The article below appeared, I believe, as an MSNBC 'Web Exclusive' briefly, but no other mention or follow-up anywhere AFAIK. And now I cannot seem to find it at MSNBC's site, but luckily it is quoted at this yahoo group link (you may have to click 'continue').
Did war compromise al-Qaida hunt?Did war compromise al-Qaida hunt?
By Lisa Myers and Aram Roston
NBC NEWS
July 29 -- Senior terrorism experts are asking whether the United
States could have done much more to go after Osama bin Laden if it
had not diverted counterterrorism resources away from Afghanistan and
into Iraq. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.
In early 2002, the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida — "Operation
Enduring Freedom" — was revving high. U.S. commandos readied
themselves for lightning strikes in the dusty plains of Afghanistan
or the deserts of Yemen; aerial drones buzzed the skies rigged with
cameras and missiles, controlled by technicians on the ground;
surveillance planes high overhead listened for electronic whispers of
Taliban holdouts.
BUT, AS "Operation Enduring Freedom" kept al-Qaida on the run, the
White House was already planning for war against Iraq. Sources say
that in the spring of 2002, key weapons in the war against terror —
such as the commandos, the drones and the high-tech surveillance
planes — were rotated out of Afghanistan. Now experts tell NBC there
was a clear tradeoff as the United States let up on al-Qaida to
pursue regime change in Iraq.
A former national security official in the Bush administration tells
NBC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Lisa Myers the White
House was warned that the buildup against Saddam might provide a
respite for Osama bin Laden and his henchmen. "There were decisions
made," says Flynt Leverett, a former director at the National
Security Council in the Bush White House, "to take key assets, human
assets, technical assets, out of theater in Afghanistan in order to
position them for the campaign to unseat Saddam."
snip
NBC News has learned that in one still-classified incident in Yemen,
commanders wanted to engage what sources call a "viable mission
against an al-Qaida target." After all, in the past they had used the
missiles on the remotely piloted drones to strike at terrorists. But
in this case, because of the Iraq war, there was not a Predator they
could use. The al-Qaida target got away.
What's more, members of the CIA's elite special activities division
and the Army's entire 5th Special Forces Group (Green Berets), who'd
hunted down hundreds of al-Qaida terrorists, were pulled out of
Afghanistan. The 5th, based in Fort Campbell, Kent., specializes in
the Middle East and Central Asia. These soldiers are the ones who
speak Arabic and Central Asian languages, so it's only natural that
they were some of the first to head to Afghanistan. But in May 2002,
according to Army Special Operation Command spokesman Maj. Rob Gowan,
the 5th Group was pulled out of Afghanistan and brought back to Fort
Campbell. The 5th Group would deploy later for Iraq.
In Afghanistan they were replaced chiefly by the 3rd Special
Forces Group, which is trained culturally and linguistically to
operate in sub-Saharan Africa. The A-Team members speak French and
various African languages, which would be of no value in the craggy
Hindu Kush mountain range. Other Green Berets stepping into
Afghanistan came from the 7th Group, which specializes in Latin
America and has Spanish language skills.
Rick Francona, a retired Air Force colonel and an NBC News analyst,
says that another valuable resource in the war against al-Qaida was a
high-tech surveillance plane called the RC-135 "Rivet Joint." "It's
not just the platform itself, it's the linguists that man the
platform," Francona says. "They were being really overworked."
EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT
snip
:shrug:
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