Blackhawk down

The first confusing reports are coming in of a US military helicopter having been either shot down or crashed on the centre of Baghdad.

The area is sealed off and heavy fighting is taking place at the scene.

A spokesman for the US military in Iraq said the reports were being checked, but could give no further information.

Other reports claim a rocket pod on a helicopter caught fire and was jettisoned. The US has lost more than 50 military helicopters in Iraq.

On the 4th anniversary of the "liberation" of Baghdad as traffic was banned from Central Baghdad and a curfew was imposed, 10 US soldiers died in Iraq bringing the April total so far to 35. 3 US soldiers died yesterday when a bomb was detonated nearby their patrol in Baghdad. Another was killed in an attack south of the capital; and 2 who died of combat wounds sustained north of the capital, in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces. On Saturday, 4 U.S. soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala.

Centre Michael Doleac (puc) of the Miami Heat heard that his bro, Blackhawk pilotArmy 2nd Lt. Kenneth Doleac, 25, was piloting a Black Hawk helicopter just south of Baghdad last Thursday and was shot down by small arms fire.

''From what I've heard from him, it was he and another helicopter flying,'' Doleac said.

"They got hit, it was just small arms fire, and they ended up going down. He was able to put it down. A couple of his guys got hit, but no one was injured seriously. He was able to put the helicopter down. The other Black Hawk that was with him wound up coming back in a couple of minutes and picked them up."

Elsewhere supporters of Moqtada al Sadra marched from Kufa to neighboring Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, with two cordons of Iraqi police lining the route.

Al Sadra did not appear but Nassar al-Rubaie, head of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament addressed the crowd demanding

"The enemy that is occupying our country is now targeting the dignity of the Iraqi people,After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded."

Salah al-Obayd a Sadrist leader in Najaf called the rally a "call for liberation."

"We're hoping that by next year's anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty."

Iraqi soldiers in uniform joined the crowd, which was led by at least a dozen turbaned clerics -- and a rare sight of episcopal solidarity, one Sunni.

All this failed to prevent the daily slaughter as a truck bomb exploded near the Mahmoudiya General Hospital yesterday, at least 18 were foiund dead and 23 were severely wounded. The pickup truck loaded with artillery shells blew apart several buildings in a warren of auto repair shops.

Violence in Iraq remained as relentless with at least 47 people killed or found dead in violence yesterday, including 17 execution victims dumped in the capital.

..and so it goes on

The Liberation of Iraq : Day 1391

L'Orient Le Jour 23rd January 2007 Beirut
It was a bloody day in Iraq with more than 100 killed and 200 wounded.

1. A bombing in Baquba, NE of Baghdad . A double attack with the booby-trapped car with 88 dead and over 160 wounded. (pic)

2. At Bab Al-Charki on the banks of the Tigris where 2 car bombs exploded in a flea market and over 12 cars were set ablaze.

3. In Abou Dchir in Baghdad 4 civilians were killed was killed by mortar shells.

4. In Khales armed men killed a Policeman and 27 corpses were discovered.

5. In Khalès, close to Baquba, 12 people who were killed yesterday and 40 wounded in a double attack, wiht a bomb and mortar shells on a popular market.

6. 28 American soldiers have died in 2 days, including a soldier was killed and 4 wounded in the explosion of an home made bomb in the province of Ninive. 12 died on Saturday when a Blackhawk helicopter, was borught down by a ground to air missile in the North-East of Baghdad which a local branch of Al Quaeda claimed responsibility for.

The same day, 5 American soldiers were killed by gunmen dressed in US and Police uniforms in the Holy City of Kerbala

7. The US army announced that 93 Al Quaeda guerrillas were killed and 57 others captured,in Diyala province.

8. Government spokesmen Ali Dabbagh, spokesman of the government. asked for the release by the US of the radical chief Moqtada Sadr Shiite arrested last Friday.

Bomb Baghdad

U.S. airpower joins Baghdad battle that Iraqi officials say killed 50 insurgents

Iraq: U.S. jets screamed low over the capital and helicopter gunships swooped in to pound a central Baghdad battleground, supporting Iraqi and American troops in a daylong fight that officials said killed 50 insurgents in a militant Sunni Arab stronghold.

The battle Tuesday raged on Haifa Street about 1 1/2 miles (2.4 kilometers) north of the heavily fortified Green Zone — home to the U.S. Embassy , diplomats, NGO's — on the eve of U.S. President George W. Bush's expected announcement that he would send 20,000 more soldiers to Iraq.

This was the first two paragraphs of the AP report by the International Herald Tribune, syndicated across North America and round the world.

U.S. jets buzzing the city didn't conduct any airstrikes, but "attack helicopters were used to engage targets in support of the ground forces." said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for Multi-National Division Baghdad. The Iraqi Defense Ministry reported 50 deaths among insurgents.

An Antonov cargo plane crashed near Balad, 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) north of the capital. The official said it was unclear whether the aircraft had mechanical problems or was shot down. 34 people, Iraqi and Turkish workers at the US Air Base were killed. This is the home of the US$190 Mn AC-130 H/U "Spectre" Gunships, with massive 40mm cannon and 105mm cannons which operate at night, were used in Fallujah, but haven't seen action over Baghdad .... yet.

In Fallujah Bill Ardolino an embedded journalist reports a US$16Mn M1A-1 Abrams tank is hit by a large IED in a notoriously active downtown street. Immobilized and set on fire by a bomb laden with fuel accelerant, the crew escape from the vehicle and make it safely to other tanks.

The Fire Station is 800 metres away and the US forces want the fire extinguished lest on board ammunition explodes - the Iraqi firemen won't move until two tank cres are despatched to ..er..encourage them. Four hours after the explosion and three hours after the call to the fire department, the blaze was finally extinguished.

Somewhere in the city 47 year old Army Maj. Michael Lewis Mundell from Kentucky, husband and father of 4 is blown to bits by a roadside bomb.

In the nearby city of Karmah, which also was home to many former Iraqi intelligence officers and high-ranking Baathists, many of the insurgents cleared from Fallujah have set up base and 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) from Fort Richardson, Alaska, has been brought in under the command of Marine Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5).

Afghan born, US educated Zalmay Khalilzad, (riend of Paul Wolfowitz at Chicago University, student of neo con Straussist acolyte, Wholstetter ,) the U.S. ambassador to Iraq whom President Mailiki ignored to organise the hasty lynching of Saddam Hussein,is off to take over from John Bolton as US Ambasador to United Nations.

President Bush will explain today how 5 Army Brigades are needed to "hold" Baghdad and effectively another is needed for Anbar province...in all another 20,000 (ish) troops. Not to mention the helicopter gunships, Hornets, A-10's Apachees, Black Hawks ..... the Pentagon has decided to prepare for a fight with a restless, oppressed population of slum-dwellers, who have literally nothing to lose. As the Army Urban Ops Manual, a child of DARPA has it ..

"Army forces will likely conduct operations in, around, and over urban areas -- not as a matter of fate, but as a deliberate choice linked to national security objectives and strategy, and at a time, place, and method of the commander's choosing."

Congress, as ever, will vote the money after making a few noises and screwing up their noses.

Another fucking day in Paradise.