Twilight Warriors: Inside the World's Special Forces

Purporting, according to the publisher, to lift ""the veil of secrecy from the world's most elite and most covert special forces,"" this report from European journalist Arostegui reiterates what's well-known as often as it reveals what's secret. While providing a welcome glimpse into the workings of such little known groups as the CIGN of France and the GSG9 of Germany, Arostegui devotes considerable space to U.S. special forces, whose veil has been lifted so often that much of the mystery has long vanished. To compensate, Arostegui depicts American commandos via a preponderance of marvelously colorful adventure anecdotes, with plenty of sex thrown in. One former Green Beret officer recalls how, during the Vietnam War, a French-Vietnamese stripper who worked for him first slithered into his bed, then bluffed her way into a North Vietnamese machine-gun nest. She shot and killed the soldiers there, capturing their leader's Russian-made Tokarev pistol, which she presented to the American as a trophy. Elsewhere, a Navy SEAL recalls word-for-word how he cussed out a superior officer who apparently didn't appreciate how the SEAL had single-handedly prevented a major North Vietnamese incursion. Some of these war stories sound like tall tales, but other portions of the book, notably Arostegui's eyewitness account of part of the selection process for the Australian special forces, provide a fascinating, if not entirely original, look at the special world of special warfare. (Feb.)