N CENTRAL IRAQ, March 24 - With a hail of small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, Iraqi forces downed two Apache helicopters today and forced 30 other helicopters in their brigade back to their base. Posted on 03/24/2003 11:39:39 AM PST by JohnHuang2
N CENTRAL IRAQ, March 24 - With a hail of small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, Iraqi forces downed two Apache helicopters today and forced 30 other helicopters in their brigade back to their base.
One two-member crew was unaccounted for; the other was rescued. Iraqi state television broadcast images of one downed helicopter, which appeared largely intact, and jubilant men dancing around it.
All 32 helicopters sustained some damage, occasionally slight, Army officials said, in what was a significant setback for the allies.
Fighting continued today in Nasiriya, meanwhile, after the death of 10 marines there on Sunday in the deadliest battle of the war so far.
The attack on the helicopters today surprised American Army leaders and may cause them to adjust their military strategy, which relied on the Apaches to destroy Iraq's armored divisions that ring Baghdad.
The commander of the American-led invasion of Iraq confirmed the loss of one Apache helicopter.
``The fate of the crew is uncertain right now,'' Gen. Tommy R. Franks said at a news briefing at Central Command in Qatar. We characterize that crew, two men, as missing in action.''
General Franks denied that the helicopter had been shot down by farmers, as Iraq claimed, but did not say what had forced it out of the air.
A CNN correspondent accompanying the United States Army Fifth Corps 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment, said the unit had been on a night-time combat mission targeting units of the elite Republican Guard.
The correspondent cited one of the pilots as saying they had run into a ``hornet's nest, a barrage of antiaircraft fire,'' near the city of Kerbala, 70 miles southwest of Baghdad, the closest fighting to the Iraqi capital since the war began last Thursday.
The Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, said at a news conference: ``Farmers shot down two Apaches. We showed one today and might show the second and the pilots.''
``We are holding several other American and British prisoners and we may show some of them,'' the minister said.
The Apaches use a powerful radar, called the Longbow, that directs their Hellfire missiles.
But the Apaches are suddenly coming under attack from relatively low-technology weaponry.
Saddam Hussein ``is fighting an asymmetrical warfare,'' said Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakly, assistant commander of the 101st Division. ``This is not tank on tank fighting.''
The attack took place near the village of Abu Mustafe, north of Al Hillah, and capped a punishing 24 hours for the allied offensive.
General Freakly said that in an attack like the one on the helicopters, ``you have 10 guys lying on top of a building firing R.P.G.'s and small arms. You can go in and bomb that building and reduce it to rubble,'' but at the potential cost of many civilian lives.
The Army now may consider new tactics, such as additional close aerial bombardment, to support the Apaches as they hunt for armored divisions.
The Apaches were from the 11th Aviation Regiment, based in Germany, and are attached to the V Corps.
Sandstorms are roiling the area, blowing at 25 knots, and are likely to rise to 40 knots on Tuesday and Wednesday. At 30 knots, a meteorologist said, visibility becomes practically nil.
General Franks also said today that the tenacity of some Iraqi units, including the fedayeen, was no surprise and that American-led forces had had some ``terrific firefights.''
The Republican Guard has been hit, he said, and ``they will continue to be hit, at points and places and times that make sense to us. The effect has been very positive for us.''
Operation Iraqi Freedom: Day 4
"It was the toughest day of resistance that we've had thus far," U.S. Army General John Abizaid told reporters at Central Command headquarters Sunday. "We understand that there may be other tough days ahead of us but the outcome is still certain."
The General, in other words, sees victory ahead for the good guys.
So does his boss, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Tommy Franks.
Speaking to reporters Saturday, he said "this [war] will be a campaign unlike any other in history...characterized by shock, by surprise, by flexibility, by employment of precise munitions on a scale never before seen and by application of overwhelming force."
The outcome? While "tough days" lie ahead, Gen. Franks predicts "The outcome is not in doubt."
