JOPLIN, Mo. —
“Fifty Shades of Grey” kept the No. 1 best-seller slot nailed down all summer, but the new book about the killing of Osama bin Laden has knocked it off its perch. And “No Easy Day” wasn’t even released until Tuesday. By then, it had already risen to the top through presales.
According to Yahoo, the count on “latest” stories about “No Easy Day” was 586 as of last Monday. On top of that, the Pentagon issued a formal warning of possible legal action against the man who wrote the book.
Mark Owen is the book’s credited author, but by now, the entire world knows that is a pseudonym to protect now-retired Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, who participated in the mission to kill bin Laden. He was assisted by coauthor Kevin Maurer.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Department of Defense is miffed because Bissonnette had signed an agreement not to divulge classified information.
“In the judgment of the Department of Defense, you are in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements you signed,” Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson said in a letter addressed to the author and his publisher, Penguin Putnam.
According to the book, details of the raid differ from the version previously offered by the military. For one thing, the book claims that that bin Laden was killed when he looked out of a door and was not near a weapon.
Speculation abounds that Bissonette wrote the book because he was upset.
A new e-book titled “No Easy Op,” by other special operations forces veterans, suggests that politics is behind “No Easy Day,” according to Slate.com. Bissonnette is breaking “the code of silence” honored by most commandos because of “bad blood” with his former unit, says the report.
The New York Times got an early look at the e-book and reported that it claims “Bissonnette É was effectively pushed out of SEAL Team Six after he expressed interest last year in leaving the Navy and starting a business. Upset at how he had been treated, Mr. Bissonnette felt less compunction about writing a book that he knew might upset colleagues.”
According to the e-book’s authors, which include a former Navy SEAL sniper, their insider account of the politics behind Bissonnette’s book was based on conversations with current members of SEAL Team Six, although none of those SEALs are identified.
Among those commenting on the book is Peter Bergen, author of “Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden” and a director at the New America Foundation, who said, “I think what the book does is, A, it’s a first-person account, the first we have. B, it gives a real flavor of what it was like to be there. I think it’s well-written. I think it’s a pretty accurate account.”
Bissonnette, who served 13 consecutive combat deployments, says that he hoped to set the record straight and “deliver firsthand a visceral and often surprising version of the bin Laden raid and other SEAL stories.” His emphasis, he said, is not on spilling secrets, but explaining a SEAL’s rigorous mindset and showing how that toughness is created.
Publisher’s Weekly called the book chick lit for guys. Every public account of the raid has been inaccurate, Bissonette writes, “even reports claiming to have the inside story.” He retired less than a year after bin Laden’s death and, disgusted with the misconceptions about and the politicization of the raid, got to work on the book.
While it details his life story Ñ his childhood in Alaska, his SEAL training and missions (including the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates), Bissonette says the book is about the team.
“I only used my life as a way to describe what it is like to be part of such a special unit,” he writes. And, yes, says PW, he is being paid for his story, but most of the book’s proceeds are being donated to charity.
The first printing of the book is now at 575,000 copies, according to Dutton.
The DoD announced Tuesday that the book revealed secrets and may provide dangerous insight about U.S. military operations.
One thing I know for sure and nobody had to tell me: Bissonette knew exactly what awaited him with the publication of this book Ñ DoD fury and angry former SEALs.
The military does indeed have its own code, and he has violated it while thumbing his nose. I served in the Navy and married a Marine, so I’ve been thoroughly brainwashed about military matters.
This is what I say: It took guts to do what the man did, but then, he was a SEAL, after all.
Lifestyles
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