Gary Bernsten was just on CNN reminding everyone about Tora Bora

[Coexist]

He looked pissed.

(link for those who don't know who he is)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8853000/site/newsweek/

"Exclusive: CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away
Aug. 15, 2005 issue - During the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush and John Kerry battled about whether Osama bin Laden had escaped from Tora Bora in the final days of the war in Afghanistan. Bush, Kerry charged, "didn't choose to use American forces to hunt down and kill" the leader of Al Qaeda. The president called his opponent's allegation "the worst kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking." Bush asserted that U.S. commanders on the ground did not know if bin Laden was at the mountain hideaway along the Afghan border"

<snip>
"But in a forthcoming book, the CIA field commander for the agency's Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, says he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members. Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora—intelligence operatives had tracked him—and could have been caught. "He was there," Berntsen tells NEWSWEEK."

[BuyingThyme]

1. kcik

[blm]

2. Kerry tried to get media to pay attention to Tora Bora and they responded

by interviewing Tommy Franks who said Kerry was delusional and would say anything to get elected by questioning Bush's military judgement on the ground. Even when Kerry brought it up in the debates the media refused to discuss his charges.

For over TWO YEARS Kerry pointed to Tora Bora as a major event proving incompetence by Bush. Media would always blindly refute his charges without examining them.

[Coexist]

4. history has already proven Kerry correct

and Bush wrong on a lot of election issues.

[FreedomAngel82]

5. Yep

He was right about that.

[Lerkfish]

7. oh...I'm not convinced it was a MISTAKE.

I think bin laden is the gift to bushco that just keeps giving.

I think they want and need it that way.

there are no coincidences.

[blm]

8. I see both Bin Laden and Bush benefitting from perpetual Holy War.

They get personal glory and power from their followers while their families accrue BILLIONS of DOLLARS in profits from the constant wars.

[Coexist]

9. from abortion to porn

the war here from religious extremists will never end.

[samhsarah]

18. true that.

he said it so many times it almost started to get on my damn nerves. but nobody was listening. but the swiftboat vets, they listened to them.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. I'm glad he did

[EST]

6. Kicky

:kick: :dem:

[blm]

10. Gee, why isn't BushInc trotting out Franks to lie for them - AGAIN?

Guess they only needed it before the election, knowing the media would never question Franks' integrity even though all the facts proved he was lying even back then.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. This was reported at the time. Most likely he escaped because

Tora Bora was fought "on the cheap" like everything else done by rumsfeld. Because of a lack of "boots on the ground", the battle was subcontracted to "the northern alliance" who were just as ineffective as they had been fighting against the Taliban.

[Coexist]

12. ...and if they had been allowed to finish the job,

there would be no threatening tape today. Imagine that!

[blm]

13. BushInc didn't WANT Bin Laden. They needed him free to extend war to Iraq.

Freepers are way too dumb to have figured this out, even with the facts staring them in the face.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. You give the government a lot of credit and respect

My guess is that they are every bit as incompetent as it would appear on the surface.

They can't even keep a half-ass super secret NSA wire tapping scheme a secret - an NSA employee with known psychiatric problems spilled the beans almost immediately. So, what logically leads to a belief that the government is up to all kinds of secret cleaver and ingenious and devious long term policy plans ?

[blm]

15. They kept a secret when it mattered most - before an election.

And it's not too hard to pursue longterm war when all your cronies and media pals are also war profiteers.

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. Sadly almost nothing is a "secret", the american public simply

complies with all the bullshit, it's their choice to reject it on it's face but they don't.

[blm]

17. The public is against the spying now that they know.

They didn't ACCEPT it in 2004. That's spin.

[greiner3]

19. bush is a lie;

If I was religious, I would say that b*** is the father of lies and that he could be the anti-christ. But I'm not religious so I would say b*** is a sociopath. He does not know the truth if it bit him where condi lunches.