18 US Soldiers Killed in Iraq Today!!

[Nickdfresh]

13 killed in U.S. military copter crash in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/20/Iraq.main/index.html) -- All 13 people aboard a U.S. military helicopter were killed when it went down northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

The victims were described as passengers and crew members. Their identities were "being withheld pending notification of next of kin," the military said in a statement.

The military did not disclose the crash site and did not yet know what caused the copter to crash.

But a Diyala province security official said the copter crashed in Tarkhya, south of the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba. The province is considered one of the more violent spots in Iraq.

"Emergency coalition forces responded and secured the scene," the U.S. military said in the statement.

Last month, a CH-53 helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff in Anbar province, killing a U.S. Marine.

Two years ago, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed in western Iraq, killing 31 Marines. Officials believe bad weather was the culprit.
Soldiers, Marine killed

Also on Saturday, the military announced that two U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed in separate incidents in Iraq.

A roadside bomb killed a Task Force-Baghdad soldier and wounded another Saturday in northern Baghdad.

A Task Force Lightning soldier in Tikrit died Friday when a roadside bomb exploded, and a U.S. Marine was killed in combat Friday in Anbar province.

The deaths bring the U.S. military death toll to 3,024 -- and 27 for the month of January. Seven military contractors also have been killed since the U.S. invasion.
Coalition, Iraqi forces launch raids

U.S.-led coalition forces arrested 25 terrorist suspects, including the driver of a senior al Qaeda leader, according to the U.S. military.

The raids in western Baghdad and the cities of Tarmiya, Falluja and Balad were targeting al Qaeda members and terrorists involved in suicide attacks and the smuggling of foreign fighters into the country, the military said.

No U.S. or coalition troops were hurt, the military reported.

Separately, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. air power killed 15 insurgents and detained five wanted people during a dawn raid Saturday, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman.

The operation happened in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said.
Mortars mar start of Shiite holy month

Several mortar rounds exploded Saturday outside the provincial government complex in Karbala, despite tight security there because of the start of the Shiite holy month of Muharram, Khalaf said.

No casualties were reported, he told CNN, adding that the rounds had struck the perimeter of the complex.

Shiite pilgrims have been flocking to the city, south of Baghdad, to take part in the rites of Ashura, which begins in 10 days, and to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Karbala has two of the holiest shrines for Shiites -- the Imam Hussein and Imam Abu Fadhel al-Abbas -- and attacks have disrupted Shiite religious occasions in the past, Khalaf said.
Iran protests U.S.-initiated arrests to U.N.

Iran has sent a letter of protest to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon protesting the U.S. arrest of five Iranians as illegal and a violation of Geneva Conventions and calling for a response by the Security Council.

The letter called on the United States to release the detainees, return the seized property and compensate for damage caused to the Muslim country.

U.S. defense officials in Washington earlier in the week said they had gathered substantial information and equipment pointing to a role by Iran's Revolutionary Guard al Quds in Shiite militias.

Iran has called the building that was raided a "consulate," but the Iraqi government calls it an Iranian liaison office.

CNN's Sam Dagher and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

[Nickdfresh]

Five more were killed in an ambush in Karbala...

Someone told me long ago theres a calm before the storm,
I know; its been comin for some time.
When its over, so they say, itll rain a sunny day,
I know; shinin down like water.

Chorus:
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin down on a sunny day?

Yesterday, and days before, sun is cold and rain is hard,
I know; been that way for all my time.
til forever, on it goes through the circle, fast and slow,
I know; it cant stop, I wonder.

Chorus
Yeah!
Chorus

--John Fogerty

[LoungeMachine]

Where's ULTRAFAG'S op ed cut n pastes now?

Where's DRASSPIPE'S !!! ?

Where's Brie's "kill 'em all" jingoism?

[FORD]

Damn you to HELL Chimpy!
Damn you to HELL Cheney!
Damn you to HELL Rummy!

Damn you to HELL every Republican and AIPAC/DLC owned "democrat" who voted for this shit. And damn you twice as hard if you STILL support it :mad:

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[Nickdfresh]

January 21, 2007
Helicopter Crash Claims 12 on Deadly Day for U.S. in Iraq
By DAMIEN CAVE

BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 — On one of the deadliest days for United States forces since the Iraq war began, an American Black Hawk helicopter crashed in a Sunni area north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing all 12 soldiers onboard, the United States military said today. The military previously said 13 people died in the crash.

Iraqi officials in the area said the helicopter had been shot down, though there was no immediate confirmation from American officials.

In separate episodes, five American soldiers were killed and three wounded in a battle with gunmen who attacked the local governor’s office in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, and two soldiers died from other attacks, military officials said.

