DoD News: Defense Department Briefing:
"Q: Larry, could you tell us about the Americans on the helicopter, who they worked for, and whether the Pentagon had anything to do with employing those people on the helicopter. I understand they -- did they work for Blackwater or --

MR. DIRITA: It's my understanding that that company has put out a statement to that effect. We're still learning some details. There's going to be an investigation by the Iraqi civil authorities -- civil aviation authorities that we will -- that the Multinational Force will assist with. I'm not particularly -- I think the number was something on the order of six, but I would be careful with those reports just because I think they'll go in and investigate and learn more in the immediate future, and then learn as far as causes in the longer-term future. But there will be an investigation by Iraqi civil authorities, and we'll assist in that investigation. And there's no early indications as to what happened; how it crashed. Q: Well, because I understand the U.S. military is saying probably an RPG. And the Bulgarian Defense minister is saying a missile, of course which could be anything. MR. DIRITA: Apparently, the Bulgarian minister of Defense -- Ministry of Defense has made a comment to that effect. I'm not aware that we -- we have not made any official assessments on that, and I don't believe that there's been any official statements to that effect coming out of the theater from U.S. military. Q: But by a missile, it could mean anything from an RPG to an actual missile. MR. DIRITA: I wouldn't want to speculate. I know - apparently the Iraqi -- the Bulgarian Defense Ministry has made a comment to the effect that they believed it was shot down. But I think we just don't know that and we're not in a position to make an independent assessment of that yet, nor are Iraqi civil authorities, as I understand it. Q: Larry, can you sort out this discrepancy in figures that the Iraqi government is saying more than 50 people were found in the Tigris River, and most of the people we've talked to have numbers that are quite different from that, if any at all. What happened, and why there's such a difference in the numbers?

MR. DIRITA: First of all, why there's a difference is -- I can't say why there's a difference, but I can say that those kinds of differences aren't surprising. People are gathering their own information. We now have an Iraqi government that has its own sources of information, that has its own ability to develop understanding of things that happen. "

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)