An article published in the Asia Times Online website claims President Bush in 2001 allowed Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders to escape because he never had a plan on how to block their exit from Afghanistan. As American troops moved on Kabul, General Tommy Franks finally realized he lacked a plan or sufficient troops in place on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to capture Osama bin Laden. He visited Islamabad where President Musharraf pointed out to him it would require thousands of troops stationed in eastern Afghanistan to block the exit of al-Qaeda leaders, but American troops were in western Afghanistan.
The article argues Bush’s key advisers had no interest in stationing American troops in eastern Afghanistan because their eyes were on shifting forces for the invasion of Iraq. According to the article, “lost in the eagerness to wrap up the Taliban and get on with the Iraq War was any possibility of preventing Osama’s escape to Pakistan.”
I assume John McCain will now tell the American people he was the maverick who went along with the Bush plan. Oh,well, one can not be a maverick about everything.
