Report: Bush OK'd secret raids inside Pakistan

All you warmongers need to go sign up for the military right now. Hurry before you change your mind.

Documentary: French troops had bin Laden in sights

Film produced by two journalists says French special forces had al-Qaeda leader in their sights twice about three years ago, but their US superiors never ordered them to fire
Reuters

A documentary says French special forces had Osama bin Laden in their sights twice about three years ago but their US superiors never ordered them to fire.

The French military, however, said that the incidents never happened and the report was "erroneous information."

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The documentary, due to air next year and seen by Reuters on Tuesday, says the troops could have killed the al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan but the order to shoot never came, possibly because it took too long to request it.

"In 2003 and 2004 we had bin Laden in our sights. The sniper said 'I have bin Laden'," an anonymous French soldier is quoted as saying.

The documentary 'Bin Laden, the failings of a manhunt' is by journalists Emmanuel Razavi and Eric de Lavarene, who have worked for several major French media outlets in Afghanistan. A cable television channel plans to air the documentary in March.

Razavi said the soldier told them it took roughly two hours for the request to reach the US officers who could authorize it but the anonymous man is also quoted in the documentary as saying: "There was a hesitation in command."

French army: That never happened

Razavi told Reuters several sources told them the sightings were six months apart and they declined to be more specific.

French armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said "that never happened" when asked about the bin Laden sightings.

Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, is believed to be hiding in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

France has roughly 200 elite troops operating under US command near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Paris announced on Sunday it was withdrawing them at the start of 2007.

France is part of the 32,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, which took over command of a war against the Taliban from US-led forces in October and has launched a series of military offensives.

Its special forces were deployed in 2003 to bolster Operation Enduring Freedom, a US-led campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in response to the September 11 attacks.

Afghans questioned in the documentary said they believed the United States was not interested in finding bin Laden, despite the USD 25 million price Washington has placed on his head.

The documentary stopped short of that conclusion but raised questions about the US hunt for bin Laden, such as whether Washington is more concerned about preserving stability in Pakistan, where many support bin Laden, than in finding him.

In September, President Bush dismissed as an "urban myth" the idea his administration had become distracted from its effort to track down bin Laden.

rmantano been there done that. You ?

Looks like the right wanted this reported, they probably thought it would boost McCain. Think tank in da airport bathroom sounds like da crew who leaked it. lol Hope these attacks are effective so we can concentrate on the economy.

from Helen "You scare me people! It is written in the article that about 20 civilians including women and children were killed as the result of just ONE raid! But of course we don't care about them. Why? They are not Americans. So this is a sacriface US is willing to make. But what would you say if 20 American women and children were killed in the attempt of killing terrorists let's say in California? Would you keep saying "Go, Bush, go! Get the bastards?" "

Depends if they were dems or republicans. Just kidding!

but da thinker is correct. You can probably reduce the number of civilian casualties as reported by the enemy by 75%, and if it was reported on msnbc, you can reduce it even more. plus these civilians may have been family members or friends of enemy (in training) and not "civilians" in the true sense of the word.

Good for Shrub (Bush)...he finally got something right.

It has been so long I guess the odds said he had to get something right eventually.

Just to think about O'Reilly announcing this news, makes me laugh!! He hate the french and keep telling lies about them. Did he ever mentionned to you that the french were fighting the real war on terror?? NO!
Sorry guys, but if your best friend ask you to jump from a 40 story building, will you follow him?? I don't think so! Also, it was illegal to jump from that building! The french have a great army... They have brought great support to the americans and fight at their side. They also have saved the lives of many american soldiers. What you all hear on Fox news is all propaganda and I think it is time for the americans watching them to look for an honest source of info.

Republican or Democrat, I find it hard to believe that we did not not carry out the mission in Afganistan as it should have been.
Everyone would be happy and OBL would very likely be dead. Wars "are" about killing and defeating the enemy. Most wars or conflicts aren't allowed to simmer for 5 long years. Most presidents would have never allowed this muck to happen. Another stroke of brillance by the Cowboy from Texas. Turn this into a political football and take away what someone else has been saying what's needed. The American people will probably fall for this clever ploy.
Mr President; You said, I listen to my Gemerals. I, ask what the heck have they been saying and where the heck have they been? Now tell the media was wrong about their reporting and your generals were right. Tell me you were looking out for the best interests of America. What a sham? LBJ, and Tricky Dick played in Viet Nam. You've played in Afganistan.

Well off I go to find another article to discuss. We can disagree but be agreeable and with a sense of wit. God Bless da world for we are all in it together !!!

So is Bush trying to end the world before his last day in office??? Are we going to be in a conflict with the entire Middle East? This ridiculous. I understand the Pakistan is harboring terrorist. I also understand the need to get in there but Bush just does what he wants, when he wants and however he wants without thinking of the consequences to the U.S. and all of us. He's just an idiot. We invaded Iraq instead of focusing on Afganistan and now terrorists have scattered everywhere. Unbelieveable.

Can you all imagine the terror all these poor people must feel when bombs start falling? the women, children, men, animals. I guess you won't know the horror of war until you experience it on your own soil. Then you will understand why you cannot vote for war mongers!

Be sure it could happen here... when those countries get really fed up with american bullying and crimes, it will be our turn.

