U.S. Chopper Attacks Pakistan by Mistake; Wounds Three

[mobuto]

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter gunship mistakenly strayed into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan while chasing militants and wounded three civilians in an attack, a Pakistani security official said on Saturday.

Villagers in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border said one person was also killed in the Friday night raid but the region's security chief said no one was killed.

"The helicopter entered Pakistan due to a navigational error," the security official, Mehmood Shah, told Reuters. "Three civilians were injured."

U.S. forces are not allowed to conduct combat operations inside Pakistan.

--continued--

Oops.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4611665

[thebigidea]

1. uh huh. Navigational error. Uh huh. Mmm Hmmm.

If we AREN'T already operating in Pakistan - um, why the fuck not?

Somehow I doubt Pervez's wishes have much to do with it.

[mobuto]

2. Excellent question

We know Al Qaeda is in the tribal regions of Pakistan. And we've known that for ten years. Its been two-and-a-half years since 9/11, and we're still not there in force. How much time exactly does Bush need to get "permission" from Musharaff?

[varun]

3. you wont hear a peep about this from ..

...Busharraf!

[DulceDecorum]

14. I would NOT recommend taking on the Pakistanis

unless you have a bunch of Somalis backing you up.

BACKGROUND:
When the Pakistanis went into Somalia as part of the UN Peacekeeping force, they behaved SO BADLY that there STILL are no published reports
(as far as I can see, and I have been searching for a while now)
about the atrocities they committed upon the hapless Somalis. All we know for sure is that their actions so annoyed Mohammed Aideed that he told the UN to remove them forthwith - or else.
The Pakistanis did not leave - until Mr. Aideed permanently terminated their contracts himself - and skinned them.

Shortly after this, all foreigners within Somalia decided to leave.
A US-led massacre in Mogadishu, which really annoyed Mr. Aideed and the general Somali public, had something to do with this wise decision.

The US cannot just go into Pakistan.
It is FULL of "fanatical" Muslims, you know.
Just ask the government of India.

[mobuto]

16. Yes Pakistan is full of fanatical Muslims

Which is exactly why we should be there. Why aren't we?

[IndianaGreen]

4. Special ops helicopters have GPS

That was "hot pursuit" of brown people not a navigational error!

[mobuto]

5. I have no idea

what the reason for the US incursion into Pakistan was, but if you think GPS isn't capable of producing navigational errors, you clearly have never used it.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Military GPS is far more accurate than the civilian version

scaringly accurate at that!

[mobuto]

11. Actually it isn't

For a time, two signals were sent out, an inferior one for civilian use. But they've done away with that, with the military simple reserving the right to deny civilian GPS coverage to war zones.

But that's not my point, whether GPS is accurate to within ten yards or a hundred yards, its that GPS receivers have a habit of not working when they're supposed to work, or of, when inproperly configured, giving incorrect coordinates.

[ParanoidPat]

18. You have no idea how GPS works do you?

It's the number of channels / sensitivity / algorithm that make the difference between civilian and military versions. WTF "two signals" are you talking about? :shrug:

AFAIK, the frequency is 1575.42 MHz. :evilgrin:

[ParanoidPat]

10. 12 Channel, -165 dbW sensitivity???

Navigational errors? Only if it's turned OFF! :crazy: :evilgrin:

Not to mention that GPS is only one of the 'navigational aids' that they use. :)

[frylock]

19. gps is unreliable - are you from the scott peterson defense team?

[mn9driver]

24. Bottom line: ya gotta be paying attention to it in order for it

to tell you where you are. These laddies were probably distracted by some other task--like killing people. When I flew military we nearly violated foreign airspace a couple of times because we were sort of BUSY with other tasks (NOT killing people--I got lucky; my timing was perfect and we never fired a shot the whole time I was in).

Also, I understand that helicopter rotor blades can cause real problems with things like GPS reception.

[revcarol]

7. Another Laos, or Cambodia...

Nixon: we are not in that country...

Hey, did the IWR give permission for that too? What they hell are all our tax $$ going for in Pakistan if they won't even use their own AF, after we paid for it?

[Flagg]

8. winning more hearts and minds all over the world...

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. Just another test: To see how much they can get away with . . .

.
.
.

Blew some Brits outta the sky - got away with that . .

Blew away some Canuks on the ground - got away with that . .

Blew Afghanis away while at a wedding - got away with that . .

Blew over 10,000 Iraqi civilians away - got away with that . .

and so on . . (feel free to improve on my list)

AND

"friendly fire", "collateral damage", my ASS!

Bush and his gang in my eyes are

MURDERERS

[mobuto]

12. ???

You're saying you think we bombed those Canadians on purpose?

[thebigidea]

13. no, on amphetamine

[DulceDecorum]

15. They dead anyway

Here lies the body of John O'Day
Who died maintaining his right of way.
He was right, dead right, as he sped along,
And he's just as dead as if he were wrong.

Saying "sorry"
ain't gonna bring a single one of those bombees back to life.
Zapatero is smart to get his boys outa there already.

[mobuto]

17. I may be nuts

But I still see just a little difference between killing someone intentionally and doing it accidentally, even though they are dead either way.

Zapatero is smart to get his boys outa there already.

You may be confused. Zapatero had said nothing, at last check, about withdrawing Spanish forces from Afghanistan, site of the Canadian tragedy.

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. "Zapatero is smart to get his boys outa there already."

.
.
.
:thumbsup: . :thumbsup: . :thumbsup: . :thumbsup: . :thumbsup: . :thumbsup: .

[tabasco]

20. Actually, after 22 Pakistanis got ambushed and killed ...

is when the US decided to send a Ranger battalion "plus" to Mogadishu to capture Aideed. I was with 10th Mountain at the time and we had operated in Mogadishu and all over Somalia for several months. We had established law and order in order for the humanitarian groups (the real heroes) to operate and distribute food. But the Rangers came in and thought we were below them, the Ranger soldier gods. They really riled up the population of Mogadishu and acted like they were on a training mission. They failed to coordinate with 10th Mountain and it really hurt them when a mission went bad. The biggest mistake the US made was sending General Garrison and his special ops troops into Mogadishu. They screwed the pooch.
I have great respecct for the Rangers and am Ranger-qualified myself, but they screwed up in Mogadishu. Of course, Clinton was raked over the coals for the "nation building", despite the fact that Bush 1 sent us there.

Oooops! Meant to reply to post #2 - later!

[daleo]

22. I would be surprised if there were not U.S. forces in Pakistan

Of course both sides would keep it quiet. I think there is a lot going on behind the scenes in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. The U.S. has moved Pakistan up in the pecking order for obtaining American arms, and also looked the other way over the nuclear proliferation issue. There must be a quid pro quo.

[UpInArms]

23. I wonder how many dead

Pakistanis 460 million buys?

this is yet another agregious error on our military's part.