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KBL: Kill Bin Laden
The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling military thriller writer and coauthor of the bestselling Rogue Warrior series goes beyond the headlines and worldwide speculation in this pulse-pounding fictional account of the breathtaking hunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist, Usama Bin Laden
KBL
Some truths are better told in fiction. In this riveting novel drawn from actual events and based on real-life heroes whose identities remain classified—including soldiers, sailors, intelligence operatives, technocrats, analysts, and policymakers—John Weisman fills in the blanks of what may have happened during the hunt and capture of Usama Bin Laden.
Moving from the political battlefields of Washington, D.C., and the secure, seventh-floor suite of the CIA director in Langley, Virginia, to the dusty streets of Peshawar, Lahore, and Abbottabad, Pakistan, to the rough Afghan interior, to the Middle East and western Europe, this fictional narrative brings to life the drama behind SEAL Team 6’s breathtaking raid in which Bin Laden—a.k.a. Crankshaft, a.k.a. al Mas (the Diamond), the ghost, the wraith, the grail for counterterrorists for more than a decade—met his fate.
In the Oval Office, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the State Department, Washington’s power brokers, the president, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Secretary of Defense conduct secret meetings, battle for political supremacy, and make life-and-death choices. Meanwhile, at an anonymous naval installation just south of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group trains in secret for the mission of a lifetime. And at Vallhalla Base, the CIA’s safe house in Abbottabad, dedicated intelligence officers gather intel critical to locating and capturing the elusive Bin Laden.
KBL: Kill Bin Laden probes the hearts and minds of America’s secret warriors, revealing what the job means to them and the toll it takes. Here are the Navy SEALs who can never admit what unit they work for; the CIA paramilitary operators who risk their lives among the enemy, putting themselves in harm’s way knowing their existence will be denied if they are killed or captured; and the elite cadre of gritty leaders who bravely put country and security above politics.
Filled with pulse-pounding excitement and the tactics, intelligence tradecraft, and operational sources and methods used in real-world CIA and special-operations missions, KBL: Kill Bin Laden is a thrill-a-minute dramatization that sets the standard for adventure novels as it brilliantly imagines the action, intrigue, and suspense of this real-life event and offers a glimpse of the new face of warfare.
KBL
Some truths are better told in fiction. In this riveting novel drawn from actual events and based on real-life heroes whose identities remain classified—including soldiers, sailors, intelligence operatives, technocrats, analysts, and policymakers—John Weisman fills in the blanks of what may have happened during the hunt and capture of Usama Bin Laden.
Moving from the political battlefields of Washington, D.C., and the secure, seventh-floor suite of the CIA director in Langley, Virginia, to the dusty streets of Peshawar, Lahore, and Abbottabad, Pakistan, to the rough Afghan interior, to the Middle East and western Europe, this fictional narrative brings to life the drama behind SEAL Team 6’s breathtaking raid in which Bin Laden—a.k.a. Crankshaft, a.k.a. al Mas (the Diamond), the ghost, the wraith, the grail for counterterrorists for more than a decade—met his fate.
In the Oval Office, the Pentagon, the CIA, and the State Department, Washington’s power brokers, the president, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Secretary of Defense conduct secret meetings, battle for political supremacy, and make life-and-death choices. Meanwhile, at an anonymous naval installation just south of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group trains in secret for the mission of a lifetime. And at Vallhalla Base, the CIA’s safe house in Abbottabad, dedicated intelligence officers gather intel critical to locating and capturing the elusive Bin Laden.
KBL: Kill Bin Laden probes the hearts and minds of America’s secret warriors, revealing what the job means to them and the toll it takes. Here are the Navy SEALs who can never admit what unit they work for; the CIA paramilitary operators who risk their lives among the enemy, putting themselves in harm’s way knowing their existence will be denied if they are killed or captured; and the elite cadre of gritty leaders who bravely put country and security above politics.
Filled with pulse-pounding excitement and the tactics, intelligence tradecraft, and operational sources and methods used in real-world CIA and special-operations missions, KBL: Kill Bin Laden is a thrill-a-minute dramatization that sets the standard for adventure novels as it brilliantly imagines the action, intrigue, and suspense of this real-life event and offers a glimpse of the new face of warfare.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2011
36 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
John Weisman
48 books20 followersSeven-time New York Times bestselling author John Weisman is one of a select company of authors to have their books on both the Times nonfiction and fiction bestseller lists. He pioneered coverage of Naval Special Warfare when he co-authored the number one New York Times bestseller Rogue Warrior, the story of Richard Marcinko and the creation of SEAL Team 6, and then conceived, created, developed, and wrote eight bestselling Rogue fictional sequels. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Seymour Hersh praised his 2004 novel Jack in the Box as "the insider's insider spy novel." Weisman's CIA short stories were chosen for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories in 1997 and 2003. His most recent CIA short fiction appears in Agents of Treachery. He reviews books on intelligence and military affairs for the Washington Times, and his analysis has appeared in AFIO's periodical Intelligencer. John Weisman lives on Florida's Gulf Coast
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
February 19, 2013
I was very much looking forward to 'KBL'. After all, how could a novel based on the true events surrounding the hunt for Bin Laden fail to disappoint? But disappoint John Weisman did. The actual plot of 'KBL' wasn't half-bad. The narrative was focused, surprising and fast-paced. But the mixing of truth and fiction just didn't work for me. Somehow the idea of a former Army Ranger (born and bred in the United States) passing as a Taliban amputee on the streets of Pakistan just didn't ring true. The constant interchanging real-life and fictional names (especially at the senior policy-making levels) became quite annoying by the end. Furthermore, John Weisman was very overt in pushing his conservative, hard-line ideology throughout the story (bashing senior Obama politicians by superficially changing their names). I found the use of fiction to spread political rhetoric (which is more entertaining on cable news anyway) greatly irritating. Weisman could have used 'KBL' to explore the War on Terror's difficult dilemmas, challenges and gray areas (as portrayed brilliantly in many non-fiction accounts, such as former FBI Special Agent Ali Soufan's memoir 'The Black Banners'), but instead chose a more simplistic and ultimately unsatisfying route.
