With the boast from Sunni militants that “God has granted new ways” to threaten U.S. aircraft, the US is changing its tactics in Iraq after losing four helicopters in the past two weeks. The allegedly divine “new ways” are surface-to-air anti-aircraft weapons.

Maj.-Gen. William Caldwell told reporters the investigations into the crashes of three army helicopters and a private one were incomplete but “it does appear they were all the result of some kind of anti-Iraqi ground fire that did bring those helicopters down.”Â?

It was the first time a senior figure in the U.S. Iraq command had said publicly that all four helicopters were shot down.

Despite the losses, Caldwell said it was premature to conclude that the threat to U.S. aircraft posed by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen had increased dramatically.

“There’s been an ongoing effort since we’ve been here to target our helicopters,”Â? Caldwell said. “Based on what we have seen, we’re already making adjustments in our tactics and techniques and procedures as to how we employ our helicopters.”Â?

For security reasons, those tactics have not been elaborated, but this is merely a change of maneuvers in dangerous areas: flying lower, faster, varying routes, and using unusual patterns of flight. You can see photos of a downed Apache helicopter at this militant site. The sentiment behind it reminds me of the Vietnam War Museum.

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