Wow! Just wow. I don't know if I would go this far, but Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) will and has. On MSNBC today, he accused the Bush administration of intentionally letting Osama bin Laden get away in 2001 so they could use al-Qaeda as an excuse to invade Iraq.
"Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away. How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al-Qaeda as they were escaping," Hinchey said. "That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al-Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq."
This ain't no open letter. More after the fold.
Strong charges by the congressman:
"Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away. How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al-Qaeda as they were escaping," Hinchey said. "That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al-Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq."
snip
"There's no question that the leader of the military operations of the U.S. called back our military. Called them back from going after the head of al-Qaeda," he said.
I don't think [the theory] will strike a lot of people as crazy. I think it'll strike a lot of people as accurate," Hinchey said. "That's exactly what happened."
TPM: Rep. Hinchey: Bush Purposely Let Bin Laden Escape To Justify Iraq War
I don't know. They might just have been incompetent. There is a lot of evidence for that. Or maybe their hearts were not in it. Rumsfeld was stuck on his lean military theories.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey will give Rep. Grayson a run for his money on courage. It's nice to see courageous Democrats for a change.
Discuss.