Could an enemy have specifically targeted the U.S. special forces team that took down bin Laden? The military's public c Read allOn a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The conspiracy has a number of moving parts, all of which have surfaced before, but none of which have any truth to them. This time, they might simply have run out of luck and encountered an RPG-armed enemy who was in the right place at the right time. So, to do an infil on the X or Y, you know, having that element of surprise in the beginning of an operation is good, but by the time weve been there for three hours, and the partys up, bringing in another aircraft like that, you know, may not be the most tactically sound decision.. Market data provided by Factset. Extortion 17 then plummeted to the ground and erupted in a massive fireball. This is all, needless to say, completely unsubstantiated if not outright false. He was too busy. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data. The attack on August 6 was the most devastating day in SEAL Team Six history, as well as the single largest loss of life for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began in October. KABUL, Afghanistan -- A helicopter crash in Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province has killed 30 U.S. special operation troops and seven Afghan soldiers, the country's president said on. Afghan President Karzai's office released a statement on the incident. In fact, the conflict was heating up. The next day, a DNA test confirmed that the body was indeed that of Osama bin Laden. The story itself is tragic, but tons of war propaganda. Led by firebrand Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Congress is to launch an official investigation into the mysterious helicopter crash that killed several members of the Navy SEAL team 6 in Afghanistan in 2011. The co-pilot, Bryan Nichols, was one of Lee's closest friends in the Chinook company. ", Tags: Navy SEALs, Navy, Afghanistan, Allen West, Michele Bachmann. The military's public c On a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. A silhouette of a. List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six - Wikipedia Joining the 15members of SEAL Team 6, two pilots and three-man crew inside Extortion 17: ten other Navy and Air Force personnel, eight Afghansand a combat assault dog named Bart. "President Karzai expressed his deep condolences because of this incident and expressed his sympathy to Barack Obama.". They then repeated and emphasized a few related questions: How could this happen? Men he knew. Additional forces were then sent to secure the crash site. What happened to SEAL Team Six? The most serious scandal of all 4:10 p.m. - A backup helicopter scoops up remaining team members and leaves the area. Were pleading with the judge to do something, and hes just sitting on it., In one of his motions, Mr. Klayman stated: As this Court must be aware, this is not an ordinary Freedom of Information Act case, it involves obtaining records concerning the deaths of Navy SEAL Team 6 and other special operations forces on a mission with the call sign Extortion 17. Karen Vaughn says she wants to know why her son Aaron and his team were not using special operations aircraft which have defenses in place to help allow helicopters to go deep behind enemy lines. While the goggles are better than nothing, they turn everything green, distort depth perception and limit peripheral vision. As they started their descent, Lee heard a loud popping noise. Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite unit as the Navy SEALs who killed former Al. U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families of those killed are still being notified. Some of the most highly trained and skilled war fighters in history, the Rangers moved overland to a location where intelligence indicated Lefty Grove and his small cadre of fighters would be holding a meeting. Military Faces Challenge In Rebuilding SEAL Team 6 - NPR.org Its almost always a miss.. I mean, at any time if we would have found these squirters, or they would have found weapons, we were the way I was understanding it, we were going to be clear to engage due to the fact that they had weapons, but we had to [positively identify] them first., He added: So we hadnt started looking at the LZ yet, just due to there was so much more of a threat to the east with the squirters. Soon after US Navy Cryptologist Michael Strange and the elite SEAL Team 6 capture and kill Bin Laden, they are deployed to Afghanistan, where their Chinook is shot down. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. The Taliban shot at the Chinooks all the time with RPGs and rifles, Darack said. When asked what lessons Americans can draw from the crash of Extortion 17, Lees answer is simple: Americans should care about what happens in Afghanistan because theyve sent Americans to war there. By what name was Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17 (2021) officially released in Canada in English? The loss of a Chinook helicopter carrying members of Navy SEAL Team Six made yesterday the deadliest single day in the entire Afghan War for the U.S., The New York Times reports. Guys on the bush line. Since the agencys main task is to eavesdrop on phone and Internet messages, it may have recorded communications related to the attack. Extortion 17's pilots and crew ranked among the very best military helicopter pilots in the world (Carter had amassed more than 4,000 hours of cockpit time), and the helicopter, a CH-47D, the fastest and one of the most powerful and nimble in the U.S. military, had been maintained to the highest standards. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Obama stonewalls SEAL Team 6 Extortion 17 helicopter crash probe Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. It has now been four years since Extortion 17 was shot down, said Doug Hamburger, whose Army air crew son, Patrick, was one of the 30 Americans killed. "No amount of training, skill, or technology will ever defeat chance on the battlefield. The families of these deceased heroes have been stonewalled by the Obama Department of Defense and the Obama National Security Agency in disrespect over their sons unexplained tragic deaths. 