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The Associated Press contributed to this report. September-11-pentagon-attack-survivors-evacuation. And we really feel that this put our guys in an unnecessary risk, Hamburger said. Conspiracy theories started almost immediately. Legal Statement. Conspiracy theories over the years have alleged that President Barack Obama and presumably then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and now Joe Biden had somehow been responsible for the attack, supposedly in order to silence the Seals for something having to do with the Bin Laden raid three months earlier. Just after entering the Tangi, as Extortion 17 continued to descend and decelerate toward its landing zone, the helicopter passed through the narrowest portion of the valley. 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. [PHOTOS:Fighting in Afghanistan Continues]. Fallen Angel.. This misinformation persists in part because those unfamiliar with the battlefield aren't taking into account a fundamental part of war: chance. Ohio Republican Secretary of State 'actively' considering Senate run against Sherrod Brown, DeSantis family spends the afternoon at Houston Rodeo ahead of governor's speech, Marianne Williamson launches campaign against Biden, vows to fight 'forces of hatred, injustice and fear', Haley blasts both Democrats and fellow Republicans, including Trump, over exploding national debt. By late 2010, analysts were able to link the courier to a large, highly-secured compound in Abbottabad, a town about 35 miles north of Islamabad. One of the things I vowed, I will never forget. The helicopter plunged tail first. As is routine on such missions, two Apache attack helicopters provided extra cover and security for Extortion 17, while circling above was an AC-130 aircraft, a gunship that also provides surveillance. Could an enemy have specifically targeted the U.S. special forces team that took down bin Laden? There are no survivors. 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. 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. "We will draw inspiration from their lives, and continue the work of securing our country and standing up for the values that they embodied.". "So much of the war is fought in areas where these helicopters have to fly at high altitudes," where the thin air can strain the performance of the engines and rotor blades, said Ed Darack, author of the recently published book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six and the Deadliest Day of the U.S. War in Afghanistan. Planners selected a landing zone that had never been used before. A Marine speaks into a radio and troops unload a CH-47D Chinook in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Originally published August 6, 2011 at 10:50 am Updated August 6, 2011 at 3:16 pm. By The Newsroom 6th Aug 2011, 6:30pm There is still a tremendous level of chance for a tragedy of such huge magnitude.. There's always the chance that Iran, which has them, or Pakistan, which conceivably could have bought some on the black market, supplied them to the Taliban. This story has been corrected to reflect that only some of the families of the fallen SEALs say their loved ones were deliberately endangered. That night, nearly 10 years after the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan, Lee believed they were the best team for this dangerous mission. A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., he remains obsessively curious about Texans and the Lone Star State culture. While the press conference was long on speculation and short on concrete evidence, the family members and their supporters didn't pull any punches. RETWEET!, The president went on to follow that last command, although the Oscar the Midnight Rider account has since been suspended by Twitter. the seal team 6 crash is just tying up loose ends for their crimes. ", While not commenting directly on the allegations, he called those who were lost "warriors" who represented "the diversity and talent of America and its military.". 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. The chopper's manifest. They start the movie showing George W Bush saying that after 9/11 we will hunt down those responsible. 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. Extortion 17: Directed by Franois Garcia. The Pentagons witness stuck to a theme that no mistakes were made that night, though the investigative file contained testimony from a number of witnesses saying the mission was riddled with missteps. The crash took the lives of 17 SEALs and five special warfare development group operators, making it the worst one-day loss in the history of U.S. naval special operations. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 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. Somebody was leaking to the Taliban, said Mr. Nothing tests the capabilities of a young helicopter pilot like flying in the extreme conditions of Afghanistan. Things like Benghazi and the NSA. 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.. Each shouldered a rocket propelled grenade launcher, aimed at the dim silhouette of the approaching helicopter then fired. Every mission is potentially life-threatening. 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. 4:10 p.m. - A backup helicopter scoops up remaining team members and leaves the area. It's true that members of SEAL Team 6 died tragically in a helicopter crash not long after the Bin Laden mission, but the particular soldiers who perished weren't part of that operation, says O'Neill. File: A US Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter in flight. Were handing rifles to 20-year-olds and asking them to shoot people. He finished his contract with the Army shortly afterward, and that September enrolled in Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law. Ultimately, bin Laden was found and killed within nine minutes, and SEAL Team Six was credited with carrying out a nearly flawless mission. MARTHA RADDATZ, LUIS MARTINEZ and MIKE BOETTCHER, helicopter was shot down today by Afghan insurgents, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. He has written about soldiers returning home from war and the mental health crisis facing young people. The last worst one-day U.S. casuality record in Afghanistan was on June 28, 2005 when 16 U.S. soldiers were killed in Kunar province after a helicopter was shot down by Taliban insurgents. "One minuteone minute," transmitted Bryan Nichols, the pilot in command of the helicopter. For Lee, there was no time to reflect on how close he had come to dying. Afghan President Karzai's office released a statement on the incident. They happened to be in the right place at the right time. 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. A CH-47D Chinook helicopter lands at a small landing zone at Firebase Blessing, in eastern Afghanistans restive Kunar Province at the start of a combat operation. they won't view it as wrong, just a "necessary" sacrifice for your country. