Me: what I sent to the Democrats: “It was a mistake to outsource the job of encircling Bin Laden at Tora Bora to the Northern Alliance.  The world’s most powerful army would have done a better job.”

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Kerry: “I would not take my eye off of the goal: Osama bin Laden. Unfortunately, he escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use American forces, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The president relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong.”

Factcheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=271" title="http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=271" target="_blank"http://www.factcheck.org/arti..., “Kerry said U.S. forces allowed Osama bin Laden to escape in 2001 during the battle at Tora Bora in Afghanistan because the administration "outsourced" fighting to Afghan "warlords." Actually, it's never been clear whether bin Laden actually was at Tora Bora. It is true that military leaders strongly suspected bin Laden was there, and it is also true that the Pentagon relied heavily on Afghan forces to take on much of the fighting at Tora Bora in an effort to reduce US casualties. But Kerry overstates the case by stating flatly that "we had him surrounded."

Liberal oasis came pretty close to saying what I did back in July. http://www.liberaloasis.com/archives/070404.htm" title="http://www.liberaloasis.com/archives/070404.htm" target="_blank"http://www.liberaloasis.com/a...  

“What's interesting is that the Bushies are still outsourcing the Get Osama operation.

Sure, this excerpt from TNR sounds particularly conspiratorial:

...according to this ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence] official, a White House aide told [ISI director Lt. Gen. Ehsan] ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

But it's also pathetic.

The Bushies don't have much control over the situation if they have to ask another country to deliver the goods by a certain date, instead of taking the lead themselves.” 

What I said about outsourcing is Tora Bora is later logically implied.  “This same mistake was made in 2001 at Tora Bora, where we hired Afghan warlords to nab Osama, and they proceeded to help him escape.” 

I take issue with what factcheck.org has to say:  First: the administration is on record saying on numerous occasions that they think Bin Laden was there, esteemed newspapers said so as do Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners and for that matter so does Bin Laden:  Christian Science Monitor from the link given above for example:  “And on Nov 29, Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC's "Primetime Live" that, according to the reports that were coming in, bin Laden was in Tora Bora."I think he was equipped to go to ground there," Mr. Cheney said. "He's got what he believes to be a fairly secure facility. He's got caves underground; it's an area he's familiar with.

Meanwhile, in the weeks following bin Laden's arrival at the Tora Bora caves, morale slipped under the constant air assault. One group of Yemeni fighters, squirreled away in a cave they had been assigned to by the Al Qaeda chief, had not seen bin Laden since entering on Nov. 13.

But they say bin Laden joined them on Nov. 26, the 11th day of Ramadan, a warm glass of green tea in his hand. Instead of inspiring the elite fighters, he was now reduced, they say, to repeating the same "holy war" diatribe.

Around him that day sat three of his most loyal fighters, including Abu Baker, a square-faced man with a rough-hewn scruff on his chin."[Bin Laden] said, 'hold your positions firm and be ready for martyrdom,' " Baker told Afghan intelligence officers when he was captured in mid-December. "He said, 'I'll be visiting you again, very soon.' " Then, as quickly as he had come, Baker says, bin Laden vanished into the pine forests.”

It seems I did “overstate” it when I said Bin Laden was encircled.  That though is worse for the Americans.  Routes that should have been blocked off were not and some Al Qaeda troops left via these routes.  Others escaped as is generally known by bribing Hazret Ali and his men.