What No Easy Day Reveals About the bin Laden Raid

The White House may not like Navy SEAL Mark Owen's first-hand account of the bin Laden raid—but judging by a New York Post recap of the book, No Easy Day, it's a heart-thumping description of that fateful night. Owen describes the helicopter crash that marked the SEALs' arrival, his near murder of a woman carrying a baby, and the assassination of bin Laden's son, Khalid. One of the SEALs whispered Khalid's name until the man's face poked out, and SEALs opened fire on his face.

No Easy Day differs from the official account only in small details—but none bigger than the death of bin Laden, which apparently didn't happen at point-blank range in a bedroom. According to Owen, a SEAL shot him instantly from 10 feet down a hall when the al-Qaeda mastermind's head appeared in a doorway. SEALs found a Makarov pistol and an AK-47 in bin Laden's room, but neither were loaded. “He had no intention of fighting,” writes Owen.“The higher up the food chain the targeted individual was, the bigger the pussy he was.” (More Mark Owen stories.)