CIA Assassination Attempt

July 17, 2009

Mr. William Falk, Editor-in-Chief
The Week
55 West 39th Street
NY, NY 10018

Dear Mr. Falk,

I just received my copy of the July 24th, 2009 edition of The Week. In it, there is an article on page 4 titled: “The CIA’S Secret Plan: Did Cheney commit a crime?”The article is in error because there is documentary proof that the CIA attempted to assassinate Osama bin Laden in 2003. The CIA team was assisted by Afghan soldiers.

The whole plan was explained in detail by the head of the operation (a CIA man in disguise) on “60 Minutes” last Sunday. The same program was also broadcast last fall by “60 Minutes”.

The segment showed maps, described strategy and included substantial film shot by the CIA team within yards of Tora Bora on that night. The CIA commander told of two plans he wanted to execute but “Was denied permission with no explanation”. In the first plan, the CIA team had wanted to approach Bin Laden’s hideout from the backside instead of climbing up a hill but they were not allowed to do that….no reason given. The CIA leader also mentioned that the Afghan allies “went home at night” and left the Americans in danger.

There was a very clear implication by the CIA leader of this assault team that he believed that if his team had been allowed to do what they had been trained to do and could have done, if given permission, Osama bin Laden would have been killed.