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Tora-Bora |
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From 9/11 Encyclopedia:
Tora-Bora,
a cave system in afghanistan, was bombed during the War against the
Taliban. The official reason was to kill Bin Laden.
This looked rather
odd, because his father built Tora-Bora together with Bin
Ladin Inc. and the help of the CIA in the late 80s. In 1999,
with help
of former muhjadeen Abdul Wakil Baidar, the place was still largely
deserted, but had been refurbished again.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/666221.asp
Both Bin Laden and the CIA still had the maps of Tora-Bora.
Many people wondered:
Why would he hide there at all? As later
revealed, the Pentagon just tested their microwave system Thermobarics.
On Dec. 21, Pete Aldridge, the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics had to explain this technology,
which was mentioned in the last Quadrennial Defense Review
(QDR).
On
January 8th 2002, the US military moved from Tora Bora to Zwahir Kili,
another cave system.
Admiral Stufflebeem on this decision at a DoD press briefing: "Well, I don't mean to confuse you. What we've been talking about in terms of the Zhawar Kili area, of late, is the facility and what we have found in this location. Tora Bora was of interest some time ago because it was where al Qaeda was. And so we went after Tora Bora because that's where we knew al Qaeda forces to be, and they were in some concentration; the numbers I don't know, but they were in some concentration. So we went after al Qaeda where we knew it to be at. Once we were able to get in there, we did exactly the same thing there as we're doing in Zhawar Kili now."
Q: Can I ask you a quick follow-up on that? I've asked you this before, about the thermobaric bomb that was announced back in December. Has that been used in the Zhawar Kili complex?
Stufflebeem: No. And the reason
why is
-- I mean, to go back and take a look at what we're doing, or have been
doing since last Wednesday in Zhawar Kili is that we're knocking down
these above- ground facilities and we're closing cave entrances. Now, a
thermobaric weapon is more closely like a fuel-air explosive. It goes
inside to create an overpressure to get what's inside there.
Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2002/t01142002_t0114asd.html