20+ Members Of SEAL Team Six Killed In Afghanistan Helicopter Crash U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in February signed an order requiring the Obama administration to release documents on a continual basis through the spring and summer. SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP theunitedwest 15.8K subscribers Subscribe 683 53K views Streamed 7 years ago WOW, watch author Don Brown blow the lid off of the official government report. See production, box office & company info, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. On a moonless night, an Army helicopter carrying 17 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, is shot down in Afghanistan. As reported on by The Daily Beast, Trump retweeted a message posted by an account called Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111, which alleges that Hiden Biden and Obama may have had Seal team 6 killed! Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. A man reads the front page of a newspaper featuring the news that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead deep inside Pakistan in a night-time helicopter raid by US covert forces, ending a decade-long manhunt for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. Its lawyers have told the judge that the process of locating relevant documents and removing classified information takes time. Three of the . Navy SEAL Team Six, the heroic unit that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011, is in grave danger due to the reckless actions of the Obama administration. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. What the men on the Chinook didn't know was that cloaked by darkness, two fighters had emerged from the small village of Hasan Khel, on the south side of the valley. 4:08 p.m. - The team destroys the chopper that crashed. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. And the shooters had no reason to know that Extortion 17 or any other helicopter would be flying through their quiet extremity of the valley. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. One of the other things that we did talk about kind of what youre hitting on, sir, is about the fact that, you know, for three hours we had been burning holes in the sky, the officer told investigators. Special Forces are expected to keep the pressure on the Taliban, working closely with Afghan forces to maintain control as U.S and Coalition troops depart. JSOC ground forces and those who flew them knew and trusted each other. The investigation of events surrounding the crash of a C H-47D Chinook , call sign Extortion 17, took military command officials just two months to complete. She had just given birth to their first child. When the shock subsided, questions arose and persisted. The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. While some of those who lost their lives that day were members of Seal Team 6, it was not the same platoon that had carried out the Bin Laden raid, and none of those killed in the crash had been a part of that event. Two investigations of the incident proved inconclusive. Each shouldered a rocket propelled grenade launcher, aimed at the dim silhouette of the approaching helicopter then fired. Donald Trump Retweeted A Conspiracy Theory that Biden Had Seal Team 6 Fallen Angel.. The team boarded Extortion 17 with Dave Carter and Bryan Nichols at the controls. To minimize the danger as much as possible, pilots will land Chinooks out of range of any weapons they know they enemy to have, and an Apache or a UAV will fly overhead to check for threats before the Chinooks drop off any soldiers. You never want to use the same landing zone twice, Darack said. However, a shoot down does not necessarily mean insurgents have changed their tactics or hardware. The night her son Aaron died, he was in a helicopter that was built in the 1960s and last retrofitted in 1985. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. SEAL TEAM SIX - Extortion 17 EXPOSED - YouTube PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. Aug. 6, 2011 -- A helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents as it was rushing to aid troops in a firefight, killing 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, most of whom belonged to Team 6, the unit whose members were involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said. It just wasnt.. It's unclear how far away the helicopter was from the initial firefight when it went down and unclear how the troops in the firefight got to the crash location, the official said. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Several Afghans were on board and were killed, but trust is in short supply in Afghanistan. Just as ridiculous as saying [President George W.] Bush was responsible for 9/11, Lee said. "The downing of Extortion 17 was a catastrophic and unprecedented tragedy for our nation," Reid testified. Its planners and pilots must use whatever intelligence is available (which is usually pretty thin information, and comes from earlier attacks) to plan the flight route. If this [operation] was survivable, that was the right crew to have. "One minuteone minute," transmitted Bryan Nichols, the pilot in command of the helicopter. EXTORTION 17 COVER-UP OF SEAL TEAM SIX SHOOT-DOWN | BWCentral 22 Navy SEALs dead in Afghan chopper crash - CBS News Were asking people to do incredible things. 30 Americans Killed Including 22 SEALs When Afghan - ABC News SEAL TEAM SIX - EXTORTION 17 COVER UP - YouTube But over time, they became more disturbing, including one that suggested the Taliban had been tipped off by someone inside the Afghan government as revenge for bin Ladens killing. The helicopter was in great operational shape. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver. "We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied.". In all, 38 people died that night after the chopper was shot down by a Taliban-owned rocket-propelled grenade or RPG over the Wardak Province on Aug. 6, 2011. The family members, speaking at the National Press Club, tried to reopen the book on the crash, in which 30 Americans were killed, most of them belonging to the same unit as those who carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden earlier that year. The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board including 17 US Navy SEALs, two United States Air Force Pararescue, one United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security "Chance will always play a role in war," stated Justin "Buddy" Lee, the commander of Extortion Company, who had flown with Dave Carter the night before Extortion 17's demise on a similar raid, and who had co-piloted a number of missions with Bryan Nichols. But it's just as plausible that the Taliban got lucky. Today, some family members are not just disappointed in the investigation and the FOIA process, but also in how the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security conducted a brief hearing in Feb. 2014. Apparently, someone tipped them off that the SEALs were coming; the helicopter was attacked from three sides in a coordinated ambush. That means more raids, more targets and more reliance on Afghan competenceall of which add up to more special forces casualties. During the last several years it is evident that our government has spent a lot of time and resources covering up the truth on many things from both our allies and the American public, Mr. Members of Navy SEAL Team Six formed the core of the IRF, with other American special operations personnel and highly-vetted Afghans playing integral roles. The worst of the wounded was one of Lees crew members, who suffered what was later diagnosed as a severe traumatic brain injury. But this might just take the cake. The workhorse in Army aviation, the tandem rotor, heavy-lift Chinook helicopter is used for carrying troops, equipment, supplies and even the mail. Up to 30 Dead in Afghanistan Following Failed Prison Heist, Total Iraq and Afghanistan Pricetag: Over $4 Trillion. