16 DEAD: 12 American, four

16 DEAD: 12 American, four British soldiers killed in Marine helicopter crash in Kuwait.

UPDATE (4:09 AM 3/21/03): This number has been revised downward to 12 dead:

[The first known U.S. or British military casualties were reported early Friday, however, in the crash of a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter in the Kuwaiti border area just south of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, at the head of the Persian Gulf. Marine officers said the aircraft, carrying four U.S. crew members and eight British Royal Marines, went down after encounter- ing haze from burning oil as it sought to reinforce a British position on the Faw peninsula. All aboard were reported killed.]

Needless to say, that’s 12 too many. But I’m always happy to revise casualty figures downward.