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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:01 pm 31 Killed in Marine Chopper Crash in Iraq |
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| Quote: | By SAMEER N. YACOUB
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A Marine transport helicopter crashed during sandstorms in Iraq's western desert Wednesday, killing 31 troops, while insurgents killed five other American military personnel in the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began.
Militants waging a campaign to derail Sunday's election carried out at least six car bombings and a flurry of other attacks on schools to be used as polling stations, political party offices and Kurdish sites, killing or wounding more than two dozen people.
While al-Qaida warned Iraqis to stay away from the polls - saying they would only have themselves to blame if they are hurt in attacks - President Bush called on people to ``defy the terrorists'' and cast ballots in the crucial election.
Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, said the helicopter was on a mission in support of the election. The crash occurred among severe weather, but its cause was still under investigation, Abizaid said. An Accuweather map of Iraq showed sandstorms Wednesday in the western region of Iraq near the Jordanian border where the crash took place.
The CH-53E Super Stallion was carrying personnel from the 1st Marine Division when it went down about 1:20 a.m. near the town of Rutbah, about 220 miles west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
A search and rescue team has reached the site and an investigation into what caused the crash was under way.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, said 30 Marines and one U.S. sailor were killed in the crash - the most American servicemembers to die in a single incident in Iraq. It was also the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the March 2003 invasion.
Bush expressed his condolences for the deaths. ``The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that. It is the long-term objective that is vital - that is to spread freedom,'' he told reporters.
He said ``a lot of Iraqis'' were expected to participate in the elections. ``Clearly, there are some who are intimidated,'' Bush said. ``I urge people to vote. I urge people to defy these terrorists.''
In Iraq's Anbar province, four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting, the military said in a statement.
The statement gave no further details, but WABC reporter Jim Dolan, who was embedded with the troops who were attacked, said the deaths came when insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy leaving the town of Haditha, west of Baghdad, hitting a vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Also Wednesday, insurgents attacked a U.S. Army patrol near the northern town of Duluiyah, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the U.S. command said.
The day's deaths brought to at least 1,408 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died in Iraq, according to an Associated Press count.
The previous single deadliest incident for U.S. troops was also a helicopter crash: In November 2004, two Black Hawk helicopters collided while trying to avoid ground fire, killing 17 servicemembers. Earlier that month, a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down by shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile near Fallujah, killing 16 American soldiers and wounding 26.
The U.S. military has lost at least 33 helicopters since the start of the war, including at least 20 brought down by hostile fire, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.
Previously, the most Americans killed in one day came on March 23, 2003, when 28 troops were killed in various incidents during the U.S. military's drive to take Baghdad and topple Saddam Hussein. Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 2003, but fighting has continued.
Last month, a suicide bomb exploded at a mess tent in a base near Mosul, killing 22 people including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.
With only days before the election - in which Iraqis will choose a 275-member National Assembly and regional legislatures - guerrillas carried out a string of attacks Wednesday targeting political groups and voting sites.
A suicide bomber detonated a fuel tanker at the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the town of Sinjar, southwest of Mosul, killing five and injuring at least 20 people, KDP officials said.
Earlier in the day, gunmen opened fire with machine guns on the local headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Communist Party in the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, killing a traffic policeman. The KDP and PUK are the two largest Kurdish groups in Iraq and have formed a coalition along with other Kurdish groups to run in the election.
Insurgents set off three car bombs in rapid succession in the town of Riyadh, north of Baghdad, killing at least five people - including three policemen.
Four American soldiers were injured in a car bombing Wednesday in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the U.S. command said. Another car bomb targeted a multinational forces convoy on the road to Baghdad's international airport, injuring four soldiers, the command said.
The attack temporarily closed the airport road, one of the country's most dangerous. Up to four mortar shells exploded Wednesday near a police station in the northern Baghdad suburb of Sabaa al-Bor, injuring at least one Iraqi.
A Web site statement, purportedly from al-Qaida in Iraq, said it carried out the attack on the airport road, claiming that the targets were Americans.
The group also warned Iraqis to stay away from the polls Sunday. It said the Americans were organizing ``fraudulent elections'' and that Iraqi troops were protecting ``the Jews and the Christians.''
``The enemies of God will see that death is their destiny and failure their ally,'' the group said. ``Oh people, be careful. Be careful not to be near the centers of infidelity and vice, the polling centers ... Don't blame us but blame yourselves'' if harmed.'' The statement's authenticity could not be verified.
In new attacks, two schools slated to be used as polling stations were bombed overnight. A ground floor classroom in one of the buildings, a preparatory school for girls, was littered with broken glass and its main entrance was blackened and clogged with debris.
Al-Arabiya television broadcast a videotape showing three men identified by insurgents as election workers who were kidnapped in Mosul. The satellite station said the three were abducted by the Nineveh Mujahedeen, which threatened to attack polling stations on election day.
U.S. troops and insurgents also clashed in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, in fighting that doctors said killed on Iraqi.
01/26/05 14:29
� Copyright The Associated Press.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:42 pm |
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It's good to see that the politics are more important than the human cost, eh?