In all, 19 American soldiers died Saturday. On the worst day of the war for American forces, Jan. 26, 2005, 37 American service members died. Thirty-one of them died when a Marine helicopter crashed in the western desert, and six others in combat that day.

An Interior Ministry official and the police in Diyala Province said Saturday that the American helicopter was shot down about 4 p.m. by insurgents who had fired missiles or grenades from at least two locations. It crashed near Tarrafa Village, they said, over a rural area near the Diyala River.

The American military said that debris had been immediately surrounded and secured. Several hours after the crash, soldiers were still combing through the wreckage.

The crash occurred northeast of Baghdad near Baquba, where American and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia forces for months.

The American military also announced seven other deaths on Saturday and three deaths from earlier in the week. In addition to the five soldiers killed during the battle in Karbala, a soldier was killed in northern Baghdad on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol, and another, assigned to a unit of engineers, died of wounds from a roadside bomb in northern Iraq.

The three earlier deaths were of a sailor from Brooklyn who died Wednesday in a “noncombat-related incident” at Camp Bucca, an American-run detention center in southern Iraq; a marine who died Friday from wounds suffered in combat in Anbar Province; and a soldier who died Friday after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

The gun battle in Karbala started when “an illegally armed militia,” according to a statement from the American military, attacked the offices of the provincial government in Karbala with guns and grenades.

Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander for Multi-National Division-Baghdad, said American and Iraqi security forces were meeting at the time of the attack to ensure that Shiite pilgrims would be safe during the celebrations later this month for Ashura, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest days, which marks the seventh-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein.

Iraqi state television reported that at least two dozen gunmen assaulted the building, getting inside, and drawing a response from American troops who were dropped by helicopter onto the roof.

Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a military spokesman, said it was not clear who or how many had attacked. By 10 p.m., the building had been secured, he said.

“It was never lost,” he said. “It came under fire from a couple of directions. We responded to it.”

The attack nonetheless seemed to be the latest in a series of power struggles in the south among a patchwork of Shiite tribes and political parties. American officials have been pressing the government of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to set a date for provincial elections, which they said would firmly establish new leaders and possibly reduce the fighting.

Iraqi state television reported that a raid in south Baghdad on Saturday, with around 100 Iraqi police commandos backed by six United States helicopters, killed 15 suspected Sunni Arab insurgents.

The police found 29 bodies in the capital, many with gunshot wounds to the head.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/world/middleeast/21cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1169442000&en=65182cdeb56c503c&ei=5094&partner=homepage) Company

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine


Where's Brie's "kill 'em all" jingoism?

Kill all those raghed, inbred, heathen Islamo-fascist-terrorists!!!!

Happy now?

:)

[Steve Savicki]

Could be up to 21,500 more:

http://rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43372

:(

[BigBadBrian]

BTW, maybe we should leave Iraq.

Send in the UN once all out pandemonium breaks out between the Sunni's and Shiites.

I'd much rather see German, Dutch, or Canadian troops get killed over those Islamo-fascists-terrorists.

:gun:

[BigBadBrian]

There are three types of people in Iraq:

1. Insurgents

2. Those who will give birth to insurgents

3. Those who will grow up to be insurgents

( I'm quoting from a First Sergeant, US Army that I saw in a show on the Discovery Channel :D )

:gun:

[FORD]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
There are three types of people in Iraq:

1. Insurgents

2. Those who will give birth to insurgents

3. Those who will grow up to be insurgents

( I'm quoting from a First Sergeant, US Army that I saw in a show on the Discovery Channel :D )

:gun:

He's right, considering that "insurgents" are nothing more than pissed off patriots who want an occupying army to get the fuck out of their country. It sucks that "we" happen to be that occupying army, but it doesn't change that reality.

[Nickdfresh]

And notice he used the word "insurgent," and not some hyper-politicized bullshit term like "islamofascist," or the catch all phrase: "terrorist."

[FORD]

I'm sure the Brits called George Washington a "terrorist" back in the day. In fact I DO remember something from high school history class about the Redcoats bitching about the colonial armies not fighting like a "civilized army", because they wouldn't wear brightly colored uniforms and march in a single horizontal line into battle.

[knuckleboner]

Originally posted by FORD
He's right, considering that "insurgents" are nothing more than pissed off patriots who want an occupying army to get the fuck out of their country. It sucks that "we" happen to be that occupying army, but it doesn't change that reality.

nah. the insurgants are just that. they're not fighting the U.S. they're fighting each other. and they're not attacking their armed forces. they're blowing up other iraqi civilians in universities and grocery stores.

don't let the fact that the U.S. decision to go to war against iraq was wrong lead you into having any sympathy for the iraqi insurgants. they're not fighting for the freedom of their country. they're fighting for their own dominance over their fellow iraqis.

and yes, "iraqi" is a recent creation. nonetheless, it doesn't justify their actions; any more than their actions, after the fact, justifying the U.S. attack.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by knuckleboner
don't let the fact that the U.S. decision to go to war against iraq was wrong lead you into having any sympathy for the iraqi insurgants. they're not fighting for the freedom of their country. they're fighting for their own dominance over their fellow iraqis.

and yes, "iraqi" is a recent creation. nonetheless, it doesn't justify their actions; any more than their actions, after the fact, justifying the U.S. attack.

