Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. During a press conference on Washington Thursday, family and advocates for the fallen troops called into question the rules of engagement that they say prohibited their sons from being able to return fire, and the White House's decision to announce shortly after the killing of Osama bin Laden that SEAL Team 6 was responsible for the raid. "We simply didn't know those guys with those RPGs were there," he said. The Costliest Day in SEAL Team Six History - HISTORY 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. All of us know that going into it.". Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. Seals from team that killed Bin Laden in helicopter crash What went so terribly wrong? Call Sign Extortion 17: The Shoot-Down of SEAL Team Six is a 2015 non-fiction expose, written by best-selling author and former U.S. Navy JAG Officer Don Brown, about the 2011 Chinook shootdown in Afghanistan of a United States Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter. I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, the 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. 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. Add in the fact that more sophisticated foreign intelligence agents are on the ground, with signals intelligence assets and deep pockets, and you have a recipe for a plot. 4:08 p.m. - The team destroys the chopper that crashed. While the vast majority of attempts to down helicopters failed, the lucky shot that took down Extortion 17 had a precedent. Extortion 17, however, would never reach that landing zone. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Each shouldered a rocket propelled grenade launcher, aimed at the dim silhouette of the approaching helicopter then fired. Could an enemy have specifically targeted the U.S. special forces team that took down bin Laden? U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because families of those killed are still being notified. The had Seal team 6 killed is a likely reference to whats known as the Extortion 17 incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinookmilitary helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 38 people, 25 of them Navy Seals, in the deadliest day for the U.S. in the entire Afghanistan war. Hamburger added. When the shock subsided, questions arose and persisted. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. Darack did extensive research of what happened next. I didnt want to die., He remembered the words of his old flight instructor: Never stop flying the aircraft.. Lee heard the call, and he knew what it meant. "It's something that a lot of people who have never been in combat have a hard time understanding," he said. On July 25, a Chinook was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. File: A US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter in flight. MARTHA RADDATZ, LUIS MARTINEZ and MIKE BOETTCHER, helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. I would say that was the first time that we really had eyes on the LZ.. Your life is in danger. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. On a moonless night, an Army Chinook helicopter swept low over the Tangi Valley, a strip of forbidding terrain in eastern Afghanistan teeming with Taliban and located just 35 miles south of the capital, Kabul. I am afraid that with this FOIA case that the government is purposely delaying turning over documents because they need the time to redact and to delete things they do not want the American public to become aware of.. It was exactly four years ago, at 2:22 a.m., that a rebuilt conventional CH-47 Chinook helicopter took off from a forward operating base, carrying some of the most skilled and advanced warriors ever molded by U.S. special operations. Olson himself a former Team 6 leader recalled at his change of command ceremony the men who lost their lives in Saturday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan. They have to slow down to land or allow troops to rappel to the ground. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. Charlie Strange, whose Navy cryptologist son, Michael, was on Extortion 17, told The Times last year that it was too much of a coincidence for Taliban to be standing so near the landing zone. EXPLOSIVE: CIA Whistleblower Exposes Bidens Alleged Role With the Deaths of Seal Team- Claims to have Documented Proof. If this [operation] was survivable, that was the right crew to have. But it's just as plausible that the Taliban got lucky. August 6, 2011 / 6:08 PM / CBS Boston KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A military helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the. Donald Trump Retweeted A Conspiracy Theory that Biden Had Seal Team 6 It just wasnt.. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. Are such missiles appearing in Afghanistan? Lee and his friend Bryan Nichols flew their Chinook into battle several timesthe first night, dropping off troops at a landing zone (LZ) almost 10,000 feet above sea level. 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. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? or redistributed. But the CH-47D has neither a flight nor voice recorder, only an engine performance data. In fact, the conflict was heating up. Lee earned his wings at Fort Rucker, Ala., then deployed to Pakistan, where he did humanitarian missions, learning to fly into and out of mountainous terrain. 2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown - Wikipedia Get everything off your social media. 