(Foreign Policy) It was Aug. 6, 2011, when a CH-47D Chinook helicopter carrying Navy SEALs and other U.S. military personnel was shot out of the sky over Afghanistan. The helicopter, carrying elite special operators to reinforce Army Rangers engaged in a firefight, was attacked from the ground by insurgents wielding rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses later told military investigators. The Chinook crashed and exploded in a fireball, and all 38 people and a working dog on board perished.
More than two years later, the incident remains shrouded in mystery, and is still the deadliest day for the United States in 12 years of war in Afghanistan. Now, the case of Extortion 17 - the call sign for the downed helicopter - will get its day on Capitol Hill.