September 11, 2019
Took off one star because the author had a character who was supposed to be the CIA's senior Bin Laden analyst say that Gerald Ford signed Executive Order 12333 (it was Reagan).
February 12, 2021
Absolutely and incredibly awesome. I was prepared to be super angry at innacurate portrayal, but this totally blew those expectations out of the water. Ten stars!!
October 13, 2011
The events in Abbottabad, Pakistan in the early hours of May 2, 2011 still reverberate and they are about to reverberate much more. On November 15th, the new novel from John Weisman, co-author with Richard Marcinko of Rogue Warrior, will be published by William Morrow. The novel provides a blow-by-blow account of what likely happened in the run-up to the special forces raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound.
Three story-lines converge in the book. The first examines the ‘humint’ or human intelligence work that went into identifying the mysterious compound as the likely hiding place for the terror chief. This in many ways is the most satisfying strand of the novel. It involves a double leg amputee called Charlie Becker whose Pakistani-like features and fluency in Pashto allow him to pose as a beggar in the neighborhood of Bin Laden’s compound and give the brass at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia continual eyes-on surveillance. In the novel, Becker is an ex-Army Ranger who is said to have lost his legs in Iraq in ’04 and went through language training at Guantanamo in order to get back into the fight. (The pseudonyms dreamed up by Weisman are great fun–Karl “Charlie” Becker is the 3’9″ actor who played the Munchkin mayor in The Wizard of Oz.)
The second strand lays out the preparation for the raid by the Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU–the military’s new name for SEAL Team Six. Weisman posits that the government built a full-scale model of the compound at Fort Knox and staged full-gear dress rehearsals for the helo raid from Fort Campbell, which, he says, is roughly the same flying distance as the actual mission.
The third story-line examines the presidential politics. Much of the tension of the novel comes from meetings between President Obama and his military and intelligence teams. Obama is portrayed as reluctant to approve the raid and beholden to his reelection handlers until a CIA intelligence analyst named “Spike” is able to lay-out a convincing enough argument for Bin Laden actually being at the compound. The decisive shred is that the CIA can tell from the ashes of the garbage burned at the compound that its residents eat Arabic, not Pakistani food.
Throughout the novel, Weisman’s MO is to put the reader in the shoes of the incredibly brave and insanely daring sailors, soldiers, and spies that pulled the mission off. As such, he is not above taking pot shots at easy targets like Senator John Kerry who comes off as a naive and pompous meddler who almost sinks the humint operation in Abbottabad after an American spy shoots and Kills two Pakistanis in January 2011 (an event that did happen). Perhaps most surprising is Weisman’s portrayal of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who appears as a strong friend to and ally of the military. Weisman certainly implies that the brass would prefer to have her in the Oval office right now.
Whether or not we are getting the real events as they actually took place, Kill Bin Laden is a cracking good page-turner. In addition, Weisman does not shy away from the chief moral question surrounding the raid–were we justified in killing him–and his answer is a resounding yes. An even stickier question is the open secret throughout the novel that DEVGRU sailors have the option during High Value Target missions to capture or kill. Weisman certainly makes the case that having it any other way would put the lives of our most highly-trained warriors at even greater risk. Anyway you look at it, Kill Bin Laden should make us all aware of the debt we owe men like Charlie Becker and the sailors of DEVGRU.
Three story-lines converge in the book. The first examines the ‘humint’ or human intelligence work that went into identifying the mysterious compound as the likely hiding place for the terror chief. This in many ways is the most satisfying strand of the novel. It involves a double leg amputee called Charlie Becker whose Pakistani-like features and fluency in Pashto allow him to pose as a beggar in the neighborhood of Bin Laden’s compound and give the brass at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia continual eyes-on surveillance. In the novel, Becker is an ex-Army Ranger who is said to have lost his legs in Iraq in ’04 and went through language training at Guantanamo in order to get back into the fight. (The pseudonyms dreamed up by Weisman are great fun–Karl “Charlie” Becker is the 3’9″ actor who played the Munchkin mayor in The Wizard of Oz.)
The second strand lays out the preparation for the raid by the Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU–the military’s new name for SEAL Team Six. Weisman posits that the government built a full-scale model of the compound at Fort Knox and staged full-gear dress rehearsals for the helo raid from Fort Campbell, which, he says, is roughly the same flying distance as the actual mission.
