Elite Officer Recalls Bin Laden Hunt

Delta Force Commander Says The Best Plan To Kill The Al Qaeda Leader In 2001 Was Nixed

(CBS)  The military wouldn't tell 60 Minutes who rejected the plans or why. Fury wasn't happy about it but he pressed on with the only option he had left, a frontal assault on bin Laden's dug-in al Qaeda fighters. The Delta team had only about 50 men. So the mission would depend on the Afghan militia as guides and muscle. Their leader was a warlord and self-styled general named Ali.

"Ali told us after about 30 seconds of discussion, he kind of listened to me ramble on and then the first thing he said was, 'I don't think you guys can handle it. You can't handle Al Qaeda in these mountains,'" Fury remembers.

Ali met with a CIA officer and accepted millions of dollars in cash from the agency. In short order, his Mujahideen fighters were escorting Delta Force into the mountains.

"Paint the picture for me of these Afghan Mujahideen troops," Pelley asks.

"They range anywhere from maybe 14 up to maybe 80. Various dress. Basically, we would probably consider it rags, which is the standard dress for a Mujahideen warrior," Fury explains.

There is a video of the top secret mission, which has never been seen by the public before. It was recorded by the Delta commandos themselves. Dressed like Afghans, the Americans maneuvered up the mountains, calling in air strikes on al Qaeda. By day they would advance, but at night they soon discovered their Afghan allies went home.

"Well, I have to assume that if you started up the hills of Tora Bora, and you and the Mujahideen took territory, they didn't abandon that at night?" Pelley asks.

"Oh yes they did," Fury says.

He says they gave it up to the enemy. "The Mujahideen would go up, get into a skirmish, firefight, lose a guy or two, maybe kill an al Qaeda guy or two, and then they leave. It was almost like it was an agreement, an understanding between the two forces fighting each other. Almost put on a good show and then leave."

Four days after arriving in Tora Bora, Dalton Fury was faced with a fateful command decision: three of his men were in trouble behind enemy lines, and at the same time the CIA had been listening to bin Laden's radio transmissions and had a breakthrough.

"And this is where it gets complicated. At about the same time, the CIA, George, comes into our room and he says, 'Guys, I got a location for Osama bin Laden.' That’s probably the best locational data we've had on Osama bin Laden ever."

It was night, so Fury was without his Afghan allies. Still, he rescued his men and then found himself approaching bin Laden's doorstep. "We're about 2,000 meters away from where we think bin Laden's at still. From where we're at. Now we have to make a decision," he remembers.

[jmilavic]

Compelling story. Will obtain book for more information. Frustrated will lack of positive action from DOD. Even today, there is a small DOD Organization named Big Crow Program Office that has the capability to find Osama but restricted by USAF and other DOD entities. WHY?

Jack A. Milavic PhD
Edmond Oklahoma

[ProfessorMilcript]

The story that was aired on CBS 60 Minutes on July 12, 2009 at 7 PM EST practically mirrors the book, "Target Washington: The Search for Osama Bin Laden." ISBN: 9781434375230, published April 2009, more than three months prior to the CBS report written by Professor Milcript. If you want to read what really happened, you MUST read this book! You must read this book on how Bin Laden was CAUGHT and RELEASED and for what reasons!

[MaMaSweet]

It makes no sense to me why he was allowed to give this information out. Even filming his disguise bothers me. I saw a graying bald spot too on him. I couldn't even watch all of the video, I'm too upset.
I understand capitolism and freedom of speech, I don't think its right that this information was released though.
If my son/daughter was killed in Iraq/Afghanistan in the name of justice to then find this Delta man's story, I would be really miffed! I do apologize to and thank service personnel for their sacrifices, patriotism and muscles.
We could end this war and save our money & service men-women and feed our hungry people living below standards here in the USA.
I pray for the Obama family and for peace every day. Be well all!

[cactus4rx]

I see Bin Laden in a city called Ctesiphon. He is living on the coast in a cove of buildings with red roofs.

