Peter Bergen

#2

2001

"On September 11, 2001, the world in which we live was changed forever. The twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down, one side of the Pentagon burst into flames, and more than six thousand men, women, and children lost their lives in the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil. As shocking as it was, it had been long in the making: the assault was the most sophisticated and horrifying in a series of operations masterminded by Osama bin Laden and his Jihad group - an organization that CNN's terrorism analyst Peter Bergen calls Holy War, Inc.". "One of only a handful of Western journalists to have interviewed the world's most wanted man face to face, Peter Bergen has produced the definitive book on the Jihadist network that operates globally and in secrecy. In the course of four years of investigative reporting, he has interviewed scores of insiders - from bin Laden associates and family members to Taliban leaders to CIA officials - and traveled to Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom to learn the truth about bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization and his mission."--BOOK JACKET.

#3

Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multi-dimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, as well as the recent campaign that gradually tightened the noose around him. Other key elements of the book include: A careful account of Obama's decision-making process in the final weeks and days as the raid was planned, as well as what NSC cabinet members were advising him; the fascinating story of a group of mostly women analysts at the CIA in the HVT (high value target) section, who never gave up assembling the tiniest clues about OBL's whereabouts; the untold and action-packed history of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the SEALs, which accounts for the confidence Obama had in tasking them with the mission; and, an analysis of what the death of OBL means for al Qaeda, for the wider jihadist movement that looked to him for inspiration and strategic guidance, and for Obama's legacy. Just as Hugh Trevor-Roper's "The Last Days of Hitler" was the definitive account of the death of the Nazi dictator, so too is "Manhunt" the authoritative, immersive account of the operation that killed the man who organized the largest mass murder in American history.