Reign of Terror

by Spencer Ackerman

  remembered hiding for a week: Yvonne Abraham and Brian R. Ballou, “350 Are Held in Immigration Raid,” Boston Globe, March 7, 2007. Dan Adams, “Six Years Later, New Bedford Raid Still Stings,” Boston Globe, March 10, 2013.

  But there could be no doubt: Joseph Lieberman, “The Theological Iron Curtain,” The National Interest, September 1, 2003.

  Dean Acheson, a Cold War: Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years at the State Department (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1969), 355–70.

  California’s Maxine Waters: Rep. Maxine Waters to Tucker Carlson, CNN, September 20, 2001.

  Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter: Jonathan Alter, “Blame America at Your Peril,” Newsweek, October 15, 2001.

  editor of The New Republic: MoveOn.org bulletin, “Can Democracy Survive an Endless ‘War’?” July 20, 2002. Peter Beinart, “A Fighting Faith,” The New Republic, December 13, 2004.

  House Democratic leader, Dick Gephardt: Dick Gephardt, Democratic response to the 2002 State of the Union, legacy.npr.org/news/specials/sou/2002/020129.demotext.html, accessed June 10, 2019.

  When DeLay called: Ron Fournier, “Fears of Terrorism Trigger ‘Shadow Government’ Plan,” Associated Press via Chicago Sun-Times, March 1, 2002.

  Some detained Taliban: Joe Biden to Wolf Blitzer, “Interim Leader of Afghanistan Visits U.S.,” CNN, January 28, 2002.

  Given the choice: Unbylined, “Feinstein: Detainees Not Treated Harshly; Senator Says Jail’s Conditions Worse,” Oakland Tribune, January 29, 2002.

  writers like Arundhati Roy: Arundhati Roy, “The Algebra of Infinite Justice,” Guardian, September 29, 2001.

  Clinton, a former first lady: Ed Pilkington and Andrea Bernstein, “9/11 Tapes Reveal Raw and Emotional Hillary Clinton,” Guardian, September 9, 2016. Andrea Bernstein, “Who Hillary Clinton Really Helped after 9/11,” WNYC, November 17, 2015. Frank Bruni, “Show Us the Money,” New York Times Magazine, December 16, 2001.

  Aides would later: Mark Landler, “How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk,” New York Times Magazine, April 21, 2016.

  His concern was that: Wire services, “Senator Visits Afghan Leader,” Lexington Herald-Leader, January 13, 2001.

  His concerns on Iraq: “Hearings to Examine Threats, Responses, and Regional Considerations Surrounding Iraq,” Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 107th Congress, July 31–August 1, 2002, S. Hrg. 107–658. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Richard Lugar, “Debating Iraq,” New York Times, July 31, 2002.

  Richard Holbrooke, urged: Testimony of Ambs. Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, September 25, 2002. Holbrooke’s “collective action” was in truth a unilateral war with cosmetic allied contributions, though he assailed such an accurate description as a calumny against Tony Blair and “the indispensable NATO ally” Turkey, which did not, as envisioned, permit the U.S. to stage an invasion from its soil.

  Ted Kennedy and Al Gore: Richard L. Berke, “Bush ‘Is My Commander,’ Gore Declares in Call for Unity,” New York Times, September 30, 2001.

  endorsed regime change: Al Gore, speech to the Commonwealth Club, September 23, 2002, transcript available at http://p2004.org/gore/gore092302sp.html. Ted Kennedy, speech to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, September 27, 2002, transcript available at www.emkinstitute.org/resources/speech-against-invasion-iraq. Bill Clinton, Larry King Live, CNN, September 4, 2002. Dan Collins, “Bill Clinton Weighs In on Iraq,” CBS News, September 6, 2002.

  Biden echoed the sentiment: Senator Joseph Biden, “Authorization of the Use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq,” Congressional Record, October 10, 2002, available at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2002-10-10/html/CREC-2002-10-10-pt1-PgS10233-7.htm.

  George Packer, a leading liberal: George Packer, “Smart-Mobbing the War,” New York Times Magazine, March 9, 2003.

  Leon Wieseltier, the driving intellectual force: Leon Wieseltier, “Against Innocence,” The New Republic, March 3, 2003, https://newrepublic.com/article/66773/iraq-liberal-bush-imperial. Lloyd Grove, “The Very Busy, Very Unproductive Life of Leon Wieseltier,” Vanity Fair, March 1995, www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/10/leon-wieseltier-profile-1995.

  Thomas Friedman, the Times foreign policy columnist: Thomas Friedman interview, The Charlie Rose Show, May 29, 2003.

  Bill Keller of The New York Times: Bill Keller, “The I-Can’t-Believe-I’m-a-Hawk Club,” New York Times, February 8, 2003. For an anticipation of the applications toward Islam of such a tradition, see Pankaj Mishra, Age of Anger: A History of the Present (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017), 102–3, 128.

