U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq, at Least 15 Dead

Sun November 2, 2003 09:32 AM ET

By Michael Georgy
BAISA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas shot down an American helicopter in Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 15 U.S. personnel and wounding 21 in the bloodiest single strike on U.S.-led forces since they invaded Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein.

The crippled Chinook helicopter came down in farmland at 9 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) near the village of Baisa, south of Falluja, a fiercely anti-U.S. town 30 miles west of the capital.

U.S. helicopters circled above the smoking wreckage. Other helicopters and U.S. Humvee vehicles were parked nearby.

U.S. Army spokesman Colonel William Darley told reporters that the cause of the crash was under investigation. Other U.S. officials and witnesses said the helicopter, carrying troops on a rest and recreation break, had been shot down.

Some Iraqis were jubilant. "The Americans are pigs. We will hold a celebration because this helicopter went down -- a big celebration," said wheat farmer Saadoun Jaralla near the crash site. "The Americans are enemies of mankind."

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And Mr. Bush continues to lie to the American people, telling us that "things are getting better in Iraq." Meanwhile Mr. Bush's "hundreds of tons of chemical and biological weapons," the reason we went to war in the first place, have never been found.