Bin Laden's 'escape' the fault of US military?

A controversial new report is blaming US military leaders for allowing Bin Laden to escape Tora Bora in 2001

A U.S. Senate report says top military leaders during the Bush administration had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in December 2001 in Afghanistan, but they failed to send enough American troops to attack his hideout.

The report, by staff of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, concludes that U.S. special forces, CIA officers and Afghan troops had chased the al Qaida leader and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahri, to the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan, but former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the top U.S. military commander, General Tommy Franks, rejected requests for a massive contingent of American troops to attack the area.

At the time, top officials said there was not conclusive evidence bin Laden was in the cave complex and there were fears that a large U.S. troop presence could spark a backlash among locals.

The U.S. military mainly relied on air strikes and Afghan militias and bin Laden escaped into Pakistan.

BlackFive was none too fond of the report, either.


View Larger Map

By: Brant