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Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man | 
 enlarge | Author: Dalton Fury
Creator: Col.(r) David Hunt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 2800
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312384394
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1047
EAN: 9780312384395
ASIN: 0312384394
Publication Date: October 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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Product Description
The mission was to kill the most wanted man in the world--an operation of such magnitude that it couldn’t be handled by just any military or intelligence force. The best America had to offer was needed. As such, the task was handed to roughly forty members of America’s supersecret counterterrorist unit formerly known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta; more popularly, the elite and mysterious unit Delta Force.
The American generals were flexible. A swatch of hair, a drop of blood, or simply a severed finger wrapped in plastic would be sufficient. Delta's orders were to go into harm's way and prove to the world bin Laden had been terminated.
These Delta warriors had help: a dozen of the British Queen’s elite commandos, another dozen or so Army Green Berets, and six intelligence operatives from the CIA who laid the groundwork by providing cash, guns, bullets, intelligence, and interrogation skills to this clandestine military force. Together, this team waged modern siege of epic proportions against bin Laden and his seemingly impenetrable cave sanctuary burrowed deep inside the Spin Ghar Mountain range in eastern Afghanistan.
Over the years, since the battle ended, scores of news stories have surfaced offering tidbits of information about what actually happened in Tora Bora. Most of it is conjecture and speculation.
This is the real story of the operation, the first eyewitness account of the Battle of Tora Bora, and the first book to detail just how close Delta Force came to capturing bin Laden, how close U.S. bombers and fighter aircraft came to killing him, and exactly why he slipped through our fingers. Lastly, this is an extremely rare inside look at the shadowy world of Delta Force and a detailed account of these warriors in battle.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Enlightening read that should make you angry. October 7, 2008
Robert Busko (Waynesville, NC USA)
41 out of 44 found this review helpful
I thought we'd learned some expensive lessons in Vietnam. Apparently I'm wrong, and the proof of that is the book Kill bin laden (lower case intentional) by Dalton Fury (not the real name) and Col. David Hunt. In Vietnam there was constant interference by Washington in the conducting of operations in the field. I thought we'd learned to turn command of combat operations over to field commanders, define, in advance, the rules of engagement and then step out of the way and let them go. I also thought we'd learned that international borders couldn't always be respected, especially when those borders provide aid and comfort to foreign fighters. This is especially true when the host government knows they are providing cover for these fighters and takes no steps, or weak ones at best, to put an end to that cover. Boy, was I wrong. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.
Fury was the leader of an elite Delta Force unit inserted into Afghanistan with the sole mission of finding bin laden and then killing him. Not an easy mission but certainly clear enough. No ambiguity here. As Dalton and Hunt point out, not only was there interference from up the chain of command in disallowing mission options, but the Delta Force was paired with Afghan fighters that were very thin in their commitment of finding bin laden. It is a paradox that the mission seemed doomed almost from the start and yet came very close to succeeding. Dalton maintains that they may have come within a few meters of actually killing b. l. The cave the team thought b. l. was in was targeted and successfully bombed. Later, teams searched the area for b.l. body parts but none was ever found. After reading Kill bin laden, one has to wonder whether our leaders really wanted b. l. found and dispensed with.
Kill bin laden is well written. Why shouldn't it be? The man who wrote it was there.
As a veteran, I've never doubted that the U. S. military is the finest in the world. There's not another soldier in the world that can stand toe to toe with the American fighting man. Our combined forces are simply the best. However, it seems clear that even after the hard lessons learned in the past, we seem doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Will we ever learn?
Dalton and Hunt deliver a masterfully written inside story about the failed attempt to get b. l. Kill bin laden is not a partisan read but it is one that should make you angry.
I highly recommend.
Semper Fi
An exceptional, superb, first hand account by the team leader of US Army Special Forces Detachment Delta October 7, 2008
Don Gordon (Patton Township, PA USA)
33 out of 38 found this review helpful
It is rare that readers are provided a first hand, accurate, contemporary, non politically constrained account of a major special operation by US Army Special Forces Detachment Delta. Many organizations claim the title, "special operations;" it takes more than a title. Major Dalton Fury's book explains in complete detail what real special operations are about. Readers may pound the book on the table as they learn that Fury, the team leader, was given the mission but not provided the total command dexterity needed to get bin Laden. Higher echelons unexplainably constrained his alternatives. When will we learn? Nevertheless, Fury writes a lucid description of this most special operation. The understandably unanswered question is why were other alternatives requested by Fury not permitted? Our nation is privileged to have leaders, men, and a unit like this in its military. The continued strong relationship between SAS and Delta is obvious. The book is a great read for active and retired military of all ranks and services, civilians, and academic readers alike. It will be a case history for future generations of special operators. Thank you to Major Fury and your team for trying and for writing the book.
