Posted on 07/28/2005 12:16:26 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Former CIA Officer Sues to Publish Book Detailing Osama Bin Laden's Escape
Published: Jul 28, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA is squelching publication of a new book detailing events leading up to Osama bin Laden's escape from his Tora Bora mountain stronghold during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, says a former CIA officer who led much of the fighting.
In a story he says he resigned from the agency to tell, Gary Berntsen recounts the attacks he coordinated at the peak of the fighting in eastern Afghanistan in late 2001, including how U.S. commanders knew bin Laden was in the rugged mountains near the Pakistani border and the al-Qaida leader's much-discussed getaway.
Berntsen claims in a federal court lawsuit that the CIA is over-classifying his manuscript and has repeatedly missed deadlines written into its own regulations to review his book. His attorney, Roy Krieger, said he delivered papers to the U.S. District Court in Washington after hours Wednesday.
The CIA declined to comment because the suit had not yet been filed officially.
During the 2004 election, President Bush and other senior administration officials repeatedly said that commanders did not know whether bin Laden was at Tora Bora when U.S. and allied Afghan forces attacked there in 2001.
They rejected allegations by Sen. John Kerry, then the Democratic presidential nominee, that the United States had missed an opportunity to capture or kill bin Laden because they had "outsourced" the fighting to Afghan warlords.
"When I watched the presidential debates, it was clear to me ... the debate and discussions on Tora Bora were - from both sides - completely incorrect," said Berntsen, who won't provide details until the agency finishes declassifying his book. "It did not represent the reality of what happened on the ground."
A Republican and avid Bush supporter, Berntsen, 48, retired in June and hasn't spoken publicly before.
His book chronicles chapters of his 23 years with the agency. Berntsen spent most of his career as a case officer in the Middle East, serving as the top U.S. intelligence official in three countries.
It covers his role handling the agency's response to al-Qaida's 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa. And the book continues through late 2001 when he was assigned to command a CIA team inserted into Afghanistan, code-named "Jawbreaker" - the title of his book, tentatively due out in October.
Berntsen said the story highlights the actions of four brave Muslim American men who went with him.
It's also about decision-making: "Who stepped up, who didn't in all of this," said Berntsen, the recipient of two of the CIA's three highest medals, one for preventing Islamic extremists from assassinating the Indian prime minister in 1996.
He said he felt compelled to write his story. But he also acknowledges he retired two years early because he ruffled senior management feathers. It was clear he wouldn't get further promotions.
Krieger said his client's First Amendment rights are being violated. He's also suing under the Administrative Procedures Act, arguing that the agency has taken more than twice the 30 days allowed by regulation to review the 330-page book.
Berntsen's book is one of a handful written recently by former CIA officers who have wrestled with the agency over what could be published.
AP-ES-07-28-05 0304EDT
That's along the same lines as what they said about Richard Clarke, Joe Wilson, Greg Thielman, Mike Scheur, even Wesley Clark - and so on...
Retirement, that's when you get paid to not show up for work. I have 7 years to get rid of the mortgage...
/OFF.....James 'Jesus' Angleton's rolling over again, again, and again?
/sarcasm
Too many "Former CIA Agent" books out there already. No one can get half the truth out of any of these books because they're so jazzed up with "literary flair" as Wilson likes to put it.
Does Gary have a blonde wife who might have been an "ambassador" at some point in the past?
History does have a way of repeating itself, eh?
It seems that Porter Goss was assigned the thankless task of trying to turn a writer's guild into an intelligence operation. If George Tenet isn't collecting (literary) agent's fees, he's getting screwed.
CIA Officers recruit CIA AGENTS.
Personally, I doubt that Osama was ever at Tora Bora during the American invasion.
That’s right. This was the only team, no other CIA personnel or friendly Muslems in theater. No Seals or other special forces, and the tens of thousands of Army Rangers and Marines were just a disinformation campaign for those 5 men after OBL.
Seems to me that Berntsen is on the up-and-up. He doesn't appear to be a VIPS fright-wig.
It seems this guy is heeding Larry Johnson's call to leak info.
And these guys claim to be outraged about outing Valerie Plame?
It sounded just like all the basic mistakes that led to the intelligence failures on Iraq WMD. Take a morsel of information, make an assumption about it, and then adopt it as gospel.
A close reading of the article suggests he simply "commanded" the "CIA response team" at Tora Bora, apparently five people who were on a mission in Afghanistan in addition to the Army and Marines. I'd expect some covert operators in there, all things considered, although I wouldn't expect the "leader" to being saying anything about it at this point...
It might be considered a point in his favor if he ruffled some higher-up feathers though...those are the "civilian political appointees" aren't they?! And even if the "big-wigs" have to be confirmed by the Senate, how much does anyone really know about some of these "career" types whose ideology was set long ago?
Good. During wartime, the CIA should severely limit what kind of information gets in the public domain. Whether through a book or an op/ed in the NY Times.
Now if you wanted credibility, do you want to be known as a Democrat or Republican? It is easy to tell which party is more credible. Unfortunately, many uncredible people lie and say they are Republicans.
LOL! Good point!
>>Berntsen, the recipient of two of the CIA's three highest medals, one for preventing Islamic extremists from assassinating the Indian prime minister in 1996.
Wow. Who was that. Where. There's a story.
Too bad the USG is censoring this book. The above anecdote is exactly what the world needs; success stories in the GSAVE.
Ditto for the FBI agent, Edwards, whose book is also on the Index.
This book would help fill in the blanks about the whole ToraBora Campaign; another account, Christopher Smucker's "Al Qaeda's Great Escape", is a decent accout, albeit from a peripheral location, outside looking in, with Afghanis with their intrigues and insights, and it - does a good job of pointing out some of the perplexities and contradicitions of ToraBora.
Using locals instead of a US force, relying on airpower, policy based on info that didn't corroborate with on the ground facts, Osama's escape (or death?), the role of Pakistan - (there's a whole book there).
Now that the War has become a struggle, why is the USG so intent on keeping this guy's account quiet.
Since when does the First Amendment guarantee the right to write a tell-all book about undercover operations against an enemy with whom we are still at war???? Aren't covert CIA retirees proscribed from discussing their activities, especially thode during wartime? I know I have a relative who was CIA covert during the Korean War and he would never even tell his wife what he actually did. I also have a friend who was very high up in Air Force intelligence and even after he retired he told me he could not tell me anything. This is ridiculous and must stop.
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