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "We're basically on our plan and moving towards Baghdad" and to victory.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld agrees.
"The closer we get to Baghdad, the greater the pressure, the more likely" the Iraqi military surrenders, he said Sunday.
Rummy's boss, Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, struck a similar tone yesterday.
"This is just the beginning of a tough fight," said the President, returning to Washington from a weekend at Camp David. "We are slowly but surely achieving our objective."
Hold on, there -- not so fast, says the media. Abizaid, Franks, Myers, Rumsfeld and Bush are all wrong. Have they consulted military experts Peter Arnett or Eleanor Clift? Apparently not. Heck, they refuse to confer even with famed Helen Thomas, unrivaled military strategist who writes editorials for a living.
Day 4 into Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the press says it's had enough -- its patience has worn out, completely. It's tired of waiting for Allied victory. What's taking this war so long? C'mon, it's been a full -- whopping -- 99+ hours, so why isn't Iraq Switzerland yet? Where are the new shopping malls? Where's the new Parliament? What? No free and open elections yet? Why not?
It's not like Iraq had an army -- 400,000 regular troops, 23 divisions and Republican Guard units -- or anything. They don't. Well, okay, they do.
But...
After 4 days, all pockets of resistance should disappear -- everywhere, magically; every route, every road, every bridge completely secured; Saddam's elite Republican Guard should either be working for Habitat for Humanity or conducting seminars on human rights. It's been 4 days, already! Sheesh!
Saddam's specially trained guerrillas and security forces? Should be on street corners selling Girls Scout Cookies and waving Old Glory by now.
After 4 days, all of this could flawlessly be achieved with zero U.S. casualties, zero POWs, no friendly-fire, zero errors -- no mistakes, no slips, no flubs, no foul-ups or missteps, whatsoever.
Instead, the media says not only is America losing, the war's already been lost; we're bogged down -- in the middle of a protracted, 4-day quagmire, you see.
So how badly did we lose this war?
Not a pretty picture -- brace yourself. Coalition forces were so badly defeated, in fact, they now own southern Iraq. Invincible Republican Guard forces were swept invincibly from Umm Qasr to Basra; both towns were, in another stinging setback for coalition forces, liberated by coalition forces. 'Out-flanked' and 'out-maneuvered,' coalition forces marched on to 'defeat' in Nassiriyah, capturing the city, forcing Saddam's 51st Division into surrender, including top commanders. 'Foiled' and 'stymied,' coalition forces have now converged on Baghdad -- the Third U.S. Infantry Division on the outskirts of the capital, poised to strike. The Jerusalem Post, citing Pentagon officials, reports coalition forces captured a 'huge' chemical weapons facility near Najaf -- the smoking gun.
So, we're days away from liberating every square inch of a country the size of California.
Some defeat, eh?
The shocking images of captured American POWs paraded on enemy TV were truly disgusting and revolting; their barbaric treatment only underscores the monsterous nature of the Saddam regime.
Our thoughts and our prayers are with them and with their loved ones; we pray for their safe return home.
God bless our President, God bless our troops and God bless the United States of America!
My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
Monday, March 24, 2003
The Latest article says those AAA installations are the subject of massive bombing, which makes the purpose of the Apache run Clear (drawing them out...)
I'm proud of our crews.
I'd bet that our guys are already thinking up some tricks for making Saddam's terrorists screw up and expose themselves to the Apaches.
Trying to identify Saddam's tanks at night, when the tanks are embedded in built-up rural areas, is obviously going to attract attention to the loud Apache. We need some diversions with which to keep Saddam's troops busy while the Apaches attend to the hardware.
I think that this would call for a little Napalm or Fuel-Air bombs followed closely by C-130 Gun Ships.
Kudos to the builders/designers of the Apache though. Got our men through it.
P.S....How do you draw them out, without presenting a target worthy of attacking?
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