Codewort Geronimo: Der Augenzeugenbericht zum Einsatz der Navy-SEALs gegen Osama bin Laden

by Chuck Pfarrer

Am 2. Mai 2011 knackste der Lautsprecher im Lageraum des Weißen Hauses. Ursprung der Pakistan. Der Geronimo, Echo, KIA . Diese Worte markierten das Ende der Jagd auf Top-Terrorist Osama bin Laden. Codewort Geronimo ist die Geschichte dieses Einsatzes erzählt von den Männern, die ihn durchführten. Chuck Pfarrer, selbst ehemaliger Kommandeur der Eliteeinheit Navy SEALs, sprach für dieses Buch mit Mitgliedern des SEAL-Teams, das Osama bin Laden aufspürte. Das Ergebnis ist ein Werk voller zuvor nie veröffentlichter Details, das den Leser in bin Ladens Unterschlupf mitnimmt. Pfarrer beschreibt buchstäblich jedes Detail die Dunkelheit über dem Vorort, die Geräusche im Hof, den Geruch im Haus und die Beinahe-Katastrophe in Form eines kaputten Helikopters bis hin zu dem Moment, wo die Jagd auf den meistgesuchten Mann der Welt zu Ende ging. Codewort Geronimo ist die Geschichte eines der spektakulärsten Einsätze unserer Zeit durchgeführt von der härtesten Elitetruppe der dem legendären SEAL Team Six.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, History, War, Military History, Terrorism, Politics

Hardcover

First published September 27, 2011

About the author

Chuck Pfarrer is a former assault element commander of SEAL Team Six. He has written op-eds for The New York Times and the Knight Ridder syndicate, and appeared as an author and counterterrorism expert on C-SPAN2, NPR, Alhurra, IPR, Voice of America, Fox News, and America Tonight. Pfarrer serves presently as an associate editor of The Counter Terrorist, the American Journal of Counterterrorism. Pfarrer is the author of the bestsellers SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden and Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL. His Hollywood credits include writing and producing work for Navy Seals, Darkman, Hard Target, The Jackal, Virus, and Red Planet. He lives in Michigan.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/chuckp...

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this book surprised me for being better than I thought it would be. It is a good short history of special-ops, the take-down of Bin Laden, and does a good job at looking at the US from the mindset of the Taliban.

Disturbing facts from the book include that the Taliban were able to gather hidden biological weapons from Iraq and repurpose them into working weapons that they have successfully used against the U.S. military at least over 100 times. The author cites various scientific medical journals and Wikileaks.

So Rather than preventing these weapons to fall into the hands of bad guys, Bush’s rush to war actually sped up the process. The Bush administration droned on about nuclear weapons when the real threat was always a biological one. The invasion which had no security or occupation component meant that the biological weapons were free to whoever wanted them. The Obama Administration started out being uncomfortable with special-ops missions due to their inherent risk, but has grown more comfortable with them due to the increasing need to use them, and the success that the special forces have had.

American troops have been gassed, and no one wants to talk about it.

The Republicans don’t want to touch the story because it helps highlight how inept the Bush Administration was with its planning and handling of the wars.
The Democrats don’t want to touch the story because there were WMD’s (albeit chemical, not nuclear).
The press (including FOX and CNN) does not want to touch it because it would discredit past reporting.

[Terry Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read! Really hard to put down. It is an account of Operation Neptune Spear to capture/kill Osama Bin Laden, but it is much more than that. Former Seal Team Six operator Chuck Pfaffer also gives a brief history of the team, and describes other operations including the mission to save Captain Phillips from Somali pirates. Pfaffer's account of the Neptune Spear operation varies from the official government version regarding the roof-top insertion of one Seal element, and the timeline and cause of the helicopter crash. Although I'm certainly no expert, in my opinion from a tactical standpoint Pfarrer's account, pieced together from operators on the mission makes the most sense. Pfarrer also does a great job of giving a modern history of the Middle East--from the actions of Zionist groups prior to the creation of Israel, Lebanon's destruction, and what has led to the chaos of that part of the world today.

[Addison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incredibly loose attachment to facts. For a book that claims it’s about the mission that killed bin Laden, very little of the book actually touches on that. Disappointing read. Prose was decent though.

[Megan Roughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 3.5 STARS ***

Last month I decided to pick up a book that gave a comprehensive account of 9/11. I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf so given my previous read and the time of year, it seemed fitting to read it next. I didn’t anticipate finishing it one day before the anniversary.

This isn’t the first book I’ve read that covers the operation to take out Bin Laden, but I was surprised by how in depth this book went into his origins and how he became who he was and how Al Queda came to be. At times this got a little dry as there were a lot of politics that can be difficult to follow.

