"SEAL Target Geronimo"

The Daily Telegraph previews a forthcoming book on the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden by former SEAL Team Six commander Chuck Pfarrer.  Understandably, the book is being sold as a groundbreaking account of the operation that contradicts previous claims by the Obama administration, specifically:

•  Pfarrer says the SEALs did fast rope on to the compound's roof before Black Hawk crashed, whereas every previous account says it crashed inside the compound and then disgorged the commandos; and
• Pfarrer claims bin Laden was killed 90 seconds into the raid, not after a lengthy firefight.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the latter revelation is supposed to be contradicting, as almost every account I've seen says bin Laden was killed early in the raid, and that site exploitation (i.e. removing all the computers and files) was responsible for the length of the raid -- although 90 seconds does seem really fast. 

The problem with books such as Pfarrer's is that there is virtually no way to either verify or disprove his claims.  Pfarrer says he has talked to DevGru operators who were on the mission, and I have no reason to doubt him.  But because of their non-disclosure forms, there is no way to confirm any details with the two dozen SEALs who executed the mission.  Consequently, whether accurate or not Pfarrer's account can never rise above the level of hearsay. [Although if he did talk to SEAL Team 6 members, than his hearsay is at least better than Nicholas Schmidle's New Yorker piece, which while possibly accurate, was still based on second-hand reports rather than interviews with the SEALs themselves].

Oh, and yes, this critique aside, I have already pre-ordered my copy, and will hopefully publish a review of "SEAL Team Geronimo" when it arrives.