Reply #354: LA Times on bin Laden's history

[krkaufman]

... with some data points buried on page 6 excerpted:

LA Times: Osama bin Laden, born to privilege, dies a pariah

Bin Laden might never have found refuge in Pakistan's tribal areas if it weren't for the U.S. military's ill-fated decision not to send U.S. Special Forces into Tora Bora, the labyrinthine network of caves in eastern Afghanistan where Bin Laden and Al Qaeda hid after the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001.

U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the operation in Afghanistan, gave the job of flushing out Bin Laden to a ragtag band of Afghan fighters, a move that most analysts say gave Bin Laden and his aides the opportunity to flee to Pakistan.

...

Like President Bush, Bin Laden proclaimed that whoever was not with him was his enemy. "These events have divided the world into two camps, the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidel," he said. "Every Muslim must rise to defend his religion."

Though, Tommy Franks seems to be getting credit for what I thought to be Rumsfeld's decision-making (interference).