Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.

Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

... More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/1...

[Kadie]

1. Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

Source: Associated Press

Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.

Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.




Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tora_bora_bin_laden

[RKP5637]

4. I always felt it was convenient for Bush/Cheney to have Ben Laden at large than captured as

it allowed their agendas to proceed more easily... be afraid, be afraid, the constant pitch of the Bush/Cheney legacy.

[NecklyTyler]

37. Yep, Rusfeld let him go to in order to sustain the war

The defense contractors, big oil, and others who stood the most to profit from war wanted it that way

[itsrobert]

5. ABC’s “This Week” interviews Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Armed Services Committee

ABC’s “This Week” interviews Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pinto]

3. kick

[nini]

6. well, we were safer under W because they were tougher on terra!!

Is there anything those idiots didn't fuck up royally????

[tblue]

26. This was no eff up. This was the plan, so they could invade Iraq.

Outrageous!

[nini]

29. I actually agree with that

they needed him at large to keep him as the number 1 bogeyman.

unbelieveable

[stlsaxman]

34. Aside from the close ties between the Bushes and Bin Laden family empires...

but hey- just because Osama was "the black sheep" of the family doesn't mean that they could apprehend him.

[UpInArms]

42. it was a no-brainer: Bush would never go after his bizness partner

and the bushes and the bin ladens go way way back.

[KDLarsen]

81. Lol

Are you going to trump out the "Bush took money from bin Laden in 1977" story?

[UpInArms]

86. no, but you might add this book to your recommended reading list

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679413847/ref=olp_pro...

written by investigative journalists and covers much information that, apparently, you have no knowledge

[cowcommander]

7. "Liberal media" my ass, Bush should be roasted over a grill on this

Not the first time it was reported too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora#Fury.2...

If our media was truly "liberal", this would be the top story everywhere! Unfortunately not enough people care, or want to care because it's inconvenient! Gotta keep the bogeyman alive to keep funding this endless, wasteful war! FUCK YOU BUSH!

[tblue]

28. Can you imagine if this had been a Democratic admin?

There would be no end to the call for heads to rolll.

Welcome to DU, btw.

[Canuckistanian]

97. +1

I'm constantly amazed at what is labelled "news" in America. Both declared and ESPECIALLY what is IGNORED.

Kerry should have scored a direct hit on Shrub with this revelation in 2004. But the collective "media" simply shrugged.

Astounding.

[Yupster]

8. The decision was made to overthrow the Afghan government

without using US troops.

We just used CIA guys who worked with the northern alliance mostly calling in air strikes and organizing supplies. The thought was that Afghans wouldn't stand for foreign troops on their soil.

The downside was that once we found Osama in Tora Bora (by radio we're pretty sure we heard him) there weren't US troops nearby to surround the White Mountains. Helicopters were considered unreliable because of the elevation. It was considered dropping parachutists from Diego Garcia, but that was seen as risking a disaster with US troops dropping scattered in the mountains with semi-reliable tribesmen all around.

So, we paid local tribes to cordon off the area while the northern alliance troops moved in and we bombed. Many of the cordoning tribes were members of the Talioban alliance a week before and they gladly took a bribe to let the escaping Al Queda guys slip through. Pretty predictable.

So now here we are eight years later, and somehoiw now we believe more foreign troops is the answer. I don't think Afghans will take to foreign troops any more than we thought they would eight years ago. To me this is classic mission creep.

My solution would be to pull the US troops out and arm some friendly warlords to at least keep the Taliban from taking over again. I think a long occupation with more and more troops is a disaster waiting to happen.

I've read so many books on this and it seems like such a no win mess.

[gateley]

18. That's interesting. So there was a legit (in their minds) reason to do it this way.

I always assumed that they didn't want him captured/killed solely so they could use him as one of the main reasons to go into Iraq.

I haven't read any books on this, I don't have any depth of real understanding (as you do), but I heartily agree even to me it seems like such a no win mess.

[Fla Dem]

Ding, Ding, Ding, If Bin Laden was gone we would have acomplished the

prime objective of getting the ones responsible 9/11. Bush and his warmongering administration would have had an extremely difficult time expanding the role of the US military if Bin Laden was out of the picture.

