There have been several accounts of the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, including one by a former Navy seal, one by a Navy seal who participated in the raid, as well as the movie Zero Dark Thirty.

In this new book Killing bin Laden - Operation Neptune Spear 2011, author Peter F. Panzeri Jr. has developed another highly detailed account of the hunt leading up to the raid on the bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan, and his ultimate death.

Bibliography and Critical Sources

As stated in the book “The most dominant influences on this account are those of the 880+ page Pakistani Abottabad Commission Report for its inclusion of candid raw data, the personal account in interviews of former US Navy SEAL “Mark Owen,” and the abundance of detailed information on Operation Neptune Spear released in 2011 to the producers and screenwriters of the film Zero Dark Thirty.

Sections of the book include:

• Introduction
• Origins
• Initial Strategy
• The Plan
• The Raid
• Aftermath
• Analysis
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index

The Introduction briefly describes the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), more popularly known as "Seal Team 6 that carried out the raid on the bin Laden's compound.

Origins discusses the factors affecting the development of bin Laden into the world's most notorious terrorist leader: growing up as a religious militant, developing a vengeful hatred of Israel and the US for inciting anti-Muslim factions in Lebanon, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden's early development lead him to develop his plan for a worldwide revolution to destroy corrupt societies and bring the world to Islam. Bin Laden cofounded Al Qaeda as an organization to wage war against the United States and trigger a global Jihad.

Initial Strategy

The hunt for bin Laden began in earnest after the attacks on the World Trade Center on 2011. As bin Laden went into hiding, the initial US intelligence strategy was to track down the couriers bin Laden used to communicate with his Al Qaeda followers. Tracking down the courier eventually lead to the discovery of bin Laden's stronghold in Abottabad in 2010.

The book includes early photographs of terrorist activities, and includes many sidebars with the chronological timelines such as The Growth of Al Qaeda, the Key Leads In The Manhunt For bin Laden, The Final Countdown to Neptune Spear, and many more.

Efforts to positively identify bin Laden at the Abottabad compound are described in detail, but he was never confirmed to actually be there. There were several plans considered for attacks on the compound, including stealth bombers, drone attacks, and a raid by US commandos. The book also describes the delays while the administration decided whether and how to attack.

The Plan

This section describes the plan for the raid in detail and identifies all of the supporting forces.

The book states that “although the operational plans for Neptune Spear have been classified, extensive open source documentation and surviving first person accounts make the most aspects of the raid readily evident”. The tactical objectives for the raid were to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, and to conduct “Sensitive Site Exploration” and recover all possible documents for intelligence evaluation.

In the movie Zero Dark Thirty, the raid is portrayed as two stealth helicopters with the SEAL Team six. The book describes many other elements in the operation in addition to the two stealth helicopters:

• 2 quick reaction forces each with two Chinook helicopters and four Seal assault teams. One of these Chinnooks was called in to replace the downed stealth helicopter.
• 2 contingency forces of two Chinook helicopters with four additional SEAL assault teams
• 12 vehicles on the ground in Pakistan with CIA operatives and medics
• 4 combat search and rescue helicopters
• 4 Apache attack helicopters
• Several armed unmanned aerial vehicles (drones)
• Fixed wing aircraft including F-18 super Hornets, E-6A airborne command post, E3 Sentry (AWACS), KC 135 stratotanker refueling aircraft, a C-130 for ground transport and a V-22 Osprey for transporting the body of bin Laden to the USS Carl Vinson for disposal.

A refueling station was set up inside Pakistan to refuel the stealth helicopters before their return flight to Afghanistan. The Quick Response Force Chinooks followed the stealth helicopters to a staging point inside Pakistan and the contingency force waited inside Afghanistan.

The book includes a detailed description of all of the operation elements and a sidebar task organization listing all of the elements in the raid.

The Raid

The raid itself is covered in a text description, minute-by-minute timeline of events, several three-dimensional diagrams of the compound with the SEALs movements, a three-dimensional view of the interior of the main building with the SEALs movements, and several paintings of events that occurred during the raid. There are two different accounts presented for the actual killing of bin Laden based on alternative accounts of the event. The description of the raid makes for a very compelling read, and the numerous graphics clearly describe all the action.

Aftermath

The Aftermath section describes the actions taken by the SEALs and others to transfer bin Laden's body and all of the captured materials back to Bagram Air base. It also discusses the reaction in Pakistan and the activities at the Abottabad compound the next day.

The Analysis section talks about the raid and what made it successful. The Conclusion talks about the impact on Al Qaeda due to bin Laden's death

In summary this is a fascinating book that portrays a vivid picture of the events leading up to and the actual raid on bin Laden’s compound. The raid and killing of bin Laden was a great moral victory for the United States.

Thanks to the author Peter Panzeri and Osprey for compiling the information and publishing this detailed account of the killing of bin Laden.

Thanks as usual to IPMS for the opportunity to review this book.