Posted by I am happy to hear that Senator Richard Shelby (R) and U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer (D – Huntsville) are okay after their plane was fired on as they flew out of Baghdad:
The Alabama lawmakers were part of a congressional delegation on a one day trip to Baghdad flying in an Air Force C-130, Shelby said “when on the way back we had a near miss.”
“It was dark as the dickens outside, and I was looking out the little window. I saw the red glare of a shell or a missile coming up toward our plane,” Shelby said in a telephone interview with Alabama reporters late this afternoon. “Then I saw a flare pop out and our plane just started moving and changing directions and trying to move.”
Rep. Cramer released a statement tonight:
Our plane leaving Iraq was fired upon and it was a close call, but this is something that our men and women in combat face every day. The flight crew was outstanding and I credit them for the way they handled the situation. This should not take away from the purpose of this trip, which was to see first hand the operations in Iraq and thank our troops, many of them from North Alabama.
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I am willing to bet that this is the first combat situation Richard Shelby has ever been in,
if you dont count scrabbling over earmarks.
I’m glad that Bud’s OK – now maybe he won’t vote to surrender like he did last time.
I’m glad that Shelby and the rest are OK too.