Grim new record set by US forces in Iraq #onthisday #history #iraqwar
8From Washington Post article the next day:
All of those on board were members of the 101st Airborne Division, based in Fort Campbell, Ky. The officials said the aircraft collided when one, attempting to dodge groundfire, climbed swiftly and hit the other.
Three other U.S. helicopters have been shot down in the past three weeks. On Nov. 2, guerrillas in central Iraq fired a surface-to-air missile and shot down a Chinook transport helicopter, killing 16 U.S. troops; on Nov. 7, a rocket-propelled grenade struck a Black Hawk, killing six; and on Oct. 25, an RPG hit another Black Hawk, but there were no fatalities.
Mounting casualties in Iraq have added to pressures for the Bush administration to speed up plans to turn over authority to Iraqi leaders and technically end the occupation by next July. The White House hopes to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq by next summer, but there are no proposals for U.S. troops to completely abandon Iraq, even when an Iraqi provisional government is in place.
Anti-U.S. violence has been on the rise in Mosul, a city that had been relatively peaceful in the months after the fall of Baghdad in April. At least four U.S. troops have been killed either in ambushes or when their vehicles struck roadside bombs this month in the city.
#onthisday #history #iraqwar #iraq #war #army #military #usarmy #iraqi #mosul #saddam #georgebush #screamingeagles #Blackhawk #militaryhistory #blackhawkdown #airborne #veterans #peace #bush #president #waronterror #helicopter #italy #italianarmy #carabinieri