BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 4, 2007
U.S. To Change Helicopter Tactics In Iraq
4 Choppers Shot Down In 2 Weeks; Insurgents Claim "New Ways" To Fight
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The crashes, which began Jan. 20, follow insurgent claims that they have received new stocks of anti-aircraft weapons — and a recent boast by Sunni militants that "God has granted new ways" to threaten U.S. aircraft.
All four helicopters were shot down during a recent increase in violence, which an Interior Ministry official said has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the past week alone. At least 103 people were killed or found dead Sunday, most of them in Baghdad, police reported.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters that the investigations into the crashes of three Army and one private helicopter were incomplete but "it does appear they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down."
It was the first time a senior figure in the U.S. Iraq command had said publicly that all four helicopters were shot down.
Despite the losses, Caldwell said it was premature to conclude that the threat to U.S. aircraft posed by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen had increased dramatically.
"There's been an ongoing effort since we've been here to target our helicopters," Caldwell said. "Based on what we have seen, we're already making adjustments in our tactics and techniques and procedures as to how we employ our helicopters."
Caldwell did not elaborate, presumably for security reasons. In the past, defensive measures have included flying lower and faster, varying routes and using zigzag patterns over dangerous areas.
Three crashed in mostly Sunni areas and the fourth was shot down during fighting with Shiite cultists near Najaf. U.S. officials have accused Iran of providing sophisticated weapons to Shiite militants.
In December, a spokesman for Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath party, Khudair al-Murshidi, told The Associated Press in Damascus, Syria, that Sunni insurgents had received shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles and "we are going to surprise them," meaning U.S. forces.
Al-Murshidi did not say when or how the missiles were obtained.
Insurgents have used SA-7s, a shoulder-fired missile with an infrared homing device, against U.S. and British aircraft since 2003.
In an Internet statement, the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the latest crash — an Apache Longbow helicopter that went down Friday north of Baghdad, killing two crew members.
"We tell the enemies of God that the airspace of the Islamic State in Iraq is prohibited to your aircraft just like its lands are," the statement said. "God has granted new ways for the soldiers of the State of Iraq to confront your aircraft."
It was unclear if the "new ways" referred to new and advanced anti-aircraft weapons — such as SA-18 missiles — or was simply a boast.
U.S. military helicopters are equipped with long-range sensors and devices to jam radar and infrared technology, but they have proven vulnerable to intense gunfire, as well as rocket-propelled grenades.
The crashes have occurred in the run-up to the new U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown, in which an additional 21,500 American troops and about 8,000 Iraqi soldiers are being sent mostly to Baghdad in another bid to quell sectarian violence.
Iraqi Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, a Shiite named to lead the crackdown, will take charge Monday and the operation will begin "very soon thereafter," U.S. adviser Col. Douglass Heckman said.
In other developments:
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Add a Comment See all 26 Comments
- "Be Careful What You Wish For"
There is a dizzying menu of reasons, given by this administration, as to why an ivasion of Iraq was launched. They are used individually, interchangeably and every so often a new "reason" is added. Now we hear, from the C-in-C, that the US invasion in Iraq was necessary to prevent Saddam from turning Iraq into a terrorist staging post.
The ironies here are so bitter, the rationale so mind-boggling and the contradictions so glaring that one can only but wonder whether the administration believes its public to be simple. The facts, the truth and the evidence - Reply to this comment
- We invaded THEIR country, unwanted, unwelcomed, so WE are the enemy there.
If they can bring down some of our copters bravo for them, we'd be doing the same dam thing here if the Chinese army invaded the US to remove our president and "rebuild" America after bombing the krap out of Washington.
So the way I see it, they have a right to defend themselves against OUR aggression and illegal war.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or terorists or WMD. - Reply to this comment
- mh4cbs1:
Well said - you hit the nail on the head many times. - Reply to this comment
- Nice touch for Maj Gen Caldwell to BLAME the downed birds on IRANIAN weapons. By saying so, it's also nice of Maj Gen Caldwell to spread his "hate" propaganda to induce even more hostilities towards Arabs in the U.S. You a**hole!
- Reply to this comment
- royrroy:
"let me see mcdazz, have you done your service to the country? I think not. Shut up!!"
Tsk, tsk, royrroy, such anger.
Here's an idea - if you support GW Bush and his moronic policies, why don't you go down to the local recruitment center and join up instead of letting others do the fighting for you?
Of course, if you're as I suspect you are and either mentally deficient, too fat or too old, just do us all a favor and take a short walk off a tall mountain.
I hope you're the last in your bloodline. - Reply to this comment
- jimcraig68:
GET A CLUE!! Are you the only one in America who still believes Duck Cheney's LIE about 9/11 having anything to do with Iraq?
Do you still believe the LIES about Aluminum tubes, Niger yellowcake, meetings in Prague, Bio-moblie labs? Do you even know what I am talking about? Have you not read the Downing Street Memos, the PNAC papers, the books and articles by former CIA, weapons inspectors and even people who were in theBush Adminstration?
Larry Wilkerson, Tyler Drumheller, Richard Clarke, Scott Ritter to start. Try "Web of Deciet".
Ever heard of curveball? Chalabi? Office of Special Plans in DoD set up by Cheney and Runmmy?
This is ALL mainstream public record of FACT.
We were LIED into IRaq for some Neo-Con wet dream vision of a US global dominated new world order. That is why Cheney (and his puppet Bush) will never leave - regardless of the Death and Destruction.
Fascism relies on ignorant, compliant, flag-waving false patriotic citizenry. It worked for Hitler and it has been working well for Cheney and Bush till things didn't go as planned and the America Sheeple started to wake up to the FACT that we were LIED into this DISASTER in Iraq.
GET A CLUE! - Reply to this comment
- I have an idea shot at any one who shots at you!!!!!!!!!!!
- Reply to this comment
- John Lennon said it best in a song - "Give Peace a Chance". He didn't realize that all parties involved must have the same hunger for peace. Sometimes one has to convince the other party that peace is in their best interest. Sometimes that means inflicting enough force, pain, or death on someone or their group - in a way convincing enough for them to see the errors in their ways. In this case, be patient while our President resolves the conflict that we did not create with these people. With the attack on our nation it is a simple matter of kill or be killed. There is nothing further to say!
- Reply to this comment
- "On Memorial Day weekend in 2006 Cher called in to C-Span, endorsing Operation Helmet, an organization started by a doctor which provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to those ordered to deploy in the near future. She identified herself as a caller from Malibu, California, and proceeded to complain about the current presidential administration. She read aloud a letter from a soldier on the ground in Iraq, praising Operation Helmet's efforts, and decrying the lack of protection afforded by the military's provisions for troops." - Wikipedia
- Reply to this comment
- RE: "U.S. To Change Helicopter Tactics In Iraq
4 Choppers Shot Down In 2 Weeks; Insurgents Claim "New Ways" To Fight"
Here's a great new tactic to try:
Elect a new Commande-in-Chief in 2008. Hopefully one who won't need singer-clebrity Cher to tell him that the troops' body armor in Iraq is inadequate.
George ("I got you, babe") Bush wasn't aware of that until Cher raised a fuss about it. - Reply to this comment
