Gone in 90 seconds: New book recounts raid that killed bin Laden

A new book scheduled for release next week -- SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden -- claims it took SEAL Team 6 just 90 seconds to reach and kill the al-Qaeda leader during their raid on his Pakistani complex earlier this year. This and other claims contained in the book conflict with the Obama administration's official account of how the raid went down.

The Hollywood Reporter recently snagged an exclusive look at the book by author Chuck Pfarrer, a former SEAL Team 6 commander:

Pfarrer, author of the best-selling Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL, is said to have gotten a firsthand account of the raid from SEAL members actually involved in the operation. Crucially, sources who are familiar with the book say that SEAL Target Geronimo paints a daring and dramatic account of the raid that is at odds with the official White House version.

Pfarrer writes that the SEALs entered Bin Laden’s home from the roof and killed him in the first 90 seconds of the raid. The official account has Bin Laden dying near the end of an approximately 40-minute raid, after hiding in his bedroom as the SEALS fought their way up from the ground floor.

Pfarrer also provides new information on the weeks and months leading up to the raid and relates the history of the Navy’s elite and secretive SEAL Team Six. SEAL Target Geronimo pins the blame for Bin Laden’s exposure on Ayman Zawahiri, his second-in-command, who repeatedly used the same compromised courier to communicate with the Al Qaeda leader. Pfarrer also explores the lessons the SEALs learned from their mission against Somali pirates that helped them in the Bin Laden operation, and he delves into the history and operations of the Joint Special Operations Command, the secretive military organization in charge of the military’s special operations forces.

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