Posted on 02/08/2007 5:00:33 AM PST by SJackson
Within two weeks, four choppers go down in Iraq. Shot down. By ene mies who previously couldn't hit the Goodyear Blimp.
Attack helicopters and transport birds, military and contractor aircraft went down. Crews KIA (in one case, executed). Did the bad guys just get lucky?
No. They have new weapons. And new training. And a new strategy.
First, the strategy: In Iraq, helicopters serve as our taxis, moving personnel quickly and - until now - safely above the carnage on the ground. Attack helicopters provide quick-response fire support to the grunts, giving us a huge advantage.
Limit our freedom to fly, and you not only reduce the ability of Apache gun-ships to kill our enemies and save friendly lives, you force us onto the roads. And the roads are where bombs and ambushes can further restrict our movement.
The insurgent/terrorist/militia strategy is to lock us down, to slow our responses - ultimately, to paralyze us. Our enemies not only seek to level the playing field, but to tilt it against us, practically and psychologically.
Good strategy. Can they make it work?
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
----------------------------
And who might those third parties be?
Iran? You bet. Even though those claiming responsibility for the shoot-downs register as Sunni Arabs, the Iranians are perfectly willing to aid their long-term enemies to defeat us in the short term, calculating that they can deal with the Sunnis later.
Who does Mr. Peters postulate / know sold them the arms? Russia.
Thanks for posting.
President Bush has done a GRRRREAT job against enemies foreign and domestic that are crawling out of the woodwork.
Very good article though.
Ping
"Hit the guilty, not their victims."
Exactly what should have been done and done exceptionally hard, the first time the terrorists killed an American. But, as the article points out, our fearless leaders, on both sides of the fence, refused to punish the guilty and by this failure, have punished the innocent to no end.
Thanks. Bump for later.
Russia has a long memory. We furnished the weapons in Afghanistan that neutralized their helicopters and helped send them home in defeat. I don't find it surprising that they are again meddling in our conflicts. They have a history of doing just that since WW2. Also remember the Russian convoy that traveled to Syria just ahead of our troops during the invasion. What were they carrying? They, like the French, aren't our friends.
Early on in WOT, a joint operation of weapons development by France and Russia were proposing to sell to China. That got halted by VP Cheney and SecDef Rumsfeld. Russia had the greater investment in the weapons development (as France had put more funds into the joint Russia/France Space Development Programs), and obviously, they sold to terrorists, instead.
This ain't an example of capitalism despite how liberals try to spin it.
Who does Mr. Peters postulate / know sold them the arms? Russia.==
Russian missiles are junk. They tell that so many time here on FR. Junk missiles are uncapable to shoot down the american stateofart hellicopter.
So look for guilty somewhere else.
When we were coming into Balad in our Blackhawk, the helicopter in back of us was shot down. It was a civilian helicopter that did not have door guns like we had and that is the reason it was downed and the crew murdered. I am convinced now that Iran is sending more effective weapons against helicopters so we are paying the price for this.
And what might that "non-cooperation" consist of? The new Russian Economy is basically a gas station, with Western Europe as a captive customer. Putin could care less whether we "cooperate" with him, or not.
On a bright note, Chavez has purchased numerous arms from Russia.
If we have proof that Iran is supplying the missiles, there's no substitute for sending Tehran an exploding Valentine. But the targets chosen should be training centers near the Iraqi border or facilities otherwise associated with Tehran's subversion efforts: Make it hurt, but spare Iran's regular military and infrastructure - for now.
Why? Because we need to continue to make every reasonable effort to show the people of Iran that we don't regard them as our enemies, only the regime that they themselves despise. Hit the guilty, not their victims.
My understanding is that there are plenty of targets in terms just of Revolutionary Guard bases in Western Iran. And the anti-regime elements in Iran generally hate the RG, albeit sometimes reserving a bit of sympathy for them as stupid, indoctrinated hicks.
Makes sense, I'd like to see us do it. Perhaps in conjunction with strikes on the political leadership.
Probably French. The French are a nation of whores, and they have a long history of selling sophisticated weaponry on the Black Market to anyone with the money. Their ordnance is well hardened and long-lasting.
Russian ordnance is well designed, but poorly constructed, and breaks-down quickly if not constantly maintained ............. FRegards
You are probably right in that regard, as well as the fact that the world's leftists' viewpoint (Russia included) is that Bush is a new imperial leader who wants do dominate the world as they always desired to. Of course, the reasons for the conflict to begin with are long forgotten by all. I hate to see it happen, but this situation will hopefully give the military a chance to see the best stuff out there and build counteractive measures.
This is World War IV, and the vacuum created by the present turbulence is likely to continue to be powerful. We're in it, we truly had no choice due to the Saddam weapons programs we were aware of already, and we either play our cards at that table, or let the bad guys fight us here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.