Iraq shot down airplanes on 9/10/2001?

[DrDebug]

I was talking about the root servers on LBN and we were talking about when they didn't work and I mentioned the failing internet on 9/11 and he said that DU worked. So I kinda glanced over the page and I read this:

ignatius (2341 posts)
Sep-11-01, 09:12 AM (ET)

5. scary shit

Iraq shot down one or our spy planes last night. Is this the start of his war?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=3984&forum=DCForumID5&archive=yes

How come that's the first I read about that? Anybody have any more information about this.

[DrDebug]

1. Found something at last

I know this isn't the greatest source in the world, but something is better than nothing...

Iraq claims to have shot down a US spy plane
AFP | 9/11

Posted on 09/11/2001 4:13:19 AM PDT by oxi-nato

BAGHDAD, Sept 11 (AFP) - Iraqi anti-aircraft forces shot down a US spy plane Tuesday near the southern port city of

Basra, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. "Iraqi anti-aircraft fire in the region of Basra on Tuesday brought down an American spy plane," INA said.

If confirmed, it will be the second drone Iraq has downed since August 27, and only the second allied aircraft casualty since the 1991 Gulf War.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/520227/posts

There are three more copies about this story in the google cache, but none of the sites have it online anymore. (www.tribuneindia.com, usajewish.com and chinadaily.com.cn). How come no major media has this story? I'm very confused right now, because this would have been the stuff allover the MSM, but it's one DU posting, one FR posting and three really unimportant newspapers who have since then removed it as well. The source is AFP which is one of the largest press agencies, so I don't get it.

[Robb]

2. This was a weekly claim by Iraq at the time

Here's a little snippet.

[DrDebug]

3. So there were more of those stories

Because there's also one of Aug. 27 which does show up more. So this story is not confrimed. The time was 11:30 a.m. on 9/11 with 8 hour time difference which is approx. 03:30 on 9/11 which was 5 1/2 hours before WTC/Pentagon.

[foo_bar]

4. the Beeb says it happened on Sunday (9/9/01)

Here's "U.S. Bombing Watch": http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/2001.htm

Eight people were killed and three others injured in a Western missile strike south-east of Baghdad on Sunday, the official Iraqi news agency (INA) has reported.
...
Mr Rumsfeld said the Iraqis had been "working diligently to increase their capabilities in every aspect of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile technology".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1534916.stm

Re: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/shakinghands.wmv

Edit: the spy plane incident was reported 8/28/01:

Allied jets last night bombed Iraq in response to Baghdad shooting down an unmanned US surveillance plane. One Iraqi was killed and three others wounded in the combined US/British air strikes in northern Iraq, a military spokesman said in Baghdad.

http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/2001.htm#8/27

[DrDebug]

5. But this event was two days later.

So there was a shooting of civilians on September 9th and in the early morning of September 11th a second spy plane who shot down according to the Iraqis, but there doesn't seem to be any confirmation.

But the Aug 27th is confirmed according to your posting and I've seen many more links about that spy plane.

Let's recap. There were 4 attacks since Aug 25th. On Aug 27th a plane was shot down by the Iraqi. On Aug 31th the radar at Basra was destroyed and on Sept 11th another plane was shot down according to the Iraqi, but not confirmed by the Americans.

US bombs Iraq after spy plane shot down.

DAILY TELEGRAPH (SYDNEY)

8/28/01

WASHINGTON: Allied jets last night bombed Iraq in response to Baghdad shooting down an unmanned US surveillance plane. One Iraqi was killed and three others wounded in the combined US/British air strikes in northern Iraq, a military spokesman said in Baghdad.

The warplanes bombed Iraq in response to Iraqi fire in routine patrols over the no-fly zone in the region, the Stuttgart- based US European Command said. The aircraft dropped "ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defence system" after Iraqis fired anti-aircraft artillery from sites north of Mosul, the statement said. The jets returned safely to their base in Incirlik in Turkey's southern province of Adana.

The bombing in northern Iraq followed the disappearance earlier of an unmanned US surveillance plane in a similar exclusion
zone over southern Iraq. A Pentagon official said the plane, which was on a mission over southern Iraq, had failed to return to its base.

It was the first admission from the US that it had lost an unmanned spy plane.

http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/2001.htm#9/10

And still I wonder. Why didn't was the 2nd alleged shooting of a spy plane on the early morning of 9/11 not used nor denied nor given any publicity. It doesn't make any sense...