Larry Johnson: We Should of Had Him (you know, OBL ...)

[understandinglife]

We Should of Had Him

by Larry C. Johnson on December 29, 2005

The book the CIA didn't want you to read, JAWBREAKER by Gary Berntsen, is out and it kills. I've sent Gary a nasty note because his story kept me up till 4 am today. Just couldn't put it down. Gary spent most of this year battling CIA censors, who were refusing to release the book. They insisted on excising parts of the story that have already appeared in other books about CIA operations in Afghanistan written by Steve Coll and another CIA veteran, Gary Schroen.

Gary Berntsen was the second CIA officer sent to Afghanistan and put in charge of directing the destruction of Al Qaeda and the hunt for Bin Laden. He arrived in the fall of 2001, replacing veteran officer Gary Schroen, who had led the first CIA element into Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. Gary 2, i.e., Berntsen, built on Schroen's foundation and played a critical role in directing the offensive that broke the back of the Taliban and scattered Al Qaeda.

The key news from Gary's book is that we had Bin Laden in our sights but Tommy Franks and JSOC Commander, Dell Dailey, dilly dallied and did not deploy U.S. troops requested by Berntsen to the battle at Tora Bora. We could of had him; we should of had him; but we let Bin Laden get away.

Gary's book is important in another regard. It shows what the CIA is capable of doing and why we need this capability in addition to the talents offered by U.S. military special operations forces. When the CIA puts its mind to it, it can move fast, innovate on the fly, and do some mind boggling things.

<clip>

More at the link:

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/12/we_should_of_ha.html

Some situations require no further comment ... this is one.


Peace.

[Gabi Hayes]

1. should of?

[Redstone]

5. Thank you. Should HAVE, not should OF.

Redstone

[babylonsister]

8. Ooh,

grammar police! :spank:
I kid, your right, and hi, Redstone!

(OK, OK, you're right!)

[madeline_con]

11. Thanks, Redstone.

That bugs me, too.

Did you read Huffpo about the apostrophe? ;)

[tblue37]

13. I have written on that grammatical issue.

You might like to read an article on my Grammar and Usage for the Non-Expert website:

"It Is Never Could Of!"

http://grammartips.homestead.com/couldof.html

In a footnote to the article I show the only sort of structure that would allow those two words to appear together in an English sentence:

She ate all she could of her mother's homemade cherry pie.

You could do something similar with "should of":

I know I should; of course I won't.

Consider this an open invitation to all the other grammar cops out there:
Grammar and Usage for the Non-Expert
http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/index.html

[flyarm]

19. get outta here with this grammer stuff...this is important obl stuff...

and you want to crap up this important posting with grammer garbage???????

unreal!!!!!!!!

ya know many of us are busy researching important info..and how we post is insignificant ..its the info thats important..not the fucking grammer...

if you want proper grammer..please go to a grammer blog and have a ball!!

but this crap we do not need stinking up important national security info many here are trying to get "out there" ..to americans that care about whats really going on in their nation....


now you can have a ball with my grammer..but do it elsewhere!!

and as for correcting understandinglife's thread ...that takes alot of nerve!!

fly

[babylonsister]

2. And Franks gets a medal. nt

[LynnTheDem]

3. bush & RW assholes still LIE about Tora Bora...KERRY WAS RIGHT.

U.S. Officials Believe bin Laden is in Tora Bora
Aired December 15, 2001
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/15/cst.08.html

Washington Post article from April 17, 2002:

The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

After-action reviews, conducted privately inside and outside the military chain of command, describe the episode as a significant defeat for the United States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A62618-2002Apr16

Al Qaeda expert, author, and CNN contributor Peter Bergen:

There is no debating the fact that US "outsourced" the Tora Bora operation to local Afghan warlords.

Sen. Kerry's charge that Tora Bora was a missed opportunity to bring bin Laden to justice isn't "garbage", but an accurate reflection of the historical record.
http://www.peterbergen.com/clients/PeterBergen/pbergen.nsf/Web00002Show?