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver. All rights reserved. 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. Around 2007, U.S. intelligence officials discovered the name of one of bin Ladens closest couriers, whom they speculated may have been involved in supporting or harboring the terrorist. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. They were part of the same Army Reserve unit, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment based in Gardner, Kan. Nichols, with three combat tours of duty, also had plenty of experience flying dangerous missions. Ten computer hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices were retrieved. Its crazy how many times I can think of where me or the guys I was with had to do that.. He was probably in the top 1 percent of Army aviators, Lee said. Everyone on board died within a fraction of a second30 Americans, eight Afghans and one American military working dog. 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. ", Ed Darack's The Final Mission of Extortion 17, published by Smithsonian Books, will be available on September 19. Located in a remote and dangerous province in eastern Afghanistan, the base was the target of near-constant rocket attacks from Taliban insurgents. 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. 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. This crash is incredibly demoralizing. .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. 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. Its lawyers have told the judge that the process of locating relevant documents and removing classified information takes time. The mission itself has proven controversial to some family members. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. The operation to kill the world's most wanted terrorist was the result of years of planning and training. On such missions, the Chinook pilots nearly always fly at night, wearing night vision goggles, or NVGs. 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. 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. Justin Buddy Lee will never forget that night six years ago. Special forces are very selective on who they partner with, but any collaboration with Afghans opens up U.S. 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! Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight. 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. 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. Image:U.S. PresidentDonaldTrumpholds a campaign rally at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 13, 2020. "We simply didn't know those guys with those RPGs were there," he said. "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. Is Russias Only Aircraft Carrier Cursed? The Chinook smashed into the ground, the force ripping off his goggles. Chance, however, a component of war intimately understood by war fighters, can never be completely mitigated. And to this day, people are still debating what really happened. Lee, now a captain, was placed in command of a Chinook helicopter unit at Forward Operating Base Shank. Landing in deserts or mountainsides, the helicopter rotors kick up clouds of sand and dust, causing brownouts that can blind a pilot. Theyre going after [enemy fighters] in very hostile environments, who know the terrain very well, who know the battlescape very well, Darack said. With Sean Hannity, Raj Kala, Justin Torrence, Vee Bhakta. 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." Patrick Hamburger, served among the helicopter's crew. The mission continues, uninterrupted.3:39 p.m. Osama bin Laden is located on the third floor of the compound and is shot in the head, above the left eye.Sometime during the operation, three other men (including one of bin Ladens sons) and a woman in the compound are also killed.3:53 p.m. President Obama receives preliminary word that bin Laden is identified and dead.3:55 p.m. SEAL team members move bin Ladens body to the first floor of the compound and place it in a body bag.3:39 p.m.-4:10 p.m. The team locates and retrieves multiple items from the compound for intelligence investigation.4:05 p.m. The first helicopter exits the compound.4:08 p.m. The team destroys the chopper that crashed.4:10 p.m. A backup helicopter scoops up remaining team members and leaves the area.5:53 p.m. The choppers with SEAL team members return to Afghanistan.7:01 p.m. President Obama receives further intelligence information that the body killed in the raid is likely that of bin Laden.11:35 p.m. President Obama addresses the nation about the raid.12:59 a.m. Osama bin Ladens body is buried at sea within 24 hours to comply with Islamic law. But Chinooks are at their most vulnerable while hovering in place during raids like the one this team is thought to have been conducting. 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. The navigator on the AC-130 gunship said there was simply too much gun and engine noise to think that the Chinook could make an undetected entrance. The first of the unguided projectiles missed, as the vast majority of rocket propelled grenades shot at helicopters did over the course of the war in Afghanistan. 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. The event was organized by Freedom Watch, a conservative advocacy group, at the National Press Club. The pilots ranked among the most proficient in this type of flying and the Department of Defense. Men he knew. Market data provided by Factset. Market data provided by Factset. Their names and their missions had never been revealed before. Family members are hoping Freedom Watch, a watchdog legal group led by Larry Klayman, can force new disclosures using the power of the FOIA process. While the vast majority of attempts to down helicopters failed, the lucky shot that took down Extortion 17 had a precedent. It was the worst day for fatalities in the history of naval special warfare. The incident comes just months after DevGru's raid that killed Osama bin Laden. This critical, but completely uncontrollable, aspect of war, is well-known among fighters like Buddy. 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. The next day, a DNA test confirmed that the body was indeed that of Osama bin Laden. Nobody involved had overlooked even the most minute detail. 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. Still, SEAL Team Sixs bold raid to take down bin Laden was an extraordinary operation that most experts regard as a resounding success. Composed primarily of members of the 75th Ranger Regiment, which falls under the authority of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, the team sought to capture or kill a powerful insurgent leader, Qari Tahir, known to coalition forces by his designation "Lefty Grove." You also want to come in from a different direction for the element of surprise.. It was an auspicious day for the two enemy fighters. Winds whipped through the fir trees. 