Over the weekend we learned of internal White House, CIA, State Department, squabbling on a new Pentagon Special Operations team effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
With the summer Olympic Games to commence on August 8th I think back to another summer games that was held in Munich, Germany in 1972. Those games were tagged as the “1972 Munich Massacre” where masked terrorists of Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches.
Note the difference between Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s reaction to terrorism with the murder of 11 men, to our leader reactions after the loss of 3,000 lives at the World Trade Center /Twin Towers alone on 9-11.
Shortly after the massacre in Munich “Prime Minister Golda Meir created Committee X, a small group of government officials tasked with formulating an Israeli response, with herself and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan at the head. She also appointed General Aharon Yariv as her Advisor on Counterterrorism; he, along with Mossad Director Zvi Zamir, took the principal role in directing the ensuing operation. The committee came to the conclusion that to deter future terrorist incidents against Israel they needed to assassinate those who had supported or carried out the Munich massacre, and in dramatic fashion.
Israel responded to the massacre with Operation Spring of Youth and Operation Wrath of God, a series of Israeli air strikes and assassinations of those Israel claimed were planners of the killings.”
To read the entire article simply click on the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wrath_of_God#Munich_hostage-takers
And now the comparison to 9-11.
As our Cutting Edge-atalk show interview of Gary Bernsten, CIA’s key commander responsible for coordinating the fight against the Taliban around Kabul, was conducted two years ago I cannot confirm possible off camera comments with him relating to the failure to execute CIA plans to get bin Laden during the Clinton Administration. I will watch the program from the program archives to see if they were on camera.
Update: On page 63 of “Jawbreaker” Gary writes about a Chief in Uzbekistan who helped abort Jawbreaker in 2000. On that page it reads “But the aborted mission to the Panshir continued to leave a sick, empty feeling inside me. As leaders of CTC, Cofer (Black Dir CTC) and Hank (name changed for security reasons) had shown a willingness to plan and execute risky missions. But neither CIA director George Tenet nor President Bill Clinton had the will to wage a real fight against terrorists who were killing U.S. citizens.”
On page 163 of “Jawbreaker” Gary refers to the attacks on American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as well as the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. His story reads: “Rarely in history has a great power like ours received two such warnings and failed to act to defend itself. The price our country paid was huge.
Many CTC unit leaders and Chiefs of Stations in the field begged for an opportunity to respond. But CIA leadership was unwilling to fight the bureaucratic battles necessary to win Clinton administration approval to defend the United States.”
Gilbert comment. Sounds like the current state of affairs. “Lead, follow or get out of the way” should be today’s message. To third world countries we seem like wimps. Diplomacy sounds good on paper but has it ended Al- Quade terrorism?
CIA censors stalled publication of his “Jawbreaker” book until ordered by a court to release the (heavily redacted) account which details his experiences chasing Osama bin Laden and the Taliban into the mountains of Afghanistan. “Jawbreaker” is a page turner that I recommend to anyone interested in CIA efforts not appearing in everyday news coverage.
Based on Taliban involvement in the 9-11 terrorist attack on US soil I support the assassination of Bin Laden wherever he may be hiding. If he is caught in Pakistan, an alleged US ally nation, we should take matters into our own hands and ask forgiveness after the operation has been concluded. I say that because we are providing huge sums of money to that nation and requesting permission puts their new leadership in an awkward position should they show support of any covert operation. We have given Pakistan somewhere between $2 and $3 billion US taxpayer dollars in aid to be used for energy, water & power, transportation, education, health, agriculture and education.
All we ask in return, at this point in time is help us or get out of the way as we eradicate those responsible for past or future terrorist attacks possibly based in their mountains or villages.
As always your comments on this story are solicited for discussion.
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