Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment

These and other disturbing episodes in Hunting al Qaeda display the hidden agendas and outright mistakes of the world's most powerful army in its war on terror.

Beast 85 was the code name of a Special Forces team from the 20th Special Forces Group which deployed to Afghanistan in May of 2002. The 20th Group was a National Guard unit made up of citizen soldiers eager to participate in the War on Terror, and help avenge 9-11. Yet they found that regular Special Forces soldiers referred to them as the summer help . Worse, they discovered that the greatest obstacle they would face in Afghanistan would not be the heat, the difficult terrain, or the enemy, but the reluctance of their commanders to let them hunt the terrorists. Determined to make an impact, Beast 85 found ways to take the war to the enemy despite the choking bureaucracy that hindered them. If they failed, they risked death or capture. If they succeeded, they risked court martial. Now the men of Beast 85, who came home in September of 2002, have published a memoir of their time in Afghanistan. Hunting Al Qaeda tells how Beast 85 was able to capture three senior Taliban leaders at a time when Task Force 11, the Pentagon s super secret special operations task force in Afghanistan, could not manage to capture even one. Beast 85 also captured or destroyed 79,000 pounds of enemy weapons and munitions, which accounted for 80% of the material Coalition forces captured or destroyed during their time in Afghanistan. They might well have captured Mullah Omar, whose location they had learned of from a CIA agent, but could not get permission to launch a raid before their quarry had slipped away. The liberation of Afghanistan was one of the most remarkable military campaigns in history. It was accomplished by highly trained teams of Special Forces operating in a difficult and dangerous country where they were forced to rely on their own initiative. But by May of 2002, when Beast 85 arrived on the scene, Afghanistan had become safe enough for a three star general and a vast horde of underemployed staff officers. This huge command apparatus, which oversaw only a few battalions of actual troops, busied itself with micromanaging Special Forces teams in the field. Every operation had to be approved by so many levels of bureaucracy that by the time it was launched, the target had moved on. Things got even worse following Operation Full Throttle, a wretchedly planned raid that accomplished nothing and left scores of civilians dead when the Air Force mistakenly bombed a wedding party. Beast 85 participated in Full Throttle, and give a detailed account. (Including how Beast 85 was itself nearly annihilated by an overeager SEAL team.) After the public relations disaster of bombing civilians, the American command in Afghanistan became even more risk averse, and operations required such long approval times that their chance of success was virtually nil. Determined to fight a war on terrorists, Beast 85 began to develop its own intelligence and launch its own operations, without going through the Byzantine channels in Bagram. The results were spectacular. Beast 85 began capturing Taliban leaders and destroying vast amounts of enemy supplies. They employed simple, flexible plans that allowed for unexpected contingencies, and achieved thunderclap surprise. (One Taliban commander was seized while relieving himself.) Their captures included Mullah Akhtar Osmani, the former commander of the Taliban II Corps. (He was ordered released by higher authority, as were many of Beast 85's captures.) When necessary, they lied about how they achieved their successes, often simply saying that they had gotten lucky during a reconnaissance. --Strategy Page, October, 2009

contains the best explanation I have ever read of the tribal conflicts and ethnic differences in Afghanistan. The main character - "Red" - spent years there with his father, who worked for US Aid, in the 1970s, and he lays out in a chapter that are incredible reading for that history. I thought there would be more action, but the story really shows what war is like in my opinion, especially for the reserve "citizen soldiers" who are fighting this war more than ever before in US history. That's why I bought it, really...there is a lot of down time in the story, but the battles are intense and you get the sense of what it's like to be a soldier waiting for the bureacracy to OK his every move. I had thought that special forces today had the ability to act without the command BS that bogged down Vietnam, guess I was wrong. Also, the Wedding Party massacre was incredible reading - the soldiers basically refute that it was just some gunfire in the air that attracted the airstrikes that killed the civilians in that infamous incident. Also, it was depressing to read about all the Mullahs they caught and were told to let go by the chain of command, including that one Mullah who, from a safe hideout in Pakistan instead of in US custody, recently said bin Laden was in good health. Overall a good read, and when it was slow it was still interesting to read about how the soldiers survive every day in the heat, dust, and fighting in Afghanistan. Anyone interested in the war there or special forces I think will like this book. A special bonus that I did not learn until I got the book home - on the reverse side of the jacket is a military map of the operation zone in Afghanistan, it's excellent for this book but I also use it to follow battles and movements I hear about in the news. --Military book review, November 2009

an unique opportunity to be able to read a first-hand account of what occurred to our men on the ground in a battle that continues. Instead of just buying into whatever the administration tells us, every American should inform him/herself on what our government and military are doing and not doing. Of course this book is just one SF team's account, but the truth it reveals should not be dismissed as 'griping, whining, and complaining,' especially by those who have not been in the same shoes. A salute for all the men of the Special Forces Team 2085 of the Virginia National Guard...and I commend the two authors for putting together their story despite the criticisms and backlash that they will undoubtedly have to face. --Midwest book review, October, 2009