Morning Buzz: Aug. 22, 2007

Fourteen American soldiers died when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq this morning. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but the military believes it resulted from a malfunction and not because the craft was hit by enemy fire. This was the deadliest crash since January 2005, when a helicopter went down in a sandstorm in western Iraq, killing 31 U.S. soldiers.

Today Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out at U.S. criticism of his elected government and said the U.S. presidential campaign was in part responsible for the disapproval expressed by some prominent politicians. Sen. Carl Levin said Monday that Maliki should be replaced with a less sectarian leader. President Bush will urge the American people to remain patient with the war in his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars today.

The video-sharing website YouTube plans to add advertisements to videos. The ads will be semi-transparent and pop up for several seconds and then disappear while a video is being played. Google purchased the immensely popular site last year for $1.76 billion, however, YouTube generated just $15 million last year. U.S. News reported in July how YouTube is becoming a powerful medium in politics.