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The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. 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. 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., 3 Questions About the SEAL Team Six Crash, Russian Cargo Plane Explodes During Pressure Test, better protected from newer, more sophisticated threats, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. With Robert O'Neill, Patricia Economo, Enrique Garcia, James Obrien. However, the AP has reported, the Afghan forces never staffed the outpost after American forces left, and the Taliban moved back in. He was too busy. They heard a helicopter coming, they grabbed their RPGs, and they fired in quick succession, Darack said. The Obama administration is violating a judge's 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 . A collection of moments during and after Barack Obama's presidency. Almost 10 years after 9/11, here's what led to the death of Osama bin Laden. Things like Benghazi and the NSA. Military officials told her operating outside of these rules "damages our efforts to win the hearts and minds of our enemies. All rights reserved. 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. Market data provided by Factset. Your life is in danger. We also mourn the Afghans who died alongside our troops in pursuit of a more peaceful and hopeful future for their country. The CH-47D that embarked on the mission that day had been built in the 1960s, she said, and last retrofitted in the 1985. The insurgents had no way of knowing the helicopter would be coming in, at the speed it was coming and at the altitude, Darack said. 4:08 p.m. - The team destroys the chopper that crashed. She had just given birth to their first child. In the immediate wake of the tragedy, the military initiated two investigations. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that they believe that . I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. As they made their approach, there was a line of thunderstorms nearby. He would not have hesitated to fly with any of them. I will never forget what they did, he said. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Three months after bin Ladens death, members of the SEAL Team 6 force -- though apparently not the same ones who carried out the bin Laden raid -- were on board the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, along with its Army National Guard aircrew, several support personnel and seven Afghan commandos. Every mission is potentially life-threatening. But this might just take the cake. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Osama bin Ladens personal journal was also recovered. They stayed fixed on enemy squirters, or runners, until just a few minutes before landing. 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.. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. One source says the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew. Nobody involved had overlooked even the most minute detail. After the helicopter crash on August 6, 2011. In combat, its mission is to transport large teams of elite assault troops, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, to and from the battlefield. 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. The SEALS intentionally . The crash sent shock waves throughout U.S. special operations. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Around 2:40 a.m., an Apache pilot flying in support came on the radio and shouted: Fallen Angel. 4:10 p.m. - A backup helicopter scoops up remaining team members and leaves the area. But why? Fallen Angel: Call Sign - Extortion 17: Directed by Karl Horstmann, Stephen Spivey. During an attempted reinforcement effort during Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005, high on the slopes of a mountain called Sawtalo Sar in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar Province, a lucky shot took down an Army Special Operations Chinook, call sign "Turbine 33." Ninty-six days after the death of Osama bin Laden by SEAL Team Six, an old Vietnam era Army Reserve helicopter, call sign "Extortion 17," was shot down in the Wardak Province, Tangi River Valley, Afghanistan on Aug 6, 2011.On board the Chinook CH-47D were 15 members of SEAL Team Six, 15 SEAL Team Six Support personnel, 1 Bomb Dog, 7 unidentified members of the Afghan National Army, and 1 . It is not uncommon for commandos to fly some of their missions aboard such aircraft in the war zone, however. It alleges thatthe 2011 raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, which took place when Biden was vice president, did not actually kill the al-Qaeda leader, but rather a body double, and that Iran had been part of the conspiracy as well. Lee remained in Afghanistan flying combat missions for another eight months before returning home in the spring of 2012. Whether enemy fire brought down the Chinook or a tree strike would never be known for sure. He grew up in Tyler, went to Texas A&M, joined the Corps of Cadets and stared in shock at the news thattwo planes slammed into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Fallen Angel.. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. JSOC and aviation commanders, prepared for virtually any outcome, quickly formulated a plan: they would send a team on one helicopter to bolster the Ranger-led force. After the crash, the forces that were involved in the firefight "broke contact" with the enemy so they could go provide perimeter security for the crash site, the official said. 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. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. At this difficult hour, all Americans are united in support of our men and women in uniform who serve so that we can live in freedom and security.". 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. 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. All Rights Reserved. They are also pretty tough; the only comparable loss to this one was a Chinook shot down in 2005. Their names and their missions had never been revealed before. 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. They were part of his command. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? Are such missiles appearing in Afghanistan? The Chinook had no Apache escort, as did the Ranger team that enjoyed the element of surprise when it touched down hours earlier. On board were 22 Navy SEALs, rushing to support troops in firefight. . The "had Seal team 6 killed" is a likely reference to what's known as the "Extortion 17" incident, the August 2011 tragedy in which a Chinook military helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan,. The subject of the tweet, per The Beast, is Alan Howell Parrot, a falconer-turned-CIA whistleblower who was once the star of a documentary called Feathered Cocaine.. A Defense Department special operations official told a House subcommittee last year that there is no indication the mission was compromised by the Afghans. This misinformation persists in part because those unfamiliar with the battlefield aren't taking into account a fundamental part of war: chance. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. A junior, he was ready to fight, but the war would be over, he figured, before he even got out of college. 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. Apparently, someone tipped them off that the SEALs were coming; the helicopter was attacked from three sides in a coordinated ambush. 