Article

2003-06-06 Iraq

US fighter ’shot down with missile left by SBS’

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Posted by Bulldog 2003-06-06 04:59 am|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 No way SBS easily leaving such a weapon on the ground; no way soldiers not trained for that could crash airplanes at first shot; no way special forces would carry heavy hair defence stuff without any opponent air force; simply There are many stinger systems around the world...quite often sold or given by USA to their supposed friends around the world...starting with Bin Laden.Why keep on with lies?
This USA war propaganda sometimes make me puke.

Posted by Mancocapac, Italy 2003-06-15 07:31:56|| 2003-06-15 07:31:56|| Front Page Top

#2 "You would rather leave a man behind than equipment like that"
Surely he's exaggerating.

Posted by RW 2003-06-06 06:27:04|| 2003-06-06 06:27:04|| Front Page Top

#3 Why would they have needed a Stinger?
The Iraqi Airforce was not flying,and SF types on a mission wouldn't carry something they wouldn't need.

Posted by Raptor 2003-06-06 08:11:50|| 2003-06-06 08:11:50|| Front Page Top

#4 An anonymous cheap shot from within our military, by some REMF. Just like what was leveled at Tim Collins.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-06-06 08:13:29|| 2003-06-06 08:13:29|| Front Page Top

#5 An F-15E is a single seater,no?

Posted by Attaboid 2003-06-06 09:17:27|| 2003-06-06 09:17:27|| Front Page Top

#6 F-15E Strike Eagle is the two seater fighter bomber version.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-06-06 09:29:21|| 2003-06-06 09:29:21|| Front Page Top

#7 If it was lost British equipment, I don't hold it against them. Everybody with a brain knows damn well that they didn't just negligently leave ordnace lying around. After all, our military has done worse to soldiers from other countries, and our own soldiers, unfortunatley.
And I don't blame them for it one bit.
Does anyone know what happened to the report that an A-10 took out a British APC on it's second pass. I'm not saying these cases are connected at all, It just reminded me of it.

Posted by Mike N. 2003-06-06 10:22:19|| 2003-06-06 10:22:19|| Front Page Top

#8 ...There might be more to this than there seems, but for different reasons.
First, there are at least a few Stingers floating around the world that we simply cannot account for, and IIRC there is a pretty strong liklihood that they found their way into the wrong hands. Let me point out that these could not possibly be the imfamous Mujhadeen Stingers that never came out of Afghanistan - those weapons passed their battery shelf/service lives a long time ago.
Which leads to the next point - it's certainly possible that an SF team had a MANPAD, so it's not out of the question. If they were looking for the 'drones' that some folks were saying the Iraqis had, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to have one or two - and Stinger isn't that heavy. Of course, that begs the question of why they left one in the field. We'll probably never know the first answer, but the second one has a perfectly logical one: they may have tried to use it and for some reason it simply did not function. Understandably believing the missile was TU'd, they abandoned it - and unfortunately, it got picked up. In the heat of battle, it could well have happened.
How easily could someone have picked up an abandoned Stinger and used it? Well, the ones I trained on in Korea in the mid-80s actually had a plate on the side with picture instructions, designed to be used by nervous or scared troops in combat without a whole lot of practice if they had to.
Now, myself, I have an exceptionally hard time believing that an SAS team could have made an error like this, and I hope that wasn't it. If they did, then I really think it has to be written off as one of those awful things that happen when the shooting starts.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2003-06-07 02:15:29|| 2003-06-07 02:15:29|| Front Page Top

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