In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
White House Missed Chance to Kill Osama
W A S H I N G T O N, June 24— When President Bush took office in January 2001, the White House was told that Predator drones had recently spotted Osama bin Laden as many as three times and officials were urged to arm the unmanned planes with missiles to kill the al Qaeda leader.
But the administration failed to get drones back into the Afghan skies until after the Sept. 11 attacks later that year, current and former U.S. officials say.
Top administration officials discussed the mission to kill bin Laden as late as one week before the suicide attacks on New York and Washington, but they had not yet resolved a debate over whether the CIA or Pentagon should operate the armed Predators and whether the missiles would be sufficiently lethal, officials told The Associated Press.
In the month before that meeting, the Pentagon and CIA successfully tested an armed Predator on at least three occasions — including once when it destroyed a mockup home resembling an Afghan structure bin Laden supposedly used, the officials said.
Why wasn't the drone deployed? Well, the White House obviously didn't think it was as important as finding an excuse to take out Saddam, or spend billions on an non-working missile defense initiative, or selling an tax cut that did absolutely nothing to stimulate the economy. There was a dispute between the CIA and the Pentagon as to who had final control over the drone, and Bush, because he is not a leader, did nothing.
- rob 2:48 PM - [PermaLink] -
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