Not what it seems....
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"You can't judge a book by looking at the cover" it is said. Well in this case it is true. The enigmatic title and cool cover photo are just not what this book is about, which is regrettable, because those who should read it probably will not, and vice versa. This scholarly, well researched work is about the litany of failures by the US high command and politicians to implement the skillful work of those operators on the ground. The number of times that OBL has escaped certain doom because of the dithering of those on high is painful to read. The amount of infighting within the hierarchy, which effectively disabled the sterling work of the real operators, is absolutely tragic. The world could have been a better place is this book's message; shame on all those named here.
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Killer Read
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A fascinating, illuminating read. Lucid, insightful and explosive - Smith draws a compelling picture of the Special Ops community, and its perennial battle against Washington and the top brass in pursuit of their deadly mission. Things seemed to have improved under the auspices of Rumsfeld, but how long this spring will last is anyone's guess. Anyone with a healthy respect for our hard-won freedoms should hope now that the Activity, Delta, et al will be allowed to go to work without political hindrance.
My only quibble is with the title. While the Activity retains a small cadre of shooters, the group's main mission is to provide intelligence (where the CIA has no assets) for direct action which is followed up the true 'Killer Elite' of Delta and Seal Team Six (or DevGru, as it now appears to like to be known).
That aside this is near peerless books - as gripping as a novel but all too chillingly real - and stands among the best books about modern covert warfare.
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Good read, needs editing
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This book can be assessed as a fairly in-depth look at the creation of a military anomaly: an intelligence gathering unit that also carries out direct action missions as and when required. Persons looking for a "Bravo Two Zero" tpe book may be disappointed. The book requires some thorough editing though: one glaring example is the description of the "Black Hawk Down" mission as "Operation Gothic Snake" Participants of the battle and official after-action reports name the operation as "Gothic Serpent". In addition, there is much repeating of facts and analyses that are contained in other works, all of which, in fairness, are annotated and footnoted in detail. Overall, this book does shed some light of the work of the ISA which may have been hitherto unknown.
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A More Than Decent Work
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This is a more than decently written work. The author does not use an expose form or tone. He doesn't disparage the US, the US services, Special Operations Forces (SOF), or the unit in question. He does discuss the perennial Conventional/SOF clash in DOD and the rest of the national security apparatus. He also discusses the controversies over policy, strategy, and tactics in OEF, OIF, and GWOT. Is Killer Elite perfect? No, but no work is! Killer Elite is an important addition to SOF literature. It's a preliminary work that others can build on. The "Activity" needs some recognition because its mission is critical to SOF and the GWOT. Five years from now there will be more substantial works on OEF and OIF, but the research has to begin somewhere.
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