Intelligence

CIA’s Bin Laden hunter to reveal near-miss raid

CIA’s Bin Laden hunter to reveal near-miss raid - Sunday Times - Times Online

Sarah Baxter
DRESSED in flowing Afghan robes, Gary Berntsen led the CIA undercover team, codenamed Jawbreaker, assigned to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden in the mountains of Tora Bora during the dying days of the Afghan war.

Now he is on a new mission: to convince the White House — and the American public — that the Al-Qaeda chief was genuinely within his grasp. In his book Jawbreaker, scheduled for publication in October, he claims his team had pinpointed Bin Laden’s location and “knew for certain” he was there

Berntsen’s manuscript is being vetted by the CIA. He is suing his former employers for taking too long to assess his material and for demanding excessive cuts.

A White House spokesman last week repeated a claim made during the presidential election by General Tommy Franks that, “We don’t know to this day whether Mr Bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001.”

Berntsen, 48, insists he can shoot down that “surprising” statement and has offered to provide proof to Andrew Card, President George W Bush’s chief of staff. “I’d welcome the opportunity to meet White House officials at any time to explain how we knew of Bin Laden’s presence there,” he said last week.

Berntsen’s claim is the most authoritative that the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks could have been captured. As commander of the Jawbreaker unit, he had the latest intelligence on Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Berntsen has been decorated by the CIA for counter-terrorist activities in the Middle East and east Africa. He is becoming persona non grata, however, because his account of the Afghan campaign conflicts with the White House version of events.

“Gary co-ordinated most of the boots on the ground,” said Roy Krieger, his lawyer. “We knew where Bin Laden was within a very circumscribed area. It was full of caves and tunnels but we could have bombed them or searched them one by one. The Pentagon failed to deploy sufficient troops to seal them off.”

Berntsen’s book may contain other secrets that the CIA would rather keep. “He wasn’t just involved in the hunt for Bin Laden,” said Krieger.

Berntsen helped to provide co-ordinates for American airstrikes and collected computers from bombed-out Al-Qaeda hiding places. In the book he describes how some Taliban leaders were lured to their capture and sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He also handed cash to Northern Alliance warlords to keep them on side. He was not impressed by their fighting ability and believes that the Pentagon was wrong to rely on their forces in Tora Bora.

For the moment Berntsen is unable to reveal more details. His CIA work is classified although he left the agency in June. It has the last word on what can appear in his book.

The CIA is meant to vet manuscripts in 30 days but has held on to Berntsen’s for nearly 90 days. The CIA said the time limit “could be extended if the book is lengthy or the subject complex”.

The real struggle may come over what the agency wants to cut. “As far as we know they are going for everything,” said Berntsen. “It is starting to look like a cover-up.”

August 14, 2005 at 11:05 AM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home