Reply #68: Reviewing the Review [View All]

[ieoeja]

"shows the CIA and the Northern Alliance surrounding Bin Laden’s house in Afghanistan" ... "but they need final approval from the Clinton administration in order to go ahead."

1. As the representatives of the officially recognized government in Afghanistan, why the fuck would the Northern Alliance call us for permission to do dick in their own country?

2. Why was the CIA there? If they were sent there to get bin Laden, why would they have to phone home to get permission? If they were not sent there to get bin Laden, what were they doing? This entire sequence makes no sense.


"Berger in essence tells the team in Afghanistan that if they want to capture Bin Laden, they'll have to go ahead and do it on their own without any official authorization."

So the United States could then technically deny responsibility. The masses who worshipped bin Laden could be told, "it was the Northern Alliance, not the United States". Isn't this WHY we do covert as opposed to overt operations in the first place?


The director says, "The worst example is the response to the October, 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen where 17 American sailors were killed. There simply was no response. Nothing."

While the reviewer says, "since Bush was in power for only eight months when 9/11 occurred, he can hardly be blamed".

So eight months is not enough for Bush to have deterred bin Laden between the USS Cole and 9/11, but three months should have been plenty of time for Clinton. Actually, given the relative level of competency between the two presidents, the reviewer may have a point here.