Insurgents Stepping Up Efforts to Down U.S. Helicopters in Iraq
An article by James Glanz in today's New York Times (Monday Feb 11) caught my eye for a couple of reasons.
In the first paragraph he quotes a deputy commanding general in Iraq who acknowledges that "the rash of recent incidents included a previously unreported downing of a Black Hawk late last month."
According to the article, Maj. Gen. Jim Simmons said that on January 25, a Black Hawk was shot down by automatic weapons fire near the Euphrates River. All aboard were accounted for. There were no casualties. The article states that in 2005, Army helicopters logged 240,000 hours, in 2006 they logged 334,000 and in 2007 they are projected to log 400,000 flight hours. Simmons reports that on average, 17 helicopters have been hit each month.
Glanz writes; "As a result of those engagements, 29 Army helicopters have been shot down in the entire conflict. He did not immediately have the the total including Marine and other helicopters, but an unofficial tally by the Brookings Institute indicates that 57 American military helicopters have either crashed or been shot down." (emphasis added) With seven going down in the last 21 days it looks like it's only getting worse.
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Comments
57 Choppers that won't be able to attack Iran
Submitted on February 14th, 2007 by B AllenAnother point made in the article.
Submitted on February 14th, 2007 by Suzy 2sWeapons 'Expert' on CNN
Submitted on February 14th, 2007 by B AllenThe guy was saying that the rotors and blades were the most susceptible areas, then the engines. But it sounds like machine gun fire can blow holes right through the bottoms.
In world of conflict, victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners - Camus
Choppers falling from the Sky
Submitted on February 14th, 2007 by Juan FloresIt's unbelievable to me that the Pentagon has billions upon billions to spend on weaponry, the greatest military budget in the world, more than the rest of the world combined. And yet choppers are shot down with automatic weapons. I don't support the mission the pilots are on. It just seems so strange that they can't be better protected.
CNN: 6 More GI's Dead Today
Submitted on February 13th, 2007 by Cubbie Girli seriously think that our
Submitted on February 13th, 2007 by ndoi think that our pentagon department is seriously considering manufacturing and deploying 20 million iraqi "citizen" neck collar in iraq.
each the citizen collar would consist of a small c4 explosive charge with a GPS wireless detonation/tracking system. all transponders would feed back to a central pentagon computer. the collar is welded locked and any attempt to remove it would auto-dentonate.
these collar are propbably the only way, our pentagon will be able to control the population at the current state of matters.
... wait a minute, i shouldnt post this. it may give them some ideas.
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i dont expect my goverment to be efficent like the nazi, just transparent and honest
The collars are only necessary...
Submitted on February 13th, 2007 by cliffi think people are smart
Submitted on February 13th, 2007 by ndoi think people are pretty smart all over the world... and they are getting smarter.
it's hard to hide things like the old days. the world is flattening in this information age.
you can easily kill people, but it's hard to kill reasonable ideas.
let's look at the "kill americans because they are occupier" idea. is it reasonable idea for the iraqis?
well, as an american or pro-american you may not think so. but let's turn things arround.
say the french invaded america and killed mr bush and disbanded congress and had 150,000 troops on our lands and did NOT say they were planning to leave.
would the idea to "kill french because they are occupiers" be a reasonable idea for americans? while, some americans may not think so... certainly a good number of americans will think that it is indeed very reasonable.
so as long as iraqi's think this a reasonable, it's very hard to stop it.
the days of colonial empire are over... you cannot easily assimulate 25 million iraqis, like you would assimulate the american indians in the old west.
... unless you plan to commit genocide.
with 2 wars, the wounds of america-iraq are deep... it will take at least few generations to heal properly.
we should admit mistakes, withdraw, and pay war reparations to the dead.
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i dont expect my goverment to be efficent like the nazi, just transparent and honest
To be fair...
Submitted on February 13th, 2007 by cliffI got that.
Submitted on February 14th, 2007 by B Allen