Posted on 12/15/2001 5:11:43 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
NewsMax.com
Saturday Dec. 15, 2001; 8:58 a.m. EST
Aghan Commanders: We've Got Bin Laden Cornered
Anti-Taliban forces fighting alongside the U.S. in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan say they are certain that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is now holed up in one cave complex in the Agam Valley.
"There is one cave surrounded by my forces," said Hazrat Ali, the warlord leading the attack on Tora Bora. "I think there is one place where Osama is. They are surrounded and they cannot escape," he added, according to the New York Post.
While the Pentagon won't go so far as to second Ali's claims, military planners are said to be encouraged by the fierce fighting put up by al Qaeda forces in the region.
U.S. strategists believe al Qaeda troops would have long ago surrendered unless they were protecting some very important prize.
Along with the reports from Afghan field commanders, battle zone radio intercepts also suggest bin Laden remains pinned down in the region.
One concern is the cave complexes themselves, some of which are believed to extend for 50 miles and stretch underneath the Pakistani border.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Mussharaf has ordered 4,000 troops to the region to intercept al Qaeda forces should they decide to flee.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Despite the optimism in the media on Thursday that Osama Bin Laden had likely slipped into neighboring Pakistan, the growing empirical evidence suggests the sanguinesness was premature.Data gleaned from U.S. surveillance drones and enemy radio and satellite communications intercepts strongly indicate the terror mastermind is still ensconced inside the cave complex of Tora Bora. In fact, Saturday's Washington Times reports that Special Operations ground forces reportedly overheard Bin Laden's characteristic voice over Walkie-Talkie radio, issuing orders to the hundreds of Saudi, Chechen and Pakistani terrorists battling the anti-Taliban Eastern Alliance in the rugged mountains of the region.
On Thursday, a bulletin posted on the Christian Science Monitor website purported to show the world's most wanted fugitive had already fled to Pakistan. The "report", based on dubious sources, has since been thoroughly discredited.
While nothing is etched in stone, U.S. commanders are growing increasingly confident that the clock is ticking on Bin Laden, the diabolical monster responsible for the most deadly act of domestic terrorism ever perpetrated on American soil.
The mounting evidence apparently has not dissuaded the 'true believers' in the least, however. William Arkin, "senior" military "analyst" for MSNBC (and perennial pessimist), last night boldly predicted on Hardball that Osama Bin Laden will never be captured. Michael Griffin, author of Reaping the Whirlwind, also appearing on Hardball, lightly dismissed the bombing over Tora Bora as a waste of time, since -- according to him -- Bin Laden had long ago skipped to Kandahar.
Gee, if only our CIA and military heeded the vastly superior intelligence collection and analytical prowess of Arkin and Griffin, why, Osama would long ago have been nabbed.
</sarcasm>
The powerful urge the media feels to pooh-pooh the chances of Bin Laden's capture assumes an almost religious-like fervor. It stems from their delusional fixation to that aura, that image, that inscrutable mystique they themselves have cultivated around Osama Bin Laden -- the "legend" in their own minds. Essentially, the media kooks are enthralled and enchanted by a myth of their own making.
In their fantasies, Bin Laden is bigger than life itself, immune from armies, from bullets, from bombs, from Gatling guns. Their make-believe world can not countenance Bin Laden being tricked or outmaneuvered by the "enemy".
And if -- IF -- by chance fate should catch up with him, still he dies the death of a "martyr"; in their eyes, he remains 'unbowed and undefeated' -- at all times, firmly in control of his "destiny". From whence the flurry of OBL "suicide" stories came, none of them confirmed.
To the sickos in the media, whether he lives or he dies in the end, he's still the victor.
Hyperbole, you say?
I say, stay tuned.
My two cents..
"JohnHuang2"
CT
Yep! Soon to be a Dead dumbass. . .
I agree. That would be one big pile of dirt sitting outside the cave.
If you are anti-American, that makes you a brother.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.