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ANDERSON COOPER: Well, today, for the fifth time in
less than three weeks, a U.S. helicopter crashed in
Iraq. Seven people were killed.
The Marine Sea Knight CH-46 helicopter went down in
Anbar Province this morning during routine
operations, as they were called. Everyone on board
was killed.
The umbrella insurgent group Islamic State in Iraq,
which includes al Qaeda in Iraq, has claimed
responsibility. Through postings on Islamic Web
sites, the insurgents claim they shot the chopper
down while hundreds of people watched and praised
God. That's what they said on their propaganda site.
The official cause of the crash still under
investigation, says the U.S. military. But officials
say there was enemy activity in the area when the
chopper crashed.
After today's incident and four other shoot-downs in
recent weeks, the military is trying to figure out if
there is a new enemy threat against our helicopters.
Joining us now for some perspective, CNN's Michael
Ware, who is covering this story from Baghdad, and
CNN military analyst Brigadier General David Grange.
Guys, thanks for being with us.
Michael, you know, military officials have long
pointed out that this enemy in Iraq is a learning
enemy, adjusting their tactics as we adjust ours. The
U.S. military is investigating all these crashes, but
do we know if the crash is the result of new enemy
tactics?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's too soon
to tell, Anderson.
We do know that the insurgents here, be they Shia
militias, be they Sunni insurgents, or be they al
Qaeda -- which are the ones who have essentially
claimed the shooting down of this latest helicopter,
the Islamic State of Iraq is a state within a state
declared by al Qaeda -- they have long targeted air
assets.
We have seen, way back from 2003, how they have tried
to hit fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Now, this
is the fifth helicopter that's come down in
two-and-a-half weeks. That is a lot. Four of them, we
know, so far, definitely result of hostile fire.
We're awaiting the outcome of this one.
But does that make a pattern? We're unclear yet. Even
if the same methods have been used on each of the
choppers, we're eagerly awaiting to see what comes
out of this investigation.
COOPER: General Grange, any loss of life is terrible
and a tragedy. And any time a helicopter is down,
there's often multiple loss of life.
But, given the total number of choppers flying on any
given day over the skies in Iraq, is five down in
this length of time surprising?
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY
ANALYST: No.
Actually, I'm -- I'm very surprised that, during this
war, that more helicopters had not been knocked down,
either by the enemy or from mechanical failure. If
you look at Vietnam and other areas of combat,
actually, it's a very good record.
Losing one is bad, obviously. But it's -- there's a
lot of flight hours going on, a lot of helicopters in
the sky, because the coalition forces, the U.S., owns
the sky. It's the third -- three-dimensional fight
for the U.S. And no one else can take the skies. And,
so, the enemy tries to counter that, obviously.
COOPER: General Grange, correct me if I am wrong. I
seem to remember reading in Neil Sheehan's book "A
Bright Shining Lie" that, when Vietcong guerrillas
figured out how to down U.S. choppers during Vietnam,
it was a huge victory or morale boost for them.
Do you feel that the insurgents here have figured out
how to bring these choppers down, or is it -- I mean,
do you have a gut feeling on this?
GRANGE: Well, the enemy -- our adversaries not only
studied Vietnam. They studied Mogadishu and Somalia
and other actions.
And they know that, the vulnerability of American or
any helicopters in the sky. I mean, there's no place
to hide. There's tactics that are used to avoid fire.
And there's techniques that are used to counter
ground fire, either from missile or small arms.
COOPER: And that's kind of damned if you do, damned
if you don't. If you fly too low, which is to counter
surface-to-air missiles, then you're vulnerable to
small-arms fire. If you fly too high, you're
vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles.
GRANGE: That's correct. And either one of them can
take down a helicopter.
I mean, I have been in helicopters that have taken
over 45 hits and never went down. Also, a helicopter
can go down from one hit. It just depends.
But you know, the enemy also knows that there's a lot
of sensationalism in knocking out a helicopter. I
mean, just as, you know, American soldiers dying in a
truck in a convoy or a Humvee is just as drastic.
It's just it's not as big of a deal on television or
as people talk about it. So, it's a very tempting
target to our adversary.
COOPER: Well, certainly, also, for soldiers on the
battlefield, the supremacy of American airpower is
something which, if they feel they can hit, I guess
it gives a morale boost.
Michael, the U.S. military announced today that the
new Baghdad security operation, it has officially
begun. But, according to the AP, more American troops
were killed in combat in Iraq in the past four months
than in any comparable period.
Is that an insurgent strategy in response to American
politics, to try to bring up the body count? Is it
because there are more Americans on patrol in
Baghdad? Is it just coincidence? Do we know?
WARE: Well, no, we don't know exactly.
But we do know that the insurgents had, for want of a
better term, their own surge of operations that we
saw come during the holy month of Eid at the end of
last year.
Now, that also aligned with the American midterm
elections. And we do know that the insurgents not
only monitored U.S. domestic politics during that
period, but vowed that they would capitalize on it.
So, I believe that some of those figures will be
linked back to offensives, you know, that were to
maximize the holy month and the elections.
However, by and large, we still don't have the U.S.
troops on the streets of the capital that we're
expecting. We're being told that's going to be a slow
rollout, and there's no fixed date for when all
American troops will be here.
Bottom line is, this is the war. It continues to
evolve. And it can easily get worse before it gets
better.
COOPER: Michael Ware, General David Grange,
appreciate it, guys. Thanks for your time.
GRANGE: Thank you.