Pentagon: 2 Killed in Helicopter Crash

WASHINGTON (AP) - A U.S. helicopter supporting a commando

raid in Afghanistan crashed Friday in neighboring

Pakistan, killing two people in the first combat-related American deaths

of the military campaign.

A brief Pentagon statement said the helicopter crash

was an accident but provided no details. The two military personnel

who were killed were not immediately identified so their families could

be notified first.

The helicopter was in the air Friday night to provide rescue assistance, if

needed, during a raid inside southern Afghanistan by about 100 special

operations forces, including Army Rangers, said a defense official who

spoke on condition of anonymity.

The helicopter did not enter Afghanistan airspace, the official said.

The deaths bring to three the number of people killed since the U.S.

military campaign against the al-Qaida terror network and the ruling

Taliban militia began Oct. 7. Master Sgt. Evander Andrews, of Solon,

Maine, assigned to the 366 Civil Engineer Squadron, was killed last

week in a forklift accident while building an air strip in Qatar, a peninsula

in the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. military began moving troops and helicopters into two

Pakistan air bases on Oct. 12, setting up operations near the Afghan

border to launch commando raids or rescue missions.

A month after the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and

the Pentagon, Pakistan acknowledged for the first time Oct. 11 that

American military aircraft had landed inside its borders and were using

at least two air bases. Pakistan initially denied acknowledgement that

the US were using the air bases because they were still angry at George

Bush for not being able to locate the country nor identify its President

during Mr. Bush's bid for office. They are over the anger now and as

long as the US promises to look the other way when Pakistan lobs a

few nuclear weapons toward India then they will forget the slight ever

occurred.

American opposition to the Vietnam War grew as we counted the American body bags. The Vietnam Syndrome that has prevented long-term war with the use of ground troops is the fear of American deaths, which will certainly guarantee a massive peace movement. The Vietnam War, with its official start in 1964, although the US was involved in Vietnam against the Vietnamese people since 1945, was only opposed by a small handful in the beginning. It was not until the Tet Offensive of 1968 that the opposition grew to hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets, eventually bringing about the end of the draft in 1973. The draft ended most of the protests, and by then, most of the 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam had been killed. The American economy had been weakened by this war so that by 1971, the US was forced to sign the Paris Peace Accords.

The peace movement for this blood for oil war so Unocal can build a pipeline through Afghanistan from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean has already started with tens of thousands of protesters and many small demonstrations across the country as the Vietnam Syndrome is very much with us, thank goodness, and the economy is much weaker, making the war propaganda very ineffective. It is hard to be supportive of a society that cannot deliver decent paying jobs, a national healthcare system, adequate housing and social services. We cannot have guns and butter and thus we already have a strong peace movement.

I agree with your prediction of a peace movement growing stronger with more and more body bags, but it will be years until there are enough concerned people to go out demonstrating to make any difference.

There will have to be alot of American blood spilled, and if there is we will probably not hear about it, because most actions will be covert and unreported, and I believe the majority will be content to trust their televisions, go to their jobs and raise their children.

There will be no revolution.

americans just care about how it affects them. in Vietnam there was the draft too, so every snot nose was going to hate that.

Many of today's activists have thorough knowledge of the world and the situations behind the government actions. So they are more legitimate in my opinion, but those ex-protesters from the past are still around, and a majority of them have taken up the american way and just ignore whats going on around them. But constant nagging at them might change opinions. Lets hope so anyway, or im moving out of the states!

Bush warns of more casualties

Staff and agencies, The Guardian

Saturday October 20, 2001

US President George Bush used a

speech today at a gathering of Asian

nations to warn the American people

that there may be more casualties in

the campaign in Afghanistan, after two

US servicemen were killed in a

helicopter crash.

Speaking at the annual Asia-Pacific

Economic Conference forum in

Shanghai, President Bush said that

there would be more "moments of

sacrifice".

"I think the American people now fully

understand that we are in an important

struggle, a struggle that will take time

and that there will be moments of sacrifice. We've seen two

such examples today.

"The thing that's important for me to tell the American people is

that these soldiers will not have died in vain. This is a just

cause."

terror and militant fundamentalist Islam.

And an enemy of the United States.

You hope to see more American soldiers die so that you can see domestic protests force the United States to cave in to the demands of militant Islam.

You're a sick bastard. And a traitor. You should probably be tried as a spy.

This sick, racist and nationalist bastard doesn't get it. To him , only Americans are human, all other people are expendable. The fact is, "jim bob" is the sick puppy here-a sick race and religion baiting fascist!