Helicopter crash kills 4 NATO service members
Four members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force died Monday in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, military officials said.
The dead included three Australian service members, according to Australian defense force chief Marshal Houston. Houston said 10 Australians were among the 15 people on board a coalition chopper taking part in military operations.
"This was not the result of enemy action," Houston said. An ISAF soldier from another country also was killed, Australian Minister for Defense John Faulkner said.
Australia lost two soldiers in a roadside bombing earlier this month. Sixteen Australians have died during operations in Afghanistan since 2001.
In addition, two ISAF service members died in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan involving improvised explosive devices, the military said Monday. No further information was immediately available. It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identifications to the countries from which the service members died.
CNN's Hugh Williams contributed to this report.
Painful but valid questions : How-come has a rag tag force of disorganized bands of terrorists managed to inflict horrific losses on the most powerful alliance of world's best trained armies equipped with the most sophisticated weapons and instruments of destruction? What makes them as invincible as they have proved in 9 long years of one of the longest armed conflicts in history? What is the source of their unflinching resolve....? How can they be defeated....? Or can they really be....? THINK.
The US Soldier that died and the Soldiers that were hurt are my coworkers here in Afghanistan. Please keep their families in your prayers, as this accident also happened on Father's Day.
They have released the names of the Australians but not those of the US....I have been looking and looking and am very very concerned and worried, as I have a friend there as well. Can you please tell me their names? I have been praying and praying that he is okay but can not find out. All my thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Thank you.
Apparently Russian black market weapons provider's feel if Pakistani ISI-CIA money is good then supplying Russian shoulder fired IR and UV seeking anti-aircraft missiles is instant karma to what the Pakistani ISI-CIA did to Russian helicopters in the 1980's. Russian shoulder fired UV (Ultra-Violet) anti-helicopter missiles aren't fooled by chaff, IR lasers, nor flares and takes out the American helicopters apparently with ease. I doubt the Helo pilots are told of that digression.
Y'know, there are stadiumloads of eager volunteers and restless youth as well as plenty nations who trained forces that left their services. Even if in service, stripped of identifiers of a specific nation, a ton of folks are heading in and out of the warzones doing what they believe is right. In the first Gulf War '91 muslim non-participant nations had their generals tell their soldiers that if they want to go fight, they may. If the pay is right there already are former soldiers returning as mercenaries to go against coalition forces. Once you were in a warzone and shed blood for peanuts, it is ez to return for booty and loot on the side of your former enemy.
How many 'believers' are AWOL from Europe's armies? Were trained? The mail goes on...
The time has come to take off the gloves and fix bayonets. NATO and ISAF need to get this done and get the hell out.
Afghanistan is in the stone age with cell phones and AK47's. The Afghan people need to make a choice to stay in the stone age or progress into the future with us.
My Fiancee is in the military...breaks my heart to see this stuff.
why war. I am feeling for the kids who left behind. No money will bring the family member again. Tell me why war.
Frankly there is no good reason for this obnoxious war except to put more money into the pockets of war profiteers and further the careers of right-wing politicians,but then again there are these "newly discovered" minerals.
We need all the help we can get!!!
The ANZUS treaty effectively covers our involvement – no need to be part of NATO. Rest in peace boys.
Oh no,not again!!!
Australia is contributing to ISAF, but is not part of NATO.
Austraia would do better just to pull out of Afghanistan and quit pandering to NATO.
Deepest condolences to the dead & injured & their families & friends. Thank you for your service & sacrifices.
I'm surprise the Racist aren't blaming Israel for it going down!!! They get blame for everything else...
Israel is the evil.
All these terrorists are from Israel. all funding etc...
Why don't you take your comments about isreal somewhere else. Who F**n cares about THEM? I sure as heck don't. This is about the soldiers who were killed in the heli crash!
UN Watch Rips UN Human Rights Council for
"Year of Inaction & Double Standards"
Click Here to Watch Video
As the UN Human Rights Council completed its 4th year, delegates heard testimony from UN Watch on the past 12 months of council reactions to violations worldwide.
The Past Year: Inaction and Double Standards
UN Human Rights Council, 14th Session,
Delivered by Executive Director Hillel Neuer, 15 June 2010
Mr. President, in Article 1 of the Vienna Declaration, the States assembled here committed to protect all human rights. Is the Council living up to this obligation? Focusing thematically on the right to life, let us consider one example from each of the past 12 months:
• June 2009—Tehran. Hundreds of thousands gather peacefully to protest a questionable election. The government responds with brutality. Dozens are killed, hundreds injured, thousands arrested.
• July—China. Troops fire on Uighur protesters; 200 killed, 1700 injured.
• August—Russia. Two aid workers killed in Chechnya, government complicity suspected.
• September—Yemen. Government warplanes bomb a refugee camp, killing 80.
This Council’s response? Silence.
• October—Iraq. A terrorist attacks a mosque, killing the imam and 14 others.
• November—The Phillipines. Fifty-seven opposition activists massacred.
• December—Iran. Renewed protests meet with bullets, beatings and arrests; 10 killed.
• January—Pakistan. One hundred and eighty-two civilians killed in 42 attacks.
This Council’s response? Silence.
• February—Afghanistan. A Taliban attack kills 18, injuring 32, including doctors.
• March—Nigeria. 500 Christians slaughtered in religious killings.
• April—Kyrgyzstan. Troops fire on demonstrators; 84 killed.
• Finally, May. Libya executes 18 foreigners, without due process.
Mr. President, faced with these and other gross violations of the Vienna Declaration, what was this council’s standard response? Silence. No resolutions; no urgent sessions; no investigations. Nothing.
Yet two weeks ago, when Israel defended itself against violent Jihadists on the so-called humanitarian flotilla, we witnessed another standard—a double standard.
Suddenly the council sprang into action, with an urgent debate, a resolution condemning Israel, and yet another investigation where the guilty verdict was declared in advance.
Meanwhile, in this session, not a single resolution has been adopted for 191 other countries.
Mr. President, is the right to life, as guaranteed under the Vienna Declaration, being protected?
No—on the contrary. And millions of victims are paying the price.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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