[Fla Dem]

59. Ding, Ding, Ding, If Bin Laden was gone we would have acomplished the

prime objective of getting the ones responsible 9/11. Bush and his warmongering administration would have had an extremely difficult time expanding the role of the US military if Bin Laden was out of the picture.

[Yupster]

25. The best book on this subject was by a CIA guy

who was on a mountain overlooking the camp at Tora Bora. It's been a few years and I don't remember the title. I could probably find it if I needed to.

Anyway, this guy was assigned with the Northern Alliance as it captured Kandahar. Things were an absolute mess on the ground. The plan was for the Northern Alliance guys to not enter Kabul or Kandahar until a government was set up (Kabul) and a Pashtun militia was set up in the south (Kandahar). But things didn't work as planned.

In Kabul, the different Northern alliance militias streamed into the city looking for money and guns.

In Kandahar, the warlord that was supposed to set up the militia entered Afghanistan with his own little group early and was killed by the Taliban. So this CIA guy and his partner was streaming toward Kandahar, rescued those American hostages and was being told that Osama and Mullah Omar were in Kandahar.

When they got to Kandahar the locals told them Osama left toward the White mountains in pickup trucks a few days earlier. The two Americans made the decision to head for Tora Bora on their own. Once they got there local tribesmen guided them up into the White Mountains by donkey where they actually overlooked the terrorist base camp.

What followed was a day of frantic radio messages trying to get troops to stop the terrorists who were heading across the mountains to Pakistan. You can imagine the scene with these two guys telling the higher ups that the terrorists are right there and going to escape while the higher ups look for ways to get troops up there. The last option that was discussed was airlifting troops from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, but the fear was that they'd land in a mess and just start fighting the local tribesmen who wouldn't appreciate Americans dropping out of the sky in their midsts.

At the end the decision was made to use locals while the US bombed the hell out of them. They were plastered for days, hundreds were killed but probably most of them got away into Pakistan.

It was a case of the collapse happening much faster than we expected and then all at once we had too few troops trying to form a government, keep the Civil War from restarting in Afghanistan, occupying the Pashtun lands without using Northern Alliance troops and trying to find Al Queda all at the same time with far too few troops.

[unabelladonna]

45. ghost wars

was a very, very interesting (though depressing) book on afghanistan.;;;and like all things "afghanistan" ended with a "to be continued" vibe.

[bemildred]

60. Yeah, some great "historical perspective" on the current mess in that book. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

40. Amusing. 'Slipped through' in a motor caravan about a mile

long and clearly visible from above. Dozens if not hundreds of vehicles, with full lights, not 'slipping' but simply driving off the other way while the Americans failed to follow. Or just let them go.

[beardown]

72. Still a blunder of the first order.

Bush went into Afghanistan light because he wanted to save the US forces to invade Iraq. He didn't care about Bin Laden as much as he cared about invading Iraq. He lied and his gross under estimation of the forces needed to stabilize Afghanistan have left us in a draining occupation that is approaching being counted in decades and that we can not afford.

The US didn't think that the Afghans would like US troops in their country? Why the hell would the Afghans be any different from the Iraqis? I don't give anyone in Bush's military decision group as having enough knowledge to figure something as subtle as force acceptance into their equations.

[Martin Eden]

73. "They thought was that Afghans wouldn't stand for foreign troops on their soil"

So why the hell didn't they get out after the Northern Alliance defeated the Taliban? Instead, they initiated a long term committment of US and NATO military forces on Afghan soil. Didn't their initial lack of US forces also have something to do with Rummy's "fast & light" school of tactcs and the fact they were already planning to invade & occupy Iraq?

[Yupster]

75. This has been the classic example of

mission creep I've ever seen.

A few years ago a group of Russian veterans got together and wrote a report for the US basically saying you're making the same mistakes we made. Get out now.

[FarLeftFist]

9. You mean it's too late to raise the terror alert level to red.

We've been at yellow forever.

