Posted on 09/12/2005 9:35:47 AM PDT by StuLongIsland
WASHINGTON -- In the four years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States has had only one precious opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. It blew it, according to the Long Island native who led the CIA's efforts.
Weeks after the attacks, American troops and Afghan fighters had bin Laden and a large number of al-Qaida and Taliban guerrillas trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora near the Pakistani border. The U.S. military then made the fateful decision to let the Afghans shoulder the offensive, and the tribesmen quietly allowed bin Laden and his followers to slip to safety over the border, retired terrorism and security officials said.
"That's the only time since 9/11 where the United States had a shot at it," Gary Berntsen, a Smithtown native and graduate of Hauppauge High School in 1975, complained in an interview last week. He directed the CIA teams dedicated to bin Laden's capture and is now working on a book on his CIA years.
The White House and the Pentagon have insisted the U.S. had no knowledge that bin Laden was holed up in the mountains. But now Berntsen and a number of other CIA officials who were involved in the attempts to nab the al-Qaida leader and his lieutenants are challenging the administration's account, saying the United States knew and simply erred in having Afghans conduct the hunt.
These days, with bin Laden lying low, hidden from the prying eyes of U.S. satellites, billboards have been springing up around Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, pledging $25 million in reward money to anyone who discloses his whereabouts.
So far there have not been any (credible) takers.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Sleeping with the dust bunnies in Tora Bora. He puts out about as many "new" tapes as Elvis does.
Leaving him "at large" permits us to keep chasing him.
Eric Rudolph was on the run for years and he was in this country.
And if the US military took 100's of casualties, we would be reading if it was all worth it... Too bad we could not have taken OBL out for practically nothing during the Clinton administration, but the poll numbers were just not there...
Binny is deader than a door nail.
Hmm, do you suppose he could be pumping his soon-to-be-released book? Nahhh, that would be cynical thinking, wouldn't it?
thank you all
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"Nothing is a miss. Stay up you will hear much more soon et it is what it is. Most important is what is happening in Iraq now; terrorist are about to learn true fire power they have not seen. I don’t know what your reporters are reporting et fore rest in peace; true war has been commence. Someone is about to get hit in a real way. Many have forgotten Special Forces of eto are in action and of it is my country GROM. Stay still."
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thank you all
Given that he put out a tape commenting on the 2004 Presidential Election, I find it hard to believe he died at Tora Bora.
If the US had killed him, bin laden would have had supporters and sympathizers coming out of the woodworks shouting how evil America is for assassinating "accused" terrorists. Where was his due process, they would have screamed.
Thank you Sara ~ good news!
Whenever anyone opens his mouth to the media and a bunch of controversial and/or critical statements about a current administration tumble out, I look to see if he has an upcoming book release. Remarkably, in nearly every case it appears that they just coincidentally stand to fill their pockets if they can stir up interest in their rhetoric.
Not that it matters; people who want to believe will gladly overlook obvious ulterior motives in order to get their own biases validated.
I am not sure how big Tora Bora is (village size?).
My question has always been....Why didn't we just nuke the whole area if we knew he was in there ?
We used bunker busters with minimal effect. The most effective ordnance was fuel-air explosions in the cave entrances that degraded the breathing air and propagated lethal concussions. Caves are tough to attack. People are hard to kill externally.
My feelings have been all along that if we want Bin Laden to come out of his hole and expose himself we should treat him as if he was already dead. He'd take the bait.
Bin Laden is not moving around and is dug in very well. He is much more likely with the Baloch than with the Pashtuns or Pathans or Waziris.
What makes you sure that was HIM that made it?
Well, I suppose it could have been a sock puppet, but if so, the resemblence was striking.
What makes you think this?
Several members of his family are in Iran. I would not be surprised to find that he is there.
On the other hand, Baluchistan crosses the frontiers of three countries, and gives him the chance to move from Pakistan through Afghanistan to Iran as he needs to. So maybe you're right.
Why would Iran stick its neck out for an unpredictable Sunni nutcase, who, if found by the US, Israel or anyone else to be in the country, would only lead to the immediate elimination of the present regime? The Mullahs are a problem, but they're hardly stupid and harboring Bin Laden is about as stupid as anyone could be.
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