Missile fired at McCain escort helicopter during European visit — This unusual incident which took place in Eastern Europe has gotten very little attention so far. When one of these cheap missiles tags a target will be the day that foreign visits end. Or they will be the like Bush trip to Iraq — quick and a surprise. Meanwhile, why are you reading this on the blog and not in the newspapers? It was believed to be fired from the separatist territory of South Ossetia. This aspect was not widely reported.
A missile was fired at a helicopter escorting Sen. John McCain during a visit to the Republic of Georgia last week. A statement from that nation’s interior ministry says the surface-to-air missile was aimed at a chopper involved in a visit of a U.S. Senate delegation to the former Soviet republic. McCain was mentioned as the leader of the group.
The ministry statement claims American officials were notified of the incident. State Dept. spokeswoman Joanne Moore told the Associated Press she had no information about the reported attack.advertisement
The president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, is a strong ally of the U.S. He is also trying to re-establish control over two regions of the country trying to break away from the central government.
Word of this missile launch was made as part of a statement about a Sunday attack on a helicopter carrying Georgia’s defense minister. His aircraft was damaged by large-caliber machine gun fire and forced to make an emergency landing. No one was injured.
related link:
Wikipedia on South Ossetia indicates a continued Balkanization of the region.
found by Marc Perkel
Most of the right wing establishment isn’t saying “luckily”…
I believe that during the first Gulf war a stealth fighter was shot down. The argument was that the incident was proof that the stealth fighter, an F-117 I believe, was not so stealthy after all. What I and many others gleaned is that if you fire enough cheap rockets in the air you are bound to hit something.
John
Isn’t this where they tried to get the President with a grenade?
Sen. John McCain is a Big Media darling, they love his “war hero” charisma, as opposed to having any other charisma. It seems doubtful that they are covering it up. Are we to just believe everything that comes out over the net? I am believing little coming from anywhere anymore.
Does that make me a skeptic, do you think?
Too bad it didn’t get a bit closer. Maybe a good near death experience would finally make him settle on one side of the fence or another on issues.
No your not reading it in the news papers because its not close enough to november. I bet some time around holloween we will see the Terror alert go up and then fox news will be mentioning this attack every half-hour.
The New Republic seems to have the best take on the story here. To save you a little time and effort, TNR speculates that accuracy by the SAM would have thrown U.S. politics into an uproar for years.
Despite being a media darling, McCain exemplifies mental toughness, something he knew before being a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton for seven years. I’m not sure, but I think he took a SAM up the pipe on that trip too. In my book he has already had enough near death experiences.
I just searched the major news sites, in my opinion–CNN, FoxNews, ABC, CBS and MSNBC. My search term was either mccain missile; or john mccain missile; or mccain helicopter. Even tried rocket instead of missile in some searches.
Guess how many articles I turned up on the first page of results (which was sorted by date, so it should’ve been at the top). A BIG FAT EGG. Zero, ladies and gents. That should be headline news!!!!
I’m with you on this one, Dvorak. Why am i reading this here?
The 18th of September marks the 45th anniversary of the death of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarsjold in an airplane crash, probably accidental. In face of the growing civil war in Congo (now Zaire), his diplomatic mission was to speak with the rebel leader from Katanga province. The leader had recently fled from Katanga to Northern Rhodesia, (now Zambia). To avoid the likelihood of being shot down, Hammarsjold’s plane took a circuitous route, going from Leopoldville almost as far east as Tanganyika (now Tanzania), before heading south. The plane reached the airport of Ndole, still had considerable altitude, so the pilot decided not to land, but to turn in a big arc, at which point something failed. Probably.
While an airplane is not the same as a helicopter, and there are no confirmed reports of the aircraft being fired upon, this story makes it clear that politicians have long been aware of the dangers of flying in a war zone!
MORE GOVERNMENT WASTE OF MONEY!!!
What about New Orleans, John? What the hell is any government official with spare time doing in Russia?
Things to focus on: War in Iraq, problems in New Orleans, Chinese trade imbalance, education at home.
Eye on the ball, kids!!!