World | Afghanistan war Was Crashed Copter's Rescue Mission Necessary? Investigators probing that question By Evann Gastaldo Posted Aug 9, 2011 7:08 AM CDT Copied US soldiers secure the area after exiting a Chinook helicopter, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in this June 18, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File) A heartbreaking twist in the helicopter tragedy that claimed 38 US and Afghan lives: The rescue mission the troops were en route to may not even have been necessary. Special Operations forces in the remote Tangi Valley requested assistance after coming under fire from "several" insurgents, even though they were able to kill some of those insurgents, the Washington Post reports. The responding helicopter was felled by what military officials are calling a "lucky shot" as it prepared to land, while the troops already on the ground did not suffer casualties—and even fended off the insurgents and secured the site on their own, until another helicopter arrived. Investigators are now probing whether the doomed rescue mission was really needed. Read These Next Gavin Newsom has filed a massive lawsuit against Fox News. New York Times ranks the best movies of the 21st century. A man has been deported for kicking an airport customs beagle. Supreme Court gives Trump big win on national injunctions. Report an error