Video: Insurgents Down Apache Helicopter Gunship With Missile (SAM)

Two insurgents dressed in camoflage battle fatigues use what looks like improved SA-8 series shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to shoot at two helicopters in central Afghanistan. The first time, the launcher is impatient, fires from a high deflection angle, and misses. The next time he waits for a better angle on a slower-moving AH-64 Apache, which he hits about 5 seconds after launch. There is much shouting of "God is great" as about $100 million worth of helicopter and pilot plummet down into the earth. The missile cost between $10k and $50k, and the more of them they make, the cheaper they get. The army uniforms look "Made in Iran" to my eye, that's why I say central Afghanistan. The Taliban don't wear army uniforms, and if they did, they'd get them from Pakistan.

A lot of stuff happened today. There were skirmishes over the war in Iraq as my darling Condi went before the Senate and said that her husb-Bush approved the raid on an Iranian embassy, there were rumors flying all over D.C. of a secret executive order declaring war on Iran and Syria, and somewhere in this great big world, Britney Spears' cleavage and god knows what else probably slipped out of her clothing. It's Friday, after all.

The helicopter/SAM video was deemed "rejected for public listing" on Liveleak, probably because of its implications. If you go there and watch it, however, you'll see the future: small, cheap weapons blowing up big, expensive weapons. Iran has tens of thousands of these missiles already made, and they're holding them back.