News from Mesopotamia
From yesterday's Washington Post. Hey--more uniting, right? And nation-building! I know that's really crass and cynical. In no way do I wish to cheapen the deaths of the hundreds of US soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. Nothing would please me more than for every trooper to come back hale and whole. I'm trying to say bad things about the people who sent them there based on a pack of lies and with no plans for what to do once "major combat operations" ended (whatever the hell that means).
Also, here's more from today's WaPo.
"U.S. troops trying to reach the downed aircraft were attacked by gunmen, the reporter said."
In military terms, that's called an ambush. And it takes a certain level of guerrilla warfare know-how. A "pack of thugs" wouldn't be doing things like that. Damn you, PNAC.
UPDATE: Good news. Looks like the helicopter crew has been rescued unharmed. If, as the news reports claim, this was an HH-53, those have a crew of five (if I recall correctly), plus whatever passengers may be on board. Also, that's a Vietnam-era craft. They started flying in the late 1960's. I didn't know that they were still in use.
From yesterday's Washington Post. Hey--more uniting, right? And nation-building! I know that's really crass and cynical. In no way do I wish to cheapen the deaths of the hundreds of US soldiers and thousands of Iraqis. Nothing would please me more than for every trooper to come back hale and whole. I'm trying to say bad things about the people who sent them there based on a pack of lies and with no plans for what to do once "major combat operations" ended (whatever the hell that means).
Also, here's more from today's WaPo.
"U.S. troops trying to reach the downed aircraft were attacked by gunmen, the reporter said."
In military terms, that's called an ambush. And it takes a certain level of guerrilla warfare know-how. A "pack of thugs" wouldn't be doing things like that. Damn you, PNAC.
UPDATE: Good news. Looks like the helicopter crew has been rescued unharmed. If, as the news reports claim, this was an HH-53, those have a crew of five (if I recall correctly), plus whatever passengers may be on board. Also, that's a Vietnam-era craft. They started flying in the late 1960's. I didn't know that they were still in use.
posted by Jude at 8:49 AM
