Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment [Hardcover]

Gerald Schumacher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In April 2002, Special Forces Team 2085 of the Virginia National Guard were "ripped from their lives" and deployed to Afghanistan to aid in the hunt for the remnants of al Qaeda and their Taliban allies. Over the course of their six-month tour, they mounted 45 missions, captured three high-value targets and destroyed 79,000 pounds of weapons and ammunition. This volume by team members "Red" and "Captain," however, focuses more on the story of their disillusionment than on their military successes. Frustrated that Special Forces troops "were being demoralized and squandered" by career-minded officers, they conclude that "our army is a wasteful, immobile, risk-averse outfit, whose purpose is simply to 'do time.'" This, of course, is the same army that routed the Taliban government in one month and toppled Saddam Hussein in 21 days. The account is rambling, often indecipherable and occasionally gratuitous-as when one of the authors refers to 9/11: "I remember the day well." Don't we all? Sometimes, it pays to remain anonymous. Other than the fact that it airs "a lot of dirty laundry," there's not much to recommend this book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Canadian Army Journal, Spring 2007

“In terms of physical production, I would especially commend the staff at Zenith Press for their creative approach to Hunting Al Qaeda. Most publishers eschew maps and photographs in order to save money, but Zenith chose to use color photos. More importantly, the book jacket, when unfolded, has a 1:100,000 map of the BEAST 85 operating area printed on it, making following the operations much easier. Other publishers need to understand that military history needs maps; they can learn from the Zenith approach.”

StrategyWorld.com, Sept. 21, 2005

“A rare inside look at Special Forces operations in Afghanistan ... Hunting al Qaeda makes a number of important points about the importance of speed in planning and execution, which were often lacking. Indeed, this book is likely to leave the reader with the impression that things went badly wrong in Afghanistan from the time the legions of staff arrived on the scene. It also illustrates the importance of flexibility and adaptability in the field … 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.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press; 1st edition (July 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076032252X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760322529
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,461,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has 40 books published. He has over three million books in print and is in demand as a team-building, life-change, and leadership speaker and consultant. Bob graduated from West Point and served in the military as a Special Forces A-Team leader and a teacher at the JFK Special Warfare Center & School. His latest book is Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear & Succeed. He teaches novel writing and improving the author via his Write It Forward program. He lives in Airborne Country For more information see www.bobmayer.org

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Afghanistan war & citizen soldiers, July 15, 2005

By 

T.S. Fischer "another avid reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment (Hardcover)

I thought this was a really good book, and it contains the best explanation I have ever read of the tribal conflicts and ethnic differences in Afghanistan. The main character - "Red" - spent years there with his father, who worked for US Aid, in the 1970s, and he lays out in a chapter that are incredible reading for that history. I thought there would be more action, but the story really shows what war is like in my opinion, especially for the reserve "citizen soldiers" who are fighting this war more than ever before in US history. That's why I bought it, really...there is a lot of down time in the story, but the battles are intense and you get the sense of what it's like to be a soldier waiting for the bureacracy to OK his every move. I had thought that special forces today had the ability to act without the command BS that bogged down Vietnam, guess I was wrong. Also, the Wedding Party massacre was incredible reading - the soldiers basically refute that it was just some gunfire in the air that attracted the airstrikes that killed the civilians in that infamous incident. Also, it was depressing to read about all the Mullahs they caught and were told to let go by the chain of command, including that one Mullah who, from a safe hideout in Pakistan instead of in US custody, recently said bin Laden was in good health. Overall a good read, and when it was slow it was still interesting to read about how the soldiers survive every day in the heat, dust, and fighting in Afghanistan. Anyone interested in the war there or special forces I think will like this book. A special bonus that I did not learn until I got the book home - on the reverse side of the jacket is a military map of the operation zone in Afghanistan, it's excellent for this book but I also use it to follow battles and movements I hear about in the news.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's Wrong With The Military Bureaucracy?, August 18, 2005

By 

Robert E. Kenyon III "True Believer" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment (Hardcover)

This is a "hands-on", first person account of the courage, tenacity, and valor of America's Special Forces, in this case, drawn from our citizen-soldiers, the Reserves/National Guard. It personalizes and damns the way the military hierachy [REMFs] has impersonally and dangerously blunted the effectiveness of its most effective fighting forces against today's unconventional opponents for their own personal career gains. It is an excellent companion book for "Not A Good Day To Die", by Sean Naylor, which presents the same problem from a slightly different perspective. It is criminal that the military hierachy is allowed to spend enormous amounts of time and money to recruit, train, motivate, and deploy the best our nation has to offer, and then burden them with administrative, make-work assignments; micromanage their field operations; and try to smother their initiative and effectiveness. What is needed is for the military, all services, to shift field decision responsibility down to most the most effective common demoninator - the platoon/squad leader on the ground in the enemy, and do it immediately!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is not a good read for thrill seekers, October 26, 2005

By 

Dusty Roads - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment (Hardcover)

...but it is a good read for war junkies who like to know the nuances of modern day combat. This book has a very hard start and tends to vilify why the army recruits 18 year old soldiers who have not formulated strong opinions about the military.

If you wish to gain insights into the minds of a more aged reservist being call-up for war in the Gulf, then this would be of interest to you. It also does a good job of pointing out the inefficiencies of the military and our war doctrine to date. The author's indictments of the military are timely yet are not unique in whole or in part over the past century of warfare.

One could become dismayed over the lack of military progress as articulated this book but it should be noted that save one, every member of the bull returned to tell the story. Not every soldier over the years could make such a claim. Good or bad, this operational outcome was far more appealing then a Gallipoli.

As for future readers of this book, enjoy the nuances of modern day warfare and remember that even if the author has an axe to grind, he is at least alive to share it with you.