By December 7, 2001, “two months to the day since the start of our combat operations, the Taliban had been pushed out of every major city in Afghanistan. By any measure, it was an impressive military success. Estimates varied, but likely some eight thousand to twelve thousand Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were killed–and hundreds more […]
12/7/2001
By December 7, 2001, “According to the official U.S. Special Forces history of the [Tora Bora] battle [in Afghanistan], by now ‘the latest intelligence placed senior AQ [al-Qaeda] leaders and UBL [Usama bin Laden] squarely in Tora Bora.’ ” – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Page 74 […]
12/7/2001
“When Kandahar [Afghanistan] had fallen on December 7, 2001, the first phase of the war ended–the Taliban regime had been overthrown.” – Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 248 […]
12/7/2001
“The most significant intercept of al Qaeda message traffic occurred on December 7 [2001], when one of [Northern Alliance militia leader] Hazrat Ali’s commanders at Tora Bora [Afghanistan] said, ‘We have intercepted radio messages from Kandahar to the Al Qaeda forces here, and they ask, *How is the sheik?* The reply is, *The sheik [i.e., […]
12/7/2001
“After the fall of Kandahar [Afghanistan] in December [7] 2001, between one thousand and fifteen hundred hard-core Taliban guerrillas, including their one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and virtually all of his senior commanders, slipped across the border to the safety of northern Pakistan. No attempt was made by the U.S. Army or the Pakistani military […]
12/7/2001
In an article that appeared in the National Review Online on December 7, 2001, former National Security Council Advisor Michael Ledeen wrote: “The U.S. must be ‘imperious, ruthless, and relentless,’ he argued, until there has been ‘total surrender’ by the Muslim world. ‘We must keep our fangs bared,’ he wrote, ‘we must remind them daily […]
12/7/2001
In a speech in Norfolk, Virginia, on December 7, 2001, President Bush said: ” ‘Terrorism is a movement, an ideology that respects no boundary of nationality or decency. The terrorists despise creative societies and individual choice–and thus they bear a special hatred for America.’ ” – Jeffrey Record, Wanting War, Page 140 […]
12/7/2001
“Although eventually U.S. soldiers fought in Afghanistan, from the day of the invasion (commenced by air strikes) in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, through December 7 [2001], when the Taliban regime collapsed, not one single American soldier died in combat. Why? Because the real fighting in the Afghan war was being done almost exclusively by […]
12/6/2001
During Operation Enduring Freedom, “On the night of December 6-7 [2001], [Taliban leader] Mullah [Mohammad] Omar disappeared from Kandahar [Afghanistan] and was not heard from again for some time. U.S. intelligence later learned that he and his men managed to flee southward across the border into Pakistan, where he remains to this day.” – Matthew […]
12/5/2001
“Early in December 2001, General Gregory Newbold, director of operations on the joint staff…received a request direct from [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld’s office to deliver a briefing on the military’s current plan for invading Iraq. Newbold, a three-star marine general whose job made him the key link between the Pentagon and all U.S. combat […]