Guess what? According to the Times Online, way back when, when it was known that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in caves in Tora Bora, the Brits were within 20 minutes of capturing him. But the Americans wanted to get the credit, so the Brits were told to hold off until the Americans arrived....several hours later, by which time Osama was long gone. 20 minutes!!!! A lousy 20 minutes!
Bin Laden was located by British signals intelligence experts in a series of caves at Tora Bora in the White Mountains, 25 miles southwest of Jalalabad; but the assault on the caves was badly botched and risk aversion mentality won the day. A combined force of SAS and SBS commandos was just 20 minutes behind Bin Laden, but they were pulled off to allow US troops to go in for the kill. It took several hours for the Americans to get there, by which time he had escaped.Sigh.
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