To Catch a Killer

Publisher: Grove Press UK

Price: Rs 399

Pages: 266

The Finish comes from the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down,Mark Bowden. However,unlike Black Hawk Down where the author displayed terrific skills as an investigative journalist in building the plot of the book,providing a blow-by-blow account of events,The Finish lacks punch.

Bowdens book was expected to fill the gaps in the story of the biggest manhunt in human history. To the dismay of readers,umpteen questions remain unanswered: such as whether Pakistan knew about Operation Geronimo; if bin Laden put up a fight when the SEALs broke the midnight silence and blew open the doors of his mansion in Abbottabad; if the US used the Pakistani doctor Afridi to get the samples from Abbottabad,etc. The authors qualms in answering these questions,in the absence of any solid official account of the operation,are palpable.

The book provides an inside account of the cost-benefit analysis of the Obama administration,before acting on the CIA intelligence,and traces the history of the manhunt for bin Laden before 9/11,zeroing in on the mystic character Al-Kuwaiti,the courier,who was first mentioned in a series of interrogations,some involving an enhanced technique.

The author does not mince words in crediting President Obama for his bold decision to opt for a surgical operation over a dawn attack to kill bin Laden. US military history has often miscalculated when it comes to surgical operations,for example,the failed 1979 operation at the US Embassy in Iran and the Black Hawk downed in Somalia. Lack of clarity in decision-making at the White House resulted in the suspension of the operation to eliminate bin Laden in Afghanistan at the start of 2001.

Obamas administration could successfully overcome these bottlenecks. Operation Neptune Spear got the Presidents green signal,with the full backing of his advisors,as the US did not want to leave any room for speculation on Osamas killing. The successful zero dark thirty operation was one of the major reasons for the soaring popularity of President Obama and paved the way for a second presidential term.

The book is a brilliant narration of the manhunt for bin laden before and after 9/11. It assiduously sumsup the relentless effort of the ALEC station a CIA unit dedicated to tracking bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad to bring him to justice at the cost of what the author describes as long hours of office leading to the breaking-up of marriages.

The author joins the dots to provide an extremely valuable analysis of Al-Kuwaiti. The final tip-off was a telephone interception of Al-Kuwaiti in June 2010. In early April 2011,the CIA could conclude that the mansion in Abbottabad housed bin Laden with fair degree of conviction after a series of clever investigations.

The preparation of the SEALs and the final assault leading to the Enemy Killed in Action EKIA message is based on the authors interview with President Obama,and accounts of some officials of the White House,prominent among them being 32-year-old Ben Rhodes,President Obamas speechwriter. The author has also interviewed David Petraeus,former CIA director,then based in Afghanistan,about the preparations made by the SEALs for the assault. The firsthand account of SEAL commander Mark Owen in No Easy Day also finds mention in the book. However,the central question of Pakistans knowledge about the operation remains largely unanswered.

The absence of cohesive research in Pakistan is a serious limitation. The author does not connect the developments in Pakistan involving Al Qaeda in a post 9/11 phase to the operation in Abbotabad. In Steve Colls Ghost War,for example,the CIAs Pakistan station chief tells the Al Qaeda story. A similar chapter based on the CIA diary of Pakistan and interviews with some Pakistan-based Taliban and Al Qaeda experts like Ahmed Rashid or Imtiaz Gul could perhaps have filled the vacuum. Nonetheless,the joy of reading the book lies in unravelling the enigma of the biggest manhunt in human history.

The writer,an IPS officer,is superintendent of police,National Investigation Agency,Delhi. Views are personal