Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
Many thanks to Chuck Pfarrer for sending me a copy of his new book, SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden. It just got here, and I can see how the rest of the day's going to go. I'll report back when I've finished it. A quick skim reveals this line:
If SEALS are assigned to "neutralize" an individual, they are wise to ask, and receive, precise clarification as to what this means. Do they unplug his phone or kill him?
I'm often confused when I get those orders myself.
Thanks to my well-developed international gossip networks, I've actually heard a few supposedly inside stories of the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, some more credible than others. (Oddly, almost every man I meet over the age of 16 has his own personal inside story.) One such story--from someone slightly more credible than the others, and that's all I'll say about that---contradicts the main narrative of this book. But no one ever says, "It went down exactly the way the White House said it did."
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Mar '11
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
I read Warrior Soul and am looking forward to Mr. Pfarrer's latest book. I was listening to him on a radio show (Dennis Miller) and he mentioned that the helicopter that didn't make it out wasn't lost on insertion, so now I have a (semi) professional reason to read it, since the story that was in the media at least made a little sense.
Claire, you must hang around a bunch of interesting people - I got nuttin'.
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
I wouldn't underestimate the desire of men to boast to women about how they have the inside story on killing bin Laden. But I wouldn't put much stock in these stories, either.
Mar '11
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
Oh, I fully understand the desire, and used to give in to it from time to time when I was piloting the DoD classified Shuttle missions -- all without breaching OPSEC, you understand.
Paging Capt. Mitty...paging Capt. Mitty...
May '10
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
This book is definitely going under our Christmas tree this year. I'm giving it to my husband, but I'll probably read it before he does. Please post a review once you've read it. I loved what Pfarrer was quoted as saying in the The Sunday Times about what most upset the SEALS about killing Bin Laden, “I've been a Seal for 30 years and I never heard the words 'kill mission'. It's a Beltway fantasy word. If it was a kill mission you don't need Seal Team 6; you need a box of hand grenades.”
I imagine we'll also be checking out Act of Valor, which stars actual Navy SEALs. I don't know if that's been mentioned on here.
As for what really happened, we'll probably never know and all the better. I kinda think the Obama administration released more information than was advisable concerning the circumstances of Bin Laden's death. The public should've never known who killed him, only that he was dead. But if they are going to open that can of worms, at least give credit where it is due.
Oct '10
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
I'd love to read what actually happened before, during, and after this operation, but I suspect that Karen is right and we'll never really know the details. That's why I decided not to read SEAL Target Geronimo after flirting with the idea of doing so. Unless I'm reasonably certain that it's accurate, it could just be more misinformation.
Aug '10
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
Is credulity so abundant? Guys pretend to have been in on a black op and they are utterly confident you'll play along, showing a lurid interest but keeping it discreet, maintaining their absurd pose for them?
Maybe. Years ago, I applied for "work" at the CIA's Directorate of Operations, and we interviewees were told the background check would be done by people with DoD credentials. I asked what we should tell friends and relatives, if they wondered who were these strangers asking about me. "Oh, just tell them you're applying for a government job." Did the CIA really think my friends and relatives were that dumb? My guess is yes. It is possible that in that line of work, one meets quite a lot of dumb people. Maybe the CIA takes that for granted. I hope the SEALs don't!
Apr '11
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
A big Ricochet sympathy violin for one more unemployed victim of the administration's job-killing policies in the Obama Recession.
May '10
Re: Stoop Zero Three is Inbound With Sea Fox Package--Thanks, Chuck!
I'm 2/3 way through the book. For me it's has been a real history lesson concerning Al Qaeda, and how it came to be. Fascinating on how SEALs are selected and trained. I have a new appreciation for them. I'll have to read the book again more slowly as there is a lot of information.