BOOK REVIEW
Clancy work explores elite U.S. forces

By Bob Minzesheimer
USA Today

Stiner, who headed the military's Special Operations Command from 1990 to 1993, says he wasn't surprised by what happened that day. But Clancy, author of 11 best-selling military thrillers, says, "I never saw it coming. I couldn't stretch my brain that far."

That from the author of "Debt of Honor," a 1994 novel that ends with a rogue pilot crashing a Boeing 747 into the Capitol as the president addresses a joint session of Congress.

Clancy says he could imagine one suicidal pilot, "not suicide as a team effort."

"Shadow Warriors" (Putnam, $29.95) is the third in Clancy's nonfiction series about military commanders. It deals with the history of the secretive U.S. units now operating in Afghanistan and about 60 other countries.

It's a "closed brotherhood," Stiner says, "that doesn't need publicity." But he says the public should know "they're professionals, not Rambos like in the movies."

He has added a nine-page chapter that concludes: "Our enemies believe the United States has no 'staying power' — as demonstrated by our 'abandonment' of Somalia and Lebanon after terrorist onslaughts. They will learn a different lesson in the coming months or, if necessary, years."