The third story-line examines the presidential politics. Much of the tension of the novel comes from meetings between President Obama and his military and intelligence teams. Obama is portrayed as reluctant to approve the raid and beholden to his reelection handlers until a CIA intelligence analyst named “Spike” is able to lay-out a convincing enough argument for Bin Laden actually being at the compound. The decisive shred is that the CIA can tell from the ashes of the garbage burned at the compound that its residents eat Arabic, not Pakistani food.
Throughout the novel, Weisman’s MO is to put the reader in the shoes of the incredibly brave and insanely daring sailors, soldiers, and spies that pulled the mission off. As such, he is not above taking pot shots at easy targets like Senator John Kerry who comes off as a naive and pompous meddler who almost sinks the humint operation in Abbottabad after an American spy shoots and Kills two Pakistanis in January 2011 (an event that did happen). Perhaps most surprising is Weisman’s portrayal of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who appears as a strong friend to and ally of the military. Weisman certainly implies that the brass would prefer to have her in the Oval office right now.
Whether or not we are getting the real events as they actually took place, Kill Bin Laden is a cracking good page-turner. In addition, Weisman does not shy away from the chief moral question surrounding the raid–were we justified in killing him–and his answer is a resounding yes. An even stickier question is the open secret throughout the novel that DEVGRU sailors have the option during High Value Target missions to capture or kill. Weisman certainly makes the case that having it any other way would put the lives of our most highly-trained warriors at even greater risk. Anyway you look at it, Kill Bin Laden should make us all aware of the debt we owe men like Charlie Becker and the sailors of DEVGRU.
March 4, 2013
KBL Kill Bin Laden is a novel based on the true events surrounding Seal Team 6, actually called DEVGRU (United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group), the Rangers, Delta Force, CIA, and other supporting casts of the team which literally took Osama bin Laden (code name Crankshaft) down on May 1, 2011.
New York Times bestselling author, John Weisman, is more closely tapped into Tier One operatives than any other journalist or author. The author of several books centered around those same Tier One operatives, Mr. Weisman is the one of a select few authors to enjoy spots on both the nonfiction and fiction New York Times Bestseller lists. When Harper Collins contacted Mr. Weisman about writing the story surrounding the take-down and death of bin Laden, he did some research and then told them it had to be written in novel form or he’d never be able to get all the information he needed. He was right.
Weisman skillfully takes the reader through the planning and execution of Operation Neptune Spear which culminated in the death of the most wanted man in the world. We learn how a SEAL becomes a SEAL, what their missions are like, how they prepare for missions, etc. For instance, did you know that in 2010, the SEAL teams conducted 1,700 missions against HVTs (High Value Targets?) Did you also know they have an astonishing high success rate?
With the administration we have right now, they cannot be trusted with anything that must be kept secret. It was very intriguing to me to see how it all played out, even though it was presented via fiction. In addition, I believe Mr. Weisman did an excellent job portraying Barack Obama as the egocentric control freak that he is. I don’t know if that was his intention, but it became very clear that this mission almost didn’t go off save for the convincing argument of one CIA analyst to Obama.
I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Weisman about the researching and writing of KBL Kill Bin Laden, and it was fascinating to listen about how this book all came about. When I asked him why he chose to tell the story via fiction vs. nonfiction, he replied “Because the people who put Neptune Spear together and carried it out aren’t talking, and won’t be, for some time. And all the factual accounts so far have been colored by who sourced them. There’s a lot of political spin about Neptune Spear: the White House has its own version. So do the operators, and so does the CIA. There were so many contradictory accounts that after talking to sources both in the military, the intelligence community, and political operatives, I decided that the best way to go was fiction. The gist of what they all told me was that I’d get closer to the truth by doing fiction—and equally important, get a lot more help that way.”
KBL Kill Bin Laden is a book worth reading, not to mention adding to the home, school, and public libraries in every town and city in America. If you want to learn how the brave men and women of our special forces and intelligence agencies really do business without the filter of the media, or the White House, then pick up a copy of John Weisman’s KBL Kill Bin Laden.
New York Times bestselling author, John Weisman, is more closely tapped into Tier One operatives than any other journalist or author. The author of several books centered around those same Tier One operatives, Mr. Weisman is the one of a select few authors to enjoy spots on both the nonfiction and fiction New York Times Bestseller lists. When Harper Collins contacted Mr. Weisman about writing the story surrounding the take-down and death of bin Laden, he did some research and then told them it had to be written in novel form or he’d never be able to get all the information he needed. He was right.
Weisman skillfully takes the reader through the planning and execution of Operation Neptune Spear which culminated in the death of the most wanted man in the world. We learn how a SEAL becomes a SEAL, what their missions are like, how they prepare for missions, etc. For instance, did you know that in 2010, the SEAL teams conducted 1,700 missions against HVTs (High Value Targets?) Did you also know they have an astonishing high success rate?
With the administration we have right now, they cannot be trusted with anything that must be kept secret. It was very intriguing to me to see how it all played out, even though it was presented via fiction. In addition, I believe Mr. Weisman did an excellent job portraying Barack Obama as the egocentric control freak that he is. I don’t know if that was his intention, but it became very clear that this mission almost didn’t go off save for the convincing argument of one CIA analyst to Obama.
