Hey Ros-Lehtinen & Rohrabacher, hadn’t you heard?

[paineinthearse]

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - GW Bush, 3/13/02 ...

by email

JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING NOTICE: Afghanistan: Progress Report
To: [e-mail]

JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING NOTICE
Committee on International Relations
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515-0128

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA
:puke: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida, Chair

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
:puke: Dana Rohrabacher, California, Chairman

March 2, 2006

TO: MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

You are respectfully requested to attend the following OPEN joint hearing of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, to be held in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building:

DATE: March 9, 2006
TIME: 10:30 a.m.
SUBJECT: Afghanistan: Progress Report
WITNESSES: The Honorable Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State


The Honorable James R. Kunder, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia and the Near East, U.S. Agency for International Development

The Honorable Anne W. Patterson, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Rear Admiral Robert T. Moeller, USN, Director, Plans and Policy, U.S. Central Command

By Direction of the Chairman

[RagingInMiami]

1. I live in that bitch's district

[paineinthearse]

2. why is Bin Laden still walking around free and kicking?

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/19/19324/8617

Why We Can't Nab Bin Laden
By Larry Johnson

<snip>

So, why is Bin Laden still walking around free and kicking? Why has the United States failed to capture him?

For starters, no one is in charge of this effort. There are lots of people working on it, but there is no one person responsible on a day-to-day basis. If you ask the CIA Chief in Pakistan, he'll tell you he is in charge of the mission. If you ask the CIA Chief in Afghanistan, you will get a similar answer. If you ask General Brown at SOCOM he will tell you that he has the mission. And, if you ask the folks at CENTCOM and at JSOC you will get similar responses. Let's not forget Ambassador Hank Crumpton, the Coordinator for Counter Terrorism. Lots of people working on the issue, but no one actually in charge.

Second, interagency cooperation is still spotty. For example, the Department of Defense has a prioritized list of Al Qaeda personnel they are hunting and the CIA has a different list. DOD and CIA still have not agreed on who in the Al Qaeda hierarchy should be targeted first. I am told that there is pretty good cooperation between CIA and FBI at the worker bee level in Afghanistan, but that this cooperation is personality dependent and breaks down as you move up the food chain.

Third, not all US intelligence and law enforcement resources are being devoted to the effort. DEA, for example, has some remarkable intelligence capabilities. They also have an incredible informant network and face significant challenges in Afghanistan, which has become the largest heroin exporter in the world. Drug sales can fund terrorist operations. Yet, DEA is not part of the CIA/DOD effort to find, capture, or kill Bin Laden.

Finally, the bureaucratic walls that separated the law enforcement and intelligence communities prior to 9-11 are back up and higher than ever. I was given this bad news two weeks ago by an old friend who has worked at the FBI, the CIA, and the National Security Council during the last three years. He said, "the the window of cooperation that opened in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 has been slammed shut." Apparently we have learned nothing from the debacle of 9-11.

more.....

I can add a 5th - it is in the neocon's interest to not to capture/kill OBL as to insure the source of the fear element.