A disturbing chopper mishap in the presidential convoy

[sabra]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060303/3whwatch.htm

A disturbing chopper mishap in the presidential convoy

NEW DELHI—The presidential visit to Kabul earlier this week was more nerve-racking than White House officials initially let on.

It turns out that a Marine helicopter carrying senior staffers in the same airborne entourage that included President Bush's Marine One was involved in a mishap that left some of them a bit shaken. The staffers noticed that the chopper didn't seem to be getting much lift as it departed from Bagram Air Base en route to the Afghan presidential palace and the ride seemed unstable.

Suddenly, someone shouted for everyone to hold on, and the helicopter made an unscheduled landing within a few feet of a building not far from the takeoff point. The official explanation was that the chopper got caught in prop wash from other choppers in the traveling group and that so much dust was kicked up that it interfered with the motors. After a few minutes, the problem cleared up and the helicopter proceeded to the palace without further incident. Marine One wasn't involved in the mishap.

Members of the traveling press corps were startled on that same Bagram-to-Kabul multichopper trip when a window gunner on their helicopter fired off a burst of rounds without notice. Military officials said it was simply a routine exercise to make sure the weapon worked properly, but the journalists were unsettled by the gunfire nonetheless.

[TX-RAT]

1. Have to give that a pucker factor of 8.5

[Changenow]

2. Their lies get more absurd,

and the regurgitation of them by the "journalists" is nuttier still.

[catmother]

3. oh i really believe that one.

:silly:

[havocmom]

4. "...gunner on their helicopter fired off a burst of rounds without notice"

Routine exercise to make sure the weapon worked properly? Wouldn't they do that BEFORE everybody piled in and they took off?

Did Cheney stow away? Practicing up for a new MIHOP? Just reminding the press who is in charge?

Not buying a routine exercise to make sure the weapon worked properly Seems journalists who travel often with these folks would have noticed a routine exercise like that on previous occassions!

[Captain Hilts]

7. It's better to test from the air so that you don't hit anything. nt

[havocmom]

14. Yeah, but wouldn't the guys in uniforms do it before pickup up the suits

If not, why did it surpirse the press? If it was routine, they'd have seen/heard it before.

[Captain Hilts]

15. Someone shoots a high caliber machine gun next to your ear...

you're going to jump, no matter how many times you've heard it before.

Besides, people would assume they're shooting at something if not warned beforehand.

It is routine to warn people what you are doing.

[havocmom]

20. And the unscheduled stop?

:shurg:

Sorry, but official excuses on this one just don't smell good.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Too many moving parts on a helo. nt

[Captain Hilts]

6. Testing the guns w/o warning passengers? I don't think so...

unless they were deliberately trying to scare the hell out of them.

It's not routine to carry passengers and test the machine guns without warning the passengers. Someone needs to get their head handed to them.

[Renew Deal]

9. Nothing wrong with having fun with the journalists.

Scared straight

[Pale_Rider]

11. I would be gained ...

... to fire off a few rounds to let the passengers know that this is a war zone.

[Up2Late]

8. But why didn't they all just DRIVE in their SUV's? That War ended...

...back in March of 2003, Right? :sarcasm:

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

10. What Wussies Those Journalists Are....

Scared of a little innocent gunfire on a leisurely helicopter ride through the middle of a warzone. Nothing to see here, move along please you presstitutes.

[dusmcj]

12. uh huh huh, my Colonel ordered me to git some in front of these pansies nt

[Fuzz]

13. Probably saw some quail flush

"a window gunner on their helicopter fired off a burst of rounds without notice."

[Captain Hilts]

16. That's a good one! nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

17. And does anyone know where these bullets ended up?

.
.
.

In some child's back as they played in their backyard miles away?

And another thought . .

Seeing as the favorite compound for bullets from the USA' military is Depleted Uranium -

Just spreading a wee bit more genocide while they are there?

OH

Silly me

That'd just be collateral damage - US of A don't murder innocent people

[Captain Hilts]

18. Canada does it too. This was the policy going back to WWII.

You shoot at a field or something.

No doubt there are some losers who shoot at animals, but generally the whole point behind doing it from the air is to avoid hurting anyone.

Yes, the whole depleted uranium deal I don't understant. Why?

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. " the whole depleted uranium deal I don't understand" - It's genocide!

.
.
.

The bullets don't even have to hit anyone - they damage the air/soil/water and over centuries the residue will continue to kill

The USA is dropping the equivalent (some sites say MORE) of both bombs dropped on Japan

Yeah - they are "nuking" the Middle East

one bullet at a time

but it will be decades before it is common knowledge

And centuries if not millenniums before the ME recovers from the DU damage.

DU was a banned substance for over 60 years before Pappy Bush started using it in Iraq in Gulf War 1 - and birth defects alone rose 400% in Iraq since then

And returning vets from both Gulf Wars have "puzzling" illnesses, and a marked increase in defective offspring.

do some Googling - you'll find thousands of references to Depleted Uranium and illness/cancer

(sigh)

this is indeed the New American Century - what a Plan

Whenever the World realizes what the Americans are doing

- it will then be the LAST American Century

[daleo]

19. The reporter seems to be implying something

For example: "The official explanation was that the chopper got caught in prop wash..."

The phrasing almost begs for quotation marks around the word official. You get the feeling he might want people to read in some meaning, between the lines.

Just a hunch.