Another helicopter has reportedly gone down over Iraq; if confirmed, that would be the ninth such crash in about six weeks. Since the string of attacks started, late last month, there have been all kinds of comparisons to what happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan, during the 1980's. Starting in 1986, mujahadeen used American-supplied Stinger missiles to take out communist copters. Less than three years later, the war was effectively over. The Soviets had lost.
So DANGER ROOM pal __AS __wondered: is the same thing starting to happen in Iraq? Is the loss of nine helicopters -- tragic, though it may be -- comparable to the Soviet experience?
The answer: Not really. Or, at least, not yet. The Ruskies lost 333 copters in those three years. In comparison about sixty American helicopters have gone down, since the Iraq war began. And that wasn't the only way Soviet power was threatened; more than 118 jets went down in Afghanistan. Have any American planes been taken out over Iraq?
Of course, the American public is a lot less willing to stomach casualties than the Soviet politburo. And if these recent trends continue, we could be looking at losing 75 copters in a year -- a near-Soviet rate.
