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http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/guantanamo_tora_bora/2007/09/07/30906.html
Yemeni Says Bin Laden Was at Tora Bora
Friday, September 7, 2007
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A doctor who treated wounded al-Qaida fighters at
Tora Bora in Afghanistan has confirmed Osama bin Laden was at the mountain
stronghold as U.S. and Afghan forces attacked _ and said the al-Qaida
chieftain seemed concerned about only his own welfare.
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, a doctor from Yemen, told a military panel at
Guantanamo Bay that he carried out amputations with a knife and scissors in
the caves of Tora Bora during the siege in late 2001 and had to abandon his
patients several times when B-52 bombers flew overhead.
Batarfi said he was forced to treat the al-Qaida fighters and was not a
terrorist himself. Desperate to escape the bombings, he said he asked to see
the commander of forces at Tora Bora because he wanted to learn how to
escape. Two weeks later, he was summoned to a meeting _ and found himself
face-to-face with bin Laden, whom he had met once before in Kabul, the
Afghan capital.
The rare insider's account of the siege of Tora Bora is contained in
transcripts The Associated Press obtained Friday from the Pentagon under the
Freedom of Information Act. The transcript is of a hearing held at the U.S.
military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Batarfi _ who was arrested
after the siege _ is being held.
Batarfi said bin Laden was at Tora Bora for only two days and that the
al-Qaida leader _ who on Friday was seen in a new video _ felt he had no way
to slip away from approaching U.S. and Afghan forces.
But instead of American troops being sent into Tora Bora to rout out bin
Laden, Afghan forces went in, and came up empty. The Bush administration has
been criticized for not getting bin Laden when it had the opportunity,
though senior administration officials have repeatedly said that commanders
did not know for sure whether he really was at Tora Bora.
Batarfi confirmed he met with bin Laden for about 10 minutes.
"He came from behind the trees and I assumed there was a cave nearby that
secured his place," Batarfi said. He added that bin Laden would limit
meetings to 45 minutes so U.S. forces would be unable to hone in on him and
fire a missile.
Batarfi said he told bin Laden that conditions at Tora Bora were terrible
and that because of bombardments and attacks by helicopter gunships that if
they did not leave "no one will stay alive."
Batarfi added that only a few poorly armed al-Qaida fighters were present to
fight off any invading force.
"Most of all the total guns in the Tora Bora area was 16 Kalashnikovs and
there are 200 people," Batarfi told the Guantanamo military panel, which was
weighing whether to release the detainee, in broken English. "He did not
prepare himself for Tora Bora and to be frank he didn't care about anyone
but himself.
"He came for a day to visit the area and we talked to him and we wanted to
leave this area. He said he didn't know where to go himself and the second
day he escaped and was gone."
The doctor said he sent someone to Jalalabad with a list of medical supplies
he needed, but people in the nearby city were suspicious and didn't provide
any.
"I was out of medicine and I had a lot of casualties," Batarfi recalled. "I
did a hand amputation by a knife and I did a finger amputation with
scissors, and if someone was injured badly I was just operating on the
table."
Yemeni Says Bin Laden Was at Tora Bora
Friday, September 7, 2007
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A doctor who treated wounded al-Qaida fighters at
Tora Bora in Afghanistan has confirmed Osama bin Laden was at the mountain
stronghold as U.S. and Afghan forces attacked _ and said the al-Qaida
chieftain seemed concerned about only his own welfare.
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, a doctor from Yemen, told a military panel at
Guantanamo Bay that he carried out amputations with a knife and scissors in
the caves of Tora Bora during the siege in late 2001 and had to abandon his
patients several times when B-52 bombers flew overhead.
Batarfi said he was forced to treat the al-Qaida fighters and was not a
terrorist himself. Desperate to escape the bombings, he said he asked to see
the commander of forces at Tora Bora because he wanted to learn how to
escape. Two weeks later, he was summoned to a meeting _ and found himself
face-to-face with bin Laden, whom he had met once before in Kabul, the
Afghan capital.
The rare insider's account of the siege of Tora Bora is contained in
transcripts The Associated Press obtained Friday from the Pentagon under the
Freedom of Information Act. The transcript is of a hearing held at the U.S.
military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Batarfi _ who was arrested
after the siege _ is being held.
Batarfi said bin Laden was at Tora Bora for only two days and that the
al-Qaida leader _ who on Friday was seen in a new video _ felt he had no way
to slip away from approaching U.S. and Afghan forces.
But instead of American troops being sent into Tora Bora to rout out bin
Laden, Afghan forces went in, and came up empty. The Bush administration has
been criticized for not getting bin Laden when it had the opportunity,
though senior administration officials have repeatedly said that commanders
did not know for sure whether he really was at Tora Bora.
Batarfi confirmed he met with bin Laden for about 10 minutes.
"He came from behind the trees and I assumed there was a cave nearby that
secured his place," Batarfi said. He added that bin Laden would limit
meetings to 45 minutes so U.S. forces would be unable to hone in on him and
fire a missile.
Batarfi said he told bin Laden that conditions at Tora Bora were terrible
and that because of bombardments and attacks by helicopter gunships that if
they did not leave "no one will stay alive."
Batarfi added that only a few poorly armed al-Qaida fighters were present to
fight off any invading force.
"Most of all the total guns in the Tora Bora area was 16 Kalashnikovs and
there are 200 people," Batarfi told the Guantanamo military panel, which was
weighing whether to release the detainee, in broken English. "He did not
prepare himself for Tora Bora and to be frank he didn't care about anyone
but himself.
"He came for a day to visit the area and we talked to him and we wanted to
leave this area. He said he didn't know where to go himself and the second
day he escaped and was gone."
The doctor said he sent someone to Jalalabad with a list of medical supplies
he needed, but people in the nearby city were suspicious and didn't provide
any.
"I was out of medicine and I had a lot of casualties," Batarfi recalled. "I
did a hand amputation by a knife and I did a finger amputation with
scissors, and if someone was injured badly I was just operating on the
table."