I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Weisman about the researching and writing of KBL Kill Bin Laden, and it was fascinating to listen about how this book all came about. When I asked him why he chose to tell the story via fiction vs. nonfiction, he replied “Because the people who put Neptune Spear together and carried it out aren’t talking, and won’t be, for some time. And all the factual accounts so far have been colored by who sourced them. There’s a lot of political spin about Neptune Spear: the White House has its own version. So do the operators, and so does the CIA. There were so many contradictory accounts that after talking to sources both in the military, the intelligence community, and political operatives, I decided that the best way to go was fiction. The gist of what they all told me was that I’d get closer to the truth by doing fiction—and equally important, get a lot more help that way.”
KBL Kill Bin Laden is a book worth reading, not to mention adding to the home, school, and public libraries in every town and city in America. If you want to learn how the brave men and women of our special forces and intelligence agencies really do business without the filter of the media, or the White House, then pick up a copy of John Weisman’s KBL Kill Bin Laden.
November 13, 2011
Reading a book you already know the ending of before you start I think lends to a bit of trepidation. I had a little bit. I mean I have read other novels by the author, enjoyed his style, enjoyed the substance, have had many good experiences so why not right?
I have to say he nails this, from the first page to the last, he struck every chord, hit every note, and made a recount of events seem as real and visceral as if I was there, watching it all unfold in my face. The tales of heroism in this novel are just amazing. The lengths gone to carry this off are off the charts. I would recommend this to read to anyone; it is that good, the storytelling is that strong, the words chosen intense, and the action and tension ramped to a level that will challenge any reader not to be separated from this read. No matter what the percentage of truth is in this fictional telling of real events, even if one percent of it is true, the men and women that participated in any of these events from the beginning to the end need to not just commended, but each given a special place in each of our hearts as true patriots for their many sacrifices. I was a big fan of this author already, but John Weisman takes things to a new level; get this in your hands, take the journey. It is well worth it.
Here is the synopsis:
“The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling military thriller writer and coauthor of the bestselling Rogue Warrior series goes beyond the headlines and worldwide speculation in this pulse-pounding fictional account of the breathtaking hunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist, Usama Bin Laden
KBL
Some truths are better told in fiction. In this riveting novel drawn from actual events and based on real-life heroes whose identities remain classified—including soldiers, sailors, intelligence operatives, technocrats, analysts, and policymakers—John Weisman fills in the blanks of what may have happened during the hunt and capture of Usama Bin Laden.
Moving from the political battlefields of Washington, D.C., and the secure, seventh-floor suite of the CIA director in Langley, Virginia, to the dusty streets of Peshawar, Lahore, and Abbottabad, Pakistan, to the rough Afghan interior, to the Middle East and western Europe, this fictional narrative brings to life the drama behind SEAL Team 6’s breathtaking raid in which Bin Laden—a.k.a. Crankshaft, a.k.a. al Mas (the Diamond), the ghost, the wraith, the grail for counterterrorists for more than a decade—met his fate.”
I have to say he nails this, from the first page to the last, he struck every chord, hit every note, and made a recount of events seem as real and visceral as if I was there, watching it all unfold in my face. The tales of heroism in this novel are just amazing. The lengths gone to carry this off are off the charts. I would recommend this to read to anyone; it is that good, the storytelling is that strong, the words chosen intense, and the action and tension ramped to a level that will challenge any reader not to be separated from this read. No matter what the percentage of truth is in this fictional telling of real events, even if one percent of it is true, the men and women that participated in any of these events from the beginning to the end need to not just commended, but each given a special place in each of our hearts as true patriots for their many sacrifices. I was a big fan of this author already, but John Weisman takes things to a new level; get this in your hands, take the journey. It is well worth it.
Here is the synopsis:
“The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling military thriller writer and coauthor of the bestselling Rogue Warrior series goes beyond the headlines and worldwide speculation in this pulse-pounding fictional account of the breathtaking hunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist, Usama Bin Laden
KBL
Some truths are better told in fiction. In this riveting novel drawn from actual events and based on real-life heroes whose identities remain classified—including soldiers, sailors, intelligence operatives, technocrats, analysts, and policymakers—John Weisman fills in the blanks of what may have happened during the hunt and capture of Usama Bin Laden.
Moving from the political battlefields of Washington, D.C., and the secure, seventh-floor suite of the CIA director in Langley, Virginia, to the dusty streets of Peshawar, Lahore, and Abbottabad, Pakistan, to the rough Afghan interior, to the Middle East and western Europe, this fictional narrative brings to life the drama behind SEAL Team 6’s breathtaking raid in which Bin Laden—a.k.a. Crankshaft, a.k.a. al Mas (the Diamond), the ghost, the wraith, the grail for counterterrorists for more than a decade—met his fate.”
June 2, 2015
This bestselling novel is based on true events about Navy SEAL Team 6 and the CIA planning for the raid that would take out Bin Laden. It's a military-grade book with lots of detail written by John Weisman, a seven-time NYT bestselling author with whose had both fiction and nonfiction on the bestsellers list at the same time, so the quality of writing, research and storytelling ability is superb.
In the final pages you start breathing a little harder as you go with SEAL Team 6 as they climb the stairs and put an end to over a decade of manhunt and one of the most expensive in U.S. history.
