According to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democratic congressman from New York, ‘the Bush administration permitted the world’s most notorious terrorist mastermind to escape because it needed additional justification to invade Iraq.’ The lawmaker ‘accused President Bush of purposely letting Osama bin Laden escape capture in order to justify the Iraq war.’ He says, “I don’t think it will strike a lot of people as crazy. I think it’ll strike a lot of people as accurate. That’s exactly what happened.”

Hinchey was referring to a Senate report that carried the conclusion that bin Laden was within the grasp of US forces and could have been captured back in December of 2001. He adds, “When our military went in there, we could have captured them. … But we didn’t, and we didn’t because of the need felt by the previous administration and the previous head of the military—that need to attack Iraq, which is completely unjustified.”

The Senate report also stated that ‘then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld rejected calls for reinforcements in December 2001, when the military allegedly had bin Laden trapped in Afghanistan.’

Other points from the report entitled “Tora Bora revisited: how we failed to get Bin Laden and why it matters today”:

• “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. Instead, the US command chose to rely on air strikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack Bin Laden and on Pakistan’s loosely organized Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes.”

• ‘Fewer than 100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected.’ “Requests were also turned down for US troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan.

• “The decision not to deploy American forces to go after Bin Laden or block his escape was made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commander, General Tommy Franks.”

• “On or around December 16, two days after writing his will, Bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan’s unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say he is still there today.”

Image

Via the raw story