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. But Tahir and a group of his fighters escaped. As he did, he felt the craft leveling off. Many of these family members are undergoing psychological care over what has become a double tragedy: the deaths of their sons and the cover-up for which these family members feel betrayed by their own government.. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. Youve got [Apaches] flying around, so theres a lot of noise going on and, basically, this entire valley knows that theres something happening in this area. Aaron Vaughn's mother, Karen, also demanded an explanation for why her son and his team were not using a special operations aircraft, such as the Chinooks flown by special operations pilots, which have specialized defenses designed to fly commandos deep behind enemy lines. They happened to be in the right place at the right time. Patrick Hamburger, served among the helicopter's crew. And you know, never before in the history of our county (had) a sitting president released that type of information to the public, especially when he was talking about special forces. A number of the DEVGRU SEALs were devastated by this loss . Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalersthe Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion, Navy SEAL's Savior Claims 'Lone Survivor' Got It Wrong. Market data provided by Factset. Were very concerned that the administration had disclosed that the Navy SEALs had carried out a successful attack on bin Ladens compound resulting in his death. A US helicopter crashed in Afghanistan yesterday killing 31 special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy Seals unit that killed Osama bin Laden. The Chinook was descending on a noisy battlefield where Apache helicopters and a C-130 gunship had been buzzing overhead for three hours, alerting Taliban fighters. Onboard were 17 members of SEAL Team 6; five naval special warfare operators, including one to intercept communications and another to handle Bart the war dog; five Army flight crewmen, including a National Guard and an Army Reserve pilot; and three Air Force personnel. 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia I was terrified. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data recorder for maintenance. But why? With Sean Hannity, Raj Kala, Justin Torrence, Vee Bhakta. Chinooks are American forces' preferred helicopters in Afghanistan because they are powerful enough fly over mountains while carrying a full complement of troops. In combat, its mission is to transport large teams of elite assault troops, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, to and from the battlefield. Legal Statement. Aug. 6, 2011— -- A helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents as it was rushing to aid troops in a firefight, killing 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALs, most of whom belonged to Team 6, the unit whose members were involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said. In the immediate wake of the tragedy, the military initiated two investigations. The pilots ranked among the most proficient in this type of flying and the Department of Defense. A Justice Department spokeswoman said there would be no comment beyond its court filings. SEALs killed in crash were on rescue mission - NBC News The pilots, crew and Chinook helicopters of "Extortion Company," the conventional Army aviation unit to which Extortion 17 belonged, had supported over 90 percent of raids conducted by Rangers and SEALs of JSOC in that region; the flight in question was nothing out of the ordinary. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. Despite the risk, operations like these were taking place with such frequency in Afghanistan they only made news when they produced a spectacular success, like the bin Laden mission. These missiles add ultraviolet tracking to infrared seekers, making them less susceptible to the flares that Chinooks fire to try to throw incoming missiles off course. Portraits of Navy SEALs killed in helicopter crash Lee is 36 now, a civil attorney in Dallas, a world away from Afghanistan. I find it very irritating that we will not question the Afghans about their knowledge of what took place that night.. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. The sheer amount of experience with our pilots, flight engineers and back-seaters and mechanics offered a wealth of knowledge, he said. Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, BroadStreet Review and Splice Today. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. The operation to kill the world's most wanted terrorist was the result of years of planning and training. On board were 22 members of the elite Seal Team Six, two U.S. Air Force Para-rescue men, three Army reserve personnel, a U.S. Air Force Combat Controller, the pilot and co-pilot, a U.S . But why? With Robert O'Neill, Patricia Economo, Enrique Garcia, James Obrien. Everyone on board died within a fraction of a second30 Americans, eight Afghans and one American military working dog. One of the best crews in my company. In addition to the 30 Americans, the official said there were seven Afghan army soldiers and an interpreter on the helicopter. The CH-47D that embarked on the mission that day had been built in the 1960s, she said, and last retrofitted in the 1985. Somebody tipped them off. On April 29, 2011, President Barack Obama authorized a small special operations team, known as SEAL Team Six, to carry out a raid on the compound. Your life is in danger. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. But why? U.S. Central Commands official investigation concluded that a rocket-launched grenade from a Taliban fighter standing near the landing zone clipped a rotary wing, sending the Ch-47 Chinook into a violent downward spin.

How To Validate Ticket Trenitalia, Articles S