“Unfortunately, the reappearance of the Taliban was ignored by the Bush White House, which had already set its sights on Iraq. So beginning in February 2002, and continuing without letup through the summer of 2002, just as Taliban guerrilla attacks were on the rise inside Afghanistan, virtually all CIA and U.S. military intelligence assets (including SIGINT [signals intelligence]) were withdrawn and sent back to the United States to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. Only a few tactical SIGINT collectors assigned to the small army and marine contingents in Afghanistan remained to keep track of the Taliban and al Qaeda.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Matthew M. Aid, The Secret Sentry, Page 230