[burning rain]

10. I'd have been more surprised if we *had* gotten bin Laden.

Whatever the reasons, our special forces, going all the way back to the abortive raid to free our embassy hostages in Iran, have not shown the ability of, say, the British SAS, German GSG-9, or Israeli elite forces, to go to in small numbers to a far-away, unfamiliar place in the middle of enemy territory, and take out a target. We do just fine in grosser military operations where we go in with overwhelming force, but somehow we just don't do the subtle stuff well. I would be shocked to see US special forces pull off something like what the Israelis did at Entebbe or the West Germans at Mogadishu.

[gateley]

17. Not as surprised as I was when we DIDN'T find Saddam's WMDs. nt

[Ready4Change]

11. Dear Media. Ask them 'WHY.'

And if the media won't ask 'Why', I think it's time we ask the media 'Why not?'

Because I am sick and damn tired of non-investigative journalism.

[Name removed]

74. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[thelordofhell]

12. Just remember that according to freepers

President Clinton was offered Bin Laden's head on a silver platter at least 746 times.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. The Bushites needed to have a j"devil" to chase..and if bin Laden had been captured...there would be

no devil upon which to focus....
Those "people" are responsible for every death that has happened...during and after 9/11.
But they are not paying for it in any way...the rest of the world is.

[wisteria]

14. Kerry said this while running for President in 2004 and the media ignored it.

Bush denied it and Chaney just sneered. Now there is a report that confirms and documents what Senator Kerry said in 2004. What Obama is facing in Afghanistan and Pakistan today is a result of this hugh mistake by the Bush team.

[Fading Captain]

19. And the RW will spin this as Kerry going after Bush -- Sour Grapes

No doubt.

[wisteria]

46. No doubt, but it has been nine years now. The Repubs have got to get over

using Senator Kerry as a cover for the awful George Bush and his administration.

[karynnj]

99. This is not about who spins what now

This is an official record that will join other official reports that will tell people what happened. The fact is that in 2004, Franks essentially said Kerry was wrong. This helped not just Bush, but Frank's own reputation. As long ago as 2005, credible accounts completely backed Kerry. This is just an official report that, in more detail, establishes what was done.

I serious doubt, after all the other things they have called him, that Kerry would care if they call it "sour grapes".

[orbitalman]

15. Regurgitate, regurgitate, regurgitate n/t

[Politicub]

16. Bin Laden Bin Laden Bin Laden...

I'm so sick of hearing of Bin Laden. He's irrelevant now... a myth that means nothing.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

20. You can never kill Emmanuel Goldstein.

[backscatter712]

21. Bush deliberately didn't want to catch Bin Laden.

He was more useful as a boogieman to justify more war, more infringements upon the Constitution and more fear-mongering.

Much harder to do when he's in prison.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Capturing bin Laden would have meant the war was over!

Bush was more interested in invading Iraq.

[old mark]

23. I read about this incident years ago - Congress is just "discovering" it now?

Bush evidently wanted revenge for the insults to his dad after Iraq War I, and then decided his corporate friends were making too much money in the wars to stop them by killing OBL.

mark

[Lagomorph]

35. Yeah, this is nothing new.

The Americans went in the front, hoping to drive Bin Laden into the hands of the Afghani militia troops positioned in the hills to the rear.

As we have since learned, cash is king in Afghanistan. Bin Laden paid the toll and rode away on his white charger, lol.

[Roland99]

24. Anyone who's read Jawbreaker has known this for years.

[davepc]

27. The Delta Force officer in charge on the ground wrote a book about how Bin Laden got away

Major Thomas Greer is the name of the officer though he wrote the book under a pseudonym. 60 Minutes did an interview with him.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/02/60minutes/mai...

[Lindsey]

31. We need to call our Senators and DEMAND that the Bush

key players be placed under oath at Senate hearings. Not catching him wasn't a mistake. It was done on purpose so we could invade Iraq which was only for oil in the first place. I'm calling Feinstein's & Boxer's office on Monday. After all these years, I still can't believe the evilness of the Bush administration.

[wordpix]

103. at least a LIHOP, I agree

[pinto]

47. Thanks for the post. I missed this back then. n/t

[wordpix]

102. MUST READ FASCINATING - and why were the plans rejected time and again?

Rummy and Dummy, the Commander-guy. Send them back to the frat house where they both belong. Geesh

[JDPriestly]

30. I predict that within 18 months we will either

1) capture Bin Laden;
2) kill Bin Laden and be able to prove it, or
3) know what fate Bin Laden met meaning either how he died if he is dead (quite likely) or where he now is and how to get him.