Sometimes a book is called a novel, simply to camouflages national security or things they don't want you to think happened that really did.
In the final pages you start breathing a little harder as you go with SEAL Team 6 as they climb the stairs and put an end to over a decade of manhunt and one of the most expensive in U.S. history.
Sometimes a book is called a novel, simply to camouflages national security or things they don't want you to think happened that really did.
January 2, 2018
This would have been a fun read as complete fiction and if the author's right wing political agenda hadn't gotten in the way. It was basically a bunch of propaganda to further the views of the antimulsim and prowar nationalists. The end was pretty anticlimatic as well. .25 out of 5 stars. If you're looking for any easy mindless read, this is a good one.
June 24, 2017
How much of it is truth we will never know... but sure sounds like it was written by someone with access to the principals and/or people in the know.
December 3, 2012
Overall this book kept me interested for all of thirty minutes.Once I counted the fiftieth time that Mr.W mentioned Murphys law I wanted to shoot myself, Weisman brought up Murphys law so many times it leads me to believe that he cowers in fear of leaving the house due to it. The book is filled with cheesy one liners and terrible catch phrases that the professional war fighter would not be caught dead saying out loud. The account that this book gives is interesting but I found character development rather weak except for charlie the amputee ranger. If your looking for a quick read on how overall the Abottabad raid COULD have went then this book might be for you.
Weird parts:
The CIA director is Clinton's former chief of staff? How likely is that?
Why does Weisman capitalize the word "soldiers" all the time?
Why does Weisman randomly say that Cahrlie knew Pete Blaber and read his book The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander?
Annoying parts:
pg.9: Why is "International Security Assistance Force" in bold?
And please spare us your simplistic, repetitive talk-show-style political rants. I am not a fan of Obama either, but I'm seeking some realistic action and entertainment, not your opinion on Obama, Clinton, and Carter, which, while I might agree with to SOME extent, add NOTHING to the story.
pg. 19: "The blankety-blanking current attorney general of the United States, who spent most of his time trying to indict CIA officers for doing their jobs but turned terrorists loose so they could kill more Americans."
pg. 55: "It was his firm opinion [read: Weisman's] that the mission [Desert One/Eagle Claw] had been designed to fail by by a timid, spineless president [read: Carter]."
So, Carter is spineless for...what? Authorizing the rescue operation? Oh, wait, Weisman thinks that it's somehow Carter's fault that a helicopter crashed into an MC-130 thousands of miles away from Carter.
And Vince Mercaldi is a ridiculous, uncomplicated character: no flaws, no humanity. everyone always says how he's the BEST CIA director, that he cares for his men, that he hates politicians, etc., etc., you know, the usual conservative pipe dream. As usual, this character, like many, is merely an output of Weisman's utopian, simplistic opinion and adds nothing to the story.
Again, on page 141, the characters complain about how long it took for the White House to green-light the SEALs' Maersk Alabama takedown, ignoring the enormous difficulty of executing a takedown of a moving ship hundreds of miles away from US forces.
And on page 209, the characters complain about how Billy Waugh (author of Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism) could have killed bin Laden in 1992, but the "White House" wouldn't let him. First of all in 1992,bin Laden was off the radar. America wasn't overly concerned with him, and only a handful of Americans knew who he was. The mission was never to kill him. Back then, bin Laden was just one of various bad guys in Sudan. And Clinton, though having "solid intel" failed to authorize an operation against bin Laden. Solid intel? Back in the 1990s, intel on bin Laden was very iffy.
This could have been a fun read, but Weisman's opinions have all the nuance of a radio talk show and add nothing to the story.
Weird parts:
The CIA director is Clinton's former chief of staff? How likely is that?
Why does Weisman capitalize the word "soldiers" all the time?
Why does Weisman randomly say that Cahrlie knew Pete Blaber and read his book The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander?
Annoying parts:
pg.9: Why is "International Security Assistance Force" in bold?
And please spare us your simplistic, repetitive talk-show-style political rants. I am not a fan of Obama either, but I'm seeking some realistic action and entertainment, not your opinion on Obama, Clinton, and Carter, which, while I might agree with to SOME extent, add NOTHING to the story.
pg. 19: "The blankety-blanking current attorney general of the United States, who spent most of his time trying to indict CIA officers for doing their jobs but turned terrorists loose so they could kill more Americans."
pg. 55: "It was his firm opinion [read: Weisman's] that the mission [Desert One/Eagle Claw] had been designed to fail by by a timid, spineless president [read: Carter]."
So, Carter is spineless for...what? Authorizing the rescue operation? Oh, wait, Weisman thinks that it's somehow Carter's fault that a helicopter crashed into an MC-130 thousands of miles away from Carter.
And Vince Mercaldi is a ridiculous, uncomplicated character: no flaws, no humanity. everyone always says how he's the BEST CIA director, that he cares for his men, that he hates politicians, etc., etc., you know, the usual conservative pipe dream. As usual, this character, like many, is merely an output of Weisman's utopian, simplistic opinion and adds nothing to the story.
Again, on page 141, the characters complain about how long it took for the White House to green-light the SEALs' Maersk Alabama takedown, ignoring the enormous difficulty of executing a takedown of a moving ship hundreds of miles away from US forces.
