallion went down in bad weather in western Iraq almost a year ago. That crashed killed 31 Americans.

Domingo left Charleston last July for a year to work with Dynacore, a company helping to train Iraqi police officers. Domingo had been with the Charleston Police Department for 15 years, most recently working in the bond department, transporting suspects from court.

http://www.wltx.com/news/news19.aspx?storyid=33989

Yes, This Dynacore....

<snip>

I know this: that there is concern with this rush that people will get jobs -- or companies will get jobs who might be a problem. For example, last week, Henry Hyde, who is the chairman of the House International Relations Committee, brought in a senior State Department official to talk about the award of a contract to a company called Dynacore, which does security work. Dynacore had a problem in the past in the Balkans in connection with a sex scandal back in '99- 2000. And Henry Hyde's staff wanted assurances, and got assurances, from the State Department that the State Department would carefully monitor the work that Dynacore does Iraq.

http://cgi.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0304/14/asb.08.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. officials aren't saying what brought down the chopper

They will say in a couple of weeks, when it's all forgotten.

[leftchick]

5. Juan cole has suggested Sunnis in the area have the capability....

<snip>

The question is whether they were shot down. The US assaulted the city of Tal Afar in August, emptying the city, leveling neighborhoods with air strikes, and sending in Kurdish and Shiite troops after Sunni Turkmen, their political rivals. A lot of Sunni Turkmen had been Baath Party members and supported the Saddam regime, and enough had serious military experience that they would know how to get hold of a shoulder-fired missile and how to use it (typically they use SA-7s, but on occasion the guerrillas have managed to get more sophisticated SA-14s.) At least one other Blackhawk was shot down this way.

http://www.juancole.com/

[mitchum]

2. I guess my sympathy could be...bought...

I'm sure that the departed would understand

[arcane1]

3. so that's 8 service members and 4 mercenaries killed?

:shrug:

[leftchick]

6. yes

that would be right. How sad for our service members to have to ferry these overpaid killers all over Iraq. And be killed in the process. :(

[arcane1]

8. no shit

those are the bastards making six-figure salaries, with top-of-the-line equipment, and our under-paid under-armored kids are their fucking body-guards :grr:

[raysr]

4. "Little Eichmann's" ? (Ward Churchill)

[KoKo]

7. I figured they were "Military Contractors" or "Mercenaries Paid for Hire

But...you know what...they count as much as our "Regular Military" since they might be the "jobless/homeless/ventures of fortune...that Chimp and Rummy are SUCKERING INTO...a NEW PROFESSION!

So...whether they are "military or conscription or volunteer," it seems to just "My Loneself" that SOMETHING'S WRONG HERE...that Rumsfeld and his PNACK Followers (WHO NEVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY ...IN ANY WAR!) should be ISSUING ORDERS for folks who have "MISQUIDED PATRIOTISM!"

Am I just "sucking juice here?" Or, is there a REAL PROBLEM with those who NEVER SERVED...making plans to SEND OTHER TO THEIR DEATH?"

:shrug: Just asking here.........

[leetrisck]

9. You have it right

---

[leftchick]

10. no juice sucking at all

you are spot on. :(

[KoKo]

11. At some point the "Blackwater & Other Mercenaries" might be lookin for a

"Union of Mercenaries" to look out for them ....for health care and the rest?

No?