Just wanted to know if they told you (Americans) that...

an Iraqi farmer shot an apache helicopter down??? LOL

I don't know with what kind of gun?

Just wanted to know if they told you this in the news, they did here.

its rubbish,
it had mechanical problems.... they are armour plated
just propaganda to inspire the peasants

They are very stingy with information here in the U.S., only choosing to tell us what they believe will win popular support and even lying in some instances. They haven't talked much about the helicopter being shot down and when they did they denied that it was shot down by peasants or farmers. The propaganda machine here in the U.S. is also lying about "why they hate us" "it's our way of life they're jealous of " U.S. politicians tell us. They also tell us that Iraqi citizens would welcome the U.S. and when they didn't all immediately surrender they claimed that it was due to force by Saddam and guns at their backs. They are also stating that soldiers are dressing as civilians without bothering to mention that some civilians and farmers may be involved in the fighting. I mean, as much as I hate George W. Bush I would still defend my country if it was invaded and it's no surprise that Iraqis are willing to sacrifice their lives in such a case. They also tell us that Iraqis are marching civilian women and children in front of military installations to use as human shields but if I were living in Baghdad and had missles raining around me daily and civilian casualties mounting I would begin to believe that the safest place to be would be someplace where the troops would be afraid to shoot, where you're obvious and out in the open. They are really trying to spin this story here since the war popularity is waning to some extent due to the fact that it isn't the walk through that Rumsfeld and others were anticipating. It is getting real ugly and I can't even watch CNN lately due to the hatred that I see on TV. They interviewed one typically dumb redneck here and asked him if he thought we should be in Iraq and he said, "Yes, cuz they shouldn't have come here and did what they did." Aside form his lack of diction he showed a complete ignorance of the situation. The less educated here lump all Arabs into one group including Afghanis, Farsi, Persians, etc. They call Arabs "towel heads" and "sand 'n-word's. They feel that if one Arab attacks us that it's the same as all Arabs and I've heard some people say that we should "bomb them all, they're all crazy over there." The intelligent proponents of the war are just greedy and will spin anything to keep this jingoistic hatred going and get the approval of the war. Kind of reminds me of the same kind of galvanization generated in the Third Reich towards the Jews.
Reading news from sources outside of the U.S. makes for a less biased perspective. Americans who favor this war for the wrong reasons need to get their noses out of the American school books and read some REAL history. Fortunately, there's a rather large minority here that is more aware of the real facts.

peace out
Caratacus

BTW-where are you getting this news, which nation? Where is "over here".

Peace
Caratacus

alienaddicted, where is 'here' and what news sources are you privy to that Americans aren't? I am just dying to know.

Fox news has had a lot of coverage on it.I have heard it that it had mechanical problems.It had a hard landing and the 2 piliots are now pows.If it was brought down by peasents with a rifle it would have the luckiest shot ever made.

Many Iraqi military are now in civilian clothes. Second, Apaches are designed to take substantial hits from small arms fire (including the AK-47, which supposedly shot it down). Iraqi tv showed some very close up images of the chopper, and I noticed nothing to indicate it was shot down (note however, I am no expert). The chopper did not "crash" though, and instead made a forced landing, consistent with a likely mechanical failure. Iraqi propaganda, and nothing less. BTW though, any of those who were "dancing" around it are now piles of ash, as the US has since destroyed the chopper

The farmer who apparently shot the Apache down was weilding what looked like a Mauser '98 Karbine bolt-action rifle ( although I'm no expert ). This seems to me like an attempt by the Iraqi government to inspire the peasants to act heroically against the invaders, much like the Russians did in WW2, by publishing the stories of their sharpshooters in their propaganda magazine, to bolster morale.

I thought it was an Elephant gun.LOL

Seriously.You say it had mechanical failure.How do you know when you don't have access to the Apache or the PoW's?

Great Avatar Cider

Seriously.You say it had mechanical failure.How do you know when you don't have access to the Apache or the PoW's?

Most likely that would be something the pilots would have radio to there commander or base.

Ahhhhhhhhh

"You say it had mechanical failure.How do you know when you don't have access to the Apache"

Access to the Apache was granted in the form of several close-ups on Iraqi tv...it did not appear to be heavily damaged. However, since examining later news reports, it does seem that the unit it was part of it encountered heavy resistance from civilian clothed Iraqi military. These same reports indicate that it was anti-aircraft fire, not small arms fire (which the Apache can take), that caused the unit to turn around. So now, at least, it appears that it took some anti-aircraft fire, made a forced landing, and that the farmer story is even more of a farce...

Yesterday I was kind of hostile. Just want to clarify. The spin here isn't so much on hatred but fear and suspicion which leads to hatred. The bigots in the U.S. only needed an excuse. The push is to portray the U.S. as righteous and powerful. The truth isn't told about how Saddam regime was assisted by U.S. The truth isn't told about the Iraqis who wave at the U.S. tanks as the roll past and then sneer at them when their backs are turned. The Bush admin has an agenda. We can't give the land back to my Indian ancestors, too many of us are mixed with European blood now anyway but we do have a solid constitution which shouldn't be dismantled by paranoia. The citizens here are abolishing their freedom in the name of security and that's the irony of a war to liberate a people who seem to be opposing that now. I have been reading from Moscow Times, News of India and Guerilla News who have some excellent free lance reporters, one of which pointed out that the Kurdish group that was allegedly tied to al Qaeda was not so and the alleged poison plant was a video propaganda center for the Kurds but that's already been bombed now so it will be too late for the truth. It isn't just about oil, it's about domination. These right wing Christians really do have a feeling of superiority and imperialism. Their humanitarian front masks a certain arrogance. The U.S media, especially CNN lies to us through Rumsfeld about the army's progress and the opposition's progress as well as the motives. I could go on and on but I really need to get busy.
Let's just hope that there is a way to put an end to this. To think that we had an international alliance that was hunting terrorists, (some of us think that the CIA are the real terrorists but that is another story) and working to "disarm" Iraq in a peaceful way. We could have had a world that prospered by slowly but surely working for cooperation instead of alienating the entire world as the Bush admin has now done. They were only using the U.N. security council to give them time to get troops in place, once that was done, the U.N. security council became irrelevant.
Not everyone in the U.S. is a bigot but if you speak intelligently about the international repercussions of this war you are shouted down as a traitor, a hippie or a faggot.

Peace
Caratacus
"His psychiatrist gave him courage. Dr. Podle the plastic surgeon perfected his beauty, surpassing all others. More terrifying than a nuclear missle."
The Epic of James Dubois by Latifha

Belguim VRT news, info received from london (they said).
They played a video of an armed iraqi guy surrounded by others yelling and chearing. The helicopter behind them and one with his foot the pilots helmets. Did not see the pilots.