3.11.03
Helicopters, Traffic Jams, and Kittens
What does the helicopter shootdown mean? It means the Iraqi resistance finally stopped wasting their portable surface to air missles.
All these perfectly good heat seeking missles have been shot at the Airport, where Iraqis have been trying to shoot down American planes. Fisk tells us the US troops have been beaten back to a minimal security perimeter around their airport. But the Iraqis still dont have sure shot at planes. But they keep shooting the damn things. I guess it does keep the airport closed to most civillian traffic.
But it makes more sense to harrass low flying transport helicopters with these things. They fly at low altitude, making it easier to attack from a distance, at a low angle of attack where the guidance systems in the heat seeking missles will have a better chance at acquiring the target. Also, they are slow and a hit will more likely result in a shootdowns. I suspect the Iraqis will repeat this little trick and get good with it. The SA-7 is expensive relative to the IED and RPG, though, so this may limit their use.
Meanwhile, a senior aide to L. Paul Bremer is furious that the media wont report the "straight story":
What does the helicopter shootdown mean? It means the Iraqi resistance finally stopped wasting their portable surface to air missles.
All these perfectly good heat seeking missles have been shot at the Airport, where Iraqis have been trying to shoot down American planes. Fisk tells us the US troops have been beaten back to a minimal security perimeter around their airport. But the Iraqis still dont have sure shot at planes. But they keep shooting the damn things. I guess it does keep the airport closed to most civillian traffic.
But it makes more sense to harrass low flying transport helicopters with these things. They fly at low altitude, making it easier to attack from a distance, at a low angle of attack where the guidance systems in the heat seeking missles will have a better chance at acquiring the target. Also, they are slow and a hit will more likely result in a shootdowns. I suspect the Iraqis will repeat this little trick and get good with it. The SA-7 is expensive relative to the IED and RPG, though, so this may limit their use.
Meanwhile, a senior aide to L. Paul Bremer is furious that the media wont report the "straight story":
The "straight story" the journalists are not reporting, she said, is the progress that has been made here in the last six months. "There is LIFE here," she wrote in her message, the latest in a continuing letter to the folks back home, which received wider circulation when one recipient sent it to many others, including officials who continued passing it along. "The streets are full of life," the message said. "There are children playing in the streets with other kids. . . . The markets are bustling. . . . People are crossing the streets, playing in traffic. Traffic jams are occurring."As if the kids didn't play in the streets when Saddam was in charge? The markets didn't bustle? Whats this have to do with anything? Kids play. Markets bustle. And kittens are cute. So what? Does this idiot want us to believe Saddam passed laws banning children from playing? Banning markets from bustling? Forbidding cuteness to kittens?
