Bin Laden book to go on sale

Bin Laden book to go on sale

Washington: The publisher of an insider account of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden said on Friday it will begin public sales next week despite a Pentagon warning of possible legal action against the book’s author and unspecified associates. Before the Pentagon’s warning, the publisher had moved up publication to September 4 from September 11, saying that it was “important to put No Easy Day on sale and let the book speak for itself.” “At this time, we see no reason to change our plans,” Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the publisher, Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint, said in a statement. Pre-orders for the book have catapulted it to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list, displacing the erotic trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. An initial print run of 200,000 has been increased to 575,000 copies. It was highly unlikely that the government would try to halt publication of the book itself, considering that a limited number of advance copies are already in the public domain and media reports have summarized the book’s contents. Pentagon press secretary George Little said the book’s author, ex-SEAL Matt Bissonnette, was in violation of two nondisclosure agreements that he signed in 2007 by failing to submit the book for an official security review before it was published. Bissonnette’s lawyer disputed this Friday, saying he believes the decorated former SEAL has “earned the right to tell his story.” Little would not say what legal options the Pentagon is considering or when it might take action. Little suggested that the Pentagon might be satisfied if Bissonnette were to stop the book’s official release. The Pentagon obtained an advance copy last week and has since been reviewing it for any classified information and to determine what, if any, legal action should be taken, Little said. —AP