And on page 209, the characters complain about how Billy Waugh (author of Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism) could have killed bin Laden in 1992, but the "White House" wouldn't let him. First of all in 1992,bin Laden was off the radar. America wasn't overly concerned with him, and only a handful of Americans knew who he was. The mission was never to kill him. Back then, bin Laden was just one of various bad guys in Sudan. And Clinton, though having "solid intel" failed to authorize an operation against bin Laden. Solid intel? Back in the 1990s, intel on bin Laden was very iffy.
This could have been a fun read, but Weisman's opinions have all the nuance of a radio talk show and add nothing to the story.
December 2, 2011
Moving from the political battlefields of Washington, D.C., and the secure, seventh-floor suite of the CIA director in Langley, Virginia, to the dusty streets of Peshawar, Lahore, and Abbottabad, Pakistan, to the rough Afghan interior, to the Middle East and western Europe, this fictional narrative brings to life the drama behind SEAL Team 6’s breathtaking raid in which Bin Laden—a.k.a. Crankshaft, a.k.a. al Mas (the Diamond), the ghost, the wraith, the grail for counterterrorists for more than a decade—met his fate.
Filled with pulse-pounding excitement and the tactics, intelligence tradecraft, and operational sources and methods used in real-world CIA and special-operations missions, KBL: KILL BIN LADEN is a thrill-a-minute dramatization that sets the standard for adventure novels as it brilliantly imagines the action, intrigue, and suspense of this real-life event and offers a glimpse of the new face of warfare.
My Review:
This is a book based on the events surrounding the plot to kill Usama Bin Laden and the men whose mission it was to see that it was carried out. This book probes the hearts and minds of America's secret warriors, revealing what the job means to them and the toll it takes. Here are the Navy SEALS who can never admit what unit they work for; the CIA paramilitary operators who risk their lives among the enemy, putting themselves in harm's way knowing their existence will be denied if they are killed or captured; and the elite cadre of gritty leaders who bravely put country and security above politics.
This book is not like the Hollywood productions of Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt, but truly gives the readers an inside view on what it takes to put your live on the line to bring a terrorist to justice and secure the safety of the country they love and serve. I was captivated by this story because I love movies like Mission Impossible but from a true sense of where the actual stories come from. Having know friends involved with Black Ops, I know how real and intense their stories can be, although they can never share the information with anyone.
This is a must read for anyone who loves stories involving true life events told from all the perspectives of those involved and to see just how difficult it is to bring criminals to justice when they lie outside our countries borders and people will do anything to make sure they are never found.
I received this book, KBL: Kill Bin Laden by John Weisman compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and LOVED every single page of this compelling novel. It's hard to believe that the book you are reading isn't a fictional story but one that actually happened. For that reason alone, this one rates a hands down 5 out of 5 stars!
Filled with pulse-pounding excitement and the tactics, intelligence tradecraft, and operational sources and methods used in real-world CIA and special-operations missions, KBL: KILL BIN LADEN is a thrill-a-minute dramatization that sets the standard for adventure novels as it brilliantly imagines the action, intrigue, and suspense of this real-life event and offers a glimpse of the new face of warfare.
My Review:
This is a book based on the events surrounding the plot to kill Usama Bin Laden and the men whose mission it was to see that it was carried out. This book probes the hearts and minds of America's secret warriors, revealing what the job means to them and the toll it takes. Here are the Navy SEALS who can never admit what unit they work for; the CIA paramilitary operators who risk their lives among the enemy, putting themselves in harm's way knowing their existence will be denied if they are killed or captured; and the elite cadre of gritty leaders who bravely put country and security above politics.
This book is not like the Hollywood productions of Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt, but truly gives the readers an inside view on what it takes to put your live on the line to bring a terrorist to justice and secure the safety of the country they love and serve. I was captivated by this story because I love movies like Mission Impossible but from a true sense of where the actual stories come from. Having know friends involved with Black Ops, I know how real and intense their stories can be, although they can never share the information with anyone.
This is a must read for anyone who loves stories involving true life events told from all the perspectives of those involved and to see just how difficult it is to bring criminals to justice when they lie outside our countries borders and people will do anything to make sure they are never found.
I received this book, KBL: Kill Bin Laden by John Weisman compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and LOVED every single page of this compelling novel. It's hard to believe that the book you are reading isn't a fictional story but one that actually happened. For that reason alone, this one rates a hands down 5 out of 5 stars!
January 3, 2013
Summary:
This book tells a story of how the US government tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden.This is a novel about a CIA spy who is undercover in Pakistan, looking for information about Osama Bin Laden. This spys name is Charlie Becker (this is not the real spys name, the author trys to protect the identities of the real people involved.) Charlie Becker was a former US Army Ranger who lost his legs in Iraq, and then learned Pashto the Pakistani language to help himself to become a spy. By scouting out and watching the villa where he assumed Osama Bin Laden hid, he found enough information to prove he was there and living there. With this information the US Navy SEALs led and attack on this compound finding and killing Bin Laden. This is the story by the author about how we found and killed Bin Laden.
I gave this book 3 stars because is was very poorly written by the author and never had any intense parts. I gave it 3 stars also becuase I liked the topic and learning about what really happened.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books that get into great detail and make you think, and also like military books.