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:44 pm |
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| Theresa wrote: | | It's good to see that the politics are more important than the human cost, eh? |
I know. This politicization, with most of it coming from folks like Ted Kennedy and Michael Moore, as well as some (few, from what I've seen) Republicans, is horrible.
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:46 pm |
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Ok, have you change RM Republicans horrible, I hope I misread you.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:21 pm |
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| Rbgirl wrote: | | Ok, have you change RM Republicans horrible, I hope I misread you. |
Yes, you did. Read it broken down. I was saying that how people like Michael Moore and Ted Kennedy as well as SOME Republicans are politicizing the war is horrible, not that Republicans are horrible. Don't think that of me! 
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Defiant
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Posts: 15946
Location: Oregon City, OR
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:23 pm |
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Oh, way to go. Admit some republicans are bad. Its not some, its the entire republican party who wants this god forsaken war. You get to accept the consequences of that.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:25 pm |
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| Defiant wrote: | | Oh, way to go. Admit some republicans are bad. Its not some, its the entire republican party who wants this god forsaken war. You get to accept the consequences of that. |
No, it's not the entire Republican party, just like it's not the entire Democratic party that is opposed to it, but the extent to which this war has been politicized is too far and wrong.
((It's good to defeat you again, Defiant  ))
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Defiant
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Posts: 15946
Location: Oregon City, OR
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:26 pm |
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((Eat me.))
It was the decisions by the republican party, to go to war. Otherwise, the democrats, who opposed it, would have overruled them.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:29 pm |
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| Defiant wrote: | ((Eat me.))
It was the decisions by the republican party, to go to war. Otherwise, the democrats, who opposed it, would have overruled them. |
By the way, that's quite some stereotyping  And you complain about me stereotyping. 
And no, that's not true. Kerry, both Clintons, Daschle, Pelosi, and more members of Congress supported it in the beginning, including Kennedy. It was overwhelmingly FOR war--even the Democrats. The vast majority of Americans, the fact is, including Democrats, supported the war in the beginning.
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:29 pm |
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Well as long as we can blame the other side, who has to worry about the actual deaths long enough to mourn for the poor people  .
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Founder
Dominion Leader
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 12755
Location: Gamma Quadrant
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:29 pm |
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| Defiant wrote: | ((Eat me.))
It was the decisions by the republican party, to go to war. Otherwise, the democrats, who opposed it, would have overruled them. |
Thats complete BS. Tons of Democrats supported it. Even you're heroic John Kerry and John Edwards. They kept saying over and over Saddam had to go. Then they saw that the people opposed it which = more votes for them. So they switched their stance.
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:43 pm |
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Strange no one has anything to say about the actual 37 people that this article is about. I am sure the troops would be glad to know that their story is causing quite a fight between the two parties . May God bless them and may the rest in the peace knowing that they fought for others in a selfless cause.
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Founder
Dominion Leader
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 12755
Location: Gamma Quadrant
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:44 pm |
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| JanewayIsHott wrote: | | Strange no one has anything to say about the actual 37 people that this article is about. I am sure the troops would be glad to know that their story is causing quite a fight between the two parties . May God bless them and may the rest in the peace knowing that they fought for others in a selfless cause. |
You're right. Im sorry about that. I feel terrible for the families. I respect those soldiers deeply though. Brave men and women. Im worried about how many more deaths they'll be on the day of the election.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
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| Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:47 pm |
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| Founder wrote: | | JanewayIsHott wrote: | | Strange no one has anything to say about the actual 37 people that this article is about. I am sure the troops would be glad to know that their story is causing quite a fight between the two parties . May God bless them and may the rest in the peace knowing that they fought for others in a selfless cause. |
You're right. Im sorry about that. I feel terrible for the families. I respect those soldiers deeply though. Brave men and women. Im worried about how many more deaths they'll be on the day of the election. |
Yes, yes, agreed on all fronts. You were right about everything there. Both of you. These men were extremely brave, and died for a good cause, defending their country. I was just responding to the statement made by Theresa, although I should have discussed these great, brave men and women as well. 
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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MJ
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:43 am |
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I think it's a shame they died and may they rest in peace. But I don't see how it is dieing for your country since the US didn't really seem all that threatened by Iraq to me, I don't see anything brave in it, or noble; it's just waste of human life to me.
Once again, feel free to disagree be upset w/e but I also feel the same about the Dutchies that have died there.
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Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:20 pm |
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One could argue they didn't die for their country, it was more selfless than that, they died for another's country.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
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| Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:26 pm |
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| JanewayIsHott wrote: | | One could argue they didn't die for their country, it was more selfless than that, they died for another's country. |
And one could argue against that. We started, and will finish, this war to defend this nation. Securing Iraq is helping to protect this country.
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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MJ
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 266
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| Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:09 am |
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| JanewayIsHott wrote: | | One could argue they didn't die for their country, it was more selfless than that, they died for another's country. |
Yes, but if they had a choice would they have gone there? And I don't know exactly what they all have done over there, maybe nothing that actually helped the civilians. I don't want to generalise everything the soldiers do over there as good.
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