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. 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 . These materials provided much-needed intelligence about bin Ladens role within al-Qaeda and the organizations inner-workings. It's a scary thought. But why? 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. Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron Vaughn was one of the SEAL Team 6 operators who died in the crash. 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. The Benghazi attack in 2012 plays a part in some other versions of the tale. On July 25, a Chinook was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. When the shock subsided, questions arose and persisted. 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. The crash killed 38 people, including 15 Navy SEALs. But why? 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. He was too busy. "It's something that a lot of people who have never been in combat have a hard time understanding," he said. As for himself, he speaks out about Extortion 17 because he wants to remember the men on that mission. Apparently, someone tipped them off that the SEALs were coming; the helicopter was attacked from three sides in a coordinated ambush. The aircraft jerked. He pushed hard on the cyclic stick to tilt the helicopter forward. It means being informed. More than 20 Navy Seals died in the helicopter crash that killed 31 in Afghanistan yesterday. Neither did the risk he and his pilots faced every night. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The U.S. Army knows the risks when it plans air assault operations in Afghanistan. I find it quite disturbing that the government is not willing to give us the answers we deserve. 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. The actual mission, dubbed Operation Neptune Spear, officially started in the early-morning hours of May 2, Pakistan time (afternoon of May 1, Eastern Daylight Time). But it's often foreign to those who observe combat from afar. 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. 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. The first grenade missed Extortion 17. 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. "He said, 'Mom, there's chatter. Mr. Klayman said the NSA has agreed to provide some information. 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. Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, made by the CIA. 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. The hardest LZ Id ever been into, Lee said. The route had been carefully planned, and gunships maintained continuous watch over the intended landing zone during Extortion 17's approach. The helicopter was in great operational shape. The ensuing crash killed all 16 on board, eight Army special operations aviators, and eight Navy SEALs. Saturday's deaths bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan to 334 this year, according to the Associated Press. 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. 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. In interviewing Buddy for background research for my book, The Final Mission of Extortion 17, which chronicles the people, events, and circumstances of the downing of Extortion 17, I realized that this tragedy illustrates Buddy's words more convincingly perhaps than any other incident. 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. All but two of the SEALs were from SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, although military officials said none of the crash victims was on that mission in Pakistan against the al . No one is planting victory gardens, and were not rationing. But one thing that doesnt fade is never forgetting what they did.. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Family members question SEAL Team 6's most deadly incident. The US Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 reportedly recovered two bodies and a flight recorder from the site where a US Air Force E-11A aircraft crashed in Afghanistan on Monday. On this night, Aug. 6, 2011, something went terribly wrong. Following a helicopter crash, the SEAL Team must proceed with the mission as hostiles bear down on them and an injured and impaired Jason goes after their target alone. Since the agencys main task is to eavesdrop on phone and Internet messages, it may have recorded communications related to the attack. 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. He taught helicopter pilots how to fly in high altitudes at an aviation training site in Colorado. The Taliban silenced him. Almost 10 years after 9/11, here's what led to the death of Osama bin Laden. President Trump has also claimed, including in the first presidential debate, that Biden opposed the raid that took out Bin Laden. The night before he left to go to Fort Hood, where he would board a plane to Afghanistan, the biggest event of the 10-year war occurred: Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan during a raid by Navy SEALs. A number of the DEVGRU SEALs were devastated by this loss . 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. 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. That same day he obtained a medical waiver he needed to pursue an Army commission -- to serve an eight-year hitch before going to law school. The families hope to raise awareness of the incident, which they say the government has largely forgotten since the official report was released in October 2011. Does Donald Trump believe that Joe Biden played a part in murdering those Navy Seals? And they sent our guys right into the middle.. Lee is 36 now, a civil attorney in Dallas, a world away from Afghanistan. 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. The Justice Department said at least 50 documents in the Pentagon have been identified as relevant, but only one has been turned over. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. 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. Hamburger said. I would say that was the first time that we really had eyes on the LZ.. After the helicopter crash on August 6, 2011. Still, the one the president retweeted earlier this week may have been the weirdest yet. At any moment, they could come under rocket attack. 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. He spoke out against banning girls education. One by one, fathers and mothers of the victims of the crash spoke about what they see as gaping holes or inconsistencies in the review of what U.S. Special Operations considers its most deadly incident. Just last week the Afghans arrested an Army officer for aiding Taliban suicide bombers through checkpoints, and doing so under employ by Pakistan.