February 5, 2012
MY THOUGHTS
REALLY LIKED IT
The story recreates what happened when SEAL Team Six that night of the Bin Laden raid with fictionalized members and recounts what we know about the events filled in with a bit of speculation. Reading recent news reports about that night when Obama made the fateful decision goes somewhat against what is written in the book and I am sure that more details will be released in the upcoming months. I really have to say whether the story told here is true or not, this is one fast ride!
The characters are well defined and interesting making you care about them as individuals and not some crazy guys bent on murder and revenge. They training and their resources is just amazing to read about. The back story in how they figured out where Bin Laden was is probably the most fascinating thing in the story. This really had a Mission Impossible theme going on since what the SEALS accomplished. Don't try and read this one before going to sleep sleep since it might keep you up wondering what happens next.
REALLY LIKED IT
The story recreates what happened when SEAL Team Six that night of the Bin Laden raid with fictionalized members and recounts what we know about the events filled in with a bit of speculation. Reading recent news reports about that night when Obama made the fateful decision goes somewhat against what is written in the book and I am sure that more details will be released in the upcoming months. I really have to say whether the story told here is true or not, this is one fast ride!
The characters are well defined and interesting making you care about them as individuals and not some crazy guys bent on murder and revenge. They training and their resources is just amazing to read about. The back story in how they figured out where Bin Laden was is probably the most fascinating thing in the story. This really had a Mission Impossible theme going on since what the SEALS accomplished. Don't try and read this one before going to sleep sleep since it might keep you up wondering what happens next.
December 28, 2011
Right off the first page this book grabs your attention. A beggar in Pakistan, no legs, true to Allah, going through his day as usual. However for Shahid the usual wasn’t usual at all because Shahid was Charlie Becker, Army Ranger; VOLUNTEERING his time to help catch the ultimate bad guy in Osama Bin Laden.
KBL is the story of the months leading up to the capture/kill of Bin Laden by telling us stories of all involved. Backgrounds, names changed but a straight from the scene tale. You can easily figure out the ”who’s who” in this novel and Weisman certainly get his revenge on some pretty high profile people.
Plans shot down, reconstructed and shot down again. People seeking reparation in the form of capture. People trying to dissuade the President of the United States from the decision he ultimately made (and good for him!). This book has everything that makes John Weisman an author4 to be read each time a new story/article comes out.
A++++++ here and if you are old enough to remember 9/11 you must read this one!
KBL is the story of the months leading up to the capture/kill of Bin Laden by telling us stories of all involved. Backgrounds, names changed but a straight from the scene tale. You can easily figure out the ”who’s who” in this novel and Weisman certainly get his revenge on some pretty high profile people.
Plans shot down, reconstructed and shot down again. People seeking reparation in the form of capture. People trying to dissuade the President of the United States from the decision he ultimately made (and good for him!). This book has everything that makes John Weisman an author4 to be read each time a new story/article comes out.
A++++++ here and if you are old enough to remember 9/11 you must read this one!
January 30, 2012
KBL: Kill Bin Laden—A Novel Based on True Events by John Weisman pulls off in spectacular fashion the joinder of fact and fiction. I am including a chapter on the killing of Bin Laden in a novel I am writing and had purchased a nonfiction book titled Seal Target Geronimo—the Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Bin Laden—for background. But I read KBL first and can’t wait to compare it with the nonfiction account. If the fiction book is largely true, it is a near miracle that the Seals were allowed to go on the mission. The account, fictional or otherwise, of how the military basically maneuvered the President into doing something he didn’t really want to do makes fascinating reading as does the story of the intelligence gathering and mission planning necessary for the successful outcome. Finally, the book accomplished the near impossible task of increasing my already profoundly deep respect for the intelligence officers and SEALS who were involved. A fascinating, impossible to put down, read. Five of five stars.
March 29, 2012
An insiders look at the political and military dance that took place leading up to the Bin Laden raid. Weisman has always blurred the lines of fact and fiction in his writing (see Rogue Warrior series and his own works). I was hoping for a follow up to his "Direct Action" and "Jack in the Box" books, but what he produced was so much better. The storytelling is so real because much of it is. It is extremely hard to tell where the facts end and the storytelling begins. As a matter of fact, you can look up and read about some of the more widely covered events (like Ty Weaver in the book, a.k.a. Raymond Davis in real life). The events can be found in various media reports after a quick Google search. If you want to see what kind of planning (both military and intelligence gathering) went into an operation like this and what kind of sacrifices Operators make to keep you safe, I highly recommend you pick up this book.
October 20, 2014
Kill Bin Laden, written by John Weisman, started off with a gripping exposition and a hunger for more! I gave this book a four star rating for several reasons. One reason was that the book was constantly changing scenes and introducing new character after new character. Eventually, for me, it became to hard to keep track of all of the characters. Also, the book used a lot of military terms. Which, on one hand, gave the book an authentic military feel, but on the other made it very difficult to understand. Finally, John Wesiman took a lot of time in giving background information on everything leading up to the real mission. I thought that was great, but also felt as though it took too long to get to the climax and made it hard for me to keep reading. I would recommend this book to ANYONE with an interest in military genre books and anybody who wants to learn more about the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.
