A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands at the
American compound at Kandahar International
Airport in a photo taken earlier this month.
American compound at Kandahar International
Airport in a photo taken earlier this month.
Multiple U.S. fatalities in fighting in Afghanistan, CNN has learned. Details to come.
Can you imagine going into a battle with a gun -- yet keeping it in your holster while your enemy cuts you to ribbons with a knife, because you "don't want to take unfair advantage"?
Come on Bush,show some guts. Do a Truman, and let's get this nonsense over with.
US Chopper Shot Down in Afghanistan with Deadly Results
(CNSNews.com) - A US army helicopter "loaded with combat troops" has been shot down in eastern Afghanistan, NBC News reported Monday, and the network said there are fatalities. The CH-47 Chinook helicopter reportedly went down early Monday morning - the first helicopter brought down by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan. As many as ten Americans died, according to preliminary reports passed along by NBC. If the early reports are confirmed, this would be the most Americans killed in a combat incident since the war began.
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/03/04/national0830EST0512.DTL
(03-04) 05:30 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American helicopter was shot down over eastern Afghanistan, Pentagon sources said Monday, raising casualties in the largest ground operation of the 5-month-old war.
Eliminate them to the last man.
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| March 4 — A U.S. Army helicopter loaded with combat troops was shot down early Monday in eastern Afghanistan and several soldiers have been killed in the attack, U.S. defense officials told NBC News. The sources did not have an exact number of soldiers killed or injured, but said that fewer than 10 were believed to have died, and that the helicopter was a CH-47 Chinook. The helicopter was part of the largest U.S. operation of the war, an assault on al-Qaida holdouts believed to be hunkered down in caves. |
THE CH-47, which can carry up to 35 people, is the first U.S. aircraft shot down in the war against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden. The U.S.-led offensive included carpet bombing overnight and into Monday of the Shah-e-Kot mountain range of Paktia province, where Taliban and al-Qaida forces are believed to be hiding out in caves. Fierce resistance from those forces repulsed a U.S.-led offensive on Saturday, forcing Afghan and U.S. troops to withdraw close to the village of Gardez, about 95 miles from Kabul. One Afghan commander, Abdul Matin Hassan Kheil, who led 50 fighters at a front-line position, said coalition forces were dug in about one mile from al-Qaida bases in the Shah-e-Kot mountains. He estimated it would take a month to push the fighters from their mountain strongholds. Reuters cameraman Taras Protsiuk said he saw two F-16 fighters drop bombs Monday on Gardez. Villagers reported continued bombing raids and thick, black plumes of smoke could be seen above the snowcapped mountains not far from the Pakistan border. “In one minute I counted 15 bombs,” Rehmahe Shah, a security guard at the intelligence unit in the provincial capital Gardez, said Monday. Advertisement
On Sunday, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said that the the U.S.-led forces were engaged in “heavy” fighting against “several hundred” opposition fighters. Maj. Ralph Mills said that as of Sunday night, U.S. jets had dropped more than 270 bombs since the start of the offensive. He said targets included troop concentrations, vehicles, mortar positions, caves and anti-aircraft sites. Mills would not estimate how much longer the fighting would go on. U.S. Chinook helicopters have been carrying ammunition and food to the troops in the hills. He said no U.S. aircraft had been shot down but some Army Apache attack helicopters had sustained damage from ground fire. None were put out of action, he said.
»The Army helicopter was taking part in an assault on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters the Pentagon says were regrouping south of Gardez.
It would be the first American aircraft taken down by enemy fire in the war, following accidental crashes of other craft since the anti-terror campaign opened in October.
They have far fewer flying hours and flying experience than do the pilots of the SpecOps, 160th SOAR. I will guess that they were less experienced at flying on the deck, and that subsequently, they were flying at a higher elevation which made them a bigger target.
Since the 101st really is the helicopter division, then I'll guess it's the 101st over the 10th Mountain.
There are only 3 possibilities: 101 AirAsslt, 10th Mtn, and 160th Soar. I choose 101. I used to be in both the 101 and the 160th.
(03-04) 05:49 PST (AP) -- The incident came as the largest coalition force assembled so far in the campaign -- some 1,500 from America, Afghanistan and at least six other nations -- engaged an estimated several hundred al-Qaida and Taliban in intense firefights backed by air strikes.
Before the downing of the helicopter, the casualty toll of the operation started Friday stood at one American and three Afghans killed and an undisclosed number injured.
That raised to 20 the number of American military personnel who have died since the campaign began. The most deadly incident came Jan. 9 when six Marines were killed in the crash of a tanker plane into a mountain in Pakistan.
In the latest fighting, U.S. Chinook helicopters were ferrying in supplies to American and other troops in the hills following the start of the coalition ground attack in the area. In addition to allied Afghan fighters and U.S. Special Forces, troops from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Norway were participating.
The assault was believed to be the largest joint U.S.-Afghan military operation of the 5-month-old terrorism war. Pro-U.S. Afghan troops approached the hide-outs from three directions to isolate the fighters and prevent them from escaping.
Safi Ullah, a member of the Gardez town council, or shura, said the first stage of the offensive was designed to cut the road from Shah-e-Kot to trap al-Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains. He said the plan also involved setting up checkpoints to prevent them from getting out.
Pakistan has closed its border with eastern Afghanistan and deployed extra army units and members of the Khasadar tribal militia to catch any who try to cross the frontier and filter into its Northwest Frontier Province.
The Afgan's CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. We were fooled once, thinking we could let them do our fighting for us and they LET Bin Ladden and Omar escape, because they were paid to do so.
We will NOT make the same mistake twice.
May God bless our troops as they gallantly fight in order to keep us safe.
Dr. S
