RetPara
SOF Support
Former Delta officer’s book to shed light on Tora Bora
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 1, 2008 5:34:38 EST
The Delta Force officer who commanded U.S. ground forces hunting Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in late 2001 will publish a book in October that he promises will explain how the al-Qaida leader managed to slip through the grasp of the United States.
But the author’s plans have put him on a collision course with U.S. Special Operations Command, which he says is threatening to take him to court for revealing classified information.
The author, who spoke on the condition his identity not be revealed, wrote the book under the pseudonym Dalton Fury. At the time of the hunt for bin Laden in the mountainous region of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, Fury was a major commanding a Delta Force troop, and was placed in charge of an additional Delta troop (for a total of about 40 Delta operators) plus assorted other special operations elements at Tora Bora.
It is now generally accepted that bin Laden was present at Tora Bora after fleeing Jalalabad ahead of the allied advance that toppled the Taliban government, but escaped the assault on his mountain stronghold, despite a massive bombing campaign and attacks from allied Afghan militias and U.S. and British special operators. The failure to capture or kill bin Laden at Tora Bora later became a focus for critics of the Bush administration’s handling of the war against al-Qaida.
Fury, who had prior enlisted service as an infantryman, retired in 2005 as a major and decided to write a book about Tora Bora, motivated by a desire to honor the troops who served with him there “and to tell the truth.”
“There have been so many Democratic jabs about it being done with proxy forces, with just maybe U.S. forces advising,” Fury said. “No one has ever really talked about [how] it was the U.S. Delta Force and the SBS [the British Special Boat Service] that were actually in the mountains when the Afghans were leaving every night … So you left Americans behind the lines by themselves.”
Fury said he told his troops when they left Tora Bora, “this is going to become a big deal in the future.”
“Of course everybody looked at me like, ‘No it’s not,’” he recalled. “We all assumed at the time that bin Laden would be caught in a week, a month, a year, and [Tora Bora] would be a minor footnote. But it’s become [so symbolic] of major strategic failure… that I thought the operational positives and the tactical success that we had needed to be told … to the public.”
Fury said the book will also explain how bin Laden managed to escape.
“From my perspective as the ground force commander and what I’ve learned since then, I think we have a pretty good handle on the steps, the missteps, the decisions made and the actual actions that were taken that led him to get out of there,” he said.
The book, which Fury has already written, is tentatively titled Kill bin Laden and will be published by St. Martin’s Press.
But Fury’s plans to publish the book have drawn the ire of Delta’s two higher headquarters – Joint Special Operations Command, which runs the United States’ most secret special operations missions, and U.S. Special Operations Command.
Fury said that, as required by the agreement he signed when he left the unit and retired, he sent Delta a copy of his manuscript for security review.
“They came up with a list of redactions of items they thought ought to be taken out,” he said. “I told them I would honor every one of those. However, they were never ever given to me.”
Delta’s higher headquarters apparently intervened, according to Fury. “It’s not Delta’s fault,” he said. “It’s their higher command – JSOC and SOCOM have the say. And they … collectively decided not to provide me with any detailed redactions after a year of trying through my attorney.”
“All I got back was responses [reminding me of] my commitment to the classified information agreement that I signed … [and] basically threatening to possibly take me to court over this.”
Fury said that after SOCOM “stifled it,” he sent the manuscript to the Defense Department’s Office of Security Review.
“OSR failed to respond in any timely manner at all, after numerous requests from my attorney.
“The comment that SOCOM made was that the sensitive information was so thoroughly woven into the manuscript that any attempt at detailed redaction would be literally impossible. They chose not to do it.”
“We did receive a manuscript from [the author] for security review,” said SOCOM spokesman Army Col. Hans Bush. “The manuscript did not pass security review because it was found to contain classified information. We notified [the author] through his lawyer last fall. To date this remains unresolved. “We are still willing to work with the author in the even he resubmits a manuscript that does not contain classified information.”
Fury chose to write under a pseudonym in part to guard his family’s security, and in part to pre-empt any criticism from within the special operations community that he was engaged in self-promotion.
“In that environment, any self-promotion from unit time is frowned on by everybody,” he said. “And I’m not writing this for my personal glory. The vehicle is kind of about my personal experience, but to fill the book I had to have some of that in there because there wasn’t enough about just the battle. But it was important to me that my buddies don’t see this as ‘the [Dalton Fury] show.’”
Fury is also keen to demonstrate that he’s not cashing in on his time at the unit. His small advance from the publisher barely covers his legal fees, he said.
After getting no response from Delta to his offer to donate his proceeds from the book to the unit’s fund for survivors of fallen unit members, Fury arranged to give the bulk of any further money he makes from the book to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarship grants to the children of special operators who were killed in the line of duty.
He said his efforts have not gone unnoticed by the rank and file in Delta (the full name of which is 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta). While there are some in the unit who have expressed disagreement with decision to publish the book, many others have come out in favor, according to Fury.
“There are numerous people that are completely against it, whether they were my best friend or not, they’re against it, and I respect that, but there’s an awful lot of folks that I hear from all the time, whether it’s through a buddy, a covert e-mail, or whatever about them being 100 percent supportive behind it.” he said.
“Now, the guys that are out who were at Tora Bora, to a man, have been 100 percent supportive.”
The author, who now works as a security consultant, has also established a Web site to promote the book: www.daltonfury.com. The home page features a photograph of a Delta operator at Tora Bora.
