Libya: Six injured as US team botches rescue of downed airmen

Source: Guardian.co.uk
Libyans said US helicopter came in with guns firing, creating panic and wounding onlookers after F-15E Strike Eagle crash

US forces sent into Libya to rescue two downed American airmen botched the mission by shooting and wounding friendly villagers who had come to help, witnesses have said.

Libyans who went to investigate the US warplane's crash site said that a US helicopter had come in with guns firing, creating panic and wounding onlookers, some of whom had to be taken to hospital; one 20-year-old man is expected to have his leg amputated.

The villagers said they had been searching for the plane's missing airmen to welcome them and help them.

Read More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/22/libya-downed-airmen-rescue

Sorry, should have RTFA...

NOT - no boots on the ground my ass

but just so you understand if you don't get many answers or recs that this is the 4th thread on this, so it's not like people don't care. Rec'd

Obama promised "no boots on the ground"

Shocked I tell you.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone



"By their WORKS you will know them,"
and "By Their WORKS they will be counted.

If someone is willing to strap their ass to a rocket loaded with explosives to stop a piece of shit like Gaddafi and that plane goes down, the least that can be done is they are rescued.

That one of our planes might crash, have an equipment failure, or get shot down. I mean, whoever heard of something like that happening? So you gotta make allowances for this totally unpredictable, never-to-be-anticipated, one-of-a-kind event. So, a few ground troops go into Libya. What's the harm?

It's called "Search and Rescue".

SAR's entire job is to find downed pilots and aircrew as quickly as possible and get them out. They have combat training to deal with the worst situations, but SAR isn't designed for sustained fighting.

In other words, they're not ground troops like you think.

Like that one kid, who may have had plans to live out his life on two good legs, will have a dandy prosthesis to remind him of his pals across the Atlantic. You know, if I'm ever lost, and a search and rescue party is sent out for me, DON'T ARM THEM.

The pilot might have told SAR that he didn't know whether the locals were friendly or hostile.

Or, hell, maybe the SAR team just went nuts. I don't know, and I don't think anyone else here does either. I've known a lot of Marines, PJs, and SERE specialists in the SAR business, and I can bet these guys don't feel good at all about having accidentally shot innocent people.

Dale Carnegie couldn't have created a better fighting force.


:eyes:

but real war is shades of gray. Obscenely ugly. Rawly human. People shooting each other out of fear.

That whole 'no troops on the ground' thing was pretty much written in defiance of the law (of gravity).

sigh

report and video

http://blogs.channel4.com/world-news-blog/shooting-first-and-hitting-the-people-they-came-to-protect/15620

This is enforcing the NFZ, accidentally getting our pilot's boots on the ground, and getting them off the ground as quickly as possible.

Yeah, it was botched, but everyone just needs to calm down. When tank divisions start landing in Tripoli, THAT'S boots on the ground.

When are Boots on the Ground NOT "Boots on the Ground"?

:)

It probably won't happen but it would be the least they can do.

It's war.

All they have to do is change the nationalities of the victims in the script from Iraqi, Afghan, Pakistani, to Libyan.

the air crew was on a rescue mission and observed a crowd of people rushing towards the wreckage.

How the fuck in holy hell were the gunners able to determine if they were friendlies or not?

To their credit, they didn't lay down a sweeping field of fire and take them all out of the picture.

If they had been hostiles, and had taken the pilots captive, you'd be bitching that we weren't doing enough to keep our people safe.

I swear... some of you people have your head so far up your ass that daylight would be a revelation.

Your post is total bullshit, try again or just admit they fucked up. :eyes:

Some people.

...for a rescue operation.

I'd love to the hear the war stories, since so many here were with the rescue crew and knew what happened.

Oh wait...none of us were? Alright, so we don't know the situation. They could've gotten trigger-happy, the pilot might have told SAR that he didn't know whether the locals were friendly or not, the gunners might have erred on the side of caution for the pilot's life and their own (as they're supposed to)...

You guys are directing your rage at a fucking rescue operation that went badly. A lot of people here wanted a NFZ, and Libya has anti-air....this is often a result.

:eyes:

Again, I've worked with SAR more times than I care to count. If they fucked up this operation, it was because of bad intel. Pilot might've been confused and gave them bad information.

But when a pilot radios back and says that he's crashed in a tense area with lots of fighting, SAR is going to take some serious fucking measures to make sure he gets back and that the rescue team can get in and out safely. I hate what happened too, but it's not likely that they just went in foaming at the mouth and started pulling the trigger for the hell of it.

Lets see... an F-15 falls apart and crashes into the neighborhood, but before the rescue team can come in shooting up the place some more, they drop a pair of 500 lb bombs on the villagers.

Nice self-introductions.

Marines Face Questions About Rescue of Officers in Libya
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: March 22, 2011

"WASHINGTON — An American pilot and a weapons officer were safely rescued in Libya on Tuesday after their warplane crashed near Benghazi, but the United States Marine Corps dropped two 500-pound bombs during the recovery and faced questions about whether Marines had fired on villagers."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/africa/23plane.html?_r=1&ref=global-home



Read more: http://www.lineofdeparture.com/2011/03/22/doh/#ixzz1HOjZNZ7Y

It was a 'don't show your face or we will grass your ass' friendly bombing between good friends over warm thoughts of happiness.

...there protecting the pilot. It is however unfortunate that some of them got hit in the meantime.

The rebels don't use those in many operations (partially because they don't know how to operate them). It's very clear that the pilot was about to be napped by Gaddafi's crew.

ANYTHING to "save" the people, just as long as your casualties are <n-1 (where n = the dictator's toll)