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.

"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.

"But the Al-Qaeda leader would live to fight another day. Fewer than
100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and
calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected.

"Requests were also turned down for US troops to block the mountain
paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan.

"The decision not to deploy American forces to go after Bin Laden or
block his escape was made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and
his top commander, General Tommy Franks," the report says.

"On or around December 16, two days after writing his will, Bin Laden
and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and
disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say
he is still there today."

Rumsfeld's argument at the time, the report says, was that deploying
too many American troops could jeopardize the mission by creating an
anti-US backlash among the local populace.

The report dismisses arguments at the time from Franks, Vice President
Dick Cheney and others defending the decision and arguing that the
intelligence was inconclusive about Bin Laden's location.

"The review of existing literature, unclassified government records
and interviews with central participants underlying this report
removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden
was within our grasp at Tora Bora."

The report admits that capturing or killing the Al-Qaeda leader,
accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United
States that killed nearly 3,000 people, would not have eliminated the
worldwide extremist threat.

"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," it
says.

"The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that
forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the
future of international terrorism, leaving the American people more
vulnerable to terrorism, laying the foundation for today's protracted
Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering
Pakistan."

As Obama prepares to announce Tuesday a bold new strategy for
Afghanistan, Kerry points out at the beginning of the report that when
the United States went to war less than one month after the September
11 attacks, the mission was clear: to destroy Al-Qaeda and kill or
capture Bin Laden.

"Today, more than eight years later, we find ourselves fighting an
increasingly lethal insurgency in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan
that is led by many of those same extremists," he says.

"Our inability to finish the job in late 2001 has contributed to a
conflict today that endangers not just our troops and those of our
allies, but the stability of a volatile and vital region."

On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:37 -0800, jps wrote:

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the
lessons of the past

Want to learn some lessons of the past? Read this timeline. I know hind-
sight is 20-20, but the incompetence exhibited ... God help us all.

All in all, the older I get, the more I believe we should completely
eliminate the CIA. They have cause far more problems than they solve.

http://www.historycommons.org/timeli... rstwtcbombing

thunder wrote:
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:37 -0800, jps wrote:

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the
lessons of the past

Want to learn some lessons of the past? Read this timeline. I know hind-
sight is 20-20, but the incompetence exhibited ... God help us all.

All in all, the older I get, the more I believe we should completely
eliminate the CIA. They have cause far more problems than they solve.

http://www.historycommons.org/timeli... rstwtcbombing


The military tends to dominate in intel matters, not because it is
better at it, but because it has more powerful defense contractors on
its side and, of course, it has all those hundreds of thousands of men
and women in uniform, and they need something to do.

Despite the protestations from the "brass," the military as an
institution loves war. War helps justify the military's existence, and
it keeps the defense contractors working.

The Bush Admin did virtually nothing to promote peace in the world. On
the contrary, its foreign policy was aimed at keeping pots stirring.


--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet, or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.

H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:
thunder wrote:
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:37 -0800, jps wrote:

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the
lessons of the past

Want to learn some lessons of the past? Read this timeline. I know
hind-
sight is 20-20, but the incompetence exhibited ... God help us all.

All in all, the older I get, the more I believe we should completely
eliminate the CIA. They have cause far more problems than they solve.

http://www.historycommons.org/timeli... rstwtcbombing



The military tends to dominate in intel matters, not because it is
better at it, but because it has more powerful defense contractors on
its side and, of course, it has all those hundreds of thousands of men
and women in uniform, and they need something to do.

Despite the protestations from the "brass," the military as an
institution loves war. War helps justify the military's existence, and
it keeps the defense contractors working.

The Bush Admin did virtually nothing to promote peace in the world. On
the contrary, its foreign policy was aimed at keeping pots stirring.


You are the impostor. Go sit in the corner with JPS and **** your pants,
sissy.

--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet,or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.

H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:
H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:
thunder wrote:
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:37 -0800, jps wrote:

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the
lessons of the past

Want to learn some lessons of the past? Read this timeline. I know
hind-
sight is 20-20, but the incompetence exhibited ... God help us all.

All in all, the older I get, the more I believe we should completely
eliminate the CIA. They have cause far more problems than they solve.

http://www.historycommons.org/timeli... rstwtcbombing



The military tends to dominate in intel matters, not because it is
better at it, but because it has more powerful defense contractors on
its side and, of course, it has all those hundreds of thousands of men
and women in uniform, and they need something to do.

Despite the protestations from the "brass," the military as an
institution loves war. War helps justify the military's existence, and
it keeps the defense contractors working.

The Bush Admin did virtually nothing to promote peace in the world. On
the contrary, its foreign policy was aimed at keeping pots stirring.






You are the impostor. Go sit in the corner with JPS and **** your pants,
sissy.


I post with a mac, you post with Windows, ****-for-brains.
You also write, spell and punctuate poorly. You can't spoof your
way out of that.






--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet, or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.

H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:
H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:
H the K (I post with a Mac) wrote:


I post with a mac, you post with Windows, ****-for-brains.
You also write, spell and punctuate poorly. You can't spoof your
way out of that.






Fix the above mistakes. Then we'll talk
Buh bye

--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet,or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.

"thunder" wrote in message
t...
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:37 -0800, jps wrote:

The report, set for release Monday, is intended to help learn the
lessons of the past

Want to learn some lessons of the past? Read this timeline. I know hind-
sight is 20-20, but the incompetence exhibited ... God help us all.

All in all, the older I get, the more I believe we should completely
eliminate the CIA. They have cause far more problems than they solve.

http://www.historycommons.org/timeli... rstwtcbombing


Thanks for the link.

--
Nom=de=Plume