I guess I should clarify why I have quotation marks around we; "we" means GWB, DICK, Donald Rumsfeld, & Tommy Franks. But, sadly, they were the most powerful men in the world for 8 painful years in our nation's history. And, for mainly worse, they represented us and our nation to the entire world. So, according to an upcoming report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "we" let the mastermind of the most horrific attacks on our country go when we had him in our sights & cornered and only a few months after GWB vowed on the rubble of the World Trade Center that the whole world would hear our response to those attacks.
Details of the upcoming report can be found here, so I'll note just a few items & my own thoughts connecting this report to the announcement President Obama will make on Tuesday concerning our future in Afghanistan.
This story asserts this report may have been created in advance of people objecting to what President Obama has to say at West Point on Tuesday. That belief, I think, misses the point. Because of the criminal negligence of people who were supposed to "know better," President Obama has to choose the least bad of a whole host of horrible options for the involvement of our blood & treasure in a part of the world never conquered before - even by the likes of Alexander the Great & the "all - powerful" Soviet Union.
Osama Bin Laden expected to be caught; he knew he was in the sights of the most well - trained military in the world. He even drew up a willbecause he expected to die. But, decisions by then - SOD Donald Rumsfeld & General Tommy Franks diverted resources from the Tora Bora area & allowed the escape into the tribal areas of Pakistan where Osama Bin Laden & his "crew" probably still are and will remain because of an un - cooperative Pakistani government. But, that subject is "a whole other kettle of fish" & not the subject of this diary.
The point is that GWB & his peeps & their enablers who claim our country was kept safe during their watch are absolutely 1000% wrong, and there is proof of them being absolutely 1000% wrong. We had the "man" responsible for the deaths of over 3000 American citizens on a single horrific day in our sights, and we let him go. And, he's probably still alive, families world - wide have sacrified so much for so many years, and, no matter what President Obama announces on Tuesday, more American blood & treasure will be lost. We should've never gone into Iraq to begin with; our focus all along should've been getting this guy. And, I am comforted by the fact that President Obama has taken the time to think about the implications of his actions. I trust he has our nation's best interests & the interests of our military and their families at heart; look where acting with our "gut" got us.
Thoughts of strength & compassion to President Obama, anyone going into harm's way in Afghanistan, and to their families...