Chock full of new stuff today. I was talking to a guy who made the following claim: we failed to kill Osama (prior to 9-11) partly because whenever we launched a cruise missile, CNN reported the launch before it reached it's target, allowing Osama to see the broadcast and move out before it arrived. I disagreed, arguing that the missile wouldn't take that long. I was wrong about that; there are four types of Tomahawks with ranges between 700 and 1350 miles, and they fly at about 550 miles per hour, so it could have taken 1.5 - 2.5 hours for a missile to hit. I can't verify whether the CNN part is true (seems iffy), but this raises a couple questions for me.
I wrote earlier that one factor in chasing bin Laden was the time required to get a ship into position. In order to be close enough, it would probably have to be near the coast of India or Pakistan in the Arabian Sea. So: was there no way to keep a ship in the area, close enough to Afghanistan to strike immediately (assuming he was in Afghanistan)? If not, why? If there was a way, why didn't we, and what does that say about our commitment to that mission?
Again, this was pre-9-11, when the issue didn't seem as important. Still wondering, though.
- posted by Dactyl @ 9:29 AM