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Ten military personnel have been killed after a US helicopter crashed while on combat operations in eastern Afghanistan. The CH-47 Chinook crashed near Asadabad – capital of of Kunar province. The incident was not caused by enemy fire, the US military has said.
“The CH-47 was conducting operations on a mountain top landing zone when the crash occurred,” the US military said in a statement.
… In June last year, an MH-47 – a special forces version of the CH-47 – was shot down during an anti-guerrilla mission in Kunar province, killing all 16 US troops on board.
A British helicopter has crashed in Basra, with the Ministry of Defence confirming there are “casualties”.
Police in the southern Iraqi city said the aircraft had crashed into a house after being hit by a rocket.
The MoD said there were casualties but could give no further details. Iraqi firefighters told Reuters news agency they had seen four bodies at the scene.
British soldiers deployed in the city sealed off the area as hundreds of Iraqis rushed to see the incident.
It is thought the chopper landed
on a two-storey house
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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Ugly scenes in Basrah.
British Copter Crashes in Iraq; 4 Killed
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Reminds me of the scenes in Basra when British forces crashed the police jail to free two Special Forces soldiers suspected of subversive acts.
Did Tony Blair have the illusion, his forces where on the ground in a part of the British Empire ruled by Her Majesty and all subjects are bound to obey the rules set forth by № 10 Downing Street?
British War Graves Memorial 1914-1921 in Basra
The names were not those of the 54,000 British and Commonwealth troops who died in Iraq during the two world wars ...● Remember Mogadishu 1993 – Black Hawk Down
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Troops on the ground fighting their way to downed aircraft, being attacked by the people they had originally come to help. Nothing kills more people in this world than stupid leaders insisting that military actions will equal peace, and that violence in uniforms will stop the violence in casual Friday wear!
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BAGHDAD (The Independent) May 6 — Human rights groups have condemned the “barbaric” murder of a 14-year-old boy, who, according to witnesses, was shot on his doorstep by Iraqi police for the apparent crime of being gay.
Ahmed Khalil was shot at point-blank range after being accosted by men in police uniforms, according to his neighbours in the al-Dura area of Baghdad.
Campaign groups have warned of a surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias.
… It is believed Ahmed slept with men for money to support his poverty-stricken family, who have fled the area fearing further reprisals.
The killing of Ahmed is one of a series of alleged homophobic murders. There is mounting evidence that fundamentalists have infiltrated government security forces to commit homophobic murders while wearing police uniforms.
Human rights groups are particularly concerned that the Sadr and Badr militias, both Shia, have stepped up their attacks on the gay community after a string of religious rulings, since the US-led invasion, calling for the eradication of homosexuals.
The occupying forces have the responsibility to provide security for the civilian population of the nation.
Informed Comment by Juan Cole
Removing Saddam is not the same as destroying secular nationalism, and the Americans have done the latter, in some large part on Neocon advice, and if you destroy secular nationalism in the Middle East then you get Islamism.
March 19, 2006 — Readers have been asking me about the stance of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani regarding homosexuality. I take it they are inquiring about this entry at my colleagues’ great Pandagon site.
Let me begin by saying that the charge leveled by some, and mentioned at Pandagon, that Sistani has called for the killing of Sunnis, is completely untrue. The implication given by exiled gay Iraqi, Ali Hili, of the London-based gay human rights group OutRage, that Sistani has called for vigilante killings of gays, is untrue, though it is accurate that Sistani advises that the state make homosexual activity a capital crime; it is also accurate to call this “sick”.
… It should be noted that Sistani does not have or even claim the right to impose a death penalty on individuals for their activities. In contemporary Iraq, the legality of homosexuality would be determined by statute passed by parliament (or by provincial assemblies), and if it were illegal, sentencing would be carried out by civil judges. Sistani is here acting as a jurisconsult, saying what he thinks Islamic canon law requires. But Iraq is not governed, or not solely governed, by shariah or Islamic canon law.
… The Iraqi constitution adopted on October 15 contains a provision that no law be passed directly contradicting the established laws of Islam, but another article says that no law may be passed that is contrary to human rights standards.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) May 6 — A British military helicopter crashed in Basra, triggering a confrontation in which jubilant Iraqis pelted British troops with stones, hurled firebombs and shouted slogans in support of a radical Shiite Muslim cleric.
An Iraqi boy throws stones at burning British armoredvehicles in the southern city of Basra. AFP photo
The U.S. command also announced that an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. At least 2,417 U.S. military personnel have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.
In other developments Saturday, according to police:
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for speaking out against U.S. policy towards Iran.
TV grab from Sky News shows a British soldier standing in front of British Warrior armoured fighting vehicles set on fire following the crash of a British helicopter in central Basra. AFP/SkyNews Photo"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Hi Oui.You have to check this out!!!