[4angel2]

I think we should ask ourselves: who stood to gain the most from these intentional errors? Let's see, if bin Laden was captured or killed, would the Bush administration have been able to bring the war to Iraq, suspend habeas corpus, give the CIA the right to torture, consolidate power for himself and his cronies so they could plunder the economy and leave us in ruins. Bin Laden empowered Bush and Cheney, just as 9/11 did.

[dfnj2009]

When the time came to make a decision he just stood there wide eye.

continued
I''ll say it here now. Bush Jr. was merely an accessory. The President who was Annointed to lead us was not the Mastermind. Bush Jr. is not an Intelligence Director. (It''s hilarious to have to write that sentence.)

Bush Sr is still tight with CIA. He still gets PDBs. He''s intimate with CIA and other "Former" CIA, and he''s intimate with the Saudis, with Adnan Khashoggi who funded Al-Qaeda in the past.

SEPT 11 WAS A MILTIARY-INTELLIGENCE OPERATION.
SEPT 11 WAS NOT A "CONSPIRACY" per se.
SEPT 11 WAS OFFICIAL POLICY, or nearly-official. The plans were published beforehand too, by top advisors such as Ledeen and Perle, but in discreet terms, a vague "wish" or "hope" that such a bloodbath would occur, since it was VITAL to the future of America''s power in the world.

3000 - 8000 dead Americans? Grief forever? Trauma? Millions of dead Arabs? Who cares? Not them. I care. Ann Coulter said the survivors who demanded answers were enjoying the tragedy, the limelight. Ha ha ha. They hate you. They hate you. They hate you. They hate me. They hate all of us. They don''t care about your suffering. They hate what America REALLY stands for, a liberal democratic republic with an "uppity" population of serfs who think they deserve a say in how things are run.

comment: You Bush-haters out there need to go join your great hero, bin Laden!!! Leave the US! We don''t need nor want your kind!!

However - if Bush made the call to NOT get bin Laden, then HE needs to leave the US as well!
----------
FINALLY! A Bush-loving patriot breaks out of the mind-mold slightly to consider that Bush helped Binladen go free.

9-11 Press for Truth collects a lot of Corporate Media reports on Afghanistan, including Seymour Hersh explaining how they were allowed to escape. THEY WERE FRIGGIN AIRLIFTED ON C-130s to PAKISTAN!!!!

I''m still astonished at the mind control that caused Republicans (and Democrats) to ignore that Bush Senior, former CIA Dir Carlucci, and others were meeting at the Ritz-Carlton hotel with Binladen''s brother on Sept 11, all with the Carlyle group. There was even a scandal! Bush was embarrassed into supposedly divesting. Binladens sold their stock. Binladens are estranged from Osama, but OBL just made them all billions, while getting millions of Arabs killed.

No more questions about that??

Bin Laden''s group got money and weapons in the CIA''s war, but he never worked for the CIA.

WHAT????!!!!!!!

And that a Pakistani General from ISI Intell who sent $100k to the "hijackers" in Venice was in Washington the entire week, having breakfast with future CIA Director Porter Goss on Sept 11.

HOW COULD WE ALL BE THIS COLLECTIVELY STUPIDIZED?

Fury, SAY IT. It''s because Osama Bin Laden is one of our guys. Just like he was in 1979 when Brzezinski secretly started funding the Mujahideen to LURE the Soviets into Afghanistan. Just like during the Clinton Era when the Senate Republican Policy Committee wrote a report the Pentagon using Al-Q, OBL and Iranian weapons in Bosnia-Kosovo (a scandal the Republicans NEVER mention).
Just like when Zawahiri''s brother Mohamed was training guerillas in Macedonia at a US camp, in 2001 and beyond.
Just like on Sept 11.
Just like when James Baker nixed the 9-11 Families inquiry into the Saudis'' Al-Qaeda connections (Baker-Botts law firm).
Just like the 12 agents who testified, three on TV and under oath, one dead agent on a PBS special, about being THWARTED probably over 200 times (70 for Harry Samit alone) in trying to prevent Sept 11.
Same as CIA Director Krongard said we should LET OSAMA STAY FREE, which Bush echoed.

I''m sure that was on a need-to-know basis. You didn''t need to know. But you knew.

