In an audacious operation that unfolded like a Hollywood thriller, the Navy Seals executed a daring raid deep into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. The departing members of the Seals took not only the body of bin Laden but also a cache of invaluable intelligence on his organization, Al Qaeda. It is fitting that Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, veteran security correspondents for The New York Times, begin and end their insightful new book about United States counterterrorism efforts with this triumph. The United States, they argue, could not have pulled off the same raid 10 years ago. The bin Laden strike was the “logical culmination of nearly a decade of missteps, mistakes, trial and error under fire, and ultimately lessons not only learned but taken to heart.”
