Extortion 17 was the agreed upon payback for killing whoever was the Bin Laden imposter in Pakistan, and its downing was sanctioned by Obama.
F’ing traitor.
It was pretty obvious even on the day of, that Obama had them set up to eliminate witnesses who could testify that the infamous OBL raid, and the even more notorious “Islamic sea burial” (AKA evidence disposal) were frauds.
There was no “payback” and the idea of it is ridiculous. I wish people would stop saying this. In a firefight there is always the golden bullet. Many helicopters were downed by lucky RPG shots - watch Blackhawk Down. It happens.
The real outrage is the ridiculous rules of engagement (ROE). We lost EOD soldiers and other troops because our units maintaining overwatch on roads could only watch as insurgents placed IED’s in the road because of the ROE. Like clockwork, the next morning EOD units had to go out and clear the IED’s in the road after armed men watched them place them only hours earlier. Rinse and repeat. This is an example of the stupidity forced upon our military - commanders are more afraid of our media and politicians than they are of losing our soldiers.
There was no “trade” of the SEALS. They volunteered to go when they were listening to the firefight because they believed the Rangers were in trouble. They jumped on the first available bird. It was NOT a planned mission.
Despite the article being difficult to read, it effectively makes the case that the firepower was available to eliminate the enemy, but the ROE did not allow it and commanders refused to resolve the situation. Had this been done the ill-fated flight would never have occurred. Salute to this Captain for telling the real story - one that has been repeated ad nauseum in the sandbox.