Kerry, on bush's outsourcing to warlords, September 2002:
"They let him go. It's disgraceful."

Swearing softly as we slow through a construction zone, Kerry tells me, by way of explanation, "I've been saying this privately for months now, and my staff at times has had to restrain me. They talk tough, but it's a risk-averse strategy. Bush gets daily briefings, for God's sake. He should be saying, 'Do we need more troops there, here, where? Do we need more firepower?' " He gazes out the car window as the Capitol comes into view. "Osama bin Laden got away," he says glumly. Pause. "You'd think they've learned some lessons in Vietnam."
http://web.archive.org/web/20020909102754/www.johnkerry.com/site/PageServer?pagename=news_2002_0827a

But BUSH THE LIAR still insists OBL wasn't at Tora Bora and/or "no one could have known".

LIAR.

BUSH LIES aand hundreds of thousands of people DIE.

[understandinglife]

4. Senator Kerry was totally correct on this issue ... Thank you!

Peace.

[babylonsister]

9. Good to see you again, Lynn! nt

[journalist3072]

6. I'll tell you why we don't have Osama yet

We have a half-ass President who doesnt care where he is.

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

[madeline_con]

12. You don't kill your business partners' kids. n/t

[AnnieBW]

7. Dell Dailey dilly dallied

Say that three times fast...

[sandnsea]

10. Eyup

"We're smoking them out. They're running." He just forgot to mention that the smoke was cover for Osama to get away.

[bleever]

14. K&R. Proves that OBL's escape was facilitated by incompetence,

or possibly even deliberate failure to act.

Is there any question that binLaden has been more valuable to * alive and on the loose than he would have been in a prison cell?

[EVDebs]

15. Want to really get mad ? Read Spychips by Katherine Albrecht

The NSA et al have RFIDs capable of tracking my underware from Wal-Mart but they can't track kidney dialysis materials in the Pakistan region where OBL is hiding ? Gimme a break. They've let him off the hook and it makes that 'supposed' meeting of the CIA and OBL back in July 2001 at a hospital in Dubai, reported on by Le Figaro, seem plausible now.

CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July--
French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital
by Anthony Sampson
Thursday November 1, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.html

""According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base at Kandahar in Afghanistan""

What's weirder is that at the time Le Figaro was part owned by the Carlyle Group. For what it's worth.

[robbedvoter]

16. OBL WAS ours just for the picking anyway

New offer on Bin Laden
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,575593,00.html
Minister makes secret trip to offer trial in third country
Rory McCarthy in Islamabad
Wednesday October 17, 2001
The Guardian
A senior Taliban minister has offered a last-minute deal to hand over Osama bin Laden during a secret visit to Islamabad, senior sources in Pakistan told the Guardian last night.
For the first time, the Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laden for trial in a country other than the US without asking to see evidence first in return for a halt to the bombing, a source close to Pakistan's military leadership said.

[Time for change]

17. Very interesting -- I think I'll have to get that book

Do you think, and does the author think, that we let him get away purposely? I've read a lot to the effect that the Bush Administration didn't want to catch Bin Laden too soon, because that would get in the way of his plans to rip our constitution apart.

[paulthompson]

18. If you want the story about how bin Laden was let go...

check this out:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&the_post-9/11_world=afghanistan

Shameful.

[flyarm]

20. k&r!!!!!!!!!

i have been posting the dubai hospital info for over 4 years now...and i have been called a liar ... at best...at worst..unpatriotic...in exposing the lies of the * admin..and the * cabal...

thanks UL for another brilliant thread...what would we do without your brilliant mind..and your love of this nation ..and your fight for truth...

and wouldn't the grammer police have a hey day..with this flight attendants typing..lmao!!!!!

heyyyy i became a flight attendant so i would never "have" to type!!

way back ( for me it is way back!) in high school i deliberately flunked typing so i would never have to work as a secretary at my dads business...i wanted to see the world....

sooooo typing ..is not me...but no one could evac an aircraft better than me!!

laughing here at the grammer police...fly