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. Flying 250 feet above the valley floor at just under 70 miles per hour, Dave Carter, the pilot to the right of Nichols, guided the helicopter toward a carefully chosen landing zone just over a mile away. 4:10 p.m. - A backup helicopter scoops up remaining team members and leaves the area. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. 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 . 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. U.S. It requires the highest level of skills from the pilots because they are some of the most dangerous operations.. The front rotor shattered, and the back pylon sheared off. ", Tags: Navy SEALs, Navy, Afghanistan, Allen West, Michele Bachmann. The reality is, every time a helicopter lifts off the ground in a war zone, it might get shot down, Darack said. 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. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the Obama administration of deliberately endangering their loved ones for political ends. Charles Strange, whose son Michael, 25, died in the attack said Obama personally promised him a thorough investigation of what happened but has failed to deliver. Telling stories about ordinary people involved in extraordinary events is his passion. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. They knew. Back in May, the families of the SEALs went public with concerns that the Obama administration was at least partially responsible for the deaths [] The Justice Department said at least 50 documents in the Pentagon have been identified as relevant, but only one has been turned over. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. The helicopter was in great operational shape. The incident comes just months after DevGru's raid that killed Osama bin Laden. For many families of 9/11 victims, bin Ladens death symbolized justice and retribution. Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Tex., was reportedly the leader of the Navy SEAL team killed in the Chinook helicopter attack on Aug. 6. The conspiracy has a number of moving parts, all of which have surfaced before, but none of which have any truth to them. "We've allowed politics to become more important than the lives and safety of those men and women," he says. President Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those killed in the crash. Six weeks into his deployment, Lee experienced his worst day as a helicopter pilot to that point. The alleged hit on SEAL Team 6 is a reference to the downing of a Chinook transport helicopter by insurgents a few months after the bin Laden raid. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that supported the raid, including a Predator drone, and a variety of highly specialized spy planes, had kept continuous watch over the region during the operation. But this might just take the cake. They fail to mention it was Saudis who orchestrated 9/11, yet he elected to go after Iraq and Afghanistan. David Tarrant. In that incident, 16 Navy SEALs and Army special operations troops were killed when their craft was shot down while on a mission to rescue four SEALs under attack by the Taliban. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Nigerians await election results in competitive race. Forces to the threat of spying. These materials provided much-needed intelligence about bin Ladens role within al-Qaeda and the organizations inner-workings. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. 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. The Obama administration is violating a judges order to turn over documents in the Aug. 6, 2011, shootdown of a U.S. helicopter call sign Extortion 17 that killed members of SEAL Team 6 in Afghanistan, a watchdog group is charging. Somebody tipped them off. Or when something went terribly wrong. President Trump has been known, over the years, to tweet some bizarre things. He has written about soldiers returning home from war and the mental health crisis facing young people. A silhouette of a flight engineer manning an M240 machine gun on the ramp of a CH-47D Chinook in eastern Afghanistan. It means being informed. Lees wife, Christy, hoped the news would bring a sudden end to the war. Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Reportedly Kills Members of SEAL Team 6 Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver. That means more raids, more targets and more reliance on Afghan competenceall of which add up to more special forces casualties. All rights reserved. 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. A silhouette of a. Its lawyers have told the judge that the process of locating relevant documents and removing classified information takes time. The families of some of the 17 SEAL Team 6 commandos who were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan during a helicopter flight to help Army Rangers pinned down by Taliban gunmen accused the. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. 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. It wasnt preventable. Families of Navy SEALs killed in 2011 attack say government is to blame The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru)better known by its former name, Team 6-reportedly suffered the bulk of the casualties. The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. The Chinook headed to a different landing zone than the first assault team -- one in the narrowest part of the Tangi Valley. Additional forces were then sent to secure the crash site. Special forces routinely use helicopters in raids on homes in Afghanistan. We were told at that time we were the first unit to make it through a rotation without having anyone killed.. The route had been carefully planned, and gunships maintained continuous watch over the intended landing zone during Extortion 17's approach. 