ARVN spotted in Iraq

US helicopters fire on Sadr supporters in Baghdad

April 5, 2004 - 11:44PM

US Apache helicopters sprayed fire on the private army of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during fierce battles today in the western Baghdad district of Al-Showla, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.

"Two Apaches opened fire on armed members of the Mehdi Army," said Showla resident Abbas Amid.

The fighting erupted when five trucks of US soldiers and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) tried to enter the district and were attacked by Sadr supporters, Amid said.

Coming under fire, the ICDC, a paramilitary force trained by the Americans, turned on the US soldiers and started to shoot at them, according to Amid.

The soldiers fled their vehicles and headed for cover and then began to battle both the Mehdi Army and the ICDC members, he said. Their vehicles were set ablaze.

Heavy gunfire rattled the district and columns of black smoke billowed into the sky.

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Sydney Morning Herald

?

But by now, I am used to living in a state of near-continuous deja vu.

--bkl

Same plan.

Same ending, with a chopper evac from the roof of what will by then be the largest US embassey in the world. But only after tens of thousands of 'coalition' casualties, and this time, mostly not 'in-country'.

but they were ridiculed by the neo-conservative cabal that rammed through their selective intelligence to advance their treasonous agenda imo.:grr:

Lost me here. What are you talking about? I doubt if any Vietnamese soldiers are in Iraq and the ARVN was disbanded in 1975.

the ICDC (Iraqi's we've trained and armed) to the ARVN (similar group from Vietnam era).

Don't feel bad. It took me a couple of minutes to get it. It's very bad news, basically.

It's all down hill from here.