(Frankly, considering how top advisors stated that a BLOODBATH was VITAL to starting their wars, I doubt they relied on lapdanced, coked-up, hungover, Arab party boys ... er Islamic Extremists .. willing to die for Allah. Remote control is much more reliable. The Arabs running around the US on the CIA''s black budget can be disappeared.)

[fredrick house]

Osama was the best thing that happened to CheneyBurton since they inherited the vice presidency. He had to escape or like singrich says,
"it really would have been bad for ''bidness'' ". Have we ever been played????????

[fredrick house]

What is the time frame here?
Was Bin Laden in the sights before the Iraq invasion got into full swing.? If so, it all makes sense. Someone wanted a war in Iraq and needed a reason to justify going into a full scale invasion. Bin Laden and his lieutenants had to be allowed to escape in order to justify what was to happen next. If that''s not the case,it still makes a good plot for a "24" episode!

[wkuinkc]

I just read this over on armytimes.com

Here is a quote: "The nation%u2019s most prestigious group for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans released a congressional scorecard on Tuesday that ranks Republican presidential candidate John McCain as having one of the worst voting records when it comes to supporting troops and veterans."

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_vets_congress_reportcard_100708/

John McCain and Sarah Palin say in negative campaign attacks that that Senator Barack Obama has voted "against veterans". But that is not how the group "Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America" sees it. Does Sarah Palin want to challenge their patriotism too?

"Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don''t have much of a vision for the future or you''re not ready to articulate it." [John McCain - 2/21/2000]

[itdfactsu]

Wasn''t 9/11 an inside job?

Most information is now classified to hide the truth look it up

[jimnospam]

Singinrich - stop with the name calling! Gives zip substance to you and your arguments.

[RedSkelton]

The report was factual but left much to be desired. All you did was say that several good assault plans were rejected by command, forcing a frontal assault using unreliable locals, and that the focus was to Afghanize the fighting of the war. You did not say why. You did not point out that before 9/11 the Bush administration was planning on attacking Iraq. You did not say that Weinberger hated the 1992 decision to stop short of invading Iraq. You did not wonder why we wanted to attack Iraq since Hussein and Al Queda were staunch enemies. You did not say that Afghanize really meant keep the 82nd Airborne and other highly mobile units ready for Iraq not Afghanistan. You did not give the background for any of it, just the already known fact that we lost him because we were stupid and decided to attack the wrong country.

[hbel2]

Does anyone else see the irony in the use of a "theatrical makup artist" for this?

[rastacyborg]

Yeah that''s it. "The media" is to blame. Anything to take the blame away from the inept gang of morons running the White House at the time.
Conservatives believe in personal responsibility until it''s applied to them.

[memerider]

The media gave away all of our moves to capture Bin Laden and helped him escape by trying to be the first with the story. I remember hearing all about triangulating his cell phone, and I thought he''ll never pick it up again. He didn''t.

[wildhare55]

"This is why the Laden Family were never picked up and hung."

Where were you born, beehive? Hang the family for the sins of the son. That''s warped...I don''t care who you are. I want justice. That doesn''t include killing the innocent. Isn''t that what Osama did?

There won''t be a WWIII. The WORD WAR (War On Terror)will last forever.imo

If after Pearl Harbor being bombed we attacked Japan enough to weaken them. Then took the majority of our troops around to Germany it would have just as much sense as what has happened in Afghanistan.

It''s the same as a boxer getting out of the ring during a fight and going after his next opponent prior to the fight being over.

[beehive21-2009]

Bush and his Family,are friends with Bin Ladens Family ,they''re in construction.The elder Bush has been working with the family and made millions,when the kid went bad ,they let him go.So, Bin is loose or maybe jailed somewhere for his own good,but, the Bushes and Ladens are said to have an agreement,worth Billions,now.
It''s the word on the street.
This is why the Laden Family were never picked up and hung.
It''s going to be very difficult to rid the nation of the Bush influence ,they been in charge for 3- 4 decades.
Do not be surprised, if they start WW3,then it shall be King George,no elections in time of War.