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Americans attack militants in Iraq, killing scores BAGHDAD American forces attacked militants in western Iraq on Thursday, killing scores in one of the largest and most lethal operations since President George W. Bush declared that the major fighting was over. The attack began Thursday morning when U.S. warplanes bombed the enemy camp. After the air strike, army Special Operations forces and troops from the 101st Airborne Division moved in on the ground. The United States suffered one casualty, an army Special Operations soldier who was wounded in the leg. An army AH-64 attack helicopter was shot down during the attack,...

US Troops Raid Iraqi 'Terrorist' Camp, Apache Down Thu June 12, 2003 12:15 PM ET By Andrew Marshall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces attacked a guerrilla camp northwest of Baghdad on Thursday with air raids and ground troops, and battled irregular Iraqi fighters who brought down an Apache helicopter in the west of Iraq. Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, declined to say whether the Apache was shot down during the assault on what the U.S. army called a "terrorist training camp." He said the camp was attacked with "lethal force" in an operation that was...

I am not a military expert. To the extent I have military opinions I am certain that there are a lot of people who have better informed opinions about military issues than I do and I respect them for their expertise in this vital field of human endeavor. I am sorry if my thoughts on the war and how it is going are not as well informed or give offence to those who know more about military issues as I do.  I have always been pro-military my entire life, and I have been in the 30 to 37 percent tax...

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<p>The Army's only retreat in the lightning-fast war to oust Saddam Hussein came after an Iraqi general in the town of Najaf cell-phoned ahead to his troops that a regiment of Apache attack helicopters was on the way.</p> <p>"He used it to speed-dial a number of Iraqi defenders," Lt. Gen. William Wallace, the commander of Army V Corps in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday via a teleconference hookup from Baghdad. "As our attack aviation approached the attack positions, they came under intense enemy fire."</p>

Save the Apache, Lose the Gold Plating By David H. HackworthAs our magnificent warriors return from Iraq, they will tell the folks who sweated them out at home what really went down during their bold march to Baghdad and will catch them up on all the inside skinny concerning the war's winners and losers.              At first glance, one of the big equipment losers is the U.S. Army's crown jewel, the Longbow Apache helicopter gunship (AH-64D model). Especially since a Longbow squadron got ventilated March 24 over the city of Karbala when 34 of these $24 million birds –...

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...

FOR a few days Abid Minqash was the most famous man in Iraq. Today, however, his farm, in the Hindiyah district, an hour’s drive from Baghdad, takes some finding. It is not just the confusing network of lanes and irrigation canals, or the dust storm that throws an orange cast over the land. Strangers have been here before asking after Mr Abid, and the local people do not like talking about him. “Don’t know” is the typical answer to inquiries about his whereabouts. Two children point in opposite and equally misleading directions. “He’s one of the big liars,” one man...

The elderly Iraqi farmer who, according to Baghdad officials, literally shot his way to fame by downing a state-of-the-art US Apache helicopter with an old carbine has flatly denied he had anything to do with the crash. At the height of the war, Iraqi TV showed pictures of the downed aircraft and said it had been shot down by farmer Ali Abid Minqash. It broadcast poetry in praise of the "farmer who harvests both rice and Apaches". The local branch of the agricultural union also presented Mr Minqash with a plaque to commemorate his action. Pictures of the results of...

U.S. ARMY AVIATION BASE CAMP, Central Iraq — Hassan and Abbas Abed were thrilled and amazed a few Sundays ago, when dozens of AH-64 Apache helicopters swooped low over their farm fields a few miles from the city of An Najaf. They could never have imagined the world’s most powerful fleet of attack helicopters would choose to park its aircraft among the fields where the Abed family grows grain and raises sheep. Sand berms and concertina wire now separate them from part of their land where the U.S. Army set up shop for the war with Iraq. Hassan and his...

FORT WORTH, Texas - The U.S. Army has rushed a handful of upgrades for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter into the field in recent months, making the aircraft easier to deploy and extending its combat range by nearly an hour, according to industry and government officials. Several of the upgrades, part of the Apache's proposed Block 3 modernization program, weren't intended to be incorporated for several years. However, they became more urgent last fall as Pentagon leaders began planning the buildup of forces for an invasion of Iraq, Col. Ralph Pallotta, program director for the Apache program, said April 10.The...

First Apache American above the center of Baghdad American combat helicopters Apache flew over Tuesday morning the center of the Iraqi capital for the first time since the beginning of the war, March 20, noted a journalist of the AFP. At least two Apache were seen in the sky, whirling above the south-eastern districts of the capital. The appearance of American helicopters in the sky of Baghdad, for the first time since the beginning of the battle for the conquest of the city, intervened whereas violent ones engagements made rage between the Iraqi combatants and the American forces, which...

now compare this to this pic

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 4/4/03 -Raids on Baghdad, Palaces, Airport, STRIKE VIDEOS BREAKING: Baghdad - Blackout - and crescendo shock and awe BREAKING: Saddam's Presidential Palace - raid BREAKING: Tharthar Palace - raid BREAKING: Chemical Ali''s House - taken BREAKING: Saddam Jessica Lynch International Airport - weapons hot BREAKING: STRIKE VIDEOS : Apache helicopters, Iraqi tanks, anti-aircraft missile launchers, meeting complex, An Najaf, artillery launcher, Karbala, communication facility, Ar Rutbah, bunker, Mosul, armored personnel carrier, trucks and other vehicles, Al Amarah, surface to air missile facility, fuel tank, radar ========= the ex-Saddam International Airport ========= Coalition...

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(CBS) Blasts are again rattling Baghdad, as U.S. forces engage Iraq’s Republican Guard with an aerial assault by Apache helicopters. The Pentagon acknowledges one helicopter has gone down; its two-man crew has apparently been seen on Iraqi television. Monday's clash with the Republican Guard was the first meeting of U.S.-led forces and Iraq’s best-trained military force. A fierce battle is still going on south of Baghdad, as Apache helicopters take aim at Iraq’s Republican Guard defending the capital. U.S. officials tell CBS News Correspondent David Martin that the Republican Guard is authorized to deploy chemical weapons when U.S. forces get...

<p>CENTRAL IRAQ, Iraq, March 24-The Iraq war's first deep assault by attack helicopters turned into a frenzied battle early this morning as U.S. pilots came under intense fire from anti-aircraft artillery and individual Iraqis with rifles, pilots said. One AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter went down in Iraqi-held territory, due either to enemy fire or mechanical failure.</p>

The United States military has confirmed that one of its Apache helicopters has come down in Iraq. Iraqi television showed pictures of the helicopter, which it said was shot down near the city of Karbala, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south-west of Baghdad. A pilot from the US Army Fifth Corps 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment reportedly said his unit hit a "hornet's nest, a barrage of anti-aircraft fire". A correspondent for the US television network CNN travelling with the division said he had seen between 10 and 30 bullet holes in the helicopters involved. The personnel had come back "feeling surprised,...

Bret Beier on Fox News is reporting that the Apache seen on Iraqi tv was not shot down but had mechanical problems -- which jibes with the condition of the Apache as seen on TV. Beier is also reporting that 3rd Infantry is engaging the al Medina division of the Republican Guard at Karbala. Beier said this is the first major engagement of the war

March 24, 2003 Hail of Gunfire and Grenades Forces Apaches to Pull BackBy JIM DWYER 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...