ABC-TV Docu-Drama and The American Government as Failures in Understanding What the Stakes Were

Submitted by rick (United States), Sep 11, 2006 at 14:53

Last night was the first part- the pre 9/11 period. What I didn't know was that in 1999 in Afghanistan, a force of the Northern Alliance led by Ahmed Shah Massoud with American "advisors" but apparently non-combat, had bin Laden surrounded ( without bin Laden's knowledge) at an al-Qaeda base camp. They were ready to move in and attempt to capture him but if necessary kill him if capture was impossible. Because of the Americans they needed authorization from Washington and satellite phone calls were being made directly into the government's most sensitive security members -- without Clinton. CIA- Tenet, and the rest all refused to give authorization.

With one word, bin Laden would have been eliminated. That word never came. Each bureaucrat refused to take responsibility just as Clinton passed the buck. To me it was the moment of reckoning as the Taliban then attacked the Northern Alliance and later bin Laden arranged to have Massoud killed on 9/9/2001. We lost the best anti-Taliban leader in Massoud and we experienced the dreadful 9/11.

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