Loose Lips Can Sink Ships

Congress has launched an investigation of the helicopter crash [on Aug. 6, 2011] that killed 30 Americans in Afghanistan, including members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 unit.

[...]

Charlie Strange, whose son Michael was among those killed, said he asked President Obama two years ago at Dover Air Force Base to fully investigate. The death toll in the crash was the largest of any single incident for the U.S. military during the Afghanistan war.

Obama praised Michael’s service to Strange, who responded, “I don’t need to know about my son. I need to know what happened to my son.”

The president promised he would investigate, Strange said, but he never heard back from the White House. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has provided him and others with incomplete and contradictory information, he said.

  The Hill

Now why do you suppose they would be resisting ?

Administration leaks that emerged after the bin Laden raid prompted members of Team 6 to worry about their safety.

But Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are traitors whose leaks put Americans’ lives at risk.

I remember my son, who served a tour in Iraq, being incredulous that the government was “outing” the SEALS. NObody is supposed to know who or where the SEALS are, he said.

Shortly before the CH-47 Chinook helicopter took off on a rescue mission (operation Extortion 17), seven Afghan commandos who were on the passenger list were replaced by other Afghan military officials.

It remains unclear why the manifest was incorrect, raising red flags among the victims’ families. They have noted that their sons didn’t trust Afghan soldiers. One was quoted as saying, “They are loyal to the highest bidder.”

In the transcript related to the Pentagon’s probe, a Defense official confirmed that all seven names of the Afghan soldiers were incorrect.

The official said, “I cannot talk to the back story of why…” before being interrupted by another Department of Defense employee.

The Chinook was shot down by Afghan militants, and all 38 on board perished. Among the dead were 30 Americans, including 22 Navy SEALS, seven Afghan soldiers and one Afghan translator. Their bodies were later recovered, but the helicopter’s black box was not. Pentagon officials have said that it could not be recovered, citing a flash flood that happened soon after the assault.

All the bodies were cremated. The Pentagon has defended the cremation to the soldiers’ families, saying the bodies were badly burned.

So? There’s no law against burying badly burned bodies that I’m aware of.

Chaffetz, however, said he has seen a photo of a deceased SEAL that was not. “The body I saw didn’t need to be cremated,” Chaffetz said, adding that the Department of Defense’s explanation of its failure to find the helicopter’s black box seems “awfully odd.”

Odd.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.