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SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden Kindle Edition

by Chuck Pfarrer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 529 ratings
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The controversial New York Times bestseller that tells the "engrossing account of the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden." —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

On May 2, 2011, at 1:03 a.m. a satellite uplink was sent from Pakistan crackling into the situation room of the White House: "Geronimo, Echo, KIA." These words, spoken by a Navy SEAL, ended Osama bin Laden's reign of terror. SEAL Target Geronimo is the story of Neptune's Spear from the men who were there. After talking to members of the SEAL team involved in the raid, Pfarrer shares never-before-revealed details in an exclusive account of what happened as he takes readers inside the walls of Bin Laden's compound penetrating deep into the terrorist's lair to reach the exact spot where the Al Qaeda leader was cowering when the bullet entered his head. SEAL Target Geronimo is an explosive story of unparalleled valor and clockwork military precision carried out by the most elite fighting force in the world—the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six.

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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    St. Martin's Press
  5. Publication date
    November 8, 2011
  6. File size
    3199 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

''The book is more than just a high-adventure black ops thriller. It is a work of historical importance that sets the record straight about our struggle against forces dedicated to rebuilding an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East... It is a book you will read as you walk on the sidewalk because you do not want the action to stop.'' ----Neil W. McCabe, Human Events

''Pfarrer certainly had access. A SEAL Team Six assault-element commander in the 1980s, he is known inside the intelligence community for his well-regarded first book, Warrior Soul...He clearly had detailed conversations with senior officers in the SEALs' chain of command (especially Adm. William McRaven and then SEAL Team Six commander Scott Kerr) and understands the vocabulary and the culture very well...SEAL Target Geronimo explodes a number of media myths about the raid to kill bin Laden...There was no ''45-minute'' running gun battle. The SEAL team fired only 12 bullets, and the whole operation lasted only 38 minutes...The most provocative part of the book is pure speculation: by killing bin Laden, did the SEALs accidentally do Zawahiri s dirty work?... As the British Foreign Office used to famously say: 'Interesting, if true'.'' --Richard Miniter, The Daily Beast

''A marvelously engrossing account of the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden...Richly told in broad, cinematic strokes, this is catnip for readers who enjoy special-ops tales.'' ----Kirkus Reviews

From the Author

THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SEAL  TEAM SIX OPERATION IN ABBOTTABAD
 
NEW IN THE PAPERBACK EDITION
 
Three new chapters of Information from newly declassified documents captured in the raid as well as a blockbuster independent investigation conducted by Pakistani Brigadeer General (Ret) Shukat Qadir, who interviewed military and ISI personnel as well as debriefing eyewitness and undertaking a guided tour of the bin Laden residence hours after the raid. 
 
The new chapters include detailed information on:
  • OBL's exact locations for the ten years he was on the run in Pakistan
  • The locations of Ayman Zawahiri and Mullah Omar.
  • An analysis of declassified papers taken by ST6 from Abbottabad
  • Al Qaeda's planned attack on the Pakistani nuclear weapons facility at Kahuta 
  • Al Qaeda's plan to use poison gas in Yemen (from a letter dated six days before OBL's death) 
  • Information taken from an independent Pakistani investigation of the raid to include previously unknown details of CIA's pre mission reconnaissance
  • The code name of Dr. Shekel Afridi's CIA controller and details about the "Hepatitis Screening Program" that eventually located OBL
  •  New details about Al Qaeda's kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat to trade for Khairee bin Laden (Wife #1) who was being held in Tehran
  • Details of OBLs detailed planning for the transfer of his wife after the prisoner exchange with the Iranians.
  • New details on CIA's phone call to the compound two nights before the raid
  • Information obtained during Pakistan's nearly year long interrogation of OBL's surviving wives and children
  • Information from the Pakistani first responders who entered the compound only minutes after the helicopters had left.
  • Connecting the dots on who the US closed in after the arrival of Khairee bin Laden, as well as the capture of Bali Bomber Umer Patik in Abbottabad a mere four months prior to the raid
  •  Eye witness testimony about the raid from OBL's widows and Children, as well as Pakistani neighbors who saw the entire raid.
  • Confirmation from eye witnesses who saw the helicopter crash in the middle of the operation and not at the beginning.
  • Details about Pakistani fighters who were scrambled and nearly shot down the US helicopters as they retreated.
  • More details about the "special access granted to Boal and Bigelow--confirmed by Freedom of Information Act requests that show DoD and WH emails confirming that the two SONY Studios filmmakers were give the names of ST6 operators unlawfully. 
And there is more, including information that following the November 2011 "Border Incident" in which US Special Operations Forces killed 20 Pakistani soldiers, Pakistan moved surface to air missiles to the Afghan Border.  The source for this information was Pakistani and all of it has been cross-referenced.  

