From the first pages of his redacted recollections, Gary Bernsten takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Agency's early frustrations with the menace of Al Qaeda - as well as his own for the Washington bureaucracy - giving us our first glimpse of the Panshir Valley prior to the USS Cole tragedy and the 9/11 turning point. Bernsten picks up the momentum of Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander less than a month later as he was preparing to spearhead the hunt for Bin Laden as it had been laid out by the CIA's Counter Terrorism Center [CTC] and the Armed Forces Central Command [CENTCOM], with the initial airstrikes against the Taliban and Al Qaeda targets and the insertion of both military and civilian teams into Afghanistan.
Sometimes his riveting account of this handful of dedicated experts and professionals [some 110 CIA officers and 350 Special Forces soldiers, supported by air power and advanced technology] could be difficult to follow because of the rapid pace of events and the multiple facets of their operations. Whenever I watch Robert Redford's Lions For Lambs (Widescreen Edition), it conjures up the actions of those forces in my mind. But on the whole, his blend of textured characters and harrowing circumstances was fascinating reading, even with the bands of redacted text every few pages. His return to the Panshir from Tajikistan, his efforts with the native commanders, with their intelligence operations and the allied forces, with hostage issues, language problems and cultural conflicts; Gary shared each step of the way with us in vivid detail. His descriptions of Tora Bora gave us edge-of-your-seat panoramas of the execution of our warfare options with a modern enemy, in sharp contrast to how we have failed in Iraq. Being so close to his mission's near-complete success, his obvious frustrations with his recall and the uncertainty of our policies in the area are easy to understand. History may see those events in his favor and be more sympathetic to his feelings.
Bernsten's conclusions offer a longer perspective of our actions during those few critical months that are shared by others and documented elsewhere. Our Afghan war has been described as a flawed masterpiece and may end up as one of the more notable military achievements in the last half century. May it serve as a positive example for future successes, as open societies face the challenges of lethal enemies, and as a call for creative leadership with compassion and understanding for other people and their traditions.
Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East...
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Top reviews from other countries
- Gary RixonReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2020
Don't hesitate. What a read!
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alkbtReviewed in France on June 10, 2021
Livre arrivé rapidement et conforme à la description !
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Juergen KollerReviewed in Germany on January 22, 2013
Sehr interessante Einblicke, decken sich mit
- DavidHoReviewed in Australia on September 12, 2016
Good book - what has happened about the redacted material since publishing in 2006....
