RAID ON THE REACTOR

The story of the IAF's attack on the Iraqi Nuclear reactor near Baghdad in June 1981.

This is long, but this is well worth taking the time to watch . . . S.L.







I remember learning of this event; it was a grey winter's day In Melbourne - down by Flinders Street they had just installed this huge screen that portrayed the news, streaming in black and white almost digital squares - I looked up and saw a map of the Middle East, some lines indicating the route of the Israeli aircraft, and an atomic symbol near Baghdad and I thought, "Oh my God! They've dropped The Bomb on Baghdad!"

That was a couple years before I joined the U.S. Army . . . never did I imagine that I would end up spending so much of my life in that part of the world . . .


- STORMBRINGER SENDS


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NONCOMBATANT CASUALTIES

. . . it wasn't our side who did it this time . . .




POLICE SAY SHIITE FAMILY OF 6 GUNNED DOWN IN IRAQ

. . . you simply can never prepare yourself for the scene of an execution of four children. I don't think these guys will survive their arrest . . . just a hunch . . .



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DEATH OF A HERK

WHO: C-130 Tail # 60412 Cargo Carrier From The 440th Airlift Command At Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina

WHAT: CRASH OF A U.S. AIR FORCE C-130 HERCULES

WHERE: 10 Kilometers North of Baghdad, Iraq

WHEN: 1222 Hours 27 June 2008

WHY: "Uncommanded Power Loss after takeoff" . . . no shit - I hope it wasn't a COMMANDED power loss. (thanks Mike the Marine - see comments below)

HOW MANY: At least nine that I can count . . . and one Big Iron Bird!



By all accounts this should have been it for everybody on board . . . instead Tail # 60412 dug a 600 yard furrow in the dirt and came to rest intact - all aboard cheated death.




The crew leaves the C-130 after crash landing - it is 1222 hours 27 June 2008.




A hasty perimeter is set up to establish security until help arrives.




The Iraqi Police arrive at the crash scene. Command Sergeant Major Miller meets the Iraqi Police to explain what happened.





THE passengers are evacuated by helicopter. Staying behind are 8th PSYOP Battalion Commander, Colonel Ceroli, LT. Colonel Goldsmith, CSM Miller And . . .

. . . two members of the Asymmetric Warfare Group. They will recover weapons, night vision & other sensitive gear - and await U.S. ground forces




Half of the nose gear that was sheared off at landing.





Other half of the nose gear - this "landing" was beyond engineering limits




Ladder To flight deck in left of frame. Deck is pushed up in the center & split down the middle. The landing was rough.



Close-up of split in the deck. Dust filled the cabin through this split, filled the ship, making it hard to breath or see until emergency exits were opened within a minute of landing.




Wider view of the interior damage - a miracle that anyone survived.




Landing gear forced up into fuselage with doors torn off




Port side emergency exit hatch near flight deck.




Iraqi Police with U.S. advisers were first on the scene. They unloaded for the C-130 crew.




Stryker Infantry Company from U.S. 25th Infantry Division arrives to secure the site.

Preparations are made for transport of personnel, weapons, sensitive items and equipment back to Baghdad.




A Fort Bragg & Pope Air Force Base Aircraft From Which Unit Commander, Colonel Michael Ceroli and his men probably jumped by parachute in training. Never Again will they jump Tail # 60412 - this Hercules is a complete loss.



SGT Washington From The Stryker Company snapped this photo to document the Moment: L-R: 2X Asymmetric Warfare Group Personnel, CSM Miller, LTC Goldsmith, COL Michael Ceroli and C-130 Tail # 60412

U.S. INVESTIGATING BLACKWATER BRIBERY CLAIMS IN IRAQ

from THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 31, 2010:

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating whether officials of Blackwater Worldwide tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining the firm’s security work in Iraq after a deadly shooting episode in 2007, according to current and former government officials . . .

. . . The investigation, which was confirmed by three current and former officials speaking on condition of anonymity, follows a report in The New York Times in November that top executives at Blackwater had authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials to buy their support after the shooting. The newspaper account said it could not determine whether any bribes were actually paid or identify Iraqi officials who might have received the money.

The Justice Department has obtained two documents from the State Department, which had security contracts with the company, that have raised questions about Blackwater’s efforts to influence Iraqi government officials after the Nisour Square shootings, according to two American officials familiar with the inquiry.

One document, a handwritten note, shows that a Blackwater representative told a senior official at the American Embassy in Baghdad that the company had hired a prominent Iraqi lawyer to help the firm make compensation payments to Iraqi victims of the shootings, a practice encouraged by the State Department.

According to the document, as described by the two government officials, the Blackwater official said the firm had hired the lawyer hoping that the lawyer’s close ties to top Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, would help Blackwater obtain a license to continue operating in Iraq . . .


Let's put this whole episode into some kind of perspective, this is the scene of Nisoor Square after the vehicle bomb went off, that immediately preceded the events of Sept 16, 2007:


A scene of disarray and destruction after the vehicle explosion. (ABC)