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005GXPCQI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (November 8, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 8, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3199 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1780874715
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 529 ratings

About the author

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Chuck Pfarrer

Chuck Pfarrer

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CHUCK PFARRER is a former Assault Element Commander at SEAL Team SIX and a veteran of more than 150 combat operations in the Middle East. He is the New York Times best selling author of “SEAL Target Geronimo: Inside the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden”. Pfarrer is a also the screenwriter of seven #1 Hollywood blockbusters, “The Jackal”, “Navy SEALs”, “Darkman”, “Hard Target” “Virus” and “Red Planet”. He is the author of “Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL” and the critically acclaimed novel “Killing Che”. Pfarrer’s second novel, Philip Nolan; The Man Without a Country, was hailed “the finest historical fiction since Patrick O’Brian”.

In addition to writing and screenwriting, served as Associate Editor for the Counterterrorist Journal. He is considered an expert on Al Qaeda, ISIS and global salafist jihad. Working for the Office of Homeland Security, he was the principal author of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Annex of the National Counter-terrorism Plan. Pfarrer has written Op Ed for the New York Times and appeared as an author and counter-terrorism expert on CNN, Fox, CSPAN2, NPR, Al Hurra, IPR, Voice of America, ABC, Sirius Media and MSNBC. He has worked for government and industry as a counter-terrorism and military contractor. As a journalist, Pfarrer wrote extensively on Benghazi, and reported from Bagram and Kabul while flying missions with the Afghan Air Force.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

Rough Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Jedis vs Jihadis; or Bert and Ernie pay dues-GREAT READ
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2011
Verified Purchase
I read this book carefully, and read the assault portion twice.
I have NEVER seen so many one star reviewers who have never reviewed a single thing on Amazon before!!
Look at my reviews, as of 17 Nov. I have 233 reviews and 71% helpful reviews. You can trust my review, as I HAVE READ THE BOOK AND I AM NOT SOME KIND OF PAWN IN THIS GAME ON THIS BOOK...I don't know what is going on with all these negative reviews! You can also see and verify I bought my hard copy book from Amazon, as a verified purchase!

I enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to educate themselves about the mission that took out Osama bin Laden. Former assault element commander of ST6 and author Chuck Pfarrer has written a stirring account of the actual mission which eliminated the most wanted man in the world, and possibly the worst enemy of the USA since Adolf Hitler. Evidently OBL was set up by his associate Zawahiri, to be killed, by revealing the courier to any interested intelligence agency, as Zawahiri had tried other ways to wrestle control of AQ from his old boss.

I will tell you that author Pfarrer doesn't get to the actual mission execution until about page 171 of the 215 pages of text, however the first 170 pages are chock full of information relevant to the final assault.
Among the most interesting topics is how OBL bought into the sycophants telling him that he was a great military leader/commander, and he was a sheik, etc. In reality, OBL was a rich kid, who was a poor student, and no desire to martyr himself for the cause he was supposed to be so deeply involved with. The author details the early heroes of OBL and his early life, including his exposure to various terrorist leaders and causes, as well as his ties to various geopolitical forces.
The book reveals the details of the final operation to interdict the target Geronimo, which was not an operation of Leon Panetta's CIA, and indeed had only one CIA person aboard the helos which flew into Pakistan.

The code names of the command bird, the gun platform, the assault helos, the name of the canine weapon system, all are included in the work.

The author wastes no words in his book; every page is filled with information, all enlightening and some of it amazingly a bit funny, such as the ST6 command nicknames for bin Laden and Zawahiri (Bert and Ernie). The author also includes information on Islamic fundamentalism, 4th generation warfare, Ariel Sharon, Yassar Arafat, the PLO, Hezbollah, Beirut, Menachem Begin, Irgun, the partitioning of Palestine by the UN general assembly, the assaults on Sabra and Shatla, AKSU carbine weapon OBL carried, M134 Gatling guns, nerve gas (sarin) 155 arty shells from Iraq made into IEDs, etc.

The mission was to interdict a high value target in a non-permissive environment, and with only 12 shots fired by SEAL in the entire mission (considerably less than the 67 rounds fired at Kent State in the 1970 protests), they accomplished their mission, and rid the world of a man who caused the deaths of thousands of innocent human beings, and who would have killed more had he the chance.

The only disappointment I had with the book was that there are only two black and white photos inside, neither of which is particularly inspiring. I understand that SEALS cannot have their photos published, but that is what photo editing software is for, obliterating faces.

