According to a recent documentary, French soldiers in Afghanistan could have killed al Quaeda leader Osama bin Laden on two different occasions, and they would have done so, except that the order to open fire was not given by American military commanders.

The filmed report, by journalists Eric de Lavarene and Emmanuel Razavi, asserts that the French troops had bin Laden in their rifle scopes in 2003 and then again six months later in 2004.

Four French soldiers assigned to a 200-strong special forces unit in Afghanistan under US military control all confirmed — “at different times and in different places” — that they could have killed bin Laden but that the order to shoot was not forthcoming, the report claims.

Now, some folks believe that this is evidence of a right-wing conspiracy to keep us afraid enough of this particular boogeyman that we’ll happily accept every new request for additional billions to fund a perpetual war on terror. I’m not one of them, however.

On the other hand, here’s a little advice for those of you in the military: The next time you have bin Laden in your crosshairs, take the damn shot, and ask for forgivness later.

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