Use gloves and destroy the evidence.

[professor rat]

Washington - US forces have successfully destroyed the Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter that went down during fighting south of Baghdad, officials with the US central command said on Tuesday.

Sand storms limited visibility earlier on Tuesday, initially making it difficult for US forces to confirm they had hit the helicopter, preventing Iraq from seizing any of the sophisticated targeting equipment and weapons aboard.

"The helicopter has been destroyed," said one official, who asked not to be named.

Iraqi television showed videotape on Monday of the two pilots of the helicopter, which came down while attacking an elite Republican Guard division southwest of Baghdad.

The twin-engine Apache is the US Army's primary attack helicopter
In Washington, the Pentagon identified the two pilots men as Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, 30, of Florida, and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr, 26, of Lithia Springs, Georgia. Williams' home town was not identified.
It said both men were now officially listed as prisoners of war, bringing the total of US POWs to seven, including five members of an Army maintenance unit who were shown on Iraqi television on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, Iraqi television showed pictures of the grounded Apache sitting in a field next to a group of jubilant farmers waving old-fashioned weapons in the air.

The Iraqi military said that a farmer had downed the twin-engine Boeing Co Apache, which is the US army's primary attack helicopter and one of the world's most effective.