New Book Dissects the Hunt For Osama Bin Laden
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Former Inquirer reporter and best-selling author Mark Bowden is out with a new book that is a comprehensive look at the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
It's called The Finish, even though it begins as the 9/11 attacks were unfolding, because in intelligence circles, "find, fix, and finish" are the three commandments of dealing with bad guys.
Bowden says both the Obama and Bush administrations can claim a share of credit in the meticulous, tireless effort to find the man who had a very high value and very low profile.
"Bin Laden was so determinedly hidden," Bowden tells KYW Newsradio. "He and his family huddled in the upper two floors of that three-story house for five years, without ever leaving it. I think the reason they didn't leave it is not because they liked living in a small space, I think it's because he knew if he showed his face, someone was going to turn him in."
Bowden says the potential for disaster in the bin Laden raid was every bit as great as that in another of his books, Black Hawk Down, the difference being part luck and part the proficiency of today's Special Operations teams.