How we lost bin Laden at Tora Bora November 17, 2008
Mike Heath (North Woods of Michigan)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Required reading for anyone looking to understand America's failure to kill bin Laden and take down al Qaeda soon after American military forces hit the ground in Afghanistan. The perspective is that of Delta Force commander "Dalton Fury" (pseudonym), whose men advanced against al Qaeda positions in the Tora Bora range alongside Afghan forces, coordinating American air strikes against al Qaeda positions until bin Laden was allowed to flee into Pakistan.
Fury's book supplants Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander as the authoritative account given that Jawbreaker had much more of its content redacted by the CIA than military intelligence does to Fury's book published a few years later. Fury's book is also superior since it was his men in the mountains with Fury close by providing what little logistical support they were afforded (one story shows that support was so scant he had officers carrying gear and supplies up the mountains on their back).
We continue to hear our political leaders and media pundits laud our military for its prowess while ignoring the elephant in the room, pun intended - the almost complete lack of diplomatic effort and political support for our military that allows us to succeed rather than fail in our military efforts under President Bush. This book is Exhibit C (see below recommendations). Fury and his team and the story of their capabilities and efforts in Afghanistan provides a great look at America's best doing things in the field no other military can do with the possible exception of some elite British forces.
Fury's exciting depiction of their adventure in Afghanistan makes for great reading and significant confidence in our capabilities if provided with a competent commander in chief and war tested generals, rather than a lazy president coupled to sycophantic generals like CENTCOM Commander Gen. Tommie Franks. On the other hand, Fury's book provides several examples of opportunities squandered due to decisions made above Fury's pay scale, some in the White House itself, that defy logic, like the lack of support for Fury's team by our ground military forces rather than Afghan forces whose capabilities are limited and loyalties are suspect.
So while Kill bin Laden is as great a boots-on-the-ground non-fiction thriller that I've ever read; it's coupled with the frustration shared by Fury that our ground force special operations capabilities were never allowed to be cut loose and engage with the enemy in a manner commiserate with our military capability.
For a more chronological review of American efforts on the ground in Afghanistan, I highly recommend first reading First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan. "First In" chronicles the first CIA commander and his team's insertion into Afghanistan after 9/11, weeks prior to any significant military insertions that sets the groundwork for Fury and his team's insertion with Afghan forces. It also validates the same frustrations that Fury encounters in terms of getting the support it required to be successful, not a matter of incapability, but instead political will.
First In and Kill bin Laden share two themes: A highly enjoyable and often stunning read about the functional excellence of the people who serve our country in unfriendly territory, and an inability by either commander to communicate the illogical decisions made by the Bush Administration who refused to completely commit to going after and taking down al Qaeda. This brings to mind a third great book that also shares these themes which is every bit as a good a read about our fight in Iraq, House to House: A Soldier's Memoir .
While books that focus on our political leaders or generals when reporting the history of America at war sell better, I believe it's imperative the informed reader consider war at its most elemental level. Without such a perspective, I would argue it's impossible to understand the cost/benefit of blood and treasure expended for any given war and whether our leaders respected the investment of blood made by those that serve our country in its direct engagement of the enemy. All three of these books provide that perspective and make for extremely enjoyable reading as well.
Kill Bin Laden November 22, 2008
William O. Owen (La Costa, Ca. USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
So many times people say "I could not put this book down." This is the first book I have ever read in one sitting from "cover to cover!" I am fascinated with the topography of Afghanistan and fighting a war there has to be a real challenge for our troops. This story drops you off in the mountains of Afghanistan where the entire region is filled with tribal fighters and the Taliban. Exciting, riveting and impossible to put this book down without finishing it. My advice, visit the bathroom before you start to read Kill Bin Laden!
Fascinating October 14, 2008
Danger Boots
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Dalton Fury (who ever he may be) has written an absolutely outstanding account of the hunt for Bin Laden. I've never read this kind of book before but it gave me a fascinating insight into what these guys go through. And it must be infuriating for these "real men" to have to deal with the incompetence of the dimwits above them who have no idea what really goes on in warfare. It makes the book impossible to put down as you read about the frustrating incompetence that these guys have to put up with.
Really really good.
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