One thing I will say for Obama: when he puts his mind to something, he does it. And I think he wants to clarify to the entire world that, while we in the U.S. supports tolerance for all religions including Islam, we will not tolerate any form of violence or terrorism in the name of any religion. He said that in Cairo; he meant it; and I believe that Obama will succeed on this issue.

[Kolesar]

36. I would say that has a probability of more than 50%

O's military, police, and diplomatic staff are not incompetent like *43's were.

[cadaverdog]

98. I predict we will capture Osama bin Laden on the day that

Jerry Lewis announces a cure for Muscular Dystrophy has been found.

"JERRY LEWIS MDA TELETHON ACHIEVES $60.5 MILLION"



You MUST view, "The Power of Nightmares," now available on-line.

[boppers]

104. March of Dimes. Polio.

Sometimes there's a happy ending.

[Botany]

32. of course they let him go

gotta have a reason to keep the wars going ...... besides OBL would have killed himself or been kiiled
rather then captured ...... no need to talk about how he was on the CIA payroll up to 2001.

[onethatcares]

33. I thought the latest was that KSM was responsible for 9/11

and OBL was dead from kidney disease for at least 4 years. Remember the bewsh saying "I don't really think about him anymore" a few years back?

Here we are again, using gaudzillion dollar weapons trying to kill goats on a hillside. Never fully understanding that the citizens of the countries we're trying to force our will on or take the resourses from don't appreciate it.

As a country we'll never learn, there's entirely too much money to be made off of war.

[underpants]

39. No the very latest is that there was no terrorism attack

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[NecklyTyler]

38. K&R

[greengestalt]

41. Farenheit 911

What Michael Moore implied simply has to be true.


Instead of left or right issues, treat it like any "Criminal Conspiracy" and to paraphrase "Deep Throat" - "Follow the Money"


Dubya and co simply profited too much from the post 9/11 world to be above suspicion. They also wrecked the country's economy to set up another "Clinton" issue where the next administration would spend all its efforts trying to undo some of their mess, rather than do anything progressive. And, due to the USA behaving indeed like the "Great Satan" Osama is a hero now.

[unabelladonna]

43. i'll never forget the day

i heard bush mention the word "saddam" after 9/11. i actually knew the "war on terror" would shift to iraq. if we had concentrated on afghanistan back in 2002, i was furious.

[laststeamtrain]

44. K & R--Hooray! Kerry is certain to win the '04 election now. n/t.

[Betty]

48. as long as bin laden is out there, we can have endless war

and it seems not to matter which party is in charge. So my guess is they'll milk this until by the actuarial tables, bin laden can't possibly be alive any more. Should buy them a few more decades, I would guess. And by then there will be some other bogey man who will have taken his place.

[Diclotican]

49. Newsjock

Newsjock

My old folks home have allways a saying.. The truth wil ALLWAYS come out in the end, even if you lie your pants off.. Wel they are so true about this Saying.. The truth wil allways come out in the end... And it is maybe time for the US to try find the quilty one now, and to prosecute them for their crimes.. If not USA want or dear to open the cans of worms, europe is more than happy to take them, and to prosecute them without bias... Just send all the evidence, and the accused to Haag, and we wil sort it out...

Diclotican

[bemildred]

50. Am I the only one here that is sick of hearing about Bin Laden?

Is this not just another in a long series of attempts to keep the Boogeyman alive? Is the problem here really a failure to use "massive force" enough? Isn't this half-wit Saudi Bin Laden really just the current version of Emmanuel Goldstein?

[wisteria]

52. No, this was done for confirmation and history sake.

And,I am not tired of hearing about Bin Laden. He should have been captured and a sentenced already for his crime of killing over 3,000 people on 9/11. This man should not be roaming free nine years after his crime.

[bemildred]

53. I'm sure "confirmation and history" are deeply grateful.

I have not seen any evidence that Bin Laden had squat to do with 9/11, other than applauding it after the fact.

[boomerbust]

51. Make no mistake

It was Bush who called off the dogs at Tora Bora.

