Rating: 
Summary: When The Ends Justify The Means?
Review: This is an excellent thriller, made more gripping because it is true. This is the story of Pablo Escobar, a viscious, pathalogical sociopath who put these dark tendencies to work in building the Medillin cocaine cartel over the 1970's and 1980's. Author Bowden tells Escobar's story, describes the building of his empire, portrays his success at utterly corrupting Colombia's government during the 1980's and engagingly unfolds the ultimately successful effort of Columbian patriots and agencies of our government to hunt down and eliminate a very evil man. Escobar corrupted his government, as well as significant sections of Colombian society. His drive was not only to control the cocaine industry, but also to elevate himself to a man of destiny in his country's affairs. His ruthlessness took the form of bombings, murders, torture and kidnappings. These crimes included at least one jet airliner bombed in the sky and the assassination of presidential candidates, judges, other officials and hundreds of police. Alternating between conciliation -- anything to make the terror stop -- and a desire to rid itself of the man who was making a mockery of Columbian democracy, the government ultimately was pushed by Escobar's continuing bloodletting to ruthlessly hunt him down. Our government was a critical player in the hunt as well as in steeling the Columbian government to hold this course. The final hunt and elimination of Escobar was brutal and bloody on both sides. Escobar continued to attempt elimination and terror bombings of rivals and governmental officials. The government, as well as a government sponsored militia, employed equally brutal methods, targeting Escobar's associates and cartel workers for assassination and looking the other way at bombings of Escobar's various homes and properties and the killing of his relatives. In the end, Escobar was cornered and died in a shoot out with police (and possibly US military personnel, according to the author). This is a fast paced, shocking and very interesting book. It is written in the style of a long magazine article -- which keeps the narrative pace lively. For those of us used to a generally stable society, the utter lawlessness and corruption of Columbian government and large sections of its society is astounding. Perhaps most interesting, this book is a long case study of whether or not the ends justify the means. Escobar's final destruction was only -- and apparently could only be -- accomplished by extra-legal means as brutal as those committed by his forces. He killed and bombed. The government sponsored militia and police killed Escobar's lieutenants and bombed his homes and properties. It was terror for terror that arguably yielded a good end but was accomplished outside of the law, morality or any sense of constraint. And, our government was key in providing the resources (technical and human) as well as the steel needed by Columbia's government to pursue Escobar to his death. Arguably, had the government stuck to the law, Escobar would be stronger than ever today, perhaps the ruler of Columbia. So total was his corruption of government. This book is great fodder for discussion of how far one can go in pursuing a just end. The book itself does not attempt to ask this question or provide an answer. The question is, however, inescapable to the reader, and looms over every deed done to contain the evil represented by the man. The book is fast paced, very well researched, filled with first person accounts and well written. You'll find it hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Justice in a dangerous world...
Review: When dealing with a sociopath, sometimes it's necessary to get down into the mud with him, and fight dirty. Or is it? Mark Bowden's account of Pablo Escobar's reign of terror and subsequent arrest, escape, and death is a very unbiased assessment, and leaves the morality question to be decided by the reader. Killing Pablo was fantastic. While it doesn't have the intensity of Black Hawk Down (one really couldn't expect THAT, since the story isn't about a nonstop firefight), from a purely nuts-and-bolts perspective, the story of the manhunt for Pablo Escobar is an incredible and riveting story. While some readers may have wanted more insight into the whos and whats of the larger world of the cocaine industry, Bowden (to his credit, in my opinion) mentions Escobar's competition only in passing. The focal point of the book is the good guys versus the bad guy, and Bowden doesn't muddle that with a lot of inconsequential details about the larger problems in Colombia, at least the ones that weren't directly attributable to Escobar. Escobar's God complex is revealed in disturbing detail, from his favorite methods of execution to his self-image as the patron of the Colombian people. Bowden is remarkably even-handed in his assessment of the "good guys," giving credit where it is due, but at the same time, questioning their tactics and motivation, and crediting dumb luck when it was the true hero. He avoids lumping the local law enforcement-types into the "completely incompetent" pool that they so often wind up in at the hands of American journalists. Bowden recognizes the unique situation that the Colombians had to deal with, and gives them credit for working to hunt down Escobar in spite of these circumstances. All in all, a very informative, entertaining read.
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