[paraclete]

Slain Navy SEALs had targeted known Taliban leader, officials say - CNN.com
It is most disturbing that the destruction of a helicopter and troops in Afghanistan is now been linked to the team who got Bin Laden. Could this be construed to be payback. This sort of thing is media irresponsibility to suggest however slightly that the Taliban have the ability to deliberately respond in this manner

[twinkiedooter]

It is not Afganistan that wiped them out - it was our own government so they would not divulge the specifics of the Bin Laden Death. This was done with a ground to air missile and some intel leaked. Usually the seals don't travel in such large numbers but there is a dearth of available aircraft in that area and this was done at dusk. They were trying to rescue other troops in that town and were literally ambushed in this rescue misson. This was not the Taliban suddenly retaliating.

[Fr_Chuck]

It is not Afganistan that wiped them out - it was our own government so they would not divulge the specifics of the Bin Laden Death. This was done with a ground to air missle and some intel leaked. Usually the seals don't travel in such large numbers but there is a dearth of available aircraft in that area and this was done at dusk. They were trying to rescue other troops in that town and were literally ambushed in this rescue misson. This was not the Taliban suddenly retaliating.

I would 1/2 agree that it is very subspect and yes, those military groups having too much knowledge have been known to go missing

[excon]

Hello clete:

The right wing says that stuff we do, like trying terrorists in civilian court, will EMBOLDEN the terrorists... In order to believe that, you'd have to believe that there's a group of terrorists, who in the ordinary course of events, WANTS to attack us. But, NOW, due to something we did, they want to attack us MORE!

Makes no sense to me...

To believe that the terrorists targeted the Navy Seals, one would have to believe that they had their RPG aimed at the helicopter, but were only going to fire if they could confirm that the targeted Seals were on board.

Makes no sense to me.

excon

[tomder55]

What I said was I didn't understand the rush to identify the troops that did the job on OBL . I thought the President should've kept his pie hole shut about certain aspects of the operation.
I did not think it necessary to know the details .

If this was a revenge hit then it is a clear example of the old war axiom 'loose lips sink ships '.

[tomder55]

Thought I added this :

I agree with Ex that it is unlikely that this was anything more than a lucky shot . But it is also possible that Afghani's working with the US informed the Taliban of the flight.

Another aspect that needs attention is that since President Obama's withdrawal announcement the enemy has ramped up it's attacks on both coalition NATO troops ;government officials ,and civilians.

[speechlesstx]

Thought I added this :

I agree with Ex that it is unlikely that this was anything more than a lucky shot . But it is also possible that Afghani's working with the US informed the Taliban of the flight.

Another aspect that needs attention is that since President Obama's withdrawal announcement the enemy has ramped up it's attacks on both coalition NATO troops ;government officials ,and civilians.

According to this report, the Taliban knew the route the chopper would take after their mission, and there was a possibility that it wasn't just a rocket propelled grenade, but an “Improvised Rocket-Assisted Mortar.” Still may have been just a lucky shot though.

[speechlesstx]

What I said was I didn't understand the rush to identify the troops that did the job on OBL . I thought the President should've kept his pie hole shut about certain aspects of the operation.
I did not think it necessary to know the details

And just in time for the election next year, Seal Team 6, the movie.

But while Obama takes the high road, his aides have made sure there are proxies to exuberantly brag on him.

The White House clearly blessed the dramatic reconstruction of the mission by Nicholas Schmidle in The New Yorker — so vividly descriptive of the Seals’ looks, quotes and thoughts that Schmidle had to clarify after the piece was published that he had not actually talked to any of them.

“I’ll just say that the 23 Seals on the mission that evening were not the only ones who were listening to their radio communications,” Schmidle said, answering readers’ questions in a live chat, after taking flak for leaving some with the impression that he had interviewed the heroes when he wrote in his account that it was based on “some of their recollections.”

The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama’s growing reputation as ineffectual. The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made “The Hurt Locker” will no doubt reflect the president’s cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds. Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.

[paraclete]

So just a media beatup of an unfortunate even
Let's see we have;
The odd lucky shot
Somewhat specialised rocket assisted mortar
Surface to air missile
Afghans passing intel to enemy
Afghans listening in on military coms
Afghans with specific knowledge of helicopter flight plan
Afghans responding to pull out plans with large scale offensive
The Presidents big mouth

Officially it was an RPG

Sounds like paranoia to me, Has it escaped any of you that this tactic is what was so successful against the Russians and was taught to the Afghans by the Americans. However no one has thought about the media treatment here. Today's media is a security problem which is why if you have noticed there hasn't been much coverage in recent months. It all smacks of desperation

[tomder55]

The Mujahadeen were equipt with top of the line Stingers. If they had a specialized weapon I'm sure is was branded "Made in Tehran".
Not paranoia at all . It was an intel breakdown I'm sure on mulitple levels.

[paraclete]

The Mujahadeen were equipt with top of the line Stingers. If they had a specialized weapon I'm sure is was branded "Made in Tehran".
Not paranoia at all . It was an intel breakdown I'm sure on mulitple levels.

Yeh, intellegence breakdown, the helicopter didn't have stealth technology and was crammed to the eyeballs with troops, a prime target. In this era of mobile and satellite phones they could have been tipped off when it left base. Those RPG are very effective, what is amazing is they can be fired so accurately under less than ideal conditions. But you don't need intel to know that the americans will probably reinforce their troops and there might be a limited number of routes they could take. As this was a raid on a leader he was probably well prepared and may even have been tipped off. Stingers have existed on that battlefield for a long time, it might even have an american nameplate, it doesn't mean anything other than it was used.

[tomder55]

Stingers have existed on that battlefield for a long time, it might even have an american nameplate, it doesn't mean anything other than it was used.

I'd believe that true if Copters were being taken down regularly there for the last decade . It is extremely difficult to take down a Copter at night with an RPG . The Stingers have a shelf life already expired ,and the US purchased back most of the Stingers from the Soviet war. If it was a sophisticated SAM type weapon it was most likely Iranian .

As Obama's hasty retreat happens ,Special Forces troops will come under greater risk because they will be called on more frequently to plug the gaps.

[paraclete]

Talk is Tom it might have been an ambush. A remarkedly accurate shot for an RPG. Some helicopters have been lost recently, the Afghans may be becoming smarter about the way they use weapons and with greater numbers of troops there are of course more targets. Perhaps we could cast a wider net and suggest that they might have had help from over the eastern border

[paraclete]

Continuing to read the accounts of this it seems at least some of the dead were part of the raid on Bin Laden so this really was payback Afghan style. It also seems that the US may have indulged in a little payback themselves although the Taliban deny this. What I find interesting is that good intel could be gotten from local sources very quickly. Why is there such a lack of intel at other times? I'll put it down to method.