I appreciate how straight forward the author was. It feels like a very pure account of all these things. The book really doesn’t touch much on 9/11 at all so I was glad I read the other book first. I wish it had focused a bit more on the seals and the operation rather than so much on Osama himself.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This “inside story of the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden” offers an interesting perspective of an important event. After the destruction of New York's World Trade Center in 2001, Bin Laden's name became anathema to the western world and became legendary among his followers as well as his enemies. This book was written by a former Navy SEAL who viewed the mission of the terrorist's pursuit as both bold and valorous and yet somehow emotionless and methodical. His insider's view of the background of SEAL Team 6 makes one appreciate just what the SEAL designation means to the military and allows the reader to see why it is such a small and elite program. And yet as sanguine as Osama's enemies may have been at his take down, the author's thinly veiled anger at the public outcome of the mission shows us how, once again, controversy surrounds the reporting of historical events. It can hardly be missed by the reader that the author feels that the CIA, the media and various politicians and agencies swooped in on “Geronimo, Echo, KIA” as if to make it their own... after the fact. I sense that he would have preferred that Osama Bin Laden simply disappeared and that we would all be made aware that he had somehow, mysteriously, met his just end.

[David Pospisil · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW...great book.
The description of the operation is more thrilling than any fictional thriller I have ever read.
The description of the Seal's state of mind when clearing a room was mesmerizing.
Learned a lot of the history of Bin Laden as well.
God bless America.

[Roger Haskins · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you write a book about a raid that was less than 40 minutes long? Spend a lot of time talking about other things than the 40 minute raid described in the title. I understand the benefit of the special op's team knowing the background and emotional motivation behind their target, but that doesn't mean I need the full history to appreciate the raid itself.

So all that being said, if you enjoy reading stories of special forces and black op's, it is a decent read. A few notes: if this book incorporates the technology that is known about, my imagination runs wild with the level of technology and weapons systems that are not disclosed. Also my admiration for these types of soldiers went up even more. I was already in awe of the sacrifice, dedication, skill, teamwork, patriotism, and bravery they possess. What I came to appreciate more through this book is the political quagmires that entangle black op's. Do all that, putting your life on the line, an have the complete awareness, that if the slightest thing goes wrong, your country will either court-martial you for illegal activity, or just disavow any knowledge of you.

Glad they got this one right. Despite the best efforts of the politicians.

[Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good background on the SEALs and some of their numerous achievements. One can't help but admire the men who push themselves to become Navy SEALs - it's an incredibly tough road to get there. Interesting take also on a former SEALs take on politicians and the US "intelligence" community. Also a good overview of the actual raid on Bin Laden, although as numerous other reviewers have pointed out, it is in the latter part of the book. What was particularly interesting (and not a little disturbing was the information about the chemical and biological weapons) that fell into the hands of Al Qaeda.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Former Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer has written a comprehensive account detailing the formation of the U.S. military's elite unit--the Navy SEALS and their intense and grueling training. He reveals the role they played in numerous top secret missions including a riveting account of SEAL team 6 participation in, and undertaking of, Operation Neptune Spear--their daring raid on Osama bin Laden's compound at Abbottabad. The accomplishment of this assignment brought resolution to the nation and to the families impacted by the attacks on September 11, 2001. Well researched (Mr. Pfarrer interviewed the SEAL team 6 participants) and well written, this book will hold you spellbound.

[Lisa Konet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this despite some of the foreign names being difficult to read. The training of the people to even be considered "a Navy Seal," would probably kill the average/unfit person. Just reading about that was unfathomable and shocking. Wow!

When this book finally got to the September 11th attacks/panic and later chapters, I was already engrossed. I like that the code name for the mission to capture/kill Osama bin Laden was Neptune Spear. We (the world) heard the news version of what happened; but to read WHAT REALLY HAPPENED, honors the men on this mission.

Well written account of events. Highly recommended.

[Theri Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not sure how I would like this book so I was hesitant to get it. I am very glad I did; it was informative, easy to follow, interesting, well written and cleared up some misconceptions. I really recommend this book for a behind the scenes look at the who, what, where and why's of May 1, 2011; as well as SEAL missions that took place long, long, long before that day that had nothing to do with OBL, and everything to do bravery, loyalty and courage.

[Robert Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing fast read that takes you into a well insighted crafted woven tale about the heros of our armed forces like the Navy Seals team 6 accomplishments.
Excellent information about this historical operation of our times.
Highly recommend for anyone enjoys military history and reading about anyone who dared to serve in our armed forces especially those in the Special Forces/Operations warriors.

[Gyan Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos to the author for pacing the book with such intrigue and background to the story. Very in-depth potrayal of the crisis from middle east and Lebanon. The growth and evolution of terror tactics and principles is depicted in great detail.

The chronological order of events goes awry at times, the only drawback in otherwise a great read.
Inspirational and an eye-opener to the core.

