Thread: Thank You, President Bush

WASHINGTON (AP) — Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.
More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.
"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "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. 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."
The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."
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 based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.
"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 said.
At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.
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You shouldn't just be thanking Bush, but Clinton too. He too had multiple chances to kill or capture Bin Laden. You can't put the blame only on Bush. The middle east situation has been brewing for quite some time.

the above post is true. but i still submit that back in 1998 as i linked to earlier, bill clinton had the chance to take him and refused, if he had taken bin laden then we probably would not have 9/11...
anyway you look at it both sides of the aisle have dropped the ball several times...

Originally Posted by 59caddy

if he had taken bin laden then we probably would not have 9/11...

I don't believe that for one second. Removing the figurehead does not eliminate the threat. I remember reading somewhere he ok'd 9/11 but the original idea didn't come from him and I doubt he organized it.

Says fanatic 1 "hey, they killed our great leader Osama"
Says fanatic 2 "yeah ! let's all go home to our wives and, dunno, do some gardening instead"

I don't think sooooo ...

Come to think of it, killing him could have made things worse. Look what happened when Che Guevarra was killed: instead of being in the history books as a failed revolutionary, it made him an example and a hero.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

He was also the one who began the bailout of wall st and the banks. As far as what the current administration is doing.... I'm not happy with it at all but I wouldn't want a Herbert Hoover approach. As far as health care, if they had a strong public option .... something like health care in France or Britain I would be all for it.

Wow Jim, so I guess my question is this "When you have to wait on a list to receive chemotherapy in two years yet that wait will likely cause your death in one, what country will you attempt to fly to in order to get treatment?" That's what they're doing now.

My family is from Russia. Now if you want to really know what government run socialized medicine is like let's talk. Americans have no idea what they're in for. So sad how America is ignoring the warnings of the citizens of countries that currently have this system. I guess we get what we deserve for letting our politicians have free rien with our lives. All praise our comrades in Washington.

Let's not forget the # 2 guy under bin laden. I can't spell his name but the one who was involved in the killing of Anwar Sadat years ago. He may even be the 'brains' behind the figurehead.

The fact that Clinton dropped the ball is not the issue. Nor is which side of the aisle was calling the shots at the time. It reminds me of when as a young man I commented to a very conservative old ironworker on Nixon's resignation.

He replied that the democrats did this and they did that .... they do it too .... whatever it was. Anytime I criticize a conservative they never answer the criticism. They always resort to attacking some democrat or liberal in retaliation. Hard to have a discussion when it is always tit for tat.

Speaking earlier of being from Russian I think that the current administration and its "Holy One" should remember something from my homeland called the "Bolshevik Revolution".

Originally Posted by DistortedPenguin

Speaking earlier of being from Russian I think that the current administration and its "Holy One" should remember something from my homeland called the "Bolshevik Revolution".

Well waddayouknow, we have another winner. Getting kinda crowded in here.

Originally Posted by AlanII

Well waddayouknow, we have another winner. Getting kinda crowded in here.

Not trying to be a "winner", just trying to make sure everyone else doesn't end up a loser. My relatives have lived it, some still are.

Originally Posted by DistortedPenguin

My family is from Russia. Now if you want to really know what government run socialized medicine is like let's talk. Americans have no idea what they're in for. So sad how America is ignoring the warnings of the citizens of countries that currently have this system. I guess we get what we deserve for letting our politicians have free rien with our lives. All praise our comrades in Washington.

You shouldn't mix communism and socialism with each other. Or not at least to mix those two with social democracy which is just one of the many political tendencies here in Europe.

Sometimes i think that some people in the USA are calling everything that didn't come from their republican leaders as socialism.

What it comes to Russia it's been very capitalistic system since 1991, where it is money that matters and opens the doors. Those without money and the whole middle class (or what is left from it) are left to survive on their own. Media that doesn't sing songs the goverment wants, soon finds to be closed or at least banned for lying and/or being unpatriotic.

Anyway it good to know such things aren't happening anywhere else, not at least here in the western world.