After a few more days of the many negative reviews....I noted that several of the reviewers have not read the book and they state so...several other "reviewers" only quote some copyrighted news story, and do not review the book. Many of the negative reviewers..I noted, have a total of ONE review to their Amazon total reviews. The negative reviews stink of week old fish to me, and I stand by my statements that this is a well written, and truthful (as much as one can do in classified ops) telling of the story and has some great background info on the history of the Arab conflict and what their thinking is of why they wish to kill all non believers etc. Great book, and Chuck is such a good author, I am totally impressed with his writing and have bought his book Warrior Soul, which I am now reading! Thank you for your service Chuck from another old veteran.
42 people found this helpful
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Lisa Ann Paul
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book that Puts You There!
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2011
Verified Purchase
I read a lot of history books, and I find they tend to fall into two general categories -- a) those that are years in the writing, scholarly, exhaustively researched, extensively footnoted and annotated, and b) those that make history come alive. This book is clearly in the latter category. If you want to know what it's like to train to be a SEAL and to participate in a mission, this is that book. The author -- who was a Navy SEAL and for years has been involved in training Navy SEALs here and in Afghanistan and Iraq -- writes so descriptively, you'll feel the heat of the weapon in your hands, experience the jolt to your foot as you kick down the door in the Abbottabad compound and smell the musty air of Bin Laden's bedroom when you burst in.

What I didn't expect, and the book delivered, were chapters that put the mission in context -- including the geopolitical context going back decades, and the preparation for this particular mission through the context of the last several decades of SEAL missions. One element I particularly appreciated in the book was the section that gave a background to what made Bin Laden Bin Laden. It's popular to think that he sprung up from nowhere as a fully formed monster. But many factors made him the man he was who did the things he did. Chuck writes so vividly -- well, you don't exactly sympathize with Bin Laden -- but you do have an idea what it would have been like to BE him. That accomplishment takes a special and rare kind of historian and, I think, represents the main value of this book. A value that will stand even decades from now when the mission is declassified and someone has the extensive time and many research assistants it will take to write the fully annotated, exhaustively researched definitive account of the killing of Bin Laden. Perhaps Chuck will be that person. Perhaps it will be someone else. Perhaps, as is usually the case, it will take several books for the reader to be able to get "the full story".

I do want to address the negative reviewers -- not the one-star troll flamers who have never reviewed on Amazon before this and clearly have never read this book -- but the people who bought the book and thought it wasn't "extensive" enough. You do know the years and years of work that goes into those sorts of books? I doubt we'll ever have a more definitive book on Seabiscuit than Laura Hillenbrand's or a more multi-leveled biography of Kit Carson and his impact on the American West than Hampton Sides', but it took both of those authors nearly a decade to research and write each of their books. They also had the advantage of being able to stand on others' shoulders as they had access to a wealth of history, research, newspaper and contemporary accounts of their subjects and the gift of distance to put it all into perspective.

Chuck's book is first out of the gate and, it does have the advantage of his first-hand research -- both in his role as a contractor involved with the training of SEALs, his former service as a member of the elite SEAL Team Six and his primary research here and in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, not only did he not have Hillenbrand or Side's luxury of time for research, he was dealing with a subject for which many details are classified and necessitated that, even if he was privy to some of those details, he omit or obscure them for security's sake. It's a huge burden on a historian, but, as I contend, when the exhaustively researched, annotated account of the Bin Laden mission comes out, this book will still stand -- as a visceral description of how the mission went down.
112 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Isaac Ho
5.0 out of 5 stars Revenge is Sweet! I want to read this book which gives ...
Reviewed in Canada on July 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
Revenge is Sweet!
I want to read this book which gives a clear account, i.e. blow-by-blow, to hunt down the chief perpetrator of 9/11 in New York city, resulting
in the death of some 3,000 innocent people, including the flight attendant, the late Betty Ong, last futile called for help in her doomed plane
heading for the tower! Thus he (Osama bin Laden) who has lived by the cowardly Sword of Islam, has now perished by the sword. Thanks
to President Obama unswearing decision to bring this world most wanted killer to justice. I am sure the book will enlighten me and all who
the account. Crime against humanity will not pay, especially against innocent people on this planet. Jehovah God is great in this case.
Amen!
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Tapamoy ghose
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on November 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
It was perfect. Was also delivered in time.
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Eduardus A.M. Vogel
4.0 out of 5 stars Killing Osama..
Reviewed in Brazil on January 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
Foi interessante ler este evento tão importante na história recente.Dá para perceber quanta preparação precisa ser feita para completar uma missão complicada como esta.
Bem feito
Eduardo
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alkbt
5.0 out of 5 stars Transaction sans souci !
Reviewed in France on October 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
A lire après No Easy Day !
Ce ne se passe pas toujours comme ça alors quand ça marche il est intéressant de savoir pourquoi !
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J.AT
2.0 out of 5 stars Flojito
Reviewed in Spain on February 14, 2013
Verified Purchase
Este libro es muy flojito: una mezcla de ideas personales, teorías variadas de tipo conspiranoico sin base o fundamento sólido, sucesos reales, historias variopintas.
Parece un mèlange de cosas que tenía escritas y a las que ha intentado dar un cuerpo común bajo el tirón de la operación contra Bin Laden.
Está aceptablemente escrito, algunas partes tienen ritmo; pero el conjunto adolece de esa personalísima y falta de fundamento visión de lo sucedido.
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