Rating: 4/5

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who knew there was a Journal of Counterterrorism? Enjoying the history of the Navy SEALs and background on Osama Bin Laden.

Learned a lot about the Navy SEAL teams, Ghost helicopters, Osam Bin Laden.

[Jeff Yoak · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's hard to miss my interests with what could be here. I liked hearing about SEAL training and am interested in the main event it promised to chronicle, but the book ended up being too rambling for me.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best book about SEALS I've read so far. Facts and philosophy of SEAL training and a good description of the mission. All the other SEAL books I've read focus on what a macho SEAL the author was.

[David Baer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book delivers much more (or much else) than the title would suggest. There is a great deal of background on the history of the SEAL program, and of political events that fomented the Islamic jihad movement, starting naturally with the Balfour declaration and the establishment of Israel. The author doesn’t say so specifically, but one gets the impression that he would admit at least a modicum of recognition of justification for Arab political discontent with a world order that includes Israel.

There are two startling ideas that Pfarrer puts forth that I want to highlight here, as they challenged my general outlook.

1. It was operationally a SEAL mission. The SEALs justifiably see the CIA as a bad joke when it comes to operations. The invasion of Grenada actually was a thing that involved heroic action by SEAL operatives, heroism made necessary by CIA incompetence with such basic intelligence as maps. From the King David hotel bombing, to the USS Cole attacks, the CIA has utterly failed to integrate and act on known intelligence. The USS Cole attack was preceded, months earlier, by a bumbling identical attempt that saw the explosives-laden attack craft sink in the harbor. Al Quaeda operatives were actually able to salvage the explosives to use for the later successful attempt. What. As for 9/11, I guess by now it is generally known how badly internecine politics impaired our intelligence apparatus from recognizing the threat, but Pfarrer painfully recounts the highly specific, and ignored, intelligence reports that warned of civilian planes being used as weapons.

2. Iraqi WMD were real. Front-line US troops encountered nerve gas munitions on numerous occasions. These encounters are documented in Assange’s “Wikileak” materials. Just because the inept searches for WMD did not find them, does not mean they do not exist. As proven by the front-line experience, these weapons did exist, most likely still do exist, and most probably are in the hands of terrorists today. They constitute an unacknowledged sword of Damocles hanging over all our heads.

The actual operation against OBL occurs mainly as an afterthought. So it’s not the book I expected, but an engrossing, important, and terrifying one nonetheless.

Just one thing – once, he committed the egregious error of using “flaunt” when “flout” was intended, and that is just unacceptable.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take out the history of the SEALS and this was a 50 page book. A vast majority of the book was about SEAL history and other missions.
While it was an interesting read and the section of the actual raid was pretty good, there was a very glaring error early on the book that was especially bad for a military author by mistaking Englin AFB in Florida for Offutt AFB in Nebraska. Even more glaring about that mistake is the author is former SEAL. Eglin AFB has extensive ties to the Special Operations community, Offutt AFB has none.
Finally, when I hit about the 50th statefment that the SEALS were the baddest, most awesomeness force on the planet and that no else came even close to elite they were, it got tiring. I understand standing up for you unit but the ego of the author became every clear very early on making it clear that no other unit in all of the US military machine could have carried out this mission.

[Zbyszek Sokolowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Książka ok. Jeden z interesujących faktów jest np opisane to jak doszło 09/11. Mianowicie na szefów FBI i CIA zostały mianowane osoby z klucza politycznego, które nie znały się na wywiadzie i zarządzaniu bezpieczeństwem. Osoby które wskazywały na błędy i wypaczenia zostały albo zwolnione albo przesunięte na emeryturę. Służby długo przed atakiem znały prawdopodobny wektor ataku, wiedziały że to będzie atak przy użyciu samolotów na główne obiekty. Raporty zostały zignorowane na jakimś szczeblu. Doszło do czego doszło, po latach jeszcze uciszano ludzi którzy byli autorami raportów o prawdopodobnym ataku. Skąd my to znamy?

Druga sprawa broń chemiczna w Iraku. Według autora była ona w Izrealu. Tylko media mainstreamowe zaprzeczyły i później nie chciały tego odkręcać. Broń ta niekontrolowana trafiła w sporej części do Al Kaidy gdzie dalej była wykorzystywana do ataków.

