Army closes case on fatal helicopter accident
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — After a
months-long investigation, the
Army has failed to determine
what caused the fatal crash last
spring of an Apache helicopter on
training maneuvers in Albania,
the Army said Monday.
Two soldiers killed in the acci
dent were the only U.S. troop ca
sualties in the NATO war against
Yugoslavia.
The Apache investigation has
been closed, and the cause will be
listed as unknown “due to the de
gree of damage sustained during
the crash sequence,” Army
spokesman Col. Edwin Veiga
said. In what he described as a
highly unusual outcome, Veiga
said investigators could find no
definitive answer to what caused
the crash.
On May 5, the Apache was
leading a formation of five heli
copters over mountainous terrain
in northern Albania when its nose
pitched up and the chopper
rolled to the right. It fell 150 feet
and exploded in flames on the
ground, according to the Dayton
Daily News, which obtained an
Army report on the crash.
Chief Warrant Officer David
Gibbs, 38, of Massillon, Ohio, and
Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Re
ichert, 28, of Chetek, Wis., were
killed.
Early indications pointed to
mechanical failure, but Veiga said
investigators were ultimately un
able to determine a cause.
Apaches are the Army’s best at
tack helicopters and were used
extensively in the 1991 Gulf War
against Iraq. Flown with a crew of
two, they are armed with as many
as 16 laser-guided Hellfire mis
siles designed to knock out tanks.
In addition, they carry 70 mm
rockets and a 30 mm cannon that
can fire 625 rounds per minute.
Barak, Arafat meet after bombing
By Dina Kraft
The Associated Press
HADERA, Israel — Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and Palestin
ian leader Yasser Arafat held a se
cret meeting Monday night just
hours after a pipe bomb suspected
of being aimed at derailing the
peace process injured 22 Israelis,
most of them only slightly.
The meeting came as Palestini
ans were accusing Israel of reneg
ing on its commitments by post
poning a West Bank troop
withdrawal, due to have taken
place Thursday.
Deputy Defense Minister
Ephraim Sneh told Israel TV the
meeting was aimed at pushing the
peace process forward. The two
leaders were to have met later this
week in Washington, but Barak
canceled his trip following Mon
day’s postponement of peace talks
with Syria.
Meanwhile, Israel Radio report
ed that Barak was asking Arafat for
a two-month delay in reaching a
framework agreement for a final
peace treaty.
The sides had agreed to develop
a framework agreement by Feb. 13.
Barak aide Gadi Baltiansky said
that Israel hoped to meet the Feb
ruary deadline, but that “if not,
we’ll reach an agreement with
them [the Palestinians] for some
thing else.”
Monday’s meeting at an undis
closed site demonstrated both
leaders’ commitment to negotia
tions despite the pipe bomb attack
in the northern Israeli city of
Hadera. Police officials said the
blast was probably carried out by
■ Islamic militants who hope to de
rail the peace process, although the
largest hard-line Muslim group,
Hamas, denied any involvement.
A small, little-known Lebanese
group, Omar Mukhtar, claimed re
sponsibility for the blast in a fax
sent to Lebanese state-run televi
sion. However, Israeli police said
they had no information that the
group was involved.
Despite quick condemnation of
the attack by Arafat’s Palestinian
Authority, opponents of the peace
process were quick to use the bomb
ing to rally opposition for the talks.
“Israel cannot run negotiations
under threat and under intimida
tion,” opposition legislator Ruby
Rivlin said.
Barak said the attack would not
affect peace talks.
“We are a strong people, very
tough,” he said. “We understand
the missions before us, and no type
of terror will break our spirit. ’ ’
The Palestinians have been frus
trated with the progress of the talks
and were infuriated Monday when
Barak postponed a withdrawal
from the West Bank that had been
scheduled for Thursday. Barak
said he needed the three-week de
lay to focus on the Syrian track.
The withdrawal was to be one of
the last interim withdrawals before
final peace treaty negotiations start
next month. The Palestinians
hoped it meant Israeli forces
would leave three Arab suburbs of
Jerusalem, claimed by both sides
as their capital. But Barak insisted
the suburbs would not be part of
the next withdrawal.
Other Israeli officials tried to
soothe Palestinian anger, saying
the talks were progressing accord
ing to plan.
“It is natural that there should be
disagreements, but this is not a cri
sis,” Foreign Minister David Levy
said.
Barak won elections in May
promising to revive the Palestinian
and Syrian peace processes, which
were frozen for three years by his
hard-line predecessors. He pledges
to have agreements in place this
year. Troubles on both fronts —
Barak postponed talks with the
Syrians on Monday — make that
seem increasingly unlikely.
In the placid, tree-lined town of
Hadera, the blast left residents feel
ing that peace, whatever its dimen
sions, would not remove the threat
of terror.
“I believe that we must have
peace, but in the meantime every
one must look around and be
aware,” said Eliran Assaf, a univer
sity student who shoved his wife
and daughter inside a bank when
he heard the blast.
Alastair Meir, a 75-year-old Pol
ish-born Holocaust survivor treat
ed for shock, said he refused to let
such attacks rattle him.
“The trash can blew up right
next to the bench where I was sit
ting,” he said, sitting up in his hos
pital bed. “I sit there every day, and
I’ll keep on sitting there, because
it’s the best spot in Hadera. ”
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More than half the Army’s fleet
of 743 Apaches has been ground
ed since last November to replace
their tail rotor bearings or to re
place transmission parts. The de
cision to ground the choppers
was made when the Army deter
mined that the tail rotor bearing
was the cause of an Apache crash
in January 1999.
Veiga said all Apaches de
ployed abroad have been repaired
and returned to service. The full
fleet is scheduled to be back in
operation by April.
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