Posted on 11/29/2009 5:40:23 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Washington, DC (AHN) - A new Senate report blasts the Bush administration's December 2001 effort to capture or kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Afghanistan mountains of Tora Bora.
The report, written by the Senate Foreign Relations, says bin Laden was within reach on Dec. 16, but he and his "entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area." The report says most analysts believe he is still there.
The report, requested by the committee's chairman, Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, blames the failure to catch or kill bin Laden on then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's decision to use a force of untrained, mostly Afghani fighters to seal his escape routes.
The report says more than 100 American commandos were on the scene during the battle, but their calls for reinforcements were denied. Bin Laden, according to the report was so shaken by U.S. air strikes that he prepared a will that indicated he thought he was moments from death.
The report also slams then-Afghanistan-theater commander Gen. Tommy Franks for refusing to deviate from a plan to use mostly indigenous forces on the ground to ease the risk of an anti-U.S. backlash in the country.
The report's release comes two days before the Obama administration is expected to announce the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan.
And we had him literally in our sights under Clinton but couldn’t get an OK to take him out.
I suppose John Kerry knows that this true from his weekly phone conversations with Osama
If Kerry saw Bin-Laden he’d stub his toe running the other way, and then put in for another purple heart.
Kerry could have failed a whole lot better if only someone would give him a chance
For the author's information, the Afghani is the unit of currency of the country.
The people who live there are Afghans.
Who can say for sure that we didn’t get him?
>The report says more than 100 American commandos were on the scene during the battle, but their calls for reinforcements were denied. Bin Laden, according to the report was so shaken by U.S. air strikes that he prepared a will that indicated he thought he was moments from death. <
How exactly did the report know about the “will”? Did Kerry and his traitorous lackeys call OBL himself at the cave?
Don't get me wrong. I am in no fain of Kerry, et al. Perhaps his report is wrong factually on many levels--but the result is--Osama is in Pakistan and not lying under rubble in Tora Bora. If I am wrong, point me to the correct information.
For those that cannot think strategically, it’s 100x better to know where your enemy is and what they are going to do than to kill him. This is especially true in assyemtic warfare where you’d have no idea who the new leader would be
I think the reds at the NYTimes are just trying to change the subject.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/04/17/gen.osama.escape/
Sounds like US Forces may have got him but he survived.
Personally I think Bin Laden is long dead but it irritates me that we’re back to laying blame at the feet of Bush for what would have been a military decision likely made in the field.
On the other hand, we had guys on the ground literaly looking at bin laden with the white house on the phone and couldn’t get an OK to kill him.
Tora Bora in a few words: http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/11/afghanistan-tora-bora-bushs-fault-forever.html
Never got Hitler.
Never got Admiral Yamamoto.
Never got emperor of japan.
Is the Kerry that served in Veitnam?
Why is this coming out now? This was known back when it actually happened? Suspect timing considering CLIMATEGATE.
CNN says he was wounded at Tora Bora in 2002. After that, I lost track of him...
But puh-leeze! If you think 0bama is going to pull this one off, you are going to be disappointed. I’m not one of those conspiracy theory types, but I think this guy has been dead for a long, long time. His eago is waaaaaay too huge to be silent for so long.
You know, just as we keep hearing from Carter, and Clinton, and will always and FOREVER have to hear what 0bama and his bride are doing every d@mn day from now until eternity!
Democrats NEVER stop talking...about themselves, LOL!
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/04/17/gen.osama.escape/
Indeed....Clinton and Berger seemed unable to come up with the balls to give authorization to CIA operatives to capture OBL in the Spring of 1998 when they had him in their sights.
Funny how that wasn't mentioned in the report.
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