[RoccoR5955]

54. NY Daily News: Bush administration could've captured bin Laden in 2001

Source: NY Daily News

"Osama Bin Laden was within military reach when the Bush administration allowed him to disappear into the mountains of Afghanistan rather than pursue him with a massive military force, a new Senate report says.

"The report asserts that the failure to get the terrorist leader when he was at his most vulnerable in December 2001 - three months after the 9/11 attacks - led to today's reinvigorated insurgency in Afghanistan.

"Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, requested the report, which came as President Obama prepares to send as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

"Kerry has long argued the Bush administration botched an opportunity to capture the Al Qaeda leader and his top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of Tora Bora."




Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/11/29/2009-11-29_t...

---

We already knew this, but it's now "official."

[rosesaylavee]

55. ... Kerry has long argued...

Man, am I tired of MSM. NOW they report it like it's news. WE knew it at the time and none of these cowards bothered to publish it.

Edit to add: They are reporting it now because they have made all the money they think they can from this war. Now it will start to cost them some cash.

[Robb]

56. Best line of the whole fucking thing, right here:

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern over the backlash that could be created by a large U.S. troop presence, and he and others said evidence of Bin Laden's location was inconclusive.

What a lying shitbag this guy was.

[wordpix]

105. yet the shitbag was not concerned about "shock & awe" & laying waste to Iraq for oil greed

[CJCRANE]

57. The Getaway.

Bin Laden skipped over the border, home free, just like a bank robber at the end of a movie...and that was that.

It seemed a bit strange after all the build up.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[chelsea0011]

61. Current events this story ain't

[spiritual_gunfighter]

62. Senate Report Explores 2001 Escape by bin Laden From Afghan Mountains

Source: NYTimes

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: November 28, 2009

WASHINGTON — As President Obama vows to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by sending more troops, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has completed a detailed look back at a crucial failure early in the battle against Al Qaeda: the escape of Osama bin Laden from American forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001.


“Removing the Al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat,” the committee’s report concludes. “But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide.”

The report, based in part on a little-noticed 2007 history of the Tora Bora episode by the military’s Special Operations Command, asserts that the consequences of not sending American troops in 2001 to block Mr. bin Laden’s escape into Pakistan are still being felt.

The report blames the lapse for “laying the foundation for today’s protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/world/asia/29torabora...

[jaksavage]

63. Yet Tommy Franks refused

to cooperate!!
Throw his ass in JAIL!

[Jaundice James]

64. Didn't John Kerry say this in 2004?

I wish the media was excited about covering it then.

[YvonneCa]

70. The media didn't cover Kerry in 2004. They...

...cherry-picked the stories that would diminish him, and ignored everything positive he said or did.

[pleah]

65. K&R

[cal04]

66. Rumsfeld decision allowed Bin Laden to escape: Senate report

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/11/29/09/rumsfeld-deci...

(snip)
It points the finger directly at Rumsfeld for turning down requests for reinforcements as Bin Laden was trapped in December 2001 in caves and tunnels in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan known as Tora Bora.

"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the marine corps and the army, was kept on the sidelines," the report says.

"Instead, the US command chose to rely on airstrikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack Bin Laden and on Pakistan's loosely organized Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes."

Entitled "Tora Bora revisited: how we failed to get Bin Laden and why it matters today," the report -- commissioned by Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- says Bin Laden expected to die and had even written a will.

[slackmaster]

67. I think OBL is probably in a shallow grave in Bumfuckistan

He's probably been dead for years.

[cowcommander]

Then why haven't we heard anything about it?

Al Qaeda would love to make him into a martyr.

[cowcommander]

69. duplicate message

[slackmaster]

71. I suspect he was offed by his own men because he was too much of a liability

The guy had a big target on top of his head. Being around him would have carried a lot of risk.

Al Qaeda would love to make him into a martyr.

I think you are attributing too much rationality to AQ.

[RoccoR5955]

68. We knew this back in 2002

They are only reporting it because it's now "official," on the weekend, where it can get buried, and a slow news day!

[fascisthunter]

76. Bush let Bin Laden Get Away

Duers knew this back then... the left was right again.

