It is important to understand why they were lost.
Our military is looking into this but has only answered the "what" part:
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told reporters that the investigations into the crashes are incomplete but "it does appear they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down."
"We don't see this as a focus just on the multinational force," Caldwell said. "There's been an ongoing effort since we've been here to target our helicopters. Based on what we have seen, we're already making adjustments in our tactics and techniques and procedures as to how we employ our helicopters."
I assumed from the reports that they were shot down. That's why I am worried about these losses. Good grief, I know the enemy has long wanted to shoot down our helicopters! But why the recent success? Luck? Errors in our usage? Better enemy tactics?
Or, as I suspect (simply from the rash of reports of Iranian agents active in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, and the Gulf), are the Iranians involved in improving enemy capabilities through the supply of anti-aircraft weapons or even the men to use them?
The way the administration has backed away from the recent but brief display of backbone to confront Iranian warmaking in Iraq, I can see how the military would back away from saying openly why the helicopters were lost if the results point to Iran.
If Iran is responsible, we simply must respond. We've already all but declared it is open season on our troops with no penalty to pay. Will we accept another escalation, too?
Are we unserious about fighting?
