The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden by Mark Bowden; Atlantic Monthly Press; Price: Rs.299; 288 pp In October 2002, a then little-known Illinois senator denounced the White House’s plan to invade Iraq, saying: “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars… You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with bin Laden and al-Qaeda…” The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden retraces recently reelected President Barack Obama’s efforts to make good that 2002 speech. Theoretically, journalist Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) is ideally qualified to write this book. Throughout a prolific career, he has skillfully tied together documentary evidence and participant interviews to create engaging narratives of combat events. Unfortunately, The Finish lacks the vivid detail and immediacy of the author’s best work. As a result it’s merely important, neither essential nor compelling reading. Rather than the definitive account of the Abbottabad raid, The Finish reads like a well-written Obama administration official report. Blame restricted access. Unable to interview the Navy SEAL (sea, air and land) teams involved, and not privy to key bits of classified information, Bowden devotes less than 10 percent of The Finish to the raid itself. Forced to widen his scope, the focus of this historical narrative is a battle of personalities — the triumph of a nuanced pragmatist over a rigid fantasist. Thus, after introducing a host of peripheral characters, the book quickly settles into its driving narrative: Obama vs. Osama. In the early pages, we learn that the 9/11 attacks pushed Obama to break from the traditional left-of-centre style of conflict resolution. But he remained wary of emotional battle cries and started believing in foreign policy grounded in reality, rather than ideology. “The way he (Obama) saw it,” writes Bowden, “America was not at war with something amorphous, like a concept or a tactic. It was at war with specific individuals who had attacked the country and continued to threaten it.” Therefore immediately after assuming office, the new president sought to disentangle America from its two messy occupations while simultaneously planning the destruction of al-Qaeda’s leadership. He soon learned, however, that the Bush administration had not entirely neglected bin Laden. With two major wars demanding resources, the White House and Pentagon lacked the bandwidth to make bin Laden a top priority. How Obama and his team refocused the national security apparatus, and how it bore fruit on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad, provides material for the subsequent chapters. Throughout, the president is described as a measured and intelligent leader, who surprises close aides and grizzled combat veterans with his willingness to target and pull the trigger. Meanwhile, in alternate chapters, Bowden fleshes out his thesis: If Obama had actively worked to develop and mature his world view, bin Laden had confined himself to a narrow literal interpretation of Islam at a young age and never questioned it. Delusional and frustrated, but ever certain of final glory, the al-Qaeda chieftain brooded in his fortress/prison for years, firing…
