Behind the scenes of historic raid

Little-known details of hunt for Bin Laden

By Chris Muldrow

HOW do you find someone who doesn’t want to be found?

It would seem a nation with access to multiple intelligence-gathering agencies and vast resources would easily be able to track down a hidden man. But Peter Bergen’s “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden, From

9/11 to Abbottabad” shows that the task is not as easy

as it would seem.

Bergen clearly had a shocking level of access to the men and women who conducted a hunt that ultimately led to a mysterious compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Once intelligence forces found the compound, however, it still wasn’t clear that the man who strolled around on a covered porch was Osama bin Laden.

“Manhunt” shows that the military operators who conducted the raid that got bin Laden were consummate professionals—there was never any doubt from planners that the soldiers could execute the plan if they were deployed.

But Bergen also writes that President Obama was ultimately the man who made the final call to raid the compound, against the advice of Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. In fact, Obama was the person who insisted a backup helicopter be included in the plan—a helicopter that was ultimately needed when a stealthy chopper crashed during the operation.

Chris Muldrow is chief digital officer for The Free Lance–Star Publishing Co.

 MANHUNT: THE  TEN-YEAR SEARCH FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN

By Peter Bergen

(Crown, $26, 384 pp.)

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