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 1, 2008 5:34:38 EST
The Delta Force officer who commanded U.S. ground forces hunting Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora in late 2001 will publish a book in October that he promises will explain how the al-Qaida leader managed to slip through the grasp of the United States.
But the author’s plans have put him on a collision course with U.S. Special Operations Command, which he says is threatening to take him to court for revealing classified information.
The author, who spoke on the condition his identity not be revealed, wrote the book under the pseudonym Dalton Fury. At the time of the hunt for bin Laden in the mountainous region of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, Fury was a major commanding a Delta Force troop, and was placed in charge of an additional Delta troop (for a total of about 40 Delta operators) plus assorted other special operations elements at Tora Bora.
It is now generally accepted that bin Laden was present at Tora Bora after fleeing Jalalabad ahead of the allied advance that toppled the Taliban government, but escaped the assault on his mountain stronghold, despite a massive bombing campaign and attacks from allied Afghan militias and U.S. and British special operators. The failure to capture or kill bin Laden at Tora Bora later became a focus for critics of the Bush administration’s handling of the war against al-Qaida.
Fury, who had prior enlisted service as an infantryman, retired in 2005 as a major and decided to write a book about Tora Bora, motivated by a desire to honor the troops who served with him there “and to tell the truth.”
“There have been so many Democratic jabs about it being done with proxy forces, with just maybe U.S. forces advising,” Fury said. “No one has ever really talked about [how] it was the U.S. Delta Force and the SBS [the British Special Boat Service] that were actually in the mountains when the Afghans were leaving every night … So you left Americans behind the lines by themselves.”
Fury said he told his troops when they left Tora Bora, “this is going to become a big deal in the future.”
“Of course everybody looked at me like, ‘No it’s not,’” he recalled. “We all assumed at the time that bin Laden would be caught in a week, a month, a year, and [Tora Bora] would be a minor footnote. But it’s become [so symbolic] of major strategic failure… that I thought the operational positives and the tactical success that we had needed to be told … to the public.”
Fury said the book will also explain how bin Laden managed to escape.
“From my perspective as the ground force commander and what I’ve learned since then, I think we have a pretty good handle on the steps, the missteps, the decisions made and the actual actions that were taken that led him to get out of there,” he said.
The book, which Fury has already written, is tentatively titled Kill bin Laden and will be published by St. Martin’s Press.
But Fury’s plans to publish the book have drawn the ire of Delta’s two higher headquarters – Joint Special Operations Command, which runs the United States’ most secret special operations missions, and U.S. Special Operations Command.
Fury said that, as required by the agreement he signed when he left the unit and retired, he sent Delta a copy of his manuscript for security review.
“They came up with a list of redactions of items they thought ought to be taken out,” he said. “I told them I would honor every one of those. However, they were never ever given to me.”
Delta’s higher headquarters apparently intervened, according to Fury. “It’s not Delta’s fault,” he said. “It’s their higher command – JSOC and SOCOM have the say. And they … collectively decided not to provide me with any detailed redactions after a year of trying through my attorney.”
“All I got back was responses [reminding me of] my commitment to the classified information agreement that I signed … [and] basically threatening to possibly take me to court over this.”
Fury said that after SOCOM “stifled it,” he sent the manuscript to the Defense Department’s Office of Security Review.
“OSR failed to respond in any timely manner at all, after numerous requests from my attorney.
“The comment that SOCOM made was that the sensitive information was so thoroughly woven into the manuscript that any attempt at detailed redaction would be literally impossible. They chose not to do it.”
“We did receive a manuscript from [the author] for security review,” said SOCOM spokesman Army Col. Hans Bush. “The manuscript did not pass security review because it was found to contain classified information. We notified [the author] through his lawyer last fall. To date this remains unresolved. “We are still willing to work with the author in the even he resubmits a manuscript that does not contain classified information.”
Fury chose to write under a pseudonym in part to guard his family’s security, and in part to pre-empt any criticism from within the special operations community that he was engaged in self-promotion.
“In that environment, any self-promotion from unit time is frowned on by everybody,” he said. “And I’m not writing this for my personal glory. The vehicle is kind of about my personal experience, but to fill the book I had to have some of that in there because there wasn’t enough about just the battle. But it was important to me that my buddies don’t see this as ‘the [Dalton Fury] show.’”
Fury is also keen to demonstrate that he’s not cashing in on his time at the unit. His small advance from the publisher barely covers his legal fees, he said.
After getting no response from Delta to his offer to donate his proceeds from the book to the unit’s fund for survivors of fallen unit members, Fury arranged to give the bulk of any further money he makes from the book to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarship grants to the children of special operators who were killed in the line of duty.
He said his efforts have not gone unnoticed by the rank and file in Delta (the full name of which is 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta). While there are some in the unit who have expressed disagreement with decision to publish the book, many others have come out in favor, according to Fury.
“There are numerous people that are completely against it, whether they were my best friend or not, they’re against it, and I respect that, but there’s an awful lot of folks that I hear from all the time, whether it’s through a buddy, a covert e-mail, or whatever about them being 100 percent supportive behind it.” he said.
“Now, the guys that are out who were at Tora Bora, to a man, have been 100 percent supportive.”
The author, who now works as a security consultant, has also established a Web site to promote the book: www.daltonfury.com. The home page features a photograph of a Delta operator at Tora Bora.
