Flash - US Helicopter goes down over Najaf

Just heard a breaking news on Fox News about fighting in Najaf and a helicopter going down. Looks like a nother bloody day in Iraq!

Here is the first news link I could find!

Helicpoter goes down in Najaf fighting!

I just saw it too, but they said us hasnt confirmed it?

It'll be intereting to see whom they blame for it, and more importantly, whom suplied them the weapons........ begins with an I

[edit on 28-1-2007 by Order Out Of Chaos]

The helicopter was brought down by machine gun fire, or so I've read.

What did we learn about making assumptions?

If Iran is the only source of machine guns in the Middle East, I'm a monkey's uncle...

news.bbc.co.uk...

The provincial governor of Najaf said a US military helicopter had been shot down by what he called "enemy fire" in Zarqa, scene of the clashes, and Iraqi police were quoted as saying the two crew on board were dead.

A Reuters correspondent reported seeing an American helicopter trailing smoke after a burst of machine gun fire.

Here's a report that blames a rocket - so it's up in the air still (no pun intended).

Link

A McClatchy Newspapers correspondent from Najaf, Qasim Zen, observed the helicopter lose control and crash to the ground in flames after it appeared to have been struck by rocket fired from the ground. The correspondent had been observing the battle from a safe position about half a mile away from the fight in the village of al Zarga. Al Zarga is about 5 miles from Najaf and about 80 miles south of Baghdad.

Still trying to piece this one together, but what makes anyone assume that Iranian weapons were involved?

Insurgents had rockets stockpiled before the invasion, and used very few of them during intitial hostilities. It seems the plan all along was to wage a guerilla war against American troops, on the streets of Iraq.

Anyway, if you've seen evidence that the weapons being used are of Iranian manufacture, please post it.

[edit on 28-1-2007 by WyrdeOne]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
The helicopter was brought down by machine gun fire, or so I've read.

What did we learn about making assumptions?

If Iran is the only source of machine guns in the Middle East, I'm a monkey's uncle...

news.bbc.co.uk...

The provincial governor of Najaf said a US military helicopter had been shot down by what he called "enemy fire" in Zarqa, scene of the clashes, and Iraqi police were quoted as saying the two crew on board were dead.

A Reuters correspondent reported seeing an American helicopter trailing smoke after a burst of machine gun fire.

Here's a report that blames a rocket - so it's up in the air still (no pun intended).

Link

A McClatchy Newspapers correspondent from Najaf, Qasim Zen, observed the helicopter lose control and crash to the ground in flames after it appeared to have been struck by rocket fired from the ground. The correspondent had been observing the battle from a safe position about half a mile away from the fight in the village of al Zarga. Al Zarga is about 5 miles from Najaf and about 80 miles south of Baghdad.

Still trying to piece this one together, but what makes anyone assume that Iranian weapons were involved?

Insurgents had rockets stockpiled before the invasion, and used very few of them during intitial hostilities. It seems the plan all along was to wage a guerilla war against American troops, on the streets of Iraq.

Anyway, if you've seen evidence that the weapons being used are of Iranian manufacture, please post it.

[edit on 28-1-2007 by WyrdeOne]

This makes me think that Iran is ratcheting up its operations in Iraq. All these recent downings of helicopters seems like more and more of them are seemingly coming from MANPADs. Coupled with what I wrote on my thread about the Karbala incident and it makes a little bit of sense. Is this Iran reacting to Bush turning up the heat on Iran and the deployment of another Carrier to the Gulf? By attacking American forces in Iraq through direct and indirect means? I mean they already attack the US forces through indirect means by destablizing Iraq but are they taking it up to another level?