[quote=enron_by_the_sea][quote=ucodegen]Inaccurate. He allowed some of the Afghanis to be included in surrounding Tora Bora. These Afghanis got ‘bought off’. If you also remember, they were pounding Tora Bora from the air. If you know anything about Switzerland, you will know why you just don’t waltz into Tora Bora to get Bin Laden. The tunnels are constructed to create a large killing zone around Tora Bora.[/quote]
1 – In no way do I believe that the military/special forces do not prepare for such a situation as taking Bin Laden out in Tora Bora with ground assault. certainly 2 months after 9/11 there was no higher priority in front of our military than take out Bin Laden. At least that’s what I think![/quote]I know for a fact that they do train for that.. I also know for a fact that the death toll from an entrenched, dug in opponent who knows where all the tunnels are, is obscenely high. This is also why Hitler avoided Switzerland.
[quote=enron_by_the_sea]2 – I believe that even with preparation, there was substantial risk involved in such an operation on ground.[/quote]”Risk is not the right word here. It was with certainty that there would be a large number of casualties on our side. This was an area that no UAV, F15, F16, M1A2, Bradley etc could fight in. Think high altitude, narrow canyons.. almost Swiss Alps in structure (with much fewer trees). Bin Laden was in the tunnels within Tora Bora. You could also consider it almost like Bin Laden’s Cheyenne mountain – though not as nice inside and not quite as deep or armored.
[quote=enron_by_the_sea]4 – I also believe that another option presented was to let Afghans/northern alliance to largely attempt to take out Bin Laden on the ground and that this option was selected by them…[/quote]Actually, the plan was to encircle and starve them out. The problem is that we allowed (so that we would be inclusive and not seen as a conquering army) the Northern Alliance to participate in walling off Tora Bora. Bin Laden walked out of Tora Bora on the section that part of the Northern Alliance had closed off.
