Using Vietnam-Era Tactics, Army Maxing Helicopters in Counterinsurgency War

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBA4GPA01E.html

TAJI, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military is increasingly turning to attack helicopters to battle guerrillas in Iraq, using tactics closer to those from Vietnam or Israel than the Gulf war formations that blasted Iraqi tanks.

The Army is also pushing its fleets of transport helicopters as hard as it can, ferrying U.S. troops and Iraqi leaders by air, rather than letting them drive the country's ambush-prone roads. snip

In February, an Iraqi reporter asked Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for the occupation forces, what he would recommend Iraqi mothers tell their children frightened by low-flying helicopters.

"What we would tell the children of Iraq is that the noise they hear is the sound of freedom," Kimmitt said.

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[anarchy1999]

Many deaths to follow out of arrogance and ignorance.

Shame on us all.

[rooboy]

1. May Mark Kimmitt spend the rest of his life...

waking up in a cold sweat from hearing "the sound of freedom" in his head.

[ender]

16. a-men...

and may he have a horrible time getting proper care from the VA to make the helicopters stop flying in his head.

[saigon68]

23. I'd love to see that MF in chains

In an Iranian jail. His testicles twisted just like his subordinates did to the POWs

[Spinzonner]

2. So is the 500 lb 'Precision' Bomb that's about to hit you ...

You're about to be 'freed' from your corporeal existence.

[psychopomp]

3. Must be extra tough

what with the difficulty that has been had supplying choppers with fuel.

[izzie]

4. Funny how the guys that fought in Vietnam and are the Gen Now

seem to re-do all that was done wrong in that war in this war. I think times do change and how to win friends does not seem to be the way we are doing it.

[leftchick]

5. other uses.....

US marines transport an injured comrade to a Chinook helicopter in Ramadi. Iraq (news - web sites)'s rebel-held Fallujah braced for an all-out assault after another punishing day of US air raids, while 17 Iraqis were killed when mortars aimed at a US base in northern Iraq hit a local hostel.(AFP/Patrick Baz)

[blindpig]

6. "sound of freedom"

Indeed. Yes, I can hear The Ride of the Valkyrie.......

[democracy eh]

8. SOUND OF FREEDOM????

war is peace
we had to destroy the city to save it

urrghhhhh

[shanti]

17. exactly!

"....it smells like....victory"! :eyes:

[Goathead]

20. Typical repuke idiom

I used to live on the landing flight path of a major Naval Air Station on the East Coast and the little fighter jockeys flew their billion dollar toys over my house incessantly. I hated it, but I got used to it. My girlfriends bigoted conservative sister lived nearby and I remarked to her that the jet noise was worse where she lived. Her response? "I don't mind it, sounds like freedom to me." BLLLEEEGGGHHH!!! I felt like puking.

[maddezmom]

7. yahoo link needs rating

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=6&u=/ap/20041101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_helicopter_war

You have given the news article Copters Maxed in Counterinsurgency War a rating of 5.
Its current average rating is 3.91 with 11 vote(s).

[Zerex71]

9. Hm. Then the sound of rockets firing from gunships

must be the sound of liberty, too. Kimmit's a total assmunch moron. Typical military mentality.

[Rex]

10. Oh great - for those that don't know, Vietnam Era tactics

from a helicopter = If it moves, kill it.

[Fovea]

11. I call this 'Giving up the ground'

and it means you don't really control territory, just fire bases.
It actually is not that bad an idea when you are trying to control a jungle. But man does this suck as a strategum when your opponent's goal was squeezing you off the roads. The lack of tree canopy makes helicopters a far more exposed transport. We will find out how thrifty the Afghani/Saudi fighters were with those stinger missiles, I guess.

If you thought the supply chain to the troop via KBR truckers was obscene, wait till you see what a theater wide air logistic chain costs. But this is us, backing away from surface transport and engagement. I do not think that Israeli tactics will be effective in Iraq without really significant scale assaults, and humongo fighter cover.

What will be far more likely is a series of blackhawk down scenarios.

[Fovea]

12. I call this 'Giving up the ground'

and it means you don't really control territory, just fire camps.
It actually is not that bad an idea when you are trying to control a jungle. But man does this suck as a strategum when your opponent's goal was squeezing you off the roads.

If you thought the supply chain to the troop via KBR truckers was obscene, wait till you see what a theater wide air logistic chain costs.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. The Iraqis will also change tactics to match our shift to helo tactics...

...count on them to use more tactics to lure the helos in, and then shooting down the helos with small shoulder-fired missiles. Once the helos are on the ground, the Iraqis will set-up ambushes for any units, air and/or ground, coming to the rescue.

[Chicago Democrat]

15. RPGs and SA missiles are pretty easy to get in Iraq right?

I dont really know...actually, but I read things...

[JohnOneillsMemory]

14. Um, children are dying from...FREEDOM WOUNDS. There's a meme.

Freedom Shrapnel.

Freedom Amputations.

Freedom Graves.

Freedom Diseases.

Freedom Starvation.

Freedom Terror.

Freedom Torture.

Freedom Fries don't come with ketchup. That's actually...

...Ok, I'll stop.

[number6]

18. ah, the smell of napalm in the mourning ....

"What we would tell the children of Iraq is that the noise they hear is the sound of freedom," Kimmitt said.

awed and shocked

[DinahMoeHum]

19. Hey, Kimmit, you asshole, it doesn't take much to shoot down

a helicopter. Ask the Vietnamese. And the Iraqis DO have rocket launchers.

:nuke:

[yellowcanine]

21. Hmm, it worked so well in 'Nam and for the Soviets in Afghanistan, so

why not? Idiots. Doesn't anyone know history in that administration?

[PurityOfEssence]

22. I love the sound of freedom in the morning

it sounds like...victory