U.S. paying price for failure to capture Osama: Senate report

A U.S. Senate report says that the failure of American military and civilian leadership to kill or capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, when he was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the rugged mountains of Tora Bora of eastern Afghanistan in December 2001, led to today's protracted Afghan insurgency and the internal strife now endangering Pakistan.

Prepared by the staff of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and released Monday, the 49-page report “Tora Bora Revisited: How we failed to get Bin Laden and Why it Matters Today,” squarely blames Donald Rumsfeld, the then Defense Secretary, and Tommy Franks, the former commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and the American military leader in the Middle East, for turning down requests for reinforcements to pursue Laden.

It said, as a result, on or around December 16, bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unchallenged out of Tora Bora and vanished into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area, where he is still believed to be hiding.

The report, commissioned by Committee Chairman John Kerry, said fewer than 100 American commandos of the Delta Force and other specialized forces were on the scene with their Afghan allies to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.

Frantic and frequent requests from field officers for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected. Requests were also turned down for U.S. troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan. The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, were not utilized, the report said.

At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might trigger a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.

However, the committee asserts “with reasonable certainty” that bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were pinned down in caves high up in the White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan, when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops.

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.”

Though neither the capture or elimination of bin Laden and his deputy would have quashed the threat of global terrorism, the report says the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force 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 of the U.S. leadership to finish the job, the report said, represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism.

Besides, it almost certainly contributed to the current Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan and the emergence of Osama bin Laden as a “malignant influence over events in the region and nearly 60 countries where his followers have established extremist groups.”

The Senate report came a day after President Barack Obama gave the green signal for the long-awaited Afghan troop surge ahead of a planned speech Tuesday in which he is expected to outline his new war strategy in the south-west Asian nation.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama issued the orders for what is believed to be a 30,000 troop increase during a meeting in the Oval Office late Sunday, and they are now official. He still has to let Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari know the plan.

(Source: rttnews.com)

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