Toward the bottom of the below post from the Freakonomics blog, they link to a Wall Street Journal article about a vaccination program that the US government conducted as cover in the hunt for bin Laden. This was one of the details in KBL about which I wondered--was it a real operation, or just the sort of thing the CIA may have done? Turns out it was real. Lends a bit more credence to the veracity of Weisman's "fictional" account. (More on that, and a giveaway opportunity, here)
More Collateral Damage From the 9/11 Attacks (excerpt):
The Wall Street Journal now reports on a most unlikely unintended consequence of the attacks and the ensuing hunt for Osama bin Laden:
The United Nations says a reportedly fake vaccination campaign conducted to help hunt down Osama bin Laden has caused a backlash against international health workers in some parts of Pakistan and has impeded efforts to wipe out polio in the country. A number of families across Pakistan refused vaccinations from July, when news of the reportedly fake campaign broke, to September, said Dennis King, chief of polio vaccinations in Pakistan for Unicef. “Following the early reports, some families in the provinces did refuse to have their children vaccinated citing the fake campaign as the cause,” Mr. King said. … The issue has given fresh ammunition to Islamist preachers who for years have claimed foreign health workers are spies and urged people to shun vaccination campaigns.
(Via Freakonomics)