Northern Star, WASHINGTON – The downing of a U.S. Chinook helicopter in Iraq on Sunday exposed a major military vulnerability that could have a negative impact on public support for the war, analysts said Monday.
The apparent missile attack on the helicopter full of troops was particularly worrisome because the U.S. military is greatly dependent on such aircraft for transport, supply and carrying out its sweeps against insurgents over large areas of open country in Iraq.
If losses of these invaluable aircraft continue, U.S. efforts to attack the enemy and restore security to Iraq could be seriously crippled and the American presence in that chaotic country prolonged, analysts said.
Helicopter losses were a factor in American defeats in Vietnam and Somalia, and they contributed to the Soviet Union's loss of its 1980s war in Afghanistan.
The helicopter crashed and burned Sunday in a field a few miles from Fallujah, Iraq. Witnesses said it was hit by one of two shoulder-launched missiles fired from the cover of a grove of date palm trees. Sixteen Americans were killed and 20 injured in what was the single deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion.
The high death toll was a shock to some. In surveys of public support for the Korean and Vietnam wars, Ohio State University political scientist John Mueller found that, while Americans might become inured to continuing reports of small numbers of casualties, support dropped precipitously when there were dramatic increases.
“Every time American casualties increased by a factor of 10, support for the war dropped by about 15 percentage points,” Mueller said in his study.
The 16 lost in the helicopter crash represented more than 10 times what have been average daily losses. More than 240 U.S. troops have lost their lives in Iraq since an end to major combat was declared May 1.
In addition to smaller attack and troop carrier helicopters, there are some 100 Chinooks operating in Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman said there are no plans to ground any of the Chinooks.
“Choppers are very vulnerable,” said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Clodfelter, a professor of military history at Washington's National Defense University. “They fly low and slow and they're excellent targets. They can be brought down by Stingers, RPGs and small arms fire.”
He said restricting flight operations to nighttime hours might help in preventing or thwarting attacks by RPGs, or rocket-propelled grenades, but would be of little use against Stinger-type missiles which have infra-red sensors able to fix on an aircraft's exhaust and engines as sources of heat.