April 30, 2012
Novel based on the events leading up to SEAL Team 6's mission to take out Bin Laden. Good airplane reading, but the author betrays his politics with a lot of unnecessary administration bashing (names are all changed but profile of characters match the real people). The author doesn't think highly of politicians, and anyone he wants to make look especially like a pompous buffoon gets a numeral after his name. The stereotyping is all very trite and detracts from what could be (and is in real life) a great story. Still, a good fast read for a long plane trip.
Interestingly, the only name he doesn't change to "protect the innocent" is Eric Holder, Obama's attorney general, who comes in for special wrath for dialing back Patriot Act excesses. While I am a foreign policy hawk, I also appreciate those willing to keep our country (and our troops) safe by standing up for our Constitution.
Interestingly, the only name he doesn't change to "protect the innocent" is Eric Holder, Obama's attorney general, who comes in for special wrath for dialing back Patriot Act excesses. While I am a foreign policy hawk, I also appreciate those willing to keep our country (and our troops) safe by standing up for our Constitution.
September 24, 2012
The book I read over the summer is KDL. The name is killing Bin Laden. The book is about the brave seal team six. The beginning talks about how they are going to invade the compound. They made a compound that was like the one they are going to invade. They practice using the black hawks too. They spent 2 months to train for the daring mission to invade Pakistan’s air space. The place they are invading is a compound. The walls were 10 feet and coved with barbed wirer. They had two black hawks and I don’t know the other one. One of the black hawks crashed on top of the wall and hit the ground. The seals in the plane were okay and the pilots were too. When they invaded the compound they shot two of Osama Bin Laden’s sons. They fought trough tree stories to get to Bin Laden. One of the seals shot him in the chest and the right eye.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2016
Still don't understand why someone would write a novel like this based on true events, using some accepted "facts" and then throwing in other "stuff", when there are many, many other books that purport to tell the whole "inside" story... Maybe just an easy way to spit out a book without having to come up with a story line, throw in some colorful figures--or, perhaps just to get a paycheck without having to really work for it...
Lots of evidence to his throwback novels in the Rogue Warrior Series, with Richard Marcinko, founder of Seal Team 6(those were much better)!!!
Lots of evidence to his throwback novels in the Rogue Warrior Series, with Richard Marcinko, founder of Seal Team 6(those were much better)!!!
March 1, 2016
This took me forever to finish. I've never thought about quitting a book half way through before.. But this one OMG. Don't get wrong, there were good PARTS in this book. But most the time it was so in depth with useless information I felt like I was reading a wiki page. It's more explaining random roles in the White House then anything els it feels like. Just... Way to much pointless information and not enough action. At all. Like there's no action until the very very very end. It's not quick read.
April 9, 2012
I don't know how much of this is fiction and how much is based on the facts surrounding the asassination of Usama Bin Laden. It is well written and some of the names are real and others are fictional, but relatively easy to know who in real like they are. The detail is excellent and, if it really is based on the facts, very intriguing as to how they found UBL and how the training for the event was accomplished and the actual take down. Enjoyed the book and would recommend it.
June 15, 2014
This was a good book, but not the best I've read. The main problem I had with this book is that I had a hard time taking it seriously because of the lapses in writing. One moment you are reading an well written action/adventure and the next you lapse into what I call "Executioner Fluff". It would have been netter if the author had chosen one style or the other, especially given the subject matter he was dealing with.
April 9, 2019
Military pov of this event. Some language, surprisingly, not a lot. Background info on politicians during decision-making time made it more interesting and much more frightening when put in perspective. Highly recommended for history, military, and political readers. I appreciated the perceptions of the novel: military, historical, and, especially, the personality of the involved political persons. Which now allows me to write < I'm scared for my nation.
December 6, 2011
Taken from the actual events involving the death of Bin Laden, Weisman has created a fictional and detailed account of what was going through the minds of those involved. If you are interested in military strategy and operations, then this is a good book for you. It is a fast-paced thriller, but for me, I couldn’t sink my teeth into it.
Want to read
April 26, 2012WHY DIDN'T BUSH GO AFTER BIN LADEN?
http://generation-add.blogspot.com/20...
http://generation-add.blogspot.com/20...
June 8, 2012
What I like is the author's knowledge of SEALs and how the US Army functions. But coming in at 364 pages (Harper edition), it's a bit too lengthy for me. Also, amazing how Americans overlook their flying into another country to kill someone - and reckon they are right.
That seems the problem with all such books - Americans maintaining they are right.
That seems the problem with all such books - Americans maintaining they are right.
May 14, 2013
This book starts off fast from the get go, and with such a gripping topic to begin with, the hunt for the most wanted man in the world at the time, the author does a good job in mixing true facts with fiction to keep the reader engaged throughout the entire book. Worth the read if you're interested in anything related to Bin Laden or the hunt for him by the US government.
December 30, 2014
It was an interesting read, without having read much non-fiction about the whole Bin Laden operation. In light of the narrative presented by Zero Dark Thirty, as well as the other details that have come to light since, it's maybe not the definitive book on the topic, but perhaps best viewed as an interesting imagining of what really happened.
February 3, 2013
Quick, fast paced read. It's a fictionalized account of the DEVGRU raid to kill UBL. There are quite a few recognizable historical events in the book (the Raymond Davis incident, for example) that make it more enjoyable if you're one who follows the news.
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