Black Ops: The Rise of Special Forces in the CIA, the SAS, and Mossad

Description

After eight challenging years in Afghanistan, the new U.S. strategy, aimed at winning hearts and minds rather than search-and-destroy, refocuses the conflict on Special Forces: unorthodox soldiers who work outside of traditional military forces to combine secret military operations with nation building. Tony Geraghty, an expert author in this field for almost thirty years, unveils the extraordinary evolution of this refined style of war-making from its roots in anti-guerrilla warfare in Ireland and Palestine, by way of the creation of the C.I.A., the S.A.S., the Green Berets, America's Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), and many others, including Mossad. This history is more than a tale of derring-do, although James Bond-like characters stalk every page. It is a sweeping examination of Black Ops at a time when they represent the future of an open-ended global war against terrorism.

Tony Geraghty has a lifetime's experience as a soldier, airman, and war correspondent. He is the author of Soldiers of Fortune and Black Ops, and is a writer for The Guardian and The Sunday Times in London.

"Geraghty, an expert in the evolution of war tactics, explores the building blocks that propelled the creation of special forces wings within the American, English, and Israeli military. He touches on everything from the Bay of Pigs to the Afghan drug trade." -- Publishers Weekly