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Title: Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw by Mark Bowden ISBN: 0142000957 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.32
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Book, Well Researched, Raises Important Questions
Comment: While Bowden's latest book is not quite the page turner that his previous work, Black Hawk Down, was it is nonetheless a worthwhile read. Bowden has done a fantastic research job, and presents a well detailed and balanced look at how the U.S. Government set about to destroy the leader of what was then Columbia's largest drug cartel. Most importantly Bowden raises the question "do the ends justify the means." After reading the book it becomes clear that U.S. Embassy officials in Bogota had a pretty good idea that the men they were training in the Columbian Police's Search Bloc unit, were moonlighting as a Death Squad known as Los Pepes. In other words U.S. officials had strong indications that they were facilitating the training of a Death Squad. As long as the Death Squad was killing bad guys, however, U.S. officials seemed content to pretend to hear no evil and see no evil. Of course there was also information to indicate that the Death Squad (Los Pepes) was being paid by Escobar's rivals in the Cali Cartel to eliminate their competition. In essence Search Bloc members moonlighting as Los Pepes were being used as a tool of the Cali Cartel, all with the tacit backing of the U.S. Embassy. Although Searc Bloc and Los Pepes ultimately proved effective in destroying the Medellin Cartel it came with a price tag; the beginnning of the end of the rule of law and the rise of the Cali Cartel. Bowden effectively lays bare the essential question of the whole affair: what did the U.S. achieve by backing one group of thugs to kill another group of thugs? How has this helped with the mission of nation building in Columbia? What does this say about the lip service the U.S. pays to human rights? Do they really care, or only when it is convenient? One has to wonder if the events described in Bowden's book have not played themselves out many more time in many other parts of the world. As to the question of the ultimate effectiveness of the U.S. approach one only need look at the billion plus dollar price tag attached to Plan Columbia, some ten years after the "sucess" against Ecobar. In the end only the former DEA Country Attache, Joe Toft, seems to have realized that their efforts ultimately did more harm than good, quipping "I hope the moral of this story is not that the ends justify the means." Will this scenario repeat itself again? Sadly the answer seems to be yes. So long as callow U.S. counterdrug officials convince themselves that short run "victory" outweighs the long run importance of instilling the rule of law, the notion that countries should be ruled by powerful laws and not by powerful men, many, many, more Escobars will be killed/murdered. Equally as sad, the drugs will continue to flow, and the only casualty will be the cause of Democracy and the Rule of Law.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of Summer's Better Reads
Comment: I purchased "Killing Pablo" solely on the strength of Mark Bowden's previous stellar work, "Black Hawk Down." While "Pablo" isn't quite up to the standard of "Black Hawk" (one of the best books I've read in the past five years), it is nevertheless an engaging read that is at once informative and entertaining.
"Pablo" is Pablo Escobar, the ruthless Colombian drup kingpin who, by the late 1980s, had amassed one of the world's largest -- and certainly most illicit -- fortunes. Mr. Bowden recounts the story of how the notorious international narco-gangster was finally brought to heel by a combination of Colombian law enforcement agencies, the U.S. DEA and Army Delta Force (which provided critical training and surveillance technology), and importantly, Escobar's rivals in the cocaine cartel. The vigilante terrorism visited upon the infrastructure of Escobar's empire by his cocaine cartel rivals (equally as vicious as Pablo himself) -- with the tacit sanction of the Colombian government -- was the critical factor in the eventual tracking down and killing of Pablo following an off-and-on-again three-year manhunt.
This book is included in the "Wall Street Journal's" review (Friday, May 18) of the better reads of the Summer of 2001. That judgment gets no quarrel from this reader.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating, if not excellent
Comment: This was truly a great book, written by a serious and talented author. I enjoyed "Black Hawk Down" immensly, reading in less than two days during a holiday in Florida two years ago. With "Killing Pablo" Mark Bowden does it again. I finished it almost as fast and are awaiting his next novel. Being a journalist, Bowden is skilled in the arts of investigation and discription. He also excells in writing to a degree that places the reader right into the story - whether it is a dusty alley in Mogadishu or a crime infested barrio in Medellín. Bowden is also good at presenting the facts in a way that makes it interesting and fascinating. Killing Pablo is fabulous and deserves to be read by virtally anyone, as it gives insight into a lot of the problems that faces the world (drugs, terrorism, crime). There is only one negative aspect with this book, probably created by Bowdens appraisal of the american Delta Force. He, like many american authors (like Tom Clancy), is so convinced by the skill and motivation of the US Armed Forces that it influences his writings. From the outset I got the impression that it was only thanks to Delta and Special Forces involvement that Pablo could be caught, and killed. But although they were of great help, the final act was a tribute to the Columbians and therir Army and Police units. I also find it difficult to see it as an axiom, that Delta Force is the worlds finest Special Forces unit - it is actually a less experienced clone of the British SAS (being a close copy in structure and tactics) Why do I write about this? It doesn't make the book bad, or even worse. But it's one situation which I'm referring to. At page 344 Bowden claims that Escobar may have been killed by Delta snipers, since being - like his bodyguard - shot in the head. This fact is built by the undisputed claim that Delta Force, as the finest Special Forces unit in the world also has the worlds best snipers. This may be so, but I would have liked Bowden to apply his analytical mind to the problem more accurately. Their is no evidence that the unit was actually involved in the fighting, especially during this last battle which was kind of a hasty operation. If Delta somehow managed to get to the place faster than its Columbian counterparts, I find it very unlikely that they could have placed snipers in the adjacent buildings. But this is beside the point, Bowden could easily have speculated this far if he had presented one crucial fact - namely was Escobar killed by a rifleshot or a pistolshot? Apparently their was enough evidence to conclude that there was no gunpowder-stains on the body - eliminating the theory of execution. But this means that the round that killed him was fired from at least four or five feet distance. And assuming that he was hit in the leg and back he would have been laying on the ground when the last bullet ended his life (unless they all hit him simultaneously). I'm interested in whether or not the last bullit was fired up-close or at a distance (ballistics could prove that). Because if it was the former, namely a coup de grace, it is difficult to administer with a rifle - since it would take a pretty tall shooter to hold a four-foot carbine (like a M16) four feet above Escobars head to avoid gunpowder residual. This way, if he had been killed by a pistolbullit the Deltas was not involved, and if it really was a rifle bullit it was with all probability shot from the assualt team. This is only a minor annoyance, this is truly a great book which I recommend warmly, and await his next project with great expectation.
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Title: Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden ISBN: 0871137380 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire by Mark Bowden ISBN: 0802137571 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 30 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Inside the Cocaine Cartel: The Riveting Eyewitness Account of Life Inside the Colombian Cartel by Richard Smitten, Max Mermelstein, Robin Moore ISBN: 156171254X Publisher: SPI Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All by Bruce Porter ISBN: 0312267126 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 21 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Drug Lord, the Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin by Terrence E. Poppa, Peter Lupsha ISBN: 0966443004 Publisher: Demand Publications Pub. Date: 23 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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