US failure contributed to regional woes

The lesson of history over the past eight years has been one of tragic conflict and combat in Afghanistan and Iraq as the United States has sought to avenge the terrible events of 9/11.

In a single-minded hunt for the leadership and membership of Al Qaida, the US military has brought every tactic to bear in these theatres of operations, inflicting a toll an immense suffering on civilian populations caught up as "collateral damage."

In seven years, president George W. Bush went to near-maniacal lengths to hunt down and bring to justice those responsible for the cowardly 9/11 attacks.

But now comes word from the US Senate that the White House and its military machine were within hours of cornering and capturing Osama Bin Laden in the mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001. American military leaders, however, made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the US' Public Enemy No 1 through the use of massive forces.

And by failing to secure the noose on Bin Laden when it had the chance, the US military leadership unwittingly laid the groundwork for a revived insurgency in Afghanistan, and helped inflame the internal strife now gripping neighbouring Pakistan.

The majority report, prepared by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, places the blame squarely on senior White House and Pentagon officials, pointing the finger of culpability directly at Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's hand-picked warmongering secretary of defence, and his top military commander, General Tommy Franks.

The report notes that because of the US failure to bring military resources at its disposal to bear on Tora Bora, Bin Laden and his bodyguards were effectively able to walk across the border into Pakistan as if it were a weekend stroll in the mountains.

There can be no excuse for failing to act decisively. We are paying the price for this failure today.