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Binny may have just escaped U.S. forces | ||||||
2007-09-27 | ||||||
A little more than a month ago, with the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching and fears of a new al Qaeda attack rising, some U.S. intelligence and military analysts thought they had found one of the world’s two most wanted men just where they last saw them six years ago. For three days and nights — between Aug. 14 and 16 — U.S. and Afghanistan forces pounded the mountain caves in Tora Bora, the same caves where Osama Bin Laden had hidden out and then fled in late 2001 after U.S. forces drove al Qaeda out of Afghanistan cities. Ultimately, however,
One of the officials interviewed by NBC News, a general officer, admitted Tuesday that it was “possible” Bin Laden was at Tora Bora, saying, in fact, "I still don’t know if he was there." Still, some in the special operations and intelligence community are telling NBC News that there was a lack of coordination particularly in the choice of support troops. But with intelligence limited on who was there, no one is willing to say that the lack of key units permitted Bin Laden or Zawahiri to escape. When the operation began in early August there was no expectation that Bin Laden or Zawahiri would be there, say U.S. military and intelligence officials. Instead,
Another official said that intelligence analysts believed strongly that there was a high probability that “either HVT-1 or HVT-2 was there,” using U.S. intelligence descriptions — high value targets — for Bin Laden and Zawahiri. He added that while opinion inside the agency was divided, many believed it was Bin Laden rather than Zawahiri who was present. The reason:
Also, locals reported the presence of groups known to be part of Bin Laden’s security detail —Chechens, Uzbeks and other Arabs, men willing to die rather than surrender top al Qaeda officials. The military operation included "several hundred" U.S. and Afghan ground forces, say officials. Elements from the 82nd Airborne blocked off escape routes through the mountains on the Afghanistan side of the border, while helicopters inserted U.S. Navy Seals at night. The Seals pinpointed enemy positions and called in air strikes; the 82nd came in and "mopped up." On the other side of the border, a senior Pakistani official says the U.S. military helped thousands of Pakistani forces — including their elite commando units — set up a blockade to sweep up any al Qaeda fleeing Afghanistan. Any operation to take down Bin Laden or Zawahiri would have been formidable. “He's surrounded by the true believers,” reported Rick Francona, who worked with CIA and special ops teams in Iraq in the 1990s. “And they will fight to the death to protect him, they will probably even kill him before they allow him to be captured.
One senior military official said Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace personally briefed the president on the specifics of the ongoing operation. The operation closely parallels the killing of Abu Musab al Zarqawi last year. NBC News reported at the time that the U.S. military did not positively determine that Zarqawi was in the house that was bombed. Instead, they had surveillance on Zarqawi's spiritual adviser who led them to the house, and the decision was made to take the shot because they didn’t want to miss the chance to get Zarqawi. One general predicts, "That's the way we'll get Bin Laden." They may not have that positive ID, but there'll be enough intelligence to prompt an air strike and they'll find Bin Laden in the rubble. What happened this time? Military officials admit there were unidentified "planning and coordination problems" even before it got to execution, “primarily between the operators and the generals who give the go-orders” added an intelligence official. A company of the 82nd Airborne was brought in since a Ranger team trained in special operations was not available. But the combination of the “dark side” — the SEALs — and the conventional — the 82nd Airborne — didn't work. "They didn't gel," said the military official. There was "a lack of responsiveness to the intelligence and a lack of aggressiveness."
But the bigger part of the picture is the question of allocation of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq. All Delta Force and “dark side” Rangers were moved to Iraq, said a special operations officer involved in the Afghanistan operation. Left behind in Afghanistan were SEAL Team Six and some Rangers. But apparently in this case, not enough “dark side” were available. The 82nd, said a second special operations officer, “is a poor substitute … [it is] a blunder to use them on an op with dark side operators.” Justin Balding is a Producer for Dateline NBC. Adam Ciralsky is a producer with the NBC News investigative unit. Robert Windrem is an investigative producer for NBC News special projects. | ||||||
Posted by:Fred |
#12 "is a poor substitute... a blunder" > WHY IS THAT? Besides having Ranger companies formally attached to them, the Army's Airborne forces also had "near-Ranger/Para-Ranger" individual and joint mini-courses as part of their normal or routine training. *SEAL TEAM SIX > HHHHHMMMMM, at one time were charged wid anti-Terror ops including ANTI NUCLEAR-WMD TERROR. IFF OSAMA IS MOSTLY PHYSICALLY INCAPACITATED DUE TO HIS KIDNEY/HEALTH PROBS, THE DESTRUCTION OF MANY IN HIS PERSONAL SECURTY APPARATUS WILL MAKE THINGS MORE DIFFICULT FOR HIM. |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-09-27 19:15 |
#11 Osama is dead. Period. |
Posted by: Crusader 2007-09-27 18:52 |
#10 The locak sheiks told him he had to leave as they had "Lost too many people" due to his presence. He retorted "We have no where to go". Probably tried to head back to warzistan or Baluchistan at that time. Osama is nothing without Mullah Omar, as you probably have heard. Zawahiri is the one with the overall power at this time. Osama is laughing material. |
Posted by: newc 2007-09-27 16:53 |
#9 There was intelligence of a pre-Ramadan gathering of al Qaeda including "leadership" in Tora Bora. Is it too much to ask to have had Tora Bora bugged and rigged with explosives after we cleaned it out the last time. We dont' want to bring the roof down on his head but sealing every exit but one would simplify his containment. If we left two enterences open (one looking as if we never found it) we could simplify capture. If that's not doable the whole place should have been destroyed so that it couldn't be reused. |
Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-09-27 13:15 |
#8 And they will fight to the death to protect him, they will probably even kill him before they allow him to be captured If bin Laden is still alive, we need to trigger the "fear of capture" scenario. |
Posted by: Zenster 2007-09-27 13:05 |
#7 It would destroy their "credibility" or something. Fix'd. |
Posted by: twobyfour 2007-09-27 11:35 |
#6 Bush can never be successful in the MSM. It would destroy their credibility or something. |
Posted by: DarthVader 2007-09-27 11:27 |
#5 They turned inhabitable caves into rubble and killed dozens of Al Qaeda and Taliban dead. Sounds like a success to me. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2007-09-27 11:01 |
#4 "But the bigger part of the picture is the question of allocation of resources from Afghanistan to Iraq." Sooo...this report is from NBC huh? Go figure. |
Posted by: DepotGuy 2007-09-27 10:49 |
#3 would like to.. There, corrected. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2007-09-27 10:23 |
#2 Maybe he is a symbol at this point but I for want would like to see his head on pike. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2007-09-27 10:22 |
#1 "Missed him by that much!" |
Posted by: Maxwell Smart 2007-09-27 10:03 |