Posted on 06/02/2004 11:06:39 AM PDT by areafiftyone
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan had Osama bin Laden "within reach" on at least two occasions, but were unable to prevent him slipping away, France's top general said Wednesday.
French chief of staff Gen. Henri Bentegeat, said the al-Qaida leader had evaded capture several times since 2002, but not recently. He didn't say where bin Laden had been tracked down, and refused to comment on whether French special forces operating in southern Afghanistan were involved.
"Several times the coalition has had Osama bin Laden directly within reach," Bentegeat told reporters during a visit to the Afghan capital. "But between locating a person and arresting them there is a gap tied to all the uncertainties of all operations of this kind."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Kabul had no immediate comment on the general's remarks.
Bentegeat said several of bin Laden's top lieutenants also evaded capture. "At least two times they managed to escape," he said. "That's absolutely inevitable, normal in the conditions in which these kind of operations are carried out.
"I'm not saying there was an incident of this kind recently," he added. "To my knowledge, that's not the case."
Bentegeat made similar comments in an interview in March to France's Europe-1 radio station, saying bin Laden narrowly escaped capture by French troops in Afghanistan, perhaps several times. He did not specify when or where the escapes took place.
Some 200 French troops work with the 20,000-strong U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan in the drive to track holdouts of the former ruling Taliban regime and bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group.
in other words: The U.S. government already has bin laden, with a tracking device implanted in his head(unkown to him), so when the timing is right (October), they can nab him at will, with news media cameras at hand.
Thanks for the laugh!
Countdown to complete humiliation and subsequent withdrawal from the public square; 10, 9, 8, 7...
For Sale: French Army rifle. Like new, never fired, dropped only once. Call cheese-eating surrender monkey General Henri Bentegeat at 745-4545.
"You mean France has a general?"
No kidding! I didn't figure any of them even knew how to handle a gun.
BUMP!
In fact, I'd actually appreciate the fact that there are others who enjoy denigrating the journalistic "talents" of our favorite Jew-Rican journalist from NYC.
Legal Disclaimer:
The phrase "Jew-Rican" is of course, an unincorporated trademark of John Leguizamo Enterprises. I hereby waive any right to use said phrase in further posts to FR, and FR-affiliated sites.
Wheeewww!
That was a close one!
OBL is dead since before AQ got trapped at Tora bora.
Osama's ghost, maybe.
WOW, what if this were true.
HUH?
He is just trying to tell OBL via the press that with a certain "consideration", well Osama might be very hard to find if he snuck through French positions. Doesn't matter. OBL is a defunct entity.
Actually, the French have some pretty tough troops, especially their special forces and Foreign Legion. It's the civil government that is corrupt.
"They seek him here; they seek him there;"
"Those Frenchies seek him everywhere!"
God yes, they probably have at least three for every enlisted man in their army. That's how they do it in canada, anyway - and they are ALL french in the ranks above Major. All of them. They go generals they ain't even used yet. Nor do they plan to. Just to pay them exorbitant salaries and provide them with flashy uniforms to display their medals on. Medals for what? God knows.
Is this included when Clinton kicked him out of Sudanese custody?
>>>had Osama bin Laden "within reach" on at least two occasions
Yeah, right. The french got close enough to positively ID OBL, but not to grab or slab him. I say to them, Booooool sheeeeeet.
My reaction, too. Who said he has to be arrested. He's a rabid animal. You don't arrest a rabid animal, you hunt him down and kill him, then display his head on a pike so everybody knows what happens when you mess with the US of A.
Well he was the only door man that enlisted.
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