On Friday, insurgents shot down their fourth American helicopter in two weeks.
Four helicopters in two weeks could be a coincidence or an indication that Iraqi insurgents have better weaponry. Although the US has no evidence directly linking Iran to these incidents, its also no secret that Iran has a presence in Iraq and is suspected of aiding Iraqi insurgents:
For about a year, Iran has been manufacturing second generation man portable surface to air missiles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misagh-2
The US isn't claiming that Iranian missiles are bringing down their choppers. But insurgents are using the same type of man portable SAMs (SA-7) possessed by Iran which are being replaced by their newer domestic model (Misagh-2).
Iran may have taken a page from the American book on how to bog down your enemy in an unwinnable war:
The Israeli DebkaFile made this statement almost a year ago:
But its possible that Iran isn't directly supplying Iraqi insurgents, but selling off their older surplus munitions and somehow, some of these munitions have found their way into the hands of Iraqi insurgents.
Another possibility is that Iran has nothing to do with Iraqi insurgent's recent increased ability to shoot down American helicopters.
US chopper 'shot down' in Iraq
03/02/2007
Washington - Two crew were killed when a United States army helicopter crashed and burnt north of Baghdad on Friday, apparently brought down by enemy fire, said the US department of defence. The US military issued a statement confirming that a military helicopter had gone down northwest of Baghdad.
"Two soldiers were killed when the helicopter went down. Their remains have been recovered and the site secured," read the statement.
The military statement did not identify the type of helicopter or say what had caused the crash, but a US defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was an army AH-64 Apache gunship.
"The initial report is that it was a shoot-down," said the official.
It was the fourth US helicopter to be downed in less than two weeks. Investigators believe a UH-60 Blackhawk was also shot down with an SA-7 shoulder-fired missile, killing 12 soldiers aboard.
"Clearly, there's been more effective ground fire, or ground fire that has been more effective against our helicopters in the last couple of weeks," said US marine general Peter Pace, chairperson of the Pentagon's joint chiefs of staff.
Crash site aflame "(We're) taking a hard look at that. Don't know whether or not this is just statistically what's going to happen over time when you're flying at that level and people are shooting at you, or if there's some kind of new tactics and techniques that we need to adjust to."...
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,9294,2-10-1460_2063962,00.html
Four helicopters in two weeks could be a coincidence or an indication that Iraqi insurgents have better weaponry. Although the US has no evidence directly linking Iran to these incidents, its also no secret that Iran has a presence in Iraq and is suspected of aiding Iraqi insurgents:
US warns Iran to halt aid to Iraqi insurgents
By JoAnne Allen
Washington - Iran is supplying Iraqi insurgents with weapons technology used to kill American troops, a senior US diplomat said on Wednesday, sending another warning to Iran against interfering in Iraq.
"We have picked up individuals who we believe are giving very sophisticated explosive technology to Shi'a insurgent groups who then use that technology to target and kill American soldiers," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns.
"It's a very serious situation. And the message from the United States is, Iran should cease and desist."
The United States has been tracking Iranian involvement in in Iraqi insurgent attacks for about two years and has found increasing evidence that Iran has given assistance to Shi'a in Southern Iraq, Burns said in an interview with NPR taped for broadcast on Thursday.
"They have attacked British soldiers near Basra and they've now begun to mount those operations throughout the country - at least in the Baghdad region as well," Burns said.
Washington officials have charged that Iran is providing Shi'as with high-grade explosives capable of tearing through the Armour on military vehicles.
The Bush administration has repeatedly warned Iran against fuelling violence in Iraq and US forces have detained a number of Iranian officials in raids over the past month....
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=qw1170314463921B265&click_id=2813&set_id=1
For about a year, Iran has been manufacturing second generation man portable surface to air missiles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misagh-2
The US isn't claiming that Iranian missiles are bringing down their choppers. But insurgents are using the same type of man portable SAMs (SA-7) possessed by Iran which are being replaced by their newer domestic model (Misagh-2).
Iran launches new surface-to-air missile production
By Alon Ben-David JDW Correspondent
Tel Aviv
Iran launched a mass production line for a new man-portable low- to very-low-altitude surface-to-air missile called the Mithaq-2 on 6 February.
The shoulder-launched Mithaq-2, believed to be a short-range passive infra-red missile developed by the Iranian Defence Ministry's Shahid Kazemi Industrial Complex in Tehran, is an advanced version of the indigenously developed Mithaq-1 air-defence system.
The Iranian army, which operates older Soviet-made SA-7 Strela 2M and SA-14 Strela 3 man-portable air-defence systems, has been seeking to boost its air-defence capabilities as the dispute regarding the nuclear programme escalates. In anticipation of a potential airstrike on its nuclear facilities, the Iranians acquired 29 Russian Tor-M1 (SA-15 Guantlet) self-propelled surface-to-air missile systems in December 2005...
http://www.janes.com/aerospace/military/news/jdw/jdw060213_1_n.shtml
Iran may have taken a page from the American book on how to bog down your enemy in an unwinnable war:
...Beginning in 1985, the CIA supplied mujaheddin rebels with extensive satellite reconnaissance data of Soviet targets on the Afghan battlefield, plans for military operations based on the satellite intelligence, intercepts of Soviet communications, secret communications networks for the rebels, delayed timing devices for tons of C-4 plastic explosives for urban sabotage and sophisticated guerrilla attacks, long-range sniper rifles, a targeting device for mortars that was linked to a U.S. Navy satellite, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, and other equipment.
The move to upgrade aid to the mujaheddin roughly coincided with the well-known decision in 1986 to provide the mujaheddin with sophisticated, U.S.-made Stinger antiaircraft missiles....
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/MiddleEast/TerrorInUSA/Anatomy.asp
The Israeli DebkaFile made this statement almost a year ago:
A Fresh Supply of Iranian Weapons for New Batch of Iraqi Shiite Terrorists
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
May 15, 2006
In the past two weeks, Iran has been pumping into Iraq two types of extra-lethal weapons in very large quantities. They have already taken their toll in the shooting down of two military helicopters - one American and one British – and an estimated 19 deaths of US military personnel.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources estimate the delivery to Iraqi insurgents as consisting of around 1,000 SA-7 Strela ground-air missiles made in Iran, and a very large quantity of a newly-developed roadside bomb, loaded with compressed gas instead of ball bearings and cartridges, to magnify their blast and explosive power.
The supplies have been distributed across Iraq - Basra and Amara in the south, Baghdad and its environs, Haditha in the west, and Mosul in the north.
The new bombs, developed jointly by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the Lebanese Hizballah, have already gone into service with the Shiite terrorists on the Lebanese border with Israel. Israeli military sources say it is only a matter of time before the deadly roadside bombs, already used in Iraq, will also reach Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1165
But its possible that Iran isn't directly supplying Iraqi insurgents, but selling off their older surplus munitions and somehow, some of these munitions have found their way into the hands of Iraqi insurgents.
Another possibility is that Iran has nothing to do with Iraqi insurgent's recent increased ability to shoot down American helicopters.
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