News-Info-Alerts

Re: Iraq Claims More POWs from Apache Incident

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: March 24, 2003

"Iraq Claims to Shoot Down Helicopter
By Hamza Hendawi Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 24, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq claimed Monday that it shot down two Apache helicopters and was holding the pilots prisoner. U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks said two pilots were missing in action.

Iraqi state television showed pictures of one helicopter in a grassy field. Men in Arab headdresses holding Kalashnikov automatic rifles danced around the aircraft.

"A small number of peasants shot down two Apaches," Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said. "Perhaps we will show pictures of the pilots."

Iraqi state television also showed pictures of two helmets apparently belonging to members of the helicopter's crew, as well as documents and other papers lying on the ground.

During a briefing at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, Franks acknowledged one helicopter did not return from its mission in Iraq.

"We have a two-man crew missing," he said, adding that their fate was "uncertain." However, he dismissed reports the helicopter was downed by "farmers."

Earlier, Air Force Master Sgt. Grant Windsor at the Pentagon confirmed one Apache was missing but said he had no information on the pilots. He said the Defense Department was evaluating the tape shown on Iraqi television.

A U.S. Central Command official in Qatar said the Apache shown on Iraqi television was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and was forced down late Sunday by heavy ground fire.

Another Apache and a UH-160 tried to rescue the crew, but were driven off by ground fire, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Al-Sahhaf, the Iraqi information minister, said Iraq would consider displaying the other helicopter it claims to have shot down.

The report of the downed helicopters and new prisoners of war came a day after al-Jazeera showed video images of five American prisoners of war captured in fighting near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

"Yesterday was a black day and the black days will increase," al-Sahhaf said.

He said the POWs would be treated according to the Geneva Conventions and rejected accusations Iraq violated the accords by allowing Iraqi television to film the prisoners and question them.

Referring to televised video images of Iraqi prisoners of war, al-Sahhaf claimed the men were actually civilians taken away at gunpoint by U.S. forces.

"Is no one supposed to tell them they acted inappropriately?" he asked. "These hypocrites! We tell them we abide by Geneva Conventions."

He accused allied forces of "crying tears of crocodiles" for attacking Iraq and finding the consequences unpleasant.

© 2003, Media General Inc. "