I found the tattered little green notebook while cleaning out a closet, and as I slowly leafed through the pages, I seemed to no longer be sitting safe in my home, comfortable at my kitchen table. Instead, the scribbles transported me back five years, back to the dirt and rocks of the high peaks of the Spin Ghar Mountains in Afghanistan, where I served as the Delta Force troop commander and senior ranking military officer at the Battle of Tora Bora. Our orders were to kill or capture the most wanted man in the world, Usama bin Laden, and bring back proof.
For years, I had given sporadic and not-so-serious attention to piecing together a book about that important time. The story of the famous battle had been told and retold in newspapers, magazine articles, and books and broadcast on television, but most of what was revealed was in error. Some reports were little more than flights of fantasy that might as well have been about a military action on the far side of the moon. The record needed to be set straight, but for me to publish a book about the extraordinary and secret military operation would be difficult if it was based only upon the available public record.
Then I came across my notebook, and the faded pencil and pen scribble marks brought it all back to life. Lacing the little pages are my handwritten notes of actual words spoken by bin Laden, along with hundreds of numbers and letters that identify people, locations, and quantities, as well as my real-time thoughts, guidance, orders, and ideas. Without such detail, this story could never have been much more than a broad and general description of the battle. These notes provided the path to take a reader right into the dark heart of Tora Bora, that forlorn and notoriously well-known mountain range forever etched in America’s psyche.
By the summer of 2006, I had completed about 90 percent of the manuscript, but was still undecided about taking it public, for the desire to maintain secrecy is monumentally strong among Delta Force alumni. Then I received a telephone call from Dr. John Partin, the top historian at the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, Florida, who asked if I would be interested in helping SOCOM write the classified historical narrative of what had happened at Tora Bora. History is only history if it’s accurate, and is usually best told through the first-person accounts of people who were there.
As I mulled over that request, it became obvious that this story was going to be told, with or without me. The time had come. I made it clear that I would help SOCOM, but that there was a good chance I would also publish my own version some day. The historians at SOCOM had no problem with this and signed me up under their standard consulting agreement that required that I disclose no classified information, which I would never do anyway.
So, with the formalities out of the way, I headed south and met a Green Beret officer who was moonlighting inside the SOCOM history office that had been tagged to re-create the official version of what happened at Tora Bora. He is now a lieutenant colonel and holding down a different job, but at the time, he was the SOCOM deputy historian. This officer is a very detail-oriented guy and a consummate fact-checker, question asker, and professional in every way. He worked diligently for months digging for every nugget of information he could find. We spent sixty hours together working on that official history, and I’m certain there isn’t another man alive who knows more details about what happened at Tora Bora than he.
Throughout the months, his consistent stance was to tell the truth by presenting facts and honoring all participating organizations-not just Delta Force. To do so, he remained absolutely objective and gave every angle an honest look. His work is complete now and is one of the latest additions to SOCOM’s official, and of course secret, history. [1] My experience with this project served as the final bit of convincing I needed to bring my own unclassified story to the public.
Years before the path ever led down to Tampa, the first person I had reached out to about this project was Sir Edward Artis of Knightsbridge International, a world-class humanitarian and disaster-relief organization. I’m deeply indebted to Ed, a Vietnam veteran, for his unyielding motivation, sound guidance, and no-strings-attached support over the years.
Two true experts in the fields of terrorism and special operations forces, Peter Bergen and Hans Halberstadt, deserve credit for pushing this work from the “good idea” stage to reality. Their insight and guidance have been priceless and I am indebted to them for picking me up when I faltered along the way.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mike Durant, my longtime friend and also a retired special operator, deserves a great deal of thanks as well. Twice a New York Times bestselling author, Mike was one of the first people I contacted for moral support and expert advice. As always, he came through in spades.
My attorney, the remarkable Kevin Podlaski of Carson Boxberger LLP, a former special operations lawyer, skillfully undertook to navigate the muddy waters of the approval process with SOCOM-an approval that never came. Kevin’s calm voice of reason, his attention to the finest details, and a poker-faced patience, as part of a careful process of review with other knowledgeable advisors, reassured me that this book is free of any sensitive or classified information that might help any adversary of the United States of America.
Another longtime special operations expert and successful author, Steve Hartov, also helped to guide me through the maze of telling an important story while still protecting secrets. I’m deeply indebted to Steve for his expert advice, persistent doses of motivation, and steady hand throughout the crazy business of book publishing. Without his extraordinary and delicate midwifery, this journey would have been aborted long ago.
Many others helped this work come to life, and I consider them friends for life. A great number have chosen anonymity because of continuing affiliations with the world of special operations. They know who they are, and that I am tremendously grateful that they cared enough to help. As my good friend Hans Halberstadt says, book publishing is a team sport. But, all of that having been said, as the book’s author any errors or oversights, and the views and opinions expressed, are ultimately my responsibility and mine alone.
Finally, I am greatly indebted to Scott Miller, my savvy agent from Trident Media Group, and his colleagues there, who believed in this book from the beginning and never wavered or flinched in bringing it to life. The terrific folks at St. Martin’s Press also earned my deepest respect, particularly my editor, Marc Resnick, and the head publicist, John Murphy, who combined to make this an enjoyable journey. Late-inning thanks also go to Jim Hornfischer and the very talented Donald A. Davis.
<a l:href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> An unclassified version of the SOCOM history of Tora Bora is part of the 20th Anniversary History: 1987-2007 (U.S. Special Operations Command), pp. 93-98, which can be publicly accessed at http://www.socom.mil/Docs/Command_History_26Feb07webversion.pdf.