Senator John Kerry (D-MA) wrote: “Fewer than 100 U.S. special operations commandos were at Tora Bora [Afghanistan, in December 2001], not enough to defeat the entrenched Al Qaeda fighters. Calls for reinforcements were rejected. So were requests for U.S. troops to block the exit routes to sanctuary in Pakistan a few miles away. The vast […]
Category: quotes
12/15/2001
CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank interviewed former British army officer Peter Jouvenal on August 23, 2005. Jouvenal discussed the battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, which occurred in December 2001. ” ‘America’s special forces are very good generally, but the mistake they made [at Tora Bora] was they relied on Afghans for information. And so it […]
12/15/2001
“In the fight for Tora Bora [Afghanistan, in December 2001], corrupt local militias did not live up to promises to seal off the mountain redoubt, and some colluded in the escape of fleeing al Qaeda fighters. [Central Command leader General Tommy] Franks did not perceive the setbacks soon enough, some officials said, because he ran […]
12/15/2001
“On December 15 [2001], bin Laden got on his shortwave radio. He praised his ‘most loyal fighters’–about 800 strong, at that point, tucked throughout the complex of caves [in Tora Bora, Afghanistan]–and said ‘forgive me’ for drawing them into a defeat. He said the battle against the ‘crusaders’ would continue ‘on new fronts.’ Then, he […]
12/15/2001
“The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora [Afghanistan] late last year [December 2001] and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge. Intelligence officials […]
12/14/2001
“SIGINT [signals intelligence] coming out of NSA [National Security Agency] and intercepts collected by frontline U.S. military intelligence units proved that bin Laden was indeed at Tora Bora [in Afghanistan, in December 2001]. The official history of the U.S. Special Operations Command indicates that U.S. Special Forces continued to collect hard ‘all-source’ intelligence, most of […]
12/13/2001
“The [Bush] administration’s announcement of U.S. withdrawal [from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia] on December 13, 2001, marked the first time in the nuclear era that the United States had unilaterally abandoned a major arms-control pact. ‘I have concluded that the ABM Treaty hinders our government’s ability to develop ways to protect our […]
12/12/2001
According to Commander Mohammed Musa, an Afghan militia leader who battled al Qaeda elements at Tora Bora, Afghanistan, on December 12, 2001: ” ‘Haji Zaman (another Afghan commander) told me about a ceasefire with the Arabs. Al Qaeda wanted to escape from a particular village; Ghalanjali village in the mountains. Al Qaeda said, *We want […]
12/12/2001
According to a Der Spiegel article which was quoted in The Washington Post on December 12, 2001, Saudi interior minister Prince Nayef said, regarding 9/11: ” ‘so far we’ve received no evidence or documents from the U.S. authorities that justify the suspicion or accusation’ that Saudis were involved.” – Jonathan Randal, Osama, Page 274 […]
12/12/2001
“On December 12 [2001], a defining moment came in the Tora Bora [Afghanistan] battle, and al-Qaeda would swiftly exploit it. Haji Zaman Gamsharik, one of the Afghan warlords leading the attack against al-Qaeda, had opened negotiations with members of the group for a surrender agreement. ‘They talked on the radio with Haji Zaman,’ an Afghan […]