An al-Qaeda off-shoot of Iraqi insurgents has claimed that it shot down a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter - and killed several support soldiers in Humvees - in Iraq yesterday. The U.S. military has acknowledged the crash, which killed 12 American soldiers, but is still investigating the incident.
From Newsvine:
The Army Black Hawk crashed in good weather in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the province.
A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, said the cause had not been determined. Navy Capt. Frank Pascual, a member of a U.S. media relations team in the United Arab Emirates, told Al-Arabiya television that the helicopter was believed to have suffered technical troubles before going down.
In Washington, a senior U.S. military official said Monday that investigators had found debris near the crash scene that could belong to a shoulder-fired weapon which may have been used to shoot down the helicopter. The official, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said there was some belief that the piece of debris was a tube.
Meanwhile, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two, has challenged President Bush to "send the entire American Army to Iraq", claiming that the Mujahideen there can destroy some ten armies. Propaganda, granted, but a lot of people seem to be listening.
Also on Iraq:
Herschel points out that it doesn't seem that the ROE's have changed much since the new "surge" has been announced. Our troops are still restricted in the use of deadly force while fighting a ruthless enemy that now smells victory, thanks to the MSM and many of our own politicians (who have, essentially, surrendered), and are now using the efforts in Iraq for personal gain. There's more commentary on the ROE's in Iraq at The Captain’s Journal.
Bill Roggio on Patrolling with the Snake Eaters in Iraq.
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