[Tallguy]

I don't think there is any proof that Bin Laden died at Tora Bora. We can only hope that was the case, otherwise that was one of the most tragic blunders in the history of American justice. Instead of surrounding Tora Bora with America troops, the area was mostly guarded by Pakistanis who are obviously easier to corrupt or were more loyal to Bin Laden.

If it was 'a mistake' not to have used American troops, then it was a mistake that was 'baked into' the initial operational plan for the takedown of the Taliban. Recall that this was done primarily by using the Northern Alliance as the infantry, backed up by SpecOps and Airpower. The 10th Mountain was just getting on the ground in Afghanistan and hadn't had time to acclimatize to the altitude. Add to the fact that the Tora Bora complex would have taken considerably more troops than were then available to complete the cordon. Simple fact is that we couldn't have done it if we had wanted to because there just weren't the troops.

[ATX 1985]

Good point, I agree with you. This is why a love Free Republic, it really is a treasure trove of not only conservative thought, but CORRECT thought. LOL

Hey, what do you think about all this talk of Osama Bin Laden being dead. Though I would not be one bit surprised, some people sure are certain of his demise.