Warhawks like Rumsfeld, Bush and President Cheyney could have stopped it so long ago.
TORA BORA REVISITED: HOW WE FAILED TO GET BIN LADEN AND WHY IT MATTERS TODAY
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/...1SPRT53709.htm
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At one point, Berntsen recalled an argument at a CIA
guesthouse in Kabul with Maj. Gen. Dell Dailey, the commander of U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan at the time. Berntsen said he renewed his demand that American troops be dispatched to Tora Bora immediately. Following orders from Franks at U.S. Central Command (CentCom) headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, Dailey refused to deploy U.S. troops, explaining that he feared alienating Afghan allies.
``I don't give a damn about offending our allies!''
Berntsen shouted. ``I only care about eliminating al Qaeda and delivering bin Laden's head in a box!''
Dailey said the military's position was firm and Berntsen replied, ``Screw that!''
For those like Franks, who later maintained that bin Laden might not have been at Tora Bora, Berntsen is respectfully scornful. ``We could have ended it all there,'' he said in an
interview.
Berntsen's views were generally shared by Gary Schroen, another senior CIA operative in Afghanistan. Schroen, who had spent years cultivating ties to Afghanistan's opposition elements, bemoaned the reliance on local tribal leaders to go after bin Laden and guard escape routes. ``Unfortunately, many of those people proved to be loyal to bin Laden and
sympathizers with the Taliban and they allowed the key guys to escape,'' Schroen, who retired from the CIA, said in a television interview in May 2005. He added that he had no doubt that bin Laden was at Tora Bora.
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