Is there anyone left who doesn’t believe that the US bungled the Oct. 20th commando raid in Kandahar, the first highly touted ground assault of the “war”? [Or that Pentagon spokes lie through their teeth in their briefings about this? About other aspects of the military effort?] Read Seymour Hersh’s account here The New Yorker He’s been all over the media following up on this story — interviewed on CNN on Monday and NPR’s Morning Edition today. The Guardian corroborates Hersh’s findings (largely based on his American military informants) from Pakistani sources:
The debacle, which saw US Delta Force soldiers come under intense fire from the Taliban, prompted a review of special forces operations in Afghanistan and seems to have led to a delay in similar behind-the-lines operations.
The ferocity of the Taliban resistance caught US commandos unawares and showed that 13 days of bombing had failed to break the Taliban’s morale. It sparked a debate in the Pentagon on the advisability of such missions in the absence of clear intelligence.
Soon after the October 20 raid, the US switched its military strategy, throwing its weight behind the opposition Northern Alliance and relying on it to provide ground troops for the campaign.
The day after the raid the Pentagon hailed the operation a success that proved that US forces could strike anywhere at any time, in the manner of their choosing.
But, in fact, no one in American command counted upon the speed and intensity of the Taliban response. Both Hersh and the Guardian suggest the leadership of Gen. Tommy Franks, an artillery officer apparently enamored of the doctrine of warfighting via overwhelming force who commands the US war effort, is in question. Or will he be a convenient fall guy for a more pervasive failure of American military doctrine? like the same one we made in losing the Vietnam War a generation ago? It should be noted that US military spokespeople, e.g. on Sunday’s Meet the Press, dispute this account, insisting there was only “light resistance” and a “planned extraction” instead of a “hasty retreat”.
