Feb 7, 2007 7:44 am US/Eastern
U.S. Military Confirms Downed Helicopter In Iraq
Four Helicopters Have Already Been Lost In Last Two Weeks
BAGHDAD (CBS News) ―
A Sea Knight helicopter went down northwest of Baghdad on Wednesday, the military said, the fifth helicopter lost in Iraq in just over two weeks.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the CH-46 helicopter went down about 20 miles northwest of the capital, but he declined to comment on casualties.
"A quick reaction force is on site and the investigation is going on as we speak," he told reporters in Baghdad. "It would probably be inappropriate for me to talk about whether or not there are or are not casualties."
The CH-46 is a large, twin-rotor helicopter capable of carrying about 25 combat-ready troops in addition to its two pilots.
CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports witnesses said a helicopter had gone down in a field in the Sheik Amir area northwest of Baghdad, sending smoke rising from the scene.
"The helicopter was flying and passed over us, then we heard the firing of a missile," said Mohammad al-Janabi, a farmer who was speaking less than a kilometer (half a mile) from the wreckage. "The helicopter, then, turned into a ball of fire. It flew in a circle twice, then it went down."
The helicopter went down five days after a U.S. Army helicopter crashed in a hail of gunfire north of Baghdad, police and witnesses said. The U.S. command said two crew members were killed in that crash, and the Al Qaeda-affiliated group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility.
Three other helicopters also have gone down since Jan. 20 killing a total of 19 Americans - 14 troops and five civilian security contractors.
Military officials also announced the deaths of two more troops Wednesday, including a soldier killed Tuesday by small arms fire at a security post southwest of Baghdad, and a Marine who died Monday in Anbar province, west of the capital.
At least 51 Iraqis also were killed or found dead around the country, including eight slain by two car bombs in Baghdad.
In other developments:• Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 33 people — 19 in Baghdad — apparent victims of sectarian death squads. The Shiite-led Iraqi government has pledged to go after the mainly Shiite militias largely blamed for such killings as well as Sunni insurgents suspected in most of the bombings, including a suicide attack on a Baghdad food market Saturday that killed at least 137 people.
• In power barely a month, Democratic critics of the war in Iraq are moving unmistakably toward a clash between Congress and the commander in chief. They disclosed plans Tuesday for a symbolic rejection by the House of President Bush's decision to deploy additional troops and filed legislation in the Senate to require withdrawal of U.S. military personnel.
• L. Paul Bremer III, who was head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, said he had done the best he could to kickstart the Iraqi economy, which he said was "flat on its back" after years of rule by Saddam Hussein followed by the U.S.-led invasion. He said the 363 tons of cash loaded onto airplanes and sent into the war zone in 2003 was money that belonged to Iraqis and had come from the U.N.-run oil-for-food program and from seized Iraqi assets.
• Iran condemned Sunday's abduction of an Iranian diplomat as he drove through Baghdad, saying it held the United States responsible for the diplomat's "safety and life." One Iraqi government official said the Iranian was detained Sunday by an Iraqi army unit that reports directly to the U.S. military. A military spokesman denied any U.S. troops or Iraqis that report to them were involved.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited Baghdad security operation has begun, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Wednesday.
The Iraqi general who is leading the security drive took over the operation headquarters on Monday, but there had been no announcement until Wednesday that the sweep, the third attempt to crush violence in nine months, was under way.
"It is ongoing as we speak," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said. "The implementation of the prime minister's plan has already begun and will be fully implemented at a later date, having all the parts and pieces that he wants.
"But portions are already being put in place, and we'll continue to put more into place as the forces arrive and the assets become available."
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki complained Tuesday that the operation was off to a slow start and warned that insurgents are taking advantage of the delay to kill as many people as possible.
But he also reassured Iraqis that security forces will live up to their responsibilities.
The statement came as new checkpoints were erected and increased vehicle inspections and foot patrols were reported in some neighborhoods — providing the main evidence so far that U.S. and Iraqi forces were gearing up for a major neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep to quell sectarian violence in the city of 6 million.
"The operations will unite us and we will take action soon, God willing, even though I believe we've been very late and this delay has started to give a negative message," al-Maliki said in a meeting with military commanders shown on state TV. "I hope that more efforts will be exerted and more speed exerted in carrying out and achieving all the preparations to start the operations."
"We should carry out the operation in good time and should not delay, because the delay will be used against us by the enemies ... and those who are afraid of them," he added.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday the increase in U.S. forces in Iraq is "not the last chance" to succeed and conceded he was considering what steps to take if the buildup fails.
"I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Gates said the operation was to have started Monday. "It's probably going to slip a few days, and it's probably going to be a rolling implementation," he said.
Al-Maliki, who has seen sectarian violence rise since taking office May 20, 2006, despite two previous efforts to secure the capital, declared that Iraqi forces will live up to their responsibilities and told his commanders they must not disappoint those "who stand beside us."
"As far as the security issue is concerned, we should be determined and committed. We should carry out the operation on time and should not delay because the delay will be used against us by our enemies," he added.
Al-Maliki also accused other countries in the region of supporting militants to destabilize Iraq and prevent democracy from spreading — an apparent reference to U.S. rivals Iran and Syria.
"We have many times talked about this interference and said that we will not sit endlessly silent about those who interfere in our affairs and support terrorism," he said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
