lucky wilbury
10-19-2004, 06:16 PM
http://reuters.myway.com/article/20041019/2004-10-19T153620Z_01_N19461984_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-CAMPAIGN-FRANKS-DC.html
Retired General Franks Attacks Kerry Over Bin Laden
Oct 19, 11:36 AM (ET)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday disputed Democrat John Kerry's charge that the Bush administration allowed Osama bin Laden to escape Afghanistan in 2001.
"I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality," retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks wrote in a commentary published by The New York Times.
Franks, who has endorsed Republican President Bush's re-election bid, challenged the Massachusetts senator's contention that U.S. forces had the fugitive al Qaeda leader surrounded but "outsourced" the job of capturing him to Afghan forces in the rugged Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan.
Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly charged that Bush was so preoccupied with Iraq -- long before the U.S.-led invasion of that country in March 2003 -- that he took emphasis away from capturing bin Laden, blamed for the September 2001 attacks on America.
U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban rulers after a fierce battle in Tora Bora in December 2001. It is believed that bin Laden slipped out of the heavily bombed region around this time, possibly fleeing into Pakistan.
"We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir," wrote Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and later Iraq as chief of the U.S. military's Central Command.
"Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives, many of whom were killed or captured, but Mr. bin Laden was never within our gasp."
Franks contended that the American military did not outsource military action, although "we did rely heavily on Afghans because they knew Tora Bora."
Retired General Franks Attacks Kerry Over Bin Laden
Oct 19, 11:36 AM (ET)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday disputed Democrat John Kerry's charge that the Bush administration allowed Osama bin Laden to escape Afghanistan in 2001.
"I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality," retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks wrote in a commentary published by The New York Times.
Franks, who has endorsed Republican President Bush's re-election bid, challenged the Massachusetts senator's contention that U.S. forces had the fugitive al Qaeda leader surrounded but "outsourced" the job of capturing him to Afghan forces in the rugged Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan.
Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly charged that Bush was so preoccupied with Iraq -- long before the U.S.-led invasion of that country in March 2003 -- that he took emphasis away from capturing bin Laden, blamed for the September 2001 attacks on America.
U.S.-led forces ousted Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban rulers after a fierce battle in Tora Bora in December 2001. It is believed that bin Laden slipped out of the heavily bombed region around this time, possibly fleeing into Pakistan.
"We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir," wrote Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and later Iraq as chief of the U.S. military's Central Command.
"Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives, many of whom were killed or captured, but Mr. bin Laden was never within our gasp."
Franks contended that the American military did not outsource military action, although "we did rely heavily on Afghans because they knew Tora Bora."