Hunting the Jackal: A Book Review of Billy Waugh's Memoir

Overview of Hunting the Jackal

The memoir Hunting the Jackal details the extraordinary career of Billy Waugh, a Vietnam veteran who nearly died in the jungle and who came back to fight some of the most deadly enemies of America — first as an independent contractor for the CIA and later as a member of the Special Forces unit in Afghanistan. The book is a chilling read, not simply because Waugh encountered Osama bin Laden long before the terrorist orchestrated the infamous attacks on the Twin Towers, but also as an illustration of the singular Cold War mindset characteristic of the Special Forces units in which Waugh served. Throughout the book, Waugh emerges as an unapologetic defender of hawkish American policies, even when they nearly cost him his life. Although the reader may admire his valor, it is difficult to condone his single-minded perspective on human rights and world conflict.

Waugh's Cold War Worldview and Vietnam

Waugh still seems to regret the American withdrawal from Vietnam, despite the suffering he endured during his 23-month tour of duty, calling the abandonment of South Vietnam a "distasteful retreat" (Waugh 88). He attributes the failure of America to triumph over communism in Southeast Asia to the fact that more violent and decisive action was not taken sooner — say, in 1965 — rather than to the reality that the Viet Cong had far greater local support than the American-backed government. Likewise, Waugh says that he supported the covert assassination of bin Laden, whom he portrays as riding around in a white Mercedes while Waugh trains covert operatives in the desert (Waugh 121). Bin Laden is not seen as holding any real ideological position; he merely acts for his own cynical enrichment and self-aggrandizement — just like the evil communists, just like all of the other "bad people" whom Waugh hates as enemies of America. In Waugh's telling, America's enemies do not act for their own reasons; they simply hate America because America stands for freedom.

Waugh attributes the failure to effectively fight terrorism not to a poor understanding of international politics, but to "liberal do-gooders" and to a "nice peanut farmer" who was elected president but who did not understand how the world "really works" (Waugh 108). In his view, only those who agree with him are deemed intelligent and perceptive enough to govern.

Strengths and Limitations of Waugh's Analysis

Waugh does offer a genuine insider's perspective, and one of the strengths of the book is that he provides a more detailed portrait of bin Laden than is often given by the Western media. He notes bin Laden's highly technical and educated background as a civil engineer, for example, and explains how that expertise enhanced his ability to read and exploit the topography of a given area. Waugh is skilled at offering a technical, nuts-and-bolts analysis of the process of fighting both counterterrorist and conventional warfare. Readers looking for extensive historical analysis beyond a blow-by-blow account of combat, however, should look elsewhere.

This limitation is unsurprising given that Waugh's entire life was shaped by the military and the "us versus them" struggle of the Cold War. He began his career as part of the Special Forces in Vietnam and, despite his advanced age, was still a part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. It is hard not to respect Waugh's service, but his career is illustrative of both the strengths and the weaknesses of American intelligence — admirable in its single-minded pursuit of justice and its fearless bravery, but troubling in the ways it elides distinctions between individual nations and dismisses anyone who does not endorse every hawkish action of the U.S. government as either unpatriotic or foolish.

Conclusion: Lessons for Future Leadership

Waugh's advanced age forces the reader to cut the author some moral slack regarding these attitudes. He is, after all, seventy-two years old, and admits to being something of a relic of a bygone era. Nevertheless, the attitudes Waugh expresses should serve as a warning to future leaders not to view terrorism as a simplistic phenomenon and not to paint all of America's enemies with the same ideological broad brush. Waugh believes that international law, congressional approval, and even the views of conventional military leaders — whom he also despises — represent mere interference while he is doing what needs to be done. The fact that fighting for freedom, in Waugh's mind, requires circumventing the democratic process is taken entirely for granted and never examined.

Works Cited

Waugh, Timothy. Hunting the Jackal. With Tim Keown. New York: William Morrow, 2004.