Hunting Al Qaeda: A Take-no-prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, And Disillusionment - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076032252X ISBN 13: 9780760322529

Publisher: Voyageur Pr, 2005

Synopsis

When the citizen-soldiers of Beast 85 went off to fight the enemy, they could not have imagined that the largest obstacle they would face was not the suffocating heat, disease, or even the enemy itself, but an increasingly risk-averse high command and the modern American military’s culture of ""playing it safe."" Even while being shot at, they were not allowed to shoot back, ending up sitting on their hands for days and weeks on end. Then, the men of Beast 85 did what Green Berets do; they found a way to get the job done. They hunted, cornered, and captured some of the highest-level terrorists in Afghanistan, including 1) one of the Taliban’s top generals, 2) the man responsible for a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign, and 3) a key player in the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud (the ""Lion of Panjshir"") a man who struck fear into Osama bin Laden’s own cold and murderous heart. But their actions only seemed to rile the military’s play-it-safe leadership, who at every turn let the bad guys slip away to fight another day. That did not deter Beast 85, who proved themselves collectively to be one of the gutsiest and bravest units in the war. Written by the men who were there, Hunting al Qaeda takes no prisoners in its critical look at what went right (plenty, when they were allowed to do their job), what went wrong (plenty more), and what happens when Green Berets are unleashed in the most hostile place on the planet.

About this title

Book Description

Active-duty special forces units tend to look down their noses at National Guard special forces, calling them the “summer help.” But the men of Beast 85 were much more than summer help. They were experienced, highly qualified Green Berets in every sense of the term, with the kind of exceptional skill and insight necessary to fight an unconventional war. They were anxious to prove themselves in Afghanistan. High adventure, heavy combat, but in the end, these Green Berets were left disillusioned by what might have been as overly cautious military and CIA superiors let Al Qaeda slip through their fingers.

From the Publisher

Hunting Al Qaeda is a tale of real life special operations worthy of Hollywood, and a stinging indictment of America’s ossified military bureaucracy. It is also the best and most compulsively readable book yet to emerge from the global War on Terror.

About this edition

• Publisher: Voyageur Pr
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 076032252X
• ISBN 13: 9780760322529
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255
• Editor: Mayer Bob