Sounds bad -- but I think I understand the reasoning.

A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in PakistanÂ’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin LadenÂ’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist groupÂ’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

Mr. Rumsfeld decided that the operation, which had ballooned from a small number of military personnel and C.I.A. operatives to several hundred, was cumbersome and put too many American lives at risk, the current and former officials said. He was also concerned that it could cause a rift with Pakistan, an often reluctant ally that has barred the American military from operating in its tribal areas, the officials said.

As one looks at that explanation, it become very clear why they didn't complete the operation -- it was too complex to complete successfully AND would have constituted an act of war against Pakistan, a putative ally in the War on Terror. What's more, the attack would have dangerously undermined the Musharraf government -- and possibly led to the establishment of an Islamist government that would have been less cooperative with the US and more cooperative with the terrorists.

Of course, this is one of those "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situations.

Having aborted the mission on sound grounds, the Bush Administration's opponents can question the seriousness and competence of the administration. Had the operation moved forward, the administration would be blamed for the negative consequences with regard to Pakistan -- not to mention the criticisms that would have been leveled had the mission failed.

Posted by: Greg at 12:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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