Bob Woodward: Bin Laden should have read my book more closely

Bob Woodward: Bin Laden should have read my book more closely
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Osama bin Laden's extensive digital library inside his Abbottabad, Pakistan, hideout included numerous think tank papers, computer manuals, conspiracy theory books and, as you'd expect, more than a few writings about the 9/11 mastermind himself. Included in the collection: Obama's Wars, Bob Woodward's 2010 examination of the president's early handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Except bin Laden may have missed some crucial information in the book, according to the author himself — information that could have kept him alive.

"If he read Obama's Wars, bin Laden's takeaway should have been Obama does not like war but is willing to use lethal force," Woodward said in an e-mail. "The American commander-in-chief in fact prefers covert Special Forces raids targeted and aimed at capturing or killing known high-value terrorists in their hideouts. A close reading might have sent him back to a mountain cave." [The Washington Post]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.