Third Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq

The Pentagon confirmed today that a third American helicopter was shot down in Iraq on Sunday. The Iraqi's sure seem to be getting a lot better at that tactic, don't they? On 20 January a Blackhawk was shot down carrying 12 Soldiers. Later in the week another Blackhawk was shot down with five crew and passengers on board. No word yet on how many perished in todays event, but suffice it to say one is too damned many.

Baghdad - A U.S. helicopter was shot down early Sunday afternoon near the provincial capital Najaf during a pitched battle with fighters described as religious fanatics.

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.

No information on U.S. casualties was available. Military public affairs officials in Baghdad said Sunday afternoon they were unaware of the helicopter downing.

The correspondent observed the helicopter shot down about 1:35 p.m. Iraqi time Sunday (5:35 a.m. EST).

The battle is being fought against alleged religious fanatics. Iraqi intelligence had received several reports that this group of fighters planned to attack the religious shrine in Karbala Wednesday, the holy day of Ashura, and to kill all the clerics.

The Iraqi officials told the correspondent that the fighters, whom he described as Saddamists and Afghanis, infiltrated the area as Ashura pilgrims commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

The battle began with U.S. aerial bombardments Saturday night. Iraqi forces ground forces sealed off the area around 3 a.m. Sunday and begin an assault, assisted by U.S. helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. Maj. Hussain Muhammed of the Iraqi Army confimed the helicopter was down. "We do not know any other details yet, but there are flames raising," he said.

Come on people. Have you had enough yet? I have. I want my fellow Americans out of Iraq. Now. The war in Iraq is illegal, immoral and craven. Those who are dying - 47 last week alone - agree to stand in the gap and serve this nation and protect out Constitution. Part of that bargain is we don't ask them to serve a specious cause, but the war in Iraq is a specious cause at best, and most likely a criminal enterprise.

It must be stopped. Now. Make your opposition known.

You can find the official websites of your Representatives and Senators on the left. Flood them with emails and phone calls. We had an election and it was a referendum on the war. Demand that those we chose listen to the American people, who want this obscenity stopped.

Our Part of 3000

This was originally posted on January 2, when casualties crossed the 3000 mark. Every time the Kansas City area suffers the loss of one of our own, this post will be updated with that troops name at the top of the list, and it will return to the top of the page and remain there until that American is laid to rest, like a flag at half-mast. That you are reading this means we have lost another.

The following is a list of the names of the Iraq war casualties from the Kansas City Metro area. All 3000 names can be found at The New York Times Faces of the Dead. Missouri has lost 54 young men and one young woman, and Kansas has lost 31 young men to the war in Iraq. Fifteen of those eighty-five have come from Kansas City and the immediate surrounding area. Here are their names and ages, listed in order of most recent casualty.

I can not imagine a more apt time to list their names than right before the President announces that election be damned, he is ordering a troop buildup and an escalation of hostilities.

Ian Anderson, 22
Prairie Village, KS
United States Army
01/15/2007

David M. Unger, 21
Leavenworth, KS
United States Army
10/17/2006

Shane R. Austin, 19
Edgerton, Kansas
United States Army
10/08/2006

Kevin L. Ziegler, 31
Overland Park, KS
United States Army
08/12/2006

Anthony M. Mazzarella, 22
Blue Springs, MO
United States Army
07/05/2005

Charles T. Wilkerson, 30
Kansas City, MO
United States Army
05/22/2005

Colby M. Farnan, 22
Weston, MO
United States Army
02/25/2005

Christopher B. Johnson, 29
Excelsior Springs, MO
United States Army
10/16/2004

Lucas A. Frantz, 22
Tonganoxie, KS
United States Army
07/08/2004

Christopher B. Wasser, 21
Ottowa, KS
United States Marine Corps
04/08/2004

Joseph L. Lister, 22
Pleasanton, KS
United States Army
11/20/2003

Joel L. Bertoldie, 20
Independence, MO
United States Army
07/18/2003

Jeremiah D. Smith, 25
Independence, MO
United States Army
05/25/2003

Jacob L. Butler, 24
Wellesville, KS
United States Army
04/01/2003

Donald R. Walters, 33
Kansas City, MO
United States Army
03/23/2003

Nicolas M. Hodson, 22
Smithville, MO
United States Army
03/22/2003

The question, to my mind, in terms of this notion that we should have gone on and occupied Iraq is how many additional American casualties would we have had to suffer? How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? And the answer I would give is not very damn many. --Dick Cheney, 1992

Twenty-One Americans Died in Iraq on Saturday

The Pentagon announced that a Marine was killed in fighting in Anbar province, and five American soldiers were killed in a firefight in Karbala. Two more were killed in roadside bombing incidents in Ninevah and North Baghdad on Saturday.

It was also announced that a U.S. Helicopter went down in Diyala province carrying 13 passengers and crew members and all perished. The announcement was not accompanied by the usual disclaimer that the craft was not shot down, leading most to speculate that it came under fire and was lost to hostility, rather than error or malfunction.

Get used to double-digit death statistics as the escalation gets underway and Americans engage in hostilities with the native population more frequently. Personally, I stashed a couple of Valium for the day we lose an entire Unit. I dread it, but I see it coming, as sure as aWol is a feckless loser who has never done one right thing in his entire miserable, wasted life.

[Updated at 8:30 p.m. on 20 January 2007 to reflect latest information.]

[Update: We were lied to by our government in an eerie shades-of-Vietnam way. Four of the five soldiers who were supposedly killed in Karbala defending their position were in fact kidnapped and executed, their bodies found 25 miles away. The attackers passed themselves off as Americans to get into position to storm the government meeting. This indicates they had insider information passed to them. Now American soldiers have to wonder if the Americans coming toward them are indeed Americans.]

3000

On the last day of the bloodiest month and the worst year so far, the death-toll of American military personnel in the criminally bungled Iraq misadventure reached a grim milestone. 3000 dead, 116 this month alone.

Bring them home. Now.

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To George Bush, They are just commas.

Unlivable

According to the Iraqi Ministry of Health, 150,000 Iraqi civillians have perished due to violence in the civil war that has torn that nation asunder since the coalition backed invasion of that country in March of 2003.

That official number puts the lie to the criticisms of the Lancet study, now doesn't it? With 150,000 confirmed civillian deaths due to violence, 650,000 overall excess deaths since the invasion doesn't seem so far fetched after all. (I told you so.)


For every fatality, three are seriously injured. These are the very real effects caused by the military action undertaken by the United States in your name. Yes, Saddam was a brute. But the country was not mired in civil war and sectarian violence. The place wasn't a huge terrorist training camp that had been ethnically cleansed of the educated and secular, mostly Sunni, middle and professional classes.

The war in Iraq is a human catastrophe of tremendous proportions. There is no easy out. We have options that are bad, worse and catastrophic. We have no good ones. We also have some bitter truths to accept. Chief among these bitter truths: When we invaded Iraq, we played right into the hands of the Mullahs in Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war of the 80's ended, but it was not won. Not until the United States invaded Iraq, anyway; we toppled the one power in the region that kept the Iranian regime in check and emboldened the Shi'ite majority to start extracting revenge against the Sunni minority that had ruled the country since independence.

The Iraq war let a big angry Genie out of his bottle. It also put the largest oil reserves on the planet outside Saudi Arabia under Shia feet and Shia control.

Somebody didn't take their logic problems to their conclusions, and the unconsidereds have proven deadly...To 650,000 Iraqis and the United States Constitution.

Who still thinks it's been worth it?

And how the hell do we get out?