U.S. army defends helicopter attack in Baghdad
By Ed Cropley
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military has defended two helicopter pilots who fired seven rockets into a crowd of Iraqis in Baghdad this week, saying they had come under "well-aimed ground fire" and responded in self-defence.
Initially, the military had said they opened fire on Sunday to destroy a crippled U.S. armoured vehicle to prevent looting.
At least five people including a television journalist were killed in the incident around the blazing wreck of the Bradley, which had been crippled by a car bomb in central Baghdad's Haifa Street, a bastion for anti-American insurgents.
Colonel Jim McConville, head of the U.S. First Cavalry Division's aviation brigade, said two helicopters armed with heavy machineguns and a total of 21 rockets had swooped over the burning vehicle and the crowd of Iraqis.
"While he (the lead pilot) was overflying the target he received well-aimed ground fire so close that he could hear it over his intercom system," McConville told a news conference on Wednesday.
"The trail aircraft that was following the lead aircraft saw tracer fire coming up from the vicinity of the Bradley, aimed -- well-aimed -- at the lead aircraft."
"The second aircraft, having observed insurgent, or terrorist, forces firing at our aircraft, engaged ... the insurgents with one rocket. The second aircraft had 14 rockets on board but chose to engage with only one rocket to ... provide a proportional response."
WITNESS ACCOUNTS
Mazen Tomeizi, a Palestinian producer for Al Arabiya television, was killed while filming a piece to camera when the first missile struck behind him. Reuters cameraman Seif Fouad was wounded in one of the subsequent rocket strikes.
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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040915/3/3n55k.htmlLooks like they have changed their story again.
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