Posted on 03/22/2011 10:26:57 AM PDT by darkside321
Channel 4 News International Editor, Lindsey Hilsum, says that the villagers were shot when a US helicopter picked up the pilot who had ejected from the F-15E Eagle plane after it experienced a mechanical failure.
The US aircraft crashed on Monday night and was found in a field outside Benghazi and landed in rebel-held territory.
The local Libyans who were injured in the rescue mission are currently in hospital. They are the first confirmed casualities of allied operations, almost four days after operations began. At the time of writing, no one had died as a result of the gunfire.
Lindsey Hilsum has been in the hospital where some of the injured were taken. She has spoken to the father of a young boy who expects to have his leg amputated due to a bullet wound.
Gauging the reaction of locals in the area, she said: "the local Libyans do not seem resentful, they still want the coalition forces to keep operating."
Both crew members ejected and have now been flown out of Libya by US personel, according to a US military spokesman.
He said the crash was "not due to enemy or hostile actions."
The pilot and a weapons officer were aboard the fighter jet, having set off from from Aviano Air Base in Italy. On experiencing the mechanical difficulties, both pilots ejected safely, but suffered minor injuries.
The pilot was rescued by the US helicopter soon after crash landing and opposition rebels recovered the weapons officer, taking "took good care of him" before coalition forces picked him up some time later.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel4.com ...
Yep, right up until they declare victory. Lets just wait and see what they chant in the streets after the change of power happens, I bet they’ll change their tone.
I wonder what John (Bush killing innocent civilians) Kerry has to say about this?
With their other palm up screaming for reparations I bet.
Why would that be? Sure, there'll be an investigation into the cause of the crash, but if it's shown to be a mechanical failure there shouldn't be any mark against the pilots. They did what they had to do and got out of an unflyable plane.
Well so much for not putting boots on the ground.
“Since none died, I suppose they were injured by ricocheting bullets...”
Plausible explanation. Fired on directly, most would be dead.
I’m sure Mogadishu was on the minds of every American G.I. on the ground. A rescue can get ugly real quick.
What? They didn’t have the right jersey on?
The mechanical failure explanation is implausible. More likely they were hit by ground fire.
ping
Channel 4 Enquiries
PO Box 1058
Belfast BT1 9DU
At the very least, he will apologize.
What a damn mess. That is the problem when the stupid US intervenes in a situation for which we have no national interest.
Gawd, I just can’t believe this stuff.
$hit happens.
These are very fuzzy/fog, dynamic, fast paced scenarios where the stakes are high. Bad things happen. Of course there will always be those who “exploit” such tragedies. What’s important from our side is that we show a good faith effort to make right and repair what we can after such events.
Generally speaking, even the guys doing the shooting aren’t bad guys and didn’t really act in negligence, not if you analyze it given the information they had at that time, the time constraints, the gravity of the situation etc....... No witch hunts! It’s simply something that you have to expect in war.
These are very fuzzy/foggy, dynamic, fast paced scenarios where the stakes are high.
It would be great if everything is cut and dry and there were no gray area's like some canned training event, but reality is you have to make “judgment calls” in war.
You mean... Obama lied and people died?
Imagine that!
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