The Pentagon and a former US Navy Seal are at odds over a book that offers the first eyewitness account of the May 2011 raid that took out Osama bin Laden, with a potential court battle looming.
Bissonnette recounts how Bin Laden was first shot in the head as he peered out of a door and then pumped with bullets as he convulsed on the floor
Amid a wave of publicity, the Defence Department is warning the ex-commando and his publisher not to release No Easy Day this week, saying the author violated non-disclosure agreements he signed while in uniform. The Pentagon said last Friday it has reviewed the text but officials declined to say if the book reveals state secrets, vowing to keep all legal options open.
The Pentagon’s top lawyer on Thursday threatened possible legal action, saying the author had violated the non-disclosure deals – including a pledge to submit any book for review before publication.
The former Navy commando wrote No Easy Day under a pseudonym, Mark Owen, but has been identified in media reports as Matt Bissonnette. In the book, published by Penguin’s Dutton imprint and already handed out to some US media, he describes his role in the famed raid on Bin Laden’s Pakistani hideout that was hailed afterward as a triumph by the White House.
With the book expected to hit instant bestseller status, Bissonnette’s lawyer on Friday offered a rebuttal to the Pentagon, insisting the author had not broken faith with his commitments.
The commando had sought legal advice before going ahead with the book and was not required to submit the manuscript in advance to defence officials as the Pentagon claims, said his attorney, Robert Luskin.
The former commando “is proud of his service and respectful of his obligations,” Mr Luskin wrote to the Pentagon. “But he has earned the right to tell his story; his abiding interest is to ensure that he is permitted to tell it while recognising the letter and spirit of the law and his contractual undertakings.”
The book does not offer a dramatically different version of events already presented by President Barack Obama’s aides but does provide some new details about the May 2011 operation at Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. Mr Bissonnette recounts how Bin Laden was first shot in the head as he peered out of a door and then pumped with bullets as he convulsed on the floor.
Official accounts said bin Laden had appeared in a doorway and ducked back into his bedroom, leading the US commandos to suspect he might be retrieving a gun.