April 07, 2006

Helicopter Pilot Video(Updated)

In a cheap attempt to break our will the enemy in Iraq has attempted to copycat the Somalia incident that broke Bill Clinton’s will. The US military has called the video despicable. Our thoughts and prayers go to our fine pilot and his family.

CNN : "We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said in a statement. "The terrorists continue to demonstrate their immoral disregard for human dignity and life."
The U.S. military reported Sunday that an Army AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter went down, likely from enemy fire, west of Yousifiah on Saturday evening while conducting a combat air patrol.
The video shows what appears to be a helicopter ablaze -- and later with no flames -- and insurgents dragging what appears to be "part of" a burning body away from the wreckage.

Update : Al emails to question the last part of clip that shows the body. It's not very clear exactly what it is. Possibly a dummy? Right above the belt where the hips meet the waist it does not look quite right to me either.

Update II : Darcey also is hosting the Video here and a Hat Tip too for the frame grabs below the fold.

Update III 04/07/06 Hat Tip Infovlad: I saw this over at MSNBC today .

Military analysts have authenticated the terrorist videotape released this week that militants said showed the burning wreckage of an Apache helicopter and the body of a U.S. Army pilot being dragged, U.S. military officials have told NBC News.

Vlad : Recipe of flammable liquid? Whose logo is this? The video looks bit old though.

Additional information here on Yahoo News :

In its statement, the U.S. military said it confirmed the two pilots had died, and it had recovered "all available remains found on the scene, given the catastrophic nature of the crash."
The time and date stamp on the video was Sunday, April 2, and runs from 4:03 p.m. to 4:08 p.m. The stamp shows the minutes and seconds do not run sequentially and the scenes appear disjointed, suggesting the tape was altered.

The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union reported that Capt. Timothy Moshier, 25, of Bethlehem, N.Y., was killed Saturday when the Apache helicopter he was piloting crashed about the same time and place southwest of Baghdad. His survivors include his wife, Katherine, and their 10-month-old daughter, Natalie, the newspaper said.