Wlfgng, I can't get into much detail here as far as verification of data goes. Trust me on a couple of things:
1. The sweep was conducted by really good troops, and alot of them were non-U.S. troops.
2. The sweep was far more successful than it has been reported to be by most media outlets. This is probably due to the media not being allowed to do certain things to 'verify facts'. There are alot of dead Al-Q fighters buried in caves but because there's no way to 'count' how many are buried you aren't going to read about them in a news report on the relevant battle(s).
3. A native to that area (14,000' high up in the mountains), if he was hiding alone, in a totally natural and fairly small cave, could hide fairly well. However, the majority of the Al-Q targeted in the sweep (99% or more) were in no way native to that terrain (at least 20% were Chechen for example). The caves they were in were highly developed fortifications. Once those fortifications started falling in general the 1st tier Al-Q fighters (very very worthy foes by the way) ran as fast as they could for the border. Alot of them died running before they reached the border. This is a good thing. Most of the 1st tier Al-Q 'tactical' operators have special forces type training and combat experience. In general they got killed because they broke contact too late - they didn't realize how well they could be tracked, pursued, and targeted - even in that terrain. Their idea of our capabilities in those departments was based on analyis of the '91 war vs. Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo, Bosnia, etc. They underestimated the opposition in those departments by roughly a factor of 10.
Mike/wulfie
