IRAQ WAR QUAGMIRE HELL
Midair helicopter crash kills 17 in Iraq

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

MOSUL, Iraq -- Two Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed Saturday night, killing 17 American soldiers in the U.S. military's worst single loss of life since the Iraq war began.

Five soldiers were injured and one was missing, the military said. One helicopter smashed into the roof of a house, witnesses said, and there were reports one of the aircraft was shot down.

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These stories are starting to piss me off. I don't blame the Iraqis; I blame the White House. This hostile reaction was forseeen: the Army Chief of Staff predicted that the US would need "several hundred thousand troops" in Iraq back in March, but Rumsfeld and his neo-con cronies poo-pooed the idea. Not that I think we should send in more troops; rather, I think we should get the hell out of there right now. We cannot win this. It's wrong to even try.

Of course, it was wrong to invade in the first place, but that's another story...

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