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. The helicopter plunged tail first. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. The aircraft jerked. The U.S. military claimed that the Chinook was blown to pieces by a shoulder-fired missile, in which everyone on board was burned beyond recognition. While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. 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. 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.. An Afghan official, speaking anonymously a few days after the attack, speculated that the Taliban had laid a trap, that they had purposely put out false information about a meeting involving the Taliban commander. Still, the one the president retweeted earlier this week may have been the weirdest yet. The helicopter crashed into a creek bed and a flash flood shortly afterward washed away some parts of the wreckage. The tempo of the missions did not decrease. (AP). A typical combat mission in Afghanistan leaves little margin for error, requiring Chinook pilots to land on tiny, makeshift sites on mountain slopes where any tree, bush or rock could be hiding an enemy fighter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Navy's SEAL Team 6 Recovered 2 Bodies From Afghanistan Crash "We have an ideology problem with this war, and we need to address it. 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. Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. They believe SEAL Team 6 had a target on its back and that persons inside the Afghan National Security Forces may have tipped off the Taliban that night in Tangi Valley. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. An initial investigation indicates the helicopter was shot down by insurgents in the volatile Tangi valley of Wardak province, several hours south of Kabul. There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. What happened to SEAL Team Six? The most serious scandal of all WASHINGTON The families of Navy SEAL Team 6 members killed in a disastrous August 2011 helicopter crash in Afghanistan blamed the government for the tragedy, during an emotional press conference in Washington Thursday. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. Family members question SEAL Team 6's most deadly incident. The RPG that struck Extortion 17 threw the helicopter into an uncontrollable spin. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Misinformation regarding the skills of the pilots and crew, and nonsensical conspiracy theoriesoften politically motivatedfollowed, much of which unfortunately continues to this day. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. The second RPG round had connected with one of Extortion 17's aft rotor blades, severing more than 10 feet of it when it exploded. 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. 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. In all, 17 members of the SEAL Team 6 counterterrorist force were on board the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, along with its Army National Guard aircrew, several support personnel and seven Afghan commandos. In addition to killing the man who was considered the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U.S. forces snagged valuable items from the compound during the raid. And thats fine; thats what you signed up for, Lee said. .css-v1xtj3{display:block;font-family:FreightSansW01,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:100;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-v1xtj3:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.1387rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-v1xtj3{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-v1xtj3{font-size:1.23488rem;line-height:1.2;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Russian Cargo Plane Explodes During Pressure Test, Air Force's IRON Wireless Network Protects Nukes, Watch Opposition Group Land Drone on Russian Jet, Pentagon's Mysterious Aircraft Won't Need a Runway, The Secret War to Take out Iran's F-14 Fighters, Meet the E-7 Wedgetail, the Air Forces New Plane, Report: Pilot Error Ruined a $112 Million F-35 Jet, Air Force Grounds Jets: Their Tails May Fall Off, The Messy Battle to Build the F-35's Next Engine, Russia Dredges Up Ancient BTR-50 Vehicles. The Chinook helicopter was carrying a quick-reaction force to provide back-up to the troops on the ground in the eastern Afghan province of Wardak, a U.S. official said. After Vice President Joe Biden revealed that SEAL Team 6 carried out the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, Strange said the members of his son's team gave startling indications to their families they were about to meet their demise. The loss of a helicopter carrying more than 20 U.S. special forces and as many as 8 other U.S. military service members is an unprecedented one in this war. By The Newsroom 6th Aug 2011, 6:30pm That left it to .css-3wjtm9{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#1c6a65;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-3wjtm9:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Navy SEALs to undertake a dangerous raid in a notorious insurgent area to stem the Taliban's advance. Michael Savage: SEAL Team 6 was assassinated, executed
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