[ooglymoogly]

77. These criminals trotted Bin Ladin out to scare folks whenever

Bushcabal needed a boost or to effect fascistic policy or needed more money for war and particularly at election time. So yes, they needed him dangerous and at large, no matter how many troops had to be sacrificed to make it so. We are looking into the depths of hell here and it is still threatening to overtake us if we do not prosecute these dastardly criminals.

[HughMoran]

78. Seems clear that Bush needed his wars

The "mass murdering war criminal" tag is well deserved.

[yurbud]

79. This sounds like propaganda bullshit

[Bushknew]

80. Rumsfeld let Bin Laden escape in 2001, says Senate report

Source: guardian

Donald Rumsfeld had the chance when he was US defence secretary in December 2001 to make sure Osama bin Laden was killed or captured, but let him slip through his hands, a Senate report has found.

The report by the Senate foreign relations committee is damning of the way George Bush's administration conducted the aftermath of its bombing campaign in Afghanistan, saying it amounted to a "lost opportunity". It states that as a direct result of allowing the al-Qaida leader to flee from his Tora Bora stronghold into Pakistan, the American people were left more vulnerable to terrorism, and the foundations were laid for today's protracted Afghan insurgency.

It also lays blame for the July 2005 Underground bombings in London on a failure to kill the al-Qaida leaders at Tora Bora.

Republican critics are likely to dismiss the report as a partisan work designed to deflect the current military troubles in Afghanistan from President Barack Obama and on to his predecessor. The foreign relations committee is Democratic-controlled and chaired by Senator John Kerry, Bush's opponent in the 2004 presidential election.

But the report contains a mass of evidence that points towards the near certainty that bin Laden was bedded down in the Tora Bora district of the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, and that the US had a chance to catch him which they then missed.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/29/osama-bin-l...

[yurbud]

82. the meaning of this is opposite of intended propaganda one: terrorism is the excuse not cause

If Bush were really concerned about terrorism, he wouldn't have let bin Laden get away, nor would he have done absolutely nothing to punish the Saudi government and Pakistan for supporting the 9/11 terrorists.

Attacking Afghanistan for 9/11 is a little like killing a hitman's landlord instead of the mafia bosses who employed him (and then let the hitman get away too).

Some people here want to sweep the problems with the 9/11 story under the rug, but think about it: if you saw my friend kill my dog, and then I used the killing as an excuse to blame my neighbor and take his house in a lawsuit, and celebrate by having a beer with the guy who shot my dog, you might think I wanted or even asked him to shoot my dog.

Saudi involvement in 9/11
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2008/03/foia-doc-...

Pakistan involvement in 9/11
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jul/22/usa.septemb...

[lovuian]

83. Bin Laudin works for us

he is the scapegoat

[adadem]

84. Rumsfeld decision let Bin Laden escape: Senate report

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Osama bin Laden was "within the grasp" of US forces in late 2001 but escaped because then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld rejected calls for reinforcements, a hard-hitting US Senate report says.

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the lessons of the past as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a major escalation of the conflict, now in its ninth year, with up to 35,000 more US troops.

It points the finger directly at Rumsfeld for turning down requests for reinforcements as Bin Laden was trapped in December 2001 in caves and tunnels in a mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan known as Tora Bora.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091129/pl_afp/usattacksaf...

[havocmom]

85. We all know Rummy is only profit motivated. Catching the most wanted would have ended a gravy train

Rummy has never been in public service to serve the best interest of the public. No surprise here, just his M.O.

[KeepItReal]

91. It sounds like positive ID on who turned down the request for a blocking force

In "Jawbreaker" by Gary Bertsen, he recounts the CIA and special forces types asking for the available Army troops to be brought into Tora Bora as a blocking force to prevent a possible escape by Bin Laden.

The request was turned down by the Pentagon, but the CIA didn't seem to know who specifically denied the request.

Now we know.

I'm sure there is not one special operations man or woman who wouldn't have volunteered for the mission of killing or capturing Bin Laden at that time. Rumsfeld's decision to me is damn near criminal negligence.

[Yupster]

96. Jawbreaqker was the book I was referencing above

It was a pretty amazing read.

[sojourner]

87. glad someone is fessing up, but ain't this really old news?

media couldn't let it out sooner. might mess up big plans.

