U.S. Helicopters Fire on Attackers in Iraq Oil Hub (Sounds A Lot Like Combat)

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

U.S. military helicopters fired on suspected militia fighters in southern Iraq on Wednesday, killing one, in a rare American air strike responding to a rocket attack on an airport, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. response at Basra came at a sensitive time as Baghdad and Washington debate whether American soldiers need to stay past a planned withdrawal at the end of 2011 after they finished combat missions last year.

Basra, the strategic oil hub for the OPEC member country, has been relatively calm in recent years compared to the more restive northern and central parts of the country, where al-Qaeda affiliates are still more active.

The U.S. helicopter intervention came after seven rockets were fired at U.S. and Iraqi forces stationed at Basra airport.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-iraq-attack-idUSTRE75E4GO20110615

_______________________________

I guess we do still have combat troops in Iraq, and it is telling to see what they defend.

[OnyxCollie]

1. Oh, gee. Guess we'll have to stay there forever.

[OhioChick]

3. That was the plan n/t

[Old and In the Way]

2. I doubt we'll exit those military bases anytime soon.

It wouldn't surprise me if we're responding to attacks that are being initiated by interests looking for a justification to keep us there and USD flowing. As long as the GWOT is financially lucrative to private contractors, there are motivations other than fighting terrorism involved in the equation.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly!!! Too many are making lots of cash off of these conflicts. It's all a

shell game and we the taxpayers are losing big time.

[tekisui]

7. I doubt it, too. But, what we do know is there will be some 15 embassies

with upward of 17,000 employees, including 5,100 armed mercenaries. Even if we do claim we have left.

[stevenleser]

4. What police do here when they have a shoot out could be described as combat too.

It doesnt mean anything.

[tekisui]

5. You are way off here. It is a foreign army firing from a helicopter.

That is a far cry from a local police exchanging in gun fire.

The pilots were not under threat and we are not supposed to be the security force there anymore.

[xchrom]

8. +1

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. 'zactly.

Blackwater is supposed to be doing the firing from helicopters.

[stevenleser]

10. It's basically the same thing. Supplementary law enforcement by treaty with the host government nt

[tekisui]

11. You run with that. You will need it as justification for the years to come.

When we are still dithering, wasting money, killing, dying and occupying Iraq.

[stevenleser]

13. And I will happily repost as often as is necessary. n/t

[Robb]

12. Why would an American helicopter fire on people attacking Americans at an airport?

It is quite the mystery indeed.

[stevenleser]

14. Exactly. Thanks for that bit of sanity.

Sad that it is needed, but it is.

[tekisui]

16. Because we are still at war in Iraq.

No mystery.

[frylock]

18. why are americans still at an airport in iraq?

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. "after they finished combat missions last year."

Yep! Sounds like combat to me and I am fairly certain that it felt like combat to the soldiers putting their lives on the line to engage with these elements.

I also found this line mildly amusing in the Reuters piece:
"in a rare American air strike"

One would think that the author would have reflected for just a fraction of a second on that line. Air strikes to this President and Pentagon are like eating potato chips. They can't eat just one. In fact, it seems quite obvious that our military is addicted to air strikes of all flavors of delivery. A much more accurate line would have been "a rare American air strike on Tuesday in Yemen."

America has two hands to offer the world at this point - either you get on board the economic rape and pillage train or you get the stick.

[RKP5637]

17. Well said as to what's going on. "... either you get on board the economic rape and

pillage train or you get the stick." Quite sad. None on the gravy train want these conflicts to end, they're making bucks in all sorts of ways.