>>Berntsen, the recipient of two of the CIA's three highest medals, one for preventing Islamic extremists from assassinating the Indian prime minister in 1996.
Wow. Who was that. Where. There's a story.
Too bad the USG is censoring this book. The above anecdote is exactly what the world needs; success stories in the GSAVE.
Ditto for the FBI agent, Edwards, whose book is also on the Index.
This book would help fill in the blanks about the whole ToraBora Campaign; another account, Christopher Smucker's "Al Qaeda's Great Escape", is a decent accout, albeit from a peripheral location, outside looking in, with Afghanis with their intrigues and insights, and it - does a good job of pointing out some of the perplexities and contradicitions of ToraBora.
Using locals instead of a US force, relying on airpower, policy based on info that didn't corroborate with on the ground facts, Osama's escape (or death?), the role of Pakistan - (there's a whole book there).
Now that the War has become a struggle, why is the USG so intent on keeping this guy's account quiet.
Since when does the First Amendment guarantee the right to write a tell-all book about undercover operations against an enemy with whom we are still at war???? Aren't covert CIA retirees proscribed from discussing their activities, especially thode during wartime? I know I have a relative who was CIA covert during the Korean War and he would never even tell his wife what he actually did. I also have a friend who was very high up in Air Force intelligence and even after he retired he told me he could not tell me anything. This is ridiculous and must stop.