The Command Post - 2004 US Presidential Election - Franks Denies Hunt For Bin Laden Was "Outsourced"

October 19, 2004

Kerry | Franks Denies Hunt For Bin Laden Was "Outsourced"

Agence France-Presse reports that Retied General Tommy Franks, the former commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has denied Kerry’s claim that we “outsourced” the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora:

“As commander of the allied forces in the Middle East, I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora and I can tell you that the senator’s understanding of events doesn’t square with reality,” retired general Tommy Franks wrote in The New York Times.

[. . .]

According to Franks, the US military relied heavily on Afghan forces in that battle because they knew Tora Bora after fighting there for years against the Soviet occupation.

“Third, the Afghans weren’t left to do the job alone,” the retired general continued. “Special forces from the United States and several other countries were there, providing tactical leadership and calling in air strikes.”

From California Yankee.

Posted by Dan Spencer at October 19, 2004 02:04 PM | TrackBack

Comments

If American military intelligence forces have known the location of bin Laden was in the last 5 years, they have not indicated that publicly.

Yet John Kerry knows for a fact that bin Laden was in Tora Bora and that incompetent American leadership ‘outsourced’ (isn’t that cute, outsourced?) the hunt to a bunch of 3rd World mouth-breathers, who probably drove bin Laden over the Paki border in their personal jeep.

Come on people, who are you going to believe - pantywaist Tommy Franks, or a real man like John Kerry, who won 3 Purple Hearts?

Does John Edwards need to slap you around a little bit? Which part of this don’t you understand??

How stupid are you, America?

Posted by: torpedo_eight at October 19, 2004 09:24 PM

uhhhh Matt Damon …

Posted by: CERDIP at October 20, 2004 11:17 AM

Yup. That Kerry guy… He REALLY knows how to play the game of TiddlyWinks, errr - Politics real well, don’t he?

(1) The ‘January Surprise’ for the SS recipients. Oooooh. Good move. Pathetic, really…
(2)Reinstatement of the Draft. Hell, I thought he was talkin’ to the NASCAR Dads with that one, but Nooooo…
(3)Mary Cheney. Errr. No comment required. The name will do. Yup. Fair Game…
(4)StemCellResearch ‘Ban’, and how St. Christopher’s fellow VehicularlyBound travelers will miss out on all the miracles. Right.

Desperado…

Posted by: Cap'n DOC at October 20, 2004 01:36 PM

Kerry hasn’t got a clue in hell. He is just spouting off trying to convince some dumb idiot that he would have caught Bin Laden by now so that he can land another vote. It pretty much shows his stupidity. Let’s see, I am going to tell America what was in Tommy Franks’ mind and how I would have done it bettter. Right!

Posted by: BH57 at October 20, 2004 03:19 PM

Whether we outsourced the job or not, the fact remains if we didn’t have to send troops to iraq for something that posed no threat, we could have had an easier time catching bin ladden, a person who has proved to be a threat.

paulyboy

Posted by: paulyboy998 at October 20, 2004 04:23 PM

I wish we had the talents of so many brilliant minds (in hindsite) when the problem presented itself. You guys all had it pegged, didn’t you? Saddam was not a threat.

Not according to Senator Kerry, of course, but he doesn’t remember what he said, either.

Japan wasn’t a threat in 1940, either.

Posted by: torpedo_eight at October 20, 2004 10:16 PM

I don’t know why some of these PortsidePundits make me so upset…

“Whether we outsourced the job or not, the fact remains if we didn’t have to send troops to iraq for something that posed no threat, we could have had an easier time catching bin ladden, a person who has proved to be a threat.”

MilitaryStrategist you ain’t, Paulyboy.

Have you ever spent any time over 10,000 with your feet on the ground??? Geeesh. You must be from Kansas.

The italicized portion Posted by: paulyboy998 at October 20, 2004 04:23 PM

Posted by: Cap'n DOC at October 21, 2004 07:50 AM

Before 9-11, and the tremendous whipping that our armed forces unleashed on him, Osama was walking around making movies in Afghanistan and sharing time with his 8 or 9 wives. After the whipping (which was unleashed by Bush) — Osama is nowhere to be found. He’s in a cave somewhere, eating rats and occasionally releasing a scratchy audio cassette tape. By many reports, he’s seriously wounded and disfigured. So although Bush hasn’t bagged him yet — he’s seriously marginalized the guy. It is a fact that Osama doesn’t exercise centralized control over his Al Quaida fighters the way he used to. Let’s thank George Bush for that.

Now — to the war in Iraq being a diversion. It was not. Anyone who believes so is thinking two dimensionally — in a 3D world. When fighting terror, you have to be EVERYWHERE at once. Even if you could get away with sending in THOUSANDS of army rangers to patrol the Iran / Afgan border to look for Osama (which you can’t) — that would only guarantee that the terror threat would thrive elsewhere. Now, you can say that Sadaam had nothing to do with Al Quaida. I say this — we don’t know for sure and, it’s a moot point because — “The FRIEND of my ENEMY, IS ALSO MY ENEMY”. Sadaam and Al Quaida were a match made in heaven — it was only a matter of time before they consummated the marriage.

Posted by: Mark at October 26, 2004 01:25 PM