Well said.

People, take note.

:cool:

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Well said.

People, take note.

:cool:

WTF???

So now you're spun 180 degrees?

Take note:rolleyes:

[Steve Savicki]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian BTW, maybe we should leave Iraq.
Yes, maybe we should... years ago.

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Yes, maybe we should... years ago.

So what is everyone going to think (or do) if we do pullout. I can see the Sunnis and Shiites massacring each other by the hundreds, if not thousands.

What will the world, meaning the UN, do then?

Another Darfur or Rwanda?

[ppg960]

I feel bad for the families. They more than likely don't want this war anyways. Then to lose their children to it??
I wish the UN would pull the plug. Perhaps than Canada and Britian would pull out??
Then Bushy might get the hint and give in.

[VanHalener]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/images/iraq_photomap.jpg

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
So what is everyone going to think (or do) if we do pullout. I can see the Sunnis and Shiites massacring each other by the hundreds, if not thousands.

What will the world, meaning the UN, do then?

Another Darfur or Rwanda?

Or we could let them split up their country instead of backing a Shia gov't and army against a minority Sunni population with legitimate concerns...

It's going to get ugly no matter what, and you voted for this...

[Angel]

Originally posted by ppg960
I feel bad for the families. They more than likely don't want this war anyways. Then to lose their children to it??
I wish the UN would pull the plug. Perhaps than Canada and Britian would pull out??
Then Bushy might get the hint and give in.

Pretty damn hard for Canada to pull out of a place we're not in!

Newsflash.... Canada is not in Iraq, although we are doing a hell of a great job in Afghanistan!

Stupid fucking Canadian! :mad:

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Or we could let them split up their country instead of backing a Shia gov't and army against a minority Sunni population with legitimate concerns...

It's going to get ugly no matter what, and you voted for this...

I voted for it? Yes.

The problem with you liberals is you have tunnel vision. Nothing on the periphery or long term either.

I bet you probably didn't whine about the dead Iraqis before the war. You know, the ones Saddam kept down by brutal methods.

Dead people only matter when it suits you.

[LoungeMachine]

No, dead people matter to us when they become that way IN OUR NAME, due to actions BY OUR GOVERNMENT.

Why can't YOU get that?

[knuckleboner]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
No, dead people matter to us when they become that way IN OUR NAME, due to actions BY OUR GOVERNMENT.



one can't be a bleeding heart liberal if one only cares about the problems of our own making...

(of course, the reality is, we didn't go into iraq to free the oppressed. we went there, officially, in the name of national security.)

[ppg960]

Originally posted by Angel
Pretty damn hard for Canada to pull out of a place we're not in!

Newsflash.... Canada is not in Iraq, although we are doing a hell of a great job in Afghanistan!

Stupid fucking Canadian! :mad:

What I meant Asshole,
Is I would like to see Canada pull out of the Middle East.

Grow-up Fuck Head.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
I voted for it? Yes.

The problem with you liberals is you have tunnel vision. Nothing on the periphery or long term either.

LMFAO!! Um, okay "Ministry of Truth" spokesperson...


I bet you probably didn't whine about the dead Iraqis before the war. You know, the ones Saddam kept down by brutal methods.

Dead people only matter when it suits you.

You like the 600,000 we've helped to die? And compared to the brutal methods of the death squad/militia gov't we've put in place?

Look at the Republican dummy spout some sort of retarded talking points:

http://www.geocities.com/monica_ml/shit.jpg

A mind numbing, ridiculous post even by your standards Brianne. Time to retire trollboy...

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
Send in the UN once all out pandemonium breaks out between the Sunni's and Shiites.

I'd much rather see German, Dutch, or Canadian troops get killed over those Islamo-fascists-terrorists.

:gun:

every couple months or so you'll have a good idea

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
No, dead people matter to us when they become that way IN OUR NAME, due to actions BY OUR GOVERNMENT.

Why can't YOU get that?

not to mention we PAY for it. That pisses me off.

[Angel]

Originally posted by ppg960
What I meant Asshole,
Is I would like to see Canada pull out of the Middle East.

Grow-up Fuck Head.

Great name calling....talk about needing to grow up.