French general: Bin Laden in reach twice

[mumon]

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan had Osama bin Laden "within reach" on at least two occasions but were unable to prevent him from slipping away, France's top general said Wednesday.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, France's chief of staff, said the al-Qaida leader has evaded capture several times since 2002 but not recently.

He didn't say where bin Laden had been tracked down and refused to comment on whether French special forces operating in southern Afghanistan were involved.

<After seeing Farenhit 911 trailer> However, he did indicate that the Republican National Committee's Karl Rove had personally helped bin Laden escape... </After seeing Farenhit 911 trailer>

Link added: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0603binladen03.html

[wjsander]

1. What?!

[ithacan]

2. link???

please

[maddezmom]

6. here ya go, but I see no mention of Rove

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=597644&mesg_id=597644

[mumon]

8. Uh, I added the Rove part...

Having just seen the Farenheit 911 trailer...

[maddezmom]

9. ok.... you edited it after I posted

sorry :)

[sadiesworld]

3. Link?

[jeff30997]

4. WTF?

[Geo55]

5. Timing

don't want to capture 'em 'till just before the election

[tlcandie]

7. March 15, 2004 story... but found this link...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/world/main611983.shtml

<snip>
"Our men were not very far," Gen. Henri Bentegeat told France's Europe-1 radio station. "On several occasions, I even think that he slipped out of a net that was well closed."
<snip>

<snip>
The military announced a new operation on Saturday called Mountain Storm, a revamp of its efforts to crush militants and capture their leaders — aiming to make the region safe for reconstruction and summer elections, and capture bin Laden and others.

Commanders say they are working in a "hammer-and-anvil" approach with Pakistani troops on the other side of the frontier to pin down guerrillas using the mountains as a base.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Monday that there were 500 to 600 suspected foreign terrorists living in the semiautonomous tribal areas along the border, and vowed to drive them out if they would not surrender.
<snip>

[Moderator]

10. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=597644