CH-47 Chinook helicopters dropped off about two dozen elite combat troops along the border near Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal area, and they moved on foot over the border to a village known as Angoor Adda, according to the book.
The mission quickly went awry: After the SEALs scaled the walls of a compound, a resident opened fire on them with a shotgun and women inside began throwing themselves on the Americans.
“Nobody shot any women,” a SEAL Team 6 source recalled in the book, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They shot a few guys. But all these women started coming at them… Guys were getting away, guys were fleeing.”
The raid was disclosed in the media at the time, as Pakistani officials expressed outrage over the U.S. military launching a secret operation in their country. But the book provides new details, alleging that the operation was “basically for a nobody,” and launched to desensitize the Pakistanis to future strikes and how well JSOC could launch them. McRaven, who retired last year as the four-star commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, ordered it despite concerns raised by Team 6 officers, the book alleged.
Launched to desensitize the Pakistanis to future strikes. Wow.