Summary: Killing the Killers by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard: The Secret War Against Terrorism

By Quick Savant

This summary book is meant to complement the original. It is not intended to replace the book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, #1 bestselling authors.

Readers soon find themselves injected into the worldwide war on terror, which started more than two decades ago on September 11, 2001.

America went into battle mode as the World Trade Center towers crumbled, the Pentagon burned, and a tiny number of passengers fought frantically to prevent a third jet from carrying out its murderous flight plan. Killing The Killers tells the story of America's long struggle against radicals who plotted and carried out not just the 9/11 atrocities but hundreds of others throughout the globe, finally destroying whole countries in their pursuit for power.

Killing The Killers follows the United States' fight against Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere, as well as specific targets of these organizations' most renowned commanders. O'Reilly and Dugard provide an irresistible narrative of our era's most crucial battle with new detail and well-sourced material.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781471676611

Book preview

PROLOGUE

In his beige pajamas, the guy with thirty minutes to live dreams of sex in his harem.

Meanwhile, two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters of the United States Army fly low above Pakistani airspace in approach to Abbottabad. The moon is waning into a crescent shape. The helicopter aircraft commander, HAC, is in the left seat, while his copilot is in the right. The first plane, dubbed Chalk One, holds a dozen Navy SEALs on the cabin's hard metal floor behind the pilot. Chalk Two transports 10 SEALs, an American CIA translator from Pakistan, and Cairo, a six-year-old Belgian Malinois dog. Cairo, like the troops, is outfitted with Kevlar body armor and night-vision goggles.

Each bird's fuselage is painted black. Heat-suppressing metallurgy is part of the special outfitting.

Sound is dampened using noise-reducing technology attached to the rotor tips. The pilots improve their aircraft's invisibility by utilizing a method known as nap of the earth, which involves hugging terrain features as low as possible. The fully loaded vehicles go at a deliberate speed of seventy-five mph.

From the darkness, death sullies forth.

On the floor, each member of this elite unit of SEAL (Sea, Air, and Land) commandos is practically immobile. The sixties have crew seats, but the fact that SEALs are too tough for such luxuries is a source of pride. Despite this risky endeavor, several people are sleeping. Crye Precision desert digital camouflage fighting leggings and a matching pullover sweater meant to be worn beneath body armor make up their outfit. Leather gloves, a medical kit, energy bars, and additional ammo are all kept in pockets down each trouser leg.

Every SEAL carries a few hundred dollars in American money in case the operation goes bad and they need to get out of Pakistan.

The pilots are army, while the fighters are navy. This is on purpose. The sixty is flown by all branches of the military, although army pilots are commonly regarded as the finest at infil and exfil—the perilous business of landing a helicopter in a conflict zone and safely withdrawing after the task is complete.

Infiltrate and exfiltrate equate to  life and death tonight.

Both Black Hawks took off from a secure airstrip in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, sixty minutes ago. Two bigger CH-47 Chinook helicopters arrived fifteen minutes later to provide help, laden with more fuel for the return flight. The two Bathtubs, as the Chinooks are known for their bathing suits, extended form, will land near the Pakistani border in Afghanistan, where it will await further instructions.

The SEALs are on their way to a private facility in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which is slightly under two hundred miles distant. Because of its huge size, locals refer to it as the Waziristan Palace. The acre-sized complex is enclosed by strong walls varying in height from ten to eighteen feet tall and is located on Kakul Road in a middle-class part of Abbottabad known as Bilal Town.

Each entry is guarded by solid steel gates. Inside, there are many buildings and a wide open courtyard for rearing animals and cultivating vegetables.

Chalk One is supposed to fly low over the courtyard. The FRIES—fast rope insertion/extraction system—will be used by the SEALs on board to enter the facility by sliding down a system of thick ropes tied to a strong point within the chopper. Because fast-roping mimics a