Monday, November 3, 2003

Songs To Sing At A Retirement Party

dead two U.S. soldiers shot down a helicopter, killing of U.S. soldiers

[...] Yesterday was a big hit in the air Chinook transport helicopter. He had just uploaded some thirty soldiers from bases in the region of Falluja and was on his way to Baghdad. From there the soldiers were to leave for two weeks of license, according to the program announced by the Pentagon to begin from September 25 (the first contingent of about 300 men had returned to Baghdad 's October 11). Most were going to find families in the United States, someone wanted to take a vacation in Europe. After the first flash on local radio, the balance of blood grows with the passing of time. In the evening at least 16 are confirmed dead, 20 wounded, many of whom semicarbonizzati and in desperate conditions. The causes? For now, the command spokesman in Baghdad merely repeat that it is' open an 'inquiry'. But according to witnesses on the spot, the 'helicopter would was hit by a missile in flight-to-air . Perhaps the same model SA-7 ('Strela') of Soviet-made, supplied 's former army of Saddam Hussein, that October 25 had shot down a Black Hawk helicopter to battle in the region of Tikrit, wounding five of the men board. Even then, a spokesman for the first time the U.S. had remained vague, to allow 24 hours after the aircraft had been downed by a rocket. A serious problem for Americans. The guerrilla forces are proving increasingly active and sophisticated. For some time the Pentagon says that thousands of land-air missiles are missing in the country in secret arsenals. The first serious alarm had come July 17 when a C-130 military transport had been grazed by a missile while landing at 'international airport in Baghdad. An incident that prompted many foreign airlines to halt plans to open links with Baghdad and in fact caused substantial damage to the standardization process in Iraq. But the 'attack yesterday radically change the situation on the ground. D 'now Americans should review their operational strategies across the country. In fact, since June, when the guerrillas are now daily raids against ground troops (recently increased to thirty per day), the Americans resorted to a massive 'use of helicopters. Even in Baghdad, a large proportion of the patrols is done by 'air . After every attack the first to arrive on site are their own helicopters, which in some cases fall commandos selected on the roofs of buildings to ensure the highest area. So it was after ten rockets at 'dawn of October 26 had hit the' Rashid hotel, which housed much of the staff of 'U.S. administration in the city, the Black Hawk uprights heavy machine guns on the nose mill have long in the sky to try to find (unsuccessfully) the car of the bombers. The U.S. response is the one announced by the interim governor, Paul Bremer, two days ago to accelerate the transition of power to the Iraqi government and especially strengthen the local security forces. But the actions of the guerrillas are however, forcing the military leaders to step up patrols on the ground actions. For about three days Auja, the small native village of Saddam in the area of \u200b\u200bTikrit, was completely isolated with barbed wire and checkpoints. E 'belief that the population of the military's active support of Saddam loyalists still in arms. Its inhabitants can move only after receiving a special identity card, issued after careful controls. Last night raids were also underway in the area of \u200b\u200bFallujah: last week the mob attacked and burned the city council, accused of collaborating with the occupiers. And in many ways over the past two months the 'whole town has turned into an enclave independent where U.S. troops traveling fast and local police are more committed to defend that to hunt down guerrillas

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