Name: Jawbreaker
ISBN: 9780307351067

Gary Berntsen

the attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda : a personal account by the CIA's key field commander

Jawbreaker

Coleman McCormick

This book was an interesting read on the early stages of the war in Afghanistan, from the perspective of one of the first officers on the ground in country to link up with the Northern Alliance. Berntsen's account is definitely not without critique of the administration's handling of the war, particularly his first-hand experiences at Tora Bora chasing bin Laden near the end of 2011. The pragmatic and reasoned approach to those early months of the war -- joining the Northern Alliance forces in the Panjshir, corralling the warlords and generals to work together, and understanding the value of local language speakers and those that understood the culture -- was refreshing to read about. A group of highly experienced and trained officers jumping in and using the resources available to them, without hanging around until "backup" arrived.

One thing that was slightly grating about this account was his choice to leave in phrases and sections that were redacted by the Agency's Publication Review Board, with them simply struck out in the text, but it's likely that this wouldn't be as big an issue in the print version (I listened to the audiobook).

Jawbreaker the attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda : a personal account by the CIA's key field commander

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