Too bad we couldn't just back haul that helicopter instead of blowing it in place. Even ruined, it gives away lots of secrets. Don't underestimate the intelligence of folks in that area of the world. Afterall, they have nuclear weapons.

Too bad we couldn't just back haul that helicopter instead of blowing it in place. Even ruined, it gives away lots of secrets.

We are not, you goddamn asshole!

There's no point in developing new military technology unless we can use it, and whenever we use it there is a higher likelihood of revealing its existence. The plan involved flying the helicopters into a heavy militarized city, literally conducting the raid in a place that was probably within earshot of the nearest military installation. The Seals risked being shot down, an even if everything had gone perfectly according to plan, they certainly risked their equipment being photographed and recorded during the operation.

Obviously, having an intact tail piece in hand more valuable than a photograph or a simple report of observations (for example, a technician who says that he heard the choppers, but the rotors sounded muted in some way) -- but on the other end of "things that could go wrong", Pakistan could have ended up with 2 intact choppers in hand along with two dozen SEALS being held prisoner. That's just part of the risks inherent in the operation.

Keep in mind the Chinese are working on their own stuff, whether or not they know what we're doing -- and I'm sure it has occurred to others that a stealth helicopter might be nice to have. So what they find out might not be all that different from what they've already got in the works.

And the Russians are investing $1 billion into building one of their own:
http://www.helihub.com/2010/05/14/russi ... licopters/

Also..... it may be that there are still a few bugs to be worked out in our own technology. I mean, it seems like there might be a little bit of stability issue involved in trying to do tricky landing or hovering maneuvers, and it's possible that is related to all of the shielding around the rotors. Bottom line, the super-secret-sneaky chopper crashed.

Treasure-hunter Bill Warren, of California, is reportedly launching an underwater search to find the body of former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

U.S. forces say they buried the former Al Qaeda leader at sea last month from the USS Carl Vinson warship in the North Arabian Sea.

But that is the only detail of the location that has been released.

The veteran explorer launched the hunt as he does not believe President Obama gave enough proof of the terrorist’s death.

Um, okay.........

Mission Impossible? American treasure hunter launches search for Bin Laden's body in depths of North Arabian Sea

If he doesn't find the body, it will be PROOF that they didn't kill bin Laden.

Um, okay.........

Mission Impossible? American treasure hunter launches search for Bin Laden's body in depths of North Arabian Sea

In a sensational and explosive TV report, the Pakistani News Agency has provided a live interview with an eye witness to the US attack on the alleged compound of Osama bin Laden. The eye witness, Mohammad Bashir, describes the event as it unfolded. Of the three helicopters, "there was only one that landed the men and came back to pick them up, but as he [the helicopter] was picking them up, it (caught fire and blew up)." The witness says that there were no survivors, just dead bodies and pieces of bodies everywhere. "We saw the helicopter burning, we saw the dead bodies, then everything was removed and now there is nothing."

I always wondered how a helicopter could crash, as the White House reported, without at least producing injuries. Yet, in the original White House story, the SEALs not only survived a 40-minute firefight with al Qaeda, "the most highly trained, most dangerous, most vicious killers on the planet," without a scratch, but also survived a helicopter crash without a scratch.

The Pakistani news report is available on You Tube. The Internet site, Veterans Today, posted a translation along with a video of the interview. And, Information Clearing House made it available on May 17.

More on the bogus Osama killing. The run was a disaster for the military, and like I'm gonna shed any tears for the genocidal psychos? Uh, NO!!!!!!

Adorable Doppelgängers of the Day: Brazilian Barack Obama lookalike Ananias Rodrigues da Silva surprised Francisco Helder Braga Fernandes — a São Paulo-based bar owner who has been repeatedly harassed for resembling Osama bin Laden — by showing up as his establishment unexpectedly. The two drank to each other’s health and posed for photos.

Fernandes sought to clarify that he was nothing like the real bin Laden: “I’m the bin Laden who likes peace, who does not like war,” he was quoted as saying.

First they kill Osama Bin Laden, now they capture White Bulger! What's next, they find Jimmy Hoffa's body? Release the aliens from Area 51?

Bin Laden courier's phone provides leads

WASHINGTON (AP) — A cellphone of Osama bin Laden's trusted courier recovered in the U.S. raid last month that killed both men in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group that is a longtime asset of Pakistan's intelligence agency, The New York Times reported late Thursday.

In a story posted on the Times website, senior American officials and others briefed on the findings said the discovery indicates bin Laden used the group, Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, as part of his support network inside Pakistan.

It raises questions about whether the group and others helped shelter and support the al-Qaida leader on behalf of Pakistan's spy agency. The officials and analysts told the Times that Pakistan's intelligence agency had mentored Harakat and allowed it to operate in Pakistan for at least 20 years.

In tracing the calls on the cellphone, U.S. analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, the senior American officials said. One said they had met. The officials added that the contacts were not necessarily about bin Laden and that there was no "smoking gun" showing that Pakistan's spy agency had protected bin Laden.