We Should of Had Him-by:Larry C. Johnson

[kpete]

We Should of Had Him
by
Larry C. Johnson

The book the CIA didn't want you to read, JAWBREAKER by Gary Berntsen, is out and it kills. I've sent Gary a nasty note because his story kept me up till 4 am today. Just couldn't put it down. Gary spent most of this year battling CIA censors, who were refusing to release the book. They insisted on excising parts of the story that have already appeared in other books about CIA operations in Afghanistan written by Steve Coll and another CIA veteran, Gary Schroen.

The key news from Gary's book is that we had Bin Laden in our sights but Tommy Franks and JSOC Commander, Dell Dailey, dilly dallied and did not deploy U.S. troops requested by Berntsen to the battle at Tora Bora. We could of had him; we should of had him; but we let Bin Laden get away.

Consider for example what happened to Gary, who was sent into Afghanistan in 2000 with orders to capture a top Al Qaeda commander. His mission was sand bagged by another CIA Chief of Station who served in one of the neighboring "Stans". This prima donna, a guy named "Lawrence", was sending reports back to Washington lying about what Gary was and was not doing. Lawrence had his nose out of joint because he felt his turf was being trampled on. The petty jealousy of this bonehead (who in a previous overseas assignment had lost of his intelligence assets) is bad enough. Making matters worse, CIA Director Tenet and the Director of Operations, Jim Pavitt, helped pull the plug on the operation. This wasn't a case of President Clinton getting cold feet, rather the CIA leadership pulled the plug on an operation that had a chance of success. And, Al Qaeda was left virtually unmolested until they struck the United States one year later.

If that doesn't get your blood boiling maybe you will get riled when you learn that in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 Gary, who was serving in South America, was warned by the Director of Operations for Latin America to NOT, I repeat NOT, volunteer to go to Afghanistan even though Berntsen had led the last American team to go into Afghanistan. Hell, the World Trade Center was still smoldering and this CIA bureaucrat was more concerned about keeping his positions filled than using all available resources to go after Osama Bin Laden.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/

[wakeme2008]

1. Grrr I know what I will be buying this weekend nt :)