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.
The report calls then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Tommy Franks, the top military commander at the time, to the carpet and asserts the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault on Bin Laden with several thousand troops.
Instead, fewer than 100 commandoes, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down the ragged band of terrorists.
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.
“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 states.
On or about Dec. 16, 2001, Bin Laden and bodyguards “walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan’s unregulated tribal area,” where he is still believed to be, the report says.
(Source: NY Daily News)
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10 Responses
Curse that Oba…oh, wait a minute…
Chochom Einov B’Rosho.
Any report coming from John F Kerry who by the way served in Vietnam CANNOT be trusted!! Remember this is the ROSHA who came back from his tour and testified in Congress AGAINST his fellow soldiers in what was OBVIOUSLY a lie. Those lies were taken by the Vietcong and used against our POWs!!
Lets not forget where he has been standing – err I mean waffling – on this war. Remember he voted for it before not voting for it and then voting for it again albeit with limited funding.
NOTHING this rosha says can be believed.
If anybody botched the capture of bin laden, it was the press, by publicizing the fact that we are tracking his cell phone, which he obviously stopped using immediately. I don’t know why they aren’t tried for treason.
“Osama Bin Laden was within military reach when the Bush administration allowed him …., a new Senate report says”
While reading this NY Daily New report, I had one question: Which party is running the Senate?
Oh, I almost forgot. The democrats.
Do the democrats in the Senate have proof that the “the Bush administration allowed him to disappear into the mountains of Afghanistan rather than pursue him with a massive military force”?
Who says?
John Kerry–the guy that wishes he was president.
Harry Reid? Chuck Schumer?
Can a partisan report be accurate?
Does anyone believe that President Bush “allowed him to disappear”?
It is my observation, that whenever the going gets tough for the democrats they bring up the boogyman.
The “evil” President Bush.
Hey guys, you are in charge of the Executive branch and BOTH legislative houses, stop this President Bush finger pointing and try to run the counrty.
Enjoy your ride. It will be over next year when America will throw out those candidates that did not listen to them in regard to health care reform.
And By the way, when you guys run the country, please don’t run it in the ground.
I for one, still love this medinas shel chesed.
Don’t ruin it. PLEASE.
I had to laugh when I saw this title.
The enormous waffling on the Afghanistan issue, with the administration out to lunch on so many political matters, and now…what to do about the request for more troops…who can we blame before we send out more troops, so if they are harmed we remain pure and white…drumroll… it’s BUSH AGAIN!
I wonder if they realize how juvenile and absurd they appear to the everyday man on the street…
hey mark
have you ever served?
how dare you call someone who did a rosha
this coming from someone who continues to use a menuval for his nick
btw, the report blames rummy and franks….not bush
who was a puppet president
Isn’t it amazing that the American people have become so naïve that they can be expeced to fall for a double misconception. If Bush let him go it was purposely to justify the US fighting anywhere in the world against terrorists. Our undeniable excuse to the entire world is that we are hunting down BinLaden. If we capture him we’re dead. The second misconception was already addressed by the other comments. The next Presidential election should demand each nominee to sign : If elected I promise never to blame the former President. Because we have had just about enough of this garbage.
The Bush administration botched everything, and all the king’s horses and all the kings’ men cannot put America back together again.
bacci40 and the other laydigayers,
I never said kerry wrote the report. I said anything he has to do with, is suspect. He is a ROSHA for what he did in Vietnam. I dont care what you people have to say. He is a LIAR!!