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Us helicopter crash kills 9 { January 9 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0401090373jan09,1,2183101.story?coll=chi-news-hedhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0401090373jan09,1,2183101.story?coll=chi-news-hed
U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq kills 9
Witness: Rocket hit Black Hawk
By Tom Hundley
Tribune foreign correspondent
January 9, 2004
BAGHDAD -- A U.S. Black Hawk medevac helicopter crashed Thursday in central Iraq after what witnesses said was a hostile attack, and all nine soldiers onboard were killed, a U.S. military spokesman said.
In the capital, meanwhile, a U.S. transport plane with 63 people aboard landed safely after being hit by enemy fire.
The incidents occurred as a promised release of Iraqi detainees by U.S. forces failed to materialize at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, leaving hundreds of Iraqi civilians confused and angry with the U.S.-led coalition authority.
The military said it was investigating the crash of the Black Hawk just outside Fallujah, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad that has consistently frustrated the U.S. military's attempts to subdue it.
An Iraqi witness said the helicopter, which was marked with red crosses, was hit by a rocket.
"I was in the farm, I heard the sound, looked up and saw the rocket hit. It hit in the tail," said Mohammed Ahmed al-Jamali, 27, a farmer.
Al-Jamali said he rushed to the crash site but found no survivors.
"We have confirmation that there were nine personnel on board," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the senior U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "At this point, we still don't have positive identification of the personnel, but we are working under the presumption that they were all American soldiers."
It was the worst helicopter incident in Iraq since Nov. 15, when two Black Hawks collided over Mosul in northern Iraq after they reportedly came under fire from insurgents. Seventeen soldiers were killed in that incident.
In Baghdad on Thursday, an Air Force C-5 transport plane made an emergency landing at the city's main airport after it was hit by enemy fire moments after takeoff.
No injuries were reported.
The plane returned to the airport after declaring an in-flight emergency because of "excessive engine vibrations" in its No. 4 engine.
Pilots made no mention of hostile fire, but a U.S. military official confirmed that the plane had been hit by enemy fire, and an Air Force statement indicated the engine had exploded.
Achilles' heel
While attacks on airplanes have been few and have ended with safe landings, low-flying helicopters have proved to be the U.S. military's Achilles' heel in the struggle against the guerrillas.
Five helicopters have been brought down by hostile fire since late October, not including Thursday's crash and the deadly November collision in Mosul, the cause of which has not been determined.
Two previous attacks occurred near Fallujah. The most recent was last week, when an OH-58 Kiowa was shot down, killing one soldier. On Nov. 2, a Chinook was hit, and 16 soldiers were killed.
On Thursday, the UH-60 Black Hawk apparently was on a routine medical evacuation mission when it came down.
The deaths of nine soldiers would bring to 357 the number of American service personnel killed in Iraq since May 1, the day President Bush declared an end to major combat.
The casualties come just days after Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is responsible for the Fallujah area, offered one of the most optimistic assessments yet of U.S. efforts to pacify that trouble spot.
Swannack said attacks in his zone of operations had peaked at 15 to 19 a day in October but were now at "zero to three or four a day at the highest--and most of those attacks are not effective."
"We have turned the corner and are accelerating down the straightaway," he said.
Also Thursday, the military said a U.S. soldier died Wednesday of injuries suffered in a mortar attack that wounded 30 other troops and a civilian at a base 12 miles west of Baghdad.
U.S. soldiers in Tikrit launched one of the biggest raids since the end of the U.S.-led war Thursday, arresting 13 Iraqis suspected of attacks against coalition forces in Saddam Hussein's hometown.
More than 300 soldiers participated in raids on 20 houses and three shops across a wide section of the city shortly before midnight. U.S. forces arrested 13 Iraqis by the end of the four-hour operation.
Early Friday, rockets were fired at a central Baghdad hotel, the Burj al-Hayat, used by foreign contractors and businessmen, but there were no casualties, witnesses told Reuters.
UN strategy meeting
Separately, The Washington Post reported that the Bush administration is launching an effort to persuade the United Nations to return to Iraq in coming months and to support the U.S. plan for transferring governing power to Iraqis by June 30.
The emerging U.S. strategy is to be outlined Friday by John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Britain's UN envoy, Emyr Jones Perry, in a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, according to U.S. and UN officials.
The UN withdrew its personnel after a suicide attack in August killed 22 of its staffers.
Annan remains reluctant to send staff back into harm's way, particularly if the delegation will not have independent authority to help shape the country's political future.
Annan has scheduled a Jan. 19 meeting to discuss the UN's role in Iraq.
On Friday, U.S. and British delegations will sound out Annan on new pledges by the United States to protect UN personnel and on possibilities for a more defined role for the organization, the Post reported.
They will also seek to enlist the UN chief's help in heading off an effort by influential Shiite Muslim leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to renegotiate the plan for political transition in Iraq.
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Helicopter crashes
Since major combat in Iraq was declared over last May, dozens of U.S. soldiers have been killed or wounded in helicopter incidents linked to hostile fire.
- June 12, 2003: An Apache is shot down in western Iraq. Crew unharmed
- Oct. 25: A Black Hawk is downed by a rocket-propelled grenade near Tikrit. One soldier wounded
- Nov. 2: A Chinook is shot down near Fallujah. Sixteen U.S. soldiers
killed
- Nov. 7: A Black Hawk goes down near Tikrit. All six people aboard are killed
- Nov. 15: Two Black Hawks collide in Mosul, reportedly under fire. Seventeen soldiers killed, five injured, one unaccounted for
- Dec. 9: An OH-58 Kiowa makes an emergency landing near Fallujah after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Both crew members are injured
- Dec. 10: An Apache crash-lands near Mosul. There are no injuries
- Jan. 2, 2004: A Kiowa is shot down near Fallujah. The pilot is killed, one crew member is injured.
- Jan. 8: A Black Hawk goes down near Fallujah. All nine aboard are killed
Source: News reports
Chicago Tribune
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
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