[Bill Allenbaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave it two stars because I felt it was hard to follow. It started it out with the brief history of the seals that could have been expanded. Throw in the "Maersk Alabama" incident because? The story is about Osama Bin Laden not a hijacked ship.
What I did find unnerving is that on page 90 the author is talking about Marines returning from Lebanon and no one knew they were silent because they media did not talk. Funny when he mentioned the six day war on multiple occasions that they author failed to mention that during that war a US Navy ship "The USS LIBERTY" was attacked by Israeli forces. Spoiler alert, the media was silent about that as well. It does make your understand the hatred that the Arab countries gave for the US.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't this guy have an editor? This book is full of typos, grammatical errors, and inaccuracies to the point of being distracting. Without footnotes, listed sources, or bibliography, I'm skeptical about much of the information in here. Worst error yet? When reporting on the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings, he tells us the embassy was in Mombasa--NOT Nairobi--Kenya. C'mon, these are basic facts you should know when writing about Al Qaeda, buddy. Also, his account of the Bin Laden raid has been disputed by both the Pentagon and the U.S. Special Operations Command. Pfarrer writes with an obvious personal bias--he believes that chemical and biological weapons are regularly used on U.S. troops and it's just not reported. Conspiracy theorist, not impressed. I quit reading, just skimmed the text halfway through.

This guy just pulls info out of his head--and it's usually wrong. More incorrect information/blatant typos:
Attempted Al Qaeda attack on USS The Sullivans was January 2000, NOT 2003.
9/11 attacks were 37 months after the East Africa Embassy bombings, NOT 24 months.
While chronicling the events of September 11, 2001, he neglects to mention United 175 crashing into the second tower, just sloppy.
The incident in Iraq regarding the roadside bomb containing Sarin is from May 2004, not May 2003. (incident was over a year after the U.S. invasion, not several weeks)

An important story to read, but get it from an author who can get their facts straight! I read this as historical fiction.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book and 85-90% of this book is not about the UBL raid and is just recycle SEAL stuff from I believe to be mostly other books like No Easy Day and Manhunt.

This book does not match other books I have read about the UBL raid which has me skeptical and given how little of the book was devoted to the read even more skeptical. The details of the helicopter crashing inside the compound and the reasons why it crashed do not match other accounts I have read, e.g. it was caused because their were high walls vs. chain link fence during training and hence the engines shut down due to sucking in rotor wash causing a hard (read crash) landing and I have read one account where the TF160 pilot said he could fly it out of there.

I cannot recommend this book.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read but very informative. It was broken up into thirds. The first third gave a history of the evolution of SEAL Team 6, including a detailed account of their involvement in the rescue of the captain of the ship Maersk Alabama (dramatized in the movie "Captain Phillips"). The middle third gave a brief but thorough biography of Osama Bin Laden and the rise of Al Qaeda. The final third gave an account of the mission that eliminated Bin Laden. It was told from a 3rd person perspective (unlike No Easy Day by Mark Owen) and was just a factual recounting of events, no editorializing. This was an interesting, informative, and enjoyable glimpse into the world of special operations and I enjoyed it.

[Artie O’Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the most informative book I have read about the demise of Osama Bin Laden, Operation Neptune Spear. It answers the why, the what, the when and where. It also touches on the who, but not by name in some cases when it involves the SEALs. To truly understand why this all took place from the very early beginnings to the post operation this book gives you the facts that you have not heard from in the media or Hollywood. This book is extremely entertaining and it gives somewhat of a different story to the one you think you know. I strongly suggest everyone to read this book. Thank you Chuck Pfarrer

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a ton of Navy SEAL books (including Robert O'Neils regarding this mission) and while they do sometimes get repetitive, this one seemed good. I loved a lot of the background on the history of conflict in the Middle East over the last 50 years, because as a young Westerner, sometimes its easy to forget that there were any issues over there prior to 9/11 or Desert Storm. That being said as an audiobook sometimes all of the Arabic names makes it difficult to follow along with and that certainly occured for me at times.

[Leanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle for this book should be “but I digress” because of how much extra information is included. I do think it’s incredibly important to understand the context behind why Osama Ben Laden was such an important target for the US navy seals, but I think this would’ve held my attention better if it had been a little shorter. Overall, good, and incredibly interesting, but just, well, long. Worth the read, but know that you’re getting into a history lesson in combination with the story on which this book centers.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good read, more of a justified rant at the lack of credit given to the SEAL team for their role in planning the operation. CIA certainly got in front on telling the narrative. I wish there was more insight on what Pakistan had to say about the whole thing. There was little written about the unfortunate locals who were persecuted and imprisoned.

[Edward Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good part of this book is about the history of special forces and some insight into the SEAL team mindset. From the title I expected this to be only about the everything leading up to the mission, but it wasn't. I wasn't disappointed and I liked what I read but I think the author could have made an entire book about the mission alone.

[Jesse Flood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read, from the whole operational side. To give you an idea of the level of planning that went into this, there were spotters in trash heaps for days just to identify high value targets and eliminate them. I think this was a very underrated book that deserved more readers and praise to all those who took part in making the world safe.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

While interesting, only 20% of this book had to do with Operation Neptune Spear, the rest was a diatribe against the intelligence community from the NSA, to the CIA to the FBI.

Also included was a brief history of the teams and a long history of Bin Laden and the internal politics of Al Queada