Ranger from the North

Senator Kerry has repeatedly made the charge that American forces allowed Osama bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora in late 2001 because of the Bush Administration's military policy in Afghanistan. With this accusation, Senator Kerry has once again demonstrated that he does not understand the Global War on Terror or how to fight it. Additionally, these statements can be added to the long list of issues about which the senator is willing to just make up facts to achieve his political goals.

The military and the intelligence community do not know if bin Laden was at Tora Bora during the siege. If bin Laden was there, it is not known if he survived the assault. John Kerry passing off bin Laden's presence and survival at Tora Bora as facts in order to score points at the debates and on the campaign trail is dishonest and disturbing. However, if Senator Kerry does have some super-secret Osama tracking system, and knows his location, perhaps he could share it with the men and women who are searching for bin Laden.

General Tommy Franks (now retired) was the commander of CENTCOM during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Needless to say, he has a bit more credibility on military strategy and tactics than does John Kerry. The general's rebuttal to Senator Kerry's claims appeared in the New York Times, and the entire column follows.

President Bush and Senator John Kerry have very different views of the war on terrorism, and those differences ought to be debated in this presidential campaign. But the debate should focus on facts, not distortions of history.

On more than one occasion, Senator Kerry has referred to the fight at Tora Bora in Afghanistan during late 2001 as a missed opportunity for America. He claims that our forces had Osama bin Laden cornered and allowed him to escape. How did it happen? According to Mr. Kerry, we "outsourced" the job to Afghan warlords. As commander of the allied forces in the Middle East, I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality.

First, take Mr. Kerry's contention that we "had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden" and that "we had him surrounded." We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir. Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives, many of whom were killed or captured, but Mr. bin Laden was never within our grasp.

Second, we did not "outsource" military action. We did rely heavily on Afghans because they knew Tora Bora, a mountainous, geographically difficult region on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is where Afghan mujahedeen holed up for years, keeping alive their resistance to the Soviet Union. Killing and capturing Taliban and Qaeda fighters was best done by the Afghan fighters who already knew the caves and tunnels.

Third, the Afghans weren't left to do the job alone. Special forces from the United States and several other countries were there, providing tactical leadership and calling in air strikes. Pakistani troops also provided significant help - as many as 100,000 sealed the border and rounded up hundreds of Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Contrary to Senator Kerry, President Bush never "took his eye off the ball" when it came to Osama bin Laden. The war on terrorism has a global focus. It cannot be divided into separate and unrelated wars, one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq. Both are part of the same effort to capture and kill terrorists before they are able to strike America again, potentially with weapons of mass destruction. Terrorist cells are operating in some 60 countries, and the United States, in coordination with dozens of allies, is waging this war on many fronts.

As we planned for potential military action in Iraq and conducted counterterrorist operations in several other countries in the region, Afghanistan remained a center of focus. Neither attention nor manpower was diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq. When we started Operation Iraqi Freedom we had about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, and by the time we finished major combat operations in Iraq last May we had more than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.

We are committed to winning this war on all fronts, and we are making impressive gains. Afghanistan has held the first free elections in its history. Iraq is led by a free government made up of its own citizens. By the end of this year, NATO and American forces will have trained 125,000 Iraqis to enforce the law, fight insurgents and secure the borders. This is in addition to the great humanitarian progress already achieved in Iraq.

Many hurdles remain, of course. But the gravest danger would result from the withdrawal of American troops before we finish our work. Today we are asking our servicemen and women to do more, in more places, than we have in decades. They deserve honest, consistent, no-spin leadership that respects them, their families and their sacrifices. The war against terrorism is the right war at the right time for the right reasons. And Iraq is one of the places that war must be fought and won. George W. Bush has his eye on that ball and Senator John Kerry does not.

As General Franks points out, the best approach to the battle at Tora Bora was to use Afghans who knew the region and rugged terrain in combination with Special Forces and airpower. The alternative, deploying massive numbers of troops (perhaps a few divisions), would have ignored the history of difficulties encountered by large armies in this part of the world. General Franks knows his military history, and he understands that more troops would have simply been swallowed up by the mountainous terrain. But, of course, Senator Kerry knows better.

The fourth rail has a great post on this issue here.