I posted a video... In the first part, you can see that beautiful little girl carried by a man in his arm.. Her right foot is missing... how horrible.. the images are very graphic, but this is reality and everyone should see it, no matter how horrified you feel.

I will post it again so you can see the horror of war and what we are doing to eachother

http://propagandameatgrinder.magnify.net/video/Zeitgeist-s-hrvatskim-titlom/theater#theater_title

Bush/Cheney - Dictatorship., all have the same ring, do what you want, when you want. Schutzstaffel -
secret death squads. .

BOUT TIME! CHASE THOSE MAGGOTS BACK INTO THEIR RAT HOLES

Anyone hear Pa lins interview? We're on a grand plan from God or not.

Putin invades Georgia and we condemn them. Bush turns around and orders incursions into Pakistan. Could our foreign policy be more hypocritical?!

I don't understand why Bush would go into another country's territory like that. Pakistan has a nuclear program and is probably not afraid to use it, "chasing" (if you would call it that (and if he's actually there)) Bin-Ladin into Pakistan just seems quite stupid. On top of that, they killed woman and children, even better, so, Bush hops into someone else Backyard, and kills his neighbors kids, then hops back out and hopes he dosen't get nuked for it.

Honestly, I swear bush is just trying to start yet another war in attempt to arouse a failing economy, (I'm not actually American, so I don't really know if the American economy is failing or not, I'm just assuming so). Honestly, if the US gets nuked for what they're doing, I frankly, could care less, I'm not going to even care if they make some "Nuked Americans Memorial" and spam the satellite dishes with images and videos from it. You slap someone, expect to get slapped back, this isn't the bible.

Next, you have the Election itself, you got Obama, who happens to be black, so everyones like "Wow! A black president! How nice would that be?" So Mccain's like "Crap! I'm not black or young!" So he lash's out this broad Pallin in attempt to 1 up Obama's blackness. Everyones like "Wow! She's pretty! Everyone, look! A female president!" completly forgetting that they're actually voting for an old guy. If Obama was really smart, he'd appoint Hilary Clinton as VP.

All the while, Bush is invading yet another country (The third in the past 7 years, right?) while no one's looking.

When will the American's learn to stop being the world police and actually do what they say their going to do? I'm tired of the world looking bleaker and bleaker every day....

Well stay out of it knuckle head.

Wow, is Bush finally making good on his post 9-11 promise of no safe havens for terrorists? It's a miracle. Pakistan should be breathing a sigh of relief that their country still exists after having Bin Laden on their soil for so long, yet they whine every time US forces repel an attack from their soil. Pakistan's whining about the raids is demostrative of the near utter lack of follow through that Bush has made so far on his post 9-11 promise to America to deny terrorists a safe haven. Bush failed to do this initially when we should have gone through Pakistan to get to Afghanistan. He failed to do it again when he pressured Russia away from invading Chechnya. He failed to do it again when he didn't follow Iraqi WMD into Syria. He failed to do it again when he let Iran attack kill US troops in Iraq and didn't attack Iran. He failed to do it again when he didn't help Israel crush Hezbollah in Lebanon. I sincerely hope that Bush is finally going to follow through on his post 9-11 promise to America in Pakistan. What Pakistan really needs to do now is to go sit in the corner & shut up & be happy that we're fixing their little Bin Laden problem for them. Why are we bothering with secret raids anyway? We should drop about 20000 troops in there, sweep the area for a week, kill Bin Laden and then take a vacation to remember 9/11 & celebrate our American resolve to live free or die trying. Screw Pakistan.

What a blessing that the days of '' bring em on '' George Walker Bush are finally in sight. The time has come for him and his gang of 3 to vacate the White House. Alas, it could only be a short reprieve if John Sidney McCain and Sarah Palenin (sic) are elected to carry on and escalate worldwide tensions by coercion and force. Check out Palenins recent comments about possibly using military force against Russia if certain terms are not met regarding Georgia. Add to that VP Cheneys chest thumping over same. With 2 theatres of operation still active and others on the horizon eg, Iran and Pakistan ; does the US military have the resources and manpower to take on Russia as well ? Add to this the fact that the US is increasingly going it alone with the so-called coalition partners gradually pulling out or at least considering the fact.

Good. Screw those people. Their part of the world is like a big viral infection on the face of the planet. See the recent story of how some men buried their daughters alive for marrying the men they actually wanted to marry. This is what we should have done to begin with. Not building better relations with them. We should have killed as many as we could from the air until they begged us to stop and then killed some more. Then we recall our military from that entire area of world and leave what was left with a warning. IF ANY of your people attack our nation for ANY reason again we'll be back. That's the ONLY way to deal with those people. There are not enough of them that understand goodwill to worry about.

There's never a good reason to deliberately target non-combatants, but we've been fighting all this time with our hands tied behind our backs.

It just sucks that before engaging the enemy our guys on the ground have to get permission from some freakin' military lawyer before they can do their jobs.

The rules of engagement are largely bulls**t. Those cavemen sure don't play by any rules.

Whether they're in Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other Crapistan...just go find them and take 'em out!

If we don't do it on their soil now, it'll be played out on our soil eventually...and I say, "no f**king way!"