[brentspeak]

88. And why should Bush and Rumsfeld have bothered to waste valuable resources capturing bin Laden?

When 9/11 mastermind Saddam was within their grasp?

[LynneSin]

89. Let's watch the media spin this to blame either the Clenis orthe current administration

[valerief]

90. I wish Medicare for All was within our grasp. nt

[Bushknew]

95. +1

[Overseas]

92. K&R to expose more of the awful truth about President Obama's predecessors. //nt

[Warren Stupidity]

93. Sy Hersh reported this like 7 years ago and nobody cared.

Senator Kerry has been talking this up for almost as long, and nobody cared.

We have pursued the "GWOT" - a planet wide military operation whose basic strategy is to topple unfriendly regimes and occupy those nations, claiming that this is the best strategy to counter the threat posed by al Qaeda, when in fact we perhaps deliberately did not pursue the one clear strategy to defeat a criminal organization like al Qaeda: capture or kill the leaders and cut off their funding. We never seriously tried to do either.

I predict: no media coverage, no clamor, no outrage, no questioning a failed strategy.

[ShortnFiery]

94. But don't you see? We need this story now so we can "manufacture consent" to kill more

Afghanis?!? Hopefully not too many more tall farmers MISTAKEN for bin Laden.

[Doctor_J]

100. Just like 9/11, Bush LIHOP

Having bin Laden around was great for ratings.

[wordpix]

101. leave it to those freaking chickenhawks to eff things up-hey, let's call Rummy up to Congress

and have a little fun

[Botany]

106. Rumsfeld order allowed bin Laden's escape

Source: Salon.com

A new Senate report says that American military leadership refused reinforcements to block al-Qaida leader's path
BY GABRIEL WINANT

When Osama bin Laden gave American troops the slip in the early days of the Afghanistan war, it seemed reasonable to give the benefit of the
doubt to American military leadership. Tora Bora, the cave complex where the al-Qaida chief had been hiding, is situated in some of the most
impassable mountain terrain on the planet. American troops had little experience in the region or local connections, and it was winter to boot.
Though they won the battle, catching one particular guy in that kind of scenario was never going to be an easy job.

But a new report commissioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee shows that, in fact, the U.S. military may have had bin Laden in its
grasp, and decided that dropping the net was too risky a proposition. The study, released Monday, is titled “Tora Bora revisited: how we failed
to get Bin Laden and why it matters today.” According to the report, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld turned down requests for a
larger American troop presence to block escape routes from Tora Bora.


snip

The study contradicts the claim of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who said that it wasn’t conclusive at the time where the terrorist leader was.
In fact, according to the report, bin Laden was clearly in reach at Tora Bora. Even he thought it was already over: Expecting to die, he wrote up a last
will and testament.

Apparently, Rumsfeld was convinced that sending more troops would antagonize the local population, potentially causing an insurgent resistance.
By November -- one month before the battles at Tora Bora took place -- American planners had also already begun shifting emphasis and attention
to preparations for a war in Iraq.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2009/11/30/...

---

No bin Laden = no war in Iraq

Of course "they" let him go as part of Bush's tough choices in keeping us safer.

“Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind.”

“But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.” gwb Jan. 15 2009
*******************************
Related story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Rep. Hinchey: Bush Purposely Let Bin Laden Escape To Justify Iraq War

[polichick]

107. Interesting how everything crazy liberals thought happened...

...turned out to be true.

[Botany]

109. You didn't have to be a crazy liberal either

A number of people here and around the world including conservative members of the U.S.
military have said the same thing for years. I expect this to be the lead story on all news
shows this evening ...... do I have to add this?

And now Obama is left to clean up bush & companies mess.

[Ganja Ninja]

108. Rumsfeld = All Time Worst Public Servant Ever!

[soarsboard2]

110. TREASON

Try, Convict and Shoot!!

[RedCloud]

111. Prediction: Obama does nothing about this.

After all Bush didn't, why should he, the change maker, alter the conservatives pathway to total global resource acquisition?

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

112. Should be one of the top stories

on the MSM. Won't be. That's why we should make it the "talk of the the water cooler'. Tell everyone, not just here.