The Afgan by Frederick Forsyth (2.5 stars)

Well, it's been a little while since I read a book like this - something you'd pick up in an airport to keep entertained on a flight.

It was the usual annoyingly perfect picture of the US intelligence and military machine - brilliantly efficient, elite trained forces, amazing weaponry etc. Where are the bored unmotivated workers, the hopelessly inefficient bureaucracy of the real world? It was certainly no Caine Mutiny.

One of the amazon reviewers had a funny list of inaccuracies that I'll reproduce here:

• Malaysian Airlines _does_ serve alcohol.
  
• The 9/11 attacks did not occur at breakfast time in London but in the mid afternoon.
  
• There is no U.S. Army rank of "Senior Captain"
  
• In the U.S. government a GS-15 is not a "junior staffer," but rather the highest ranked of the non-executive service, making more than$100,000/year.
  
• The British SBS is the "Special Boat Service" not the "Special Boat Squadron."
  
• The M21 sniper rifle was replaced by the M24 Sniper Weapon System in 1988.
  
• It's somewhat unclear, but the story seems to imply that the hero learned passable Pashto from hanging out with Tajiks for six months. That's roughly like learning learning German by hanging out in France.
  
• The hero is impersonating an Afghan ex-mujahedeen turned Taliban fighter. His teeth are inspected by very thorough Al-Qaeda security men, who somehow fail to notice his Western dental work.
  

2.5 stars.