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The gripping account of the decade-long hunt for the world's most wanted man.
It was only a week before 9/11 that Peter Bergen turned in the manuscript of Holy War, Inc., the story of Osama bin Laden--whom Bergen had once interviewed in a mud hut in Afghanistan--and his declaration of war on America. The book became a New York Times bestseller and the essential portrait of the most formidable terrorist enterprise of our time. Now, in Manhunt, Bergen picks up the thread with this taut yet panoramic account of the pursuit and killing of bin Laden.
Here are riveting new details of bin Laden's flight after the crushing defeat of the Taliban to Tora Bora, where American forces came startlingly close to capturing him, and of the fugitive leader's attempts to find a secure hiding place. As the only journalist to gain access to bin Laden's Abbottabad compound before the Pakistani government demolished it, Bergen paints a vivid picture of bin Laden's grim, Spartan life in hiding and his struggle to maintain control of al-Qaeda even as American drones systematically picked off his key lieutenants.
Half a world away, CIA analysts haunted by the intelligence failures that led to 9/11 and the WMD fiasco pored over the tiniest of clues before homing in on the man they called "the Kuwaiti"--who led them to a peculiar building with twelve-foot-high walls and security cameras less than a mile from a Pakistani military academy. This was the courier who would unwittingly steer them to bin Laden, now a prisoner of his own making but still plotting to devastate the United States.
Bergen takes us inside the Situation Room, where President Obama considers the COAs (courses of action) presented by his war council and receives conflicting advice from his top advisors before deciding to risk the raid that would change history--and then inside the Joint Special Operations Command, whose "secret warriors," the SEALs, would execute Operation Neptune Spear. From the moment two Black Hawks take off from Afghanistan until bin Laden utters his last words, Manhunt reads like a thriller.
Based on exhaustive research and unprecedented access to White House officials, CIA analysts, Pakistani intelligence, and the military, this is the definitive account of ten years in pursuit of bin Laden and of the twilight of al-Qaeda.
"Virtually crackles with insider details...Bergen's Pakistani sources gave him new insight into bin Laden's home life...The details of the SEAL raid itself...[make] for compelling reading. Bergen puts the raid into a broader intelligence framework and deftly re-creates the heart-thumping tension of that night and the calculations that went into pulling off the daring mission...Bergen's three other books have become required reading for national security buffs and counterterrorism reporters. But "Manhunt" is different. It goes to a higher level...Bergen has accomplished a journalistic feat: He manages to make the story of bin Laden's end sound new. He has put together a real-life thriller that will be a must-read for years to come."
--Dina Temple-Raston, "Washington Post"
"A gripping read...Bergen has an eye for memorable close-ups. His narrative has authority...Packed with satisfying observations...Highly readable."
--"The "Economist""
"Some of the more illuminating sections of "Manhunt" concern the efforts of intelligence analysts to piece together a 'working theory' about Bin Laden's whereabouts...Also fascinating are the descriptions of internal debates within the Obama administration."
--Michiko Kakutani, "New York Times"
"Gripping...Dramatic...A masterful account of bin Laden's life and activities, how al Qaeda operated in the aftermath of Sept. 11, and the American government's success in tracking down the world's most notorious terrorist leader."
--Joshua Sinai, "Washington Times"
"Terrific...A fast-paced narrative that takes you into the search for the most-wanted man in human history."
--Bruce Riedel, The Daily Beast
"In "Manhunt," Peter Bergen has produced a page-turner rich with new information and insight into the search for Bin Laden and his killing. Only Bergen, America's foremost counterterrorism writer, could have produced a book of such energy and authority--a triumph."
--STEVE COLL, author ofw
ISBN: 9780307955579
ISBN-10: 0307955575
Audience:
General
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 359
Published: 1st May 2012
Dimensions (cm): 24.3 x 16.4
x 3.4
Weight (kg): 0.68
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