Soldiers said the Black Hawk was probably hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. It was the third US helicopter to be shot down in Iraq in the last two weeks. Last Sunday a Chinook was downed west of Baghdad, killing 16 soldiers.
The US response was swift.
After dark yesterday, F-16 fighter planes swooped over Tikrit, dropping several 500-pound bombs near the helicopter crash site. Then raids were launched around the town -- a hotbed of anti-US resistance.
Troops backed by Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles destroyed several abandoned houses which the US military believed had been used by insurgents.
"We are targeting those areas where we have had attacks on coalition forces," Russell said.
"We want to eliminate those threats."
A US Army statement said the raids were part of "Operation Ivy Cyclone", a new drive to root out guerrillas in the hostile territory around Tikrit. It said 16 people had been detained in the past 24 hours as part of the operation, and five killed.
Unfuckingbelievable. The bombings and shootings of civilians in Iraq will continue until their US support improves!
This is Revolution 101. Once the U.S. starts massive reprisals against populations in reaction to the actions of individuals, they hand a huge card to the opposition. Now, if the opposition is faced with a community that is starting to feel positive about the Americans, all they have to do is get one militant in place to do damage to the Americans there. Bring down a plane, blow up a Humvee, use a bomb against a tank, and the U.S. goes ballistic.
Pretty soon the whole community hates our guts, and the guerillas have another secure base of operations.
The helicopter in question was brought down by a single Rocket Propelled Grenade. It didn't take houses worth of militants to pull that off. Just one moderately lucky shot (and as the opposition gets more practice, the shots get less lucky).
Dropping 500 lb bombs by F15, and driving around in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Abrams tanks blowing the hell out of things is certain to punish a lot more innocent Iraqis that the guilty ones. The fighters probably headed for the hills as soon as the chopper hit the ground.
We're just making more enemies with these poorly disciplined responses.
