U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05

[ProSense]

U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05

By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 8, 2007

WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

<...>

Officials said one reason Mr. Rumsfeld called off the 2005 operation was that the number of troops involved in the mission had grown to several hundred, including Army Rangers, members of the Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives, and he determined that the United States could no longer carry out the mission without General Musharraf’s permission. It is unlikely that the Pakistani president would have approved an operation of that size, officials said.

Some outside experts said American counterterrorism operations had been hamstrung because of concerns about General Musharraf’s shaky government.

more

U.S. pays $1 billion to Paskistan to fight terror, but military increasingly supporting Taliban

[Xipe Totec]

1. I hate to have to say it,

But the 'pugs got this one right.

A military operation in Pakistan would have been an abysmal mistake, EVEN if it had succeeded.

Even a broken clock tells the right time twice a day.

[ProSense]

2. Well, it would be one thing if they were spending the $1 billion dollars wisely,

but holding back and paying a country to support terrorists is appalling.

[ProSense]

3. Kick! n/t