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. Since filing a lawsuit, Mr. Klayman says, he has been stonewalled by the Justice Department, the Defense Department, the CIA and the National Security Agency. Some of those Seals were members of Seal Team 6 that took part in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, the AP reported today; although they were not actual participants in the Pakistan raid, according to the New York Times. Enterprise writer at The Dallas Morning News. Although the Taliban have claimed to have shot the helicopter down, U.S. officials have only identified the attackers as insurgents. All of us know that going into it.". 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. "We've allowed politics to become more important than the lives and safety of those men and women," he says. Missions like this one to insert or remove an assault force are the military equivalent of a perfect 10 in the Olympics -- equal parts skill, experience and daring. 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. Get everything off your social media. SEAL Team Six was assigned three pre-invasion missions: two clandestine political missions relating to regime change on the island, and reconnaissance from the sea of the new airfield under construction on the island's southwest coast. They have to slow down to land or allow troops to rappel to the ground. The force included seven Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter. 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. 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. We had guys who had flown in Desert Storm, guys who had just come off active duty, Lee said. The entire operation, which lasted only 40 minutes from start to finish, was the culmination of years of calculated planning and training. 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. But why? DevGru is an emblem of U.S. military power, known worldwide. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. "We simply didn't know those guys with those RPGs were there," he said. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. The Taliban, of course, has taken credit, saying it shot down the helo during a special forces raid on a home. How SEAL Team 6 . Nigerians await election results in competitive race. It wasnt preventable. The military's public contradictions raise more questions than answers. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. In fact, the conflict was heating up. In addition to the 30 Americans, the official said there were seven Afghan army soldiers and an interpreter on the helicopter. Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Gregory said: "We share in the grief of all of the families who lost their loved ones. She also said the team was hindered by rules of engagement that prohibited their firing on potential targets unless they could see a weapon. The terrorist leader was not only a major player within al-Qaeda but also a figurehead that attracted supporters and recruits from around the world. But at least you should care about them and appreciate what were asking of them.. The team began intense training for the operation, which included practicing in a life-sized replica of the compound. Hamburger said. 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. 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.. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. May 1 (EDT)1:25 p.m. President Obama, along with other top officials, formally approve the execution of Operation Neptune Spear.1:51 p.m. Stealth Black Hawk helicopters take off from Afghanistan, carrying a group of 25 Navy SEALs.3:30 p.m. The choppers land on the compound in Abbottabad. I had to learn how to land while browned-out, wearing NVGs, on the side of a mountain or an uneven field, Lee said. This is all, needless to say, completely unsubstantiated if not outright false. 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. My life is in danger. At the pilots request, the AC-130 flashed an infrared spotlight, which could be seen only through night vision goggles, to light up the landing zone. But no one died. The shootdown was the single, deadliest loss of U.S. forces in the war. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. 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. Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, announced a slate of futuristic new policies in a campaign video Friday. 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. .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. 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 helicopter was shot down by insurgents in August 2011; many of those killed were part of the same Navy SEAL Team 6 unit that carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound three months . At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. They dont even produce under their own self-imposed deadline, Mr. Klayman told The Washington Times. The guy was incredibly skilled.. On his first deployment, he felt fortunate to be surrounded by veteran pilots he could learn from. because seals have a habit of writing books once they retire. Extortion 17: Directed by Franois Garcia. And it even led Robert ONeill, the Trump-supporting Navy Seal who claims to have fired the shot that killed Bin Laden, to tweet that the conspiracy theories both about the Bin Laden double and about the Seals from the raid having been killed arent true. Furthermore, according to the lore, due to the alleged Iran angle, the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015 was in fact a payoff to Iran for whatever role they played in the earlier conspiracy. The story itself is tragic, but tons of war propaganda. U.S. 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. 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. Image:U.S. PresidentDonaldTrumpholds a campaign rally at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 13, 2020. The former vice president has become the Democratic front-runner with primary victories across the country. "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. Information about the incident is still trickling in, but these are a few of the most important questions in the immediate aftermath. 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 immediate reaction force (IRF) was assembled hastily for insertion into Tangi Valley to help Army Rangers capture fleeing Taliban. The missions commanders decided to insert another team to go after Tahir while the Rangers held the compound. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. By The Newsroom 6th Aug 2011, 6:30pm Lee had just flown the night before on a similar mission with one of the pilots, David Carter. The helicopter was shot down by insurgents. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. The next day, a DNA test confirmed that the body was indeed that of Osama bin Laden. 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. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. Throughout, he said, Justice lawyers have refused to take his phone calls. Hes also sent more than his fair share of curious retweets, often of the accounts of conspiracy theorists and those associated with QAnon and other outlandish conspiracy frameworks. Many military experts at the time, including some of Obamas top military advisers, had questioned the White Houses public praise of SEAL Team 6 and said it put members in danger.