  Kerry played War on Terror politics: Michael Janofsky, “Kerry Says Dean Is ‘Imploding,’ ” New York Times, September 20, 2003.

  it took Kerry “40 minutes”: David Halbfinger, “Kerry Still Nagged by Questions on Vote to Authorize Iraq War,” New York Times, October 24, 2003.

  repealing Bush’s hated tax cuts: Robert Draper, Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush (New York: Free Press, 2008), 236–38.

  Kerry, stung by the critique: Jodi Wilgoren, “Kerry Says His Vote on Iraq Would Be the Same Today,” New York Times, August 10, 2004.

  “prevent another Manhattan”: Transcript of Osama bin Laden videotape, October 30, 2004, Al Jazeera, www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/11/1/full-transcript-of-bin-ladins-speech, accessed June 14, 2004.

  Israeli shipping company executive: “New York Senator Wants to Halt Ports Deal,” All Things Considered, NPR, February 22, 2006. Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., “Company Policy,” National Review, February 22, 2006. Carol Lin, Wolf Blitzer, Jeanne Meserve, and Satinder Bindra, “Israeli-Based Company Endorses Dubai Ports World,” March 2, 2006, transcript available at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/02/lt.03.html.

  The company promptly: David E. Sanger, “Under Pressure, Dubai Company Drops Ports Deal,” New York Times, March 10, 2006. Heather Timmons, “Dubai Port Company Sells Its U.S. Holdings to A.I.G.,” New York Times, December 12, 2006.

  Nihad Awad, under surveillance: Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussein, “Meet the Muslim-American Leaders the NSA and FBI Have Been Spying On,” The Intercept, July 9, 2014.

  “The second part of 2004”: Author’s interview with Adham Hassoun, June 14, 2020. U.S. v. Hassoun et al., Fourth Superseding Indictment, November 17, 2005.

  Ahmed Omar Abu Ali: Brian Knowlton, “U.S. Man Charged with Aiding Qaeda,” New York Times, February 25, 2005. David Stout, “Student from Virginia Is Convicted of Plotting with al-Qaeda to Assassinate Bush,” New York Times, November 23, 2005. Spencer Ackerman, “Suspect Policy,” The New Republic, March 14, 2005.

  bin Laden CNN interview: U.S. v. Hassoun et al., trial transcript, June 19, 2007.

  U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta: “Government’s Omnibus Response to Defendants’ Fed. R. Crim. P29 Motion for Judgment of Acquittal,” U.S. v. Hassoun et al., October 29, 2007.

  the FBI claimed: U.S. v. Hassoun et al., trial transcript, June 8, 2007.

  Hassoun, Padilla, and Jayyousi: “Government’s Omnibus Response,” October 29, 2007.

  “casualty of war”: Author’s interview with Adham Hassoun, June 21, 2020.

  flattered American exceptionalism: Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Leslie H. Gelb, “Unity through Autonomy in Iraq,” New York Times, May 1, 2006. Ned Parker and Raheem Salman, “U.S. Vote Unites Iraqis in Anger,” Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2007.

  They had won esteem: George Packer, “Know Your Enemy,” The New Yorker, December 10, 2006.

  Petraeus, a professorial soldier: Dept. of the Army, FM 3-24, Counterinsurgency, December 2006. General Charles C. Krulak, “The Strategic Corporal: Victory in the Three-Block War,” Marines magazine, January 1999.

  In Baghdad he instructed: Tom Ricks, “Gen. Petraeus Warns against Using Torture,” Washington Post, May 11, 2007.

  “Just because they sympathize”: Spencer A
ckerman, “Training Iraq’s Death Squads,” The Nation, May 17, 2007.

  Abu Wail, the religious leader: Stanley McChrystal, My Share of the Task: A Memoir (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2013), 240–48.

  “Korea was cited”: Author’s interview with a retired senior U.S. military officer, May 5, 2020. Author’s interview with Emma Sky, June 5, 2020.

  cult of Petraeus: Spencer Ackerman, “How I Was Drawn into the Cult of David Petraeus,” Wired, November 11, 2012.

  produced data showing: By the spring of 2008, as the surge wound down, Petraeus’s command reported reducing violence to 2005 levels, which had been at the time unacceptable to the American public. Spencer Ackerman, “King David,” Washington Independent, May 6, 2008, now defunct but republished in HuffPost, where Petraeus discussed “the Martyr Sadr” and co-optation of ex-guerrillas.

  post-surge violence: Steve Coll, “The General’s Dilemma,” The New Yorker, August 13, 2008.

  He clashed with CIA officials: Karen DeYoung, “Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq; Military Statistics Called into Question,” Washington Post, September 4, 2007. National Intelligence Estimate, “Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive,” August 2007, available at https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=478001.

  “a little bit of significant progress”: Nomination hearing for Gen. David H. Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, Senate Armed Services Committee, May 22, 2008.

  His attitude conflicted: David Stout, “House Passes Iraq Resolution with 17 Votes from G.O.P.,” New York Times, February 16, 2007.

  why Obama didn’t: Author’s interview with Ben Rhodes, July 13, 2020.

  He told Condoleezza Rice: Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, January 19, 2005. Available at https://www.c-span.org/video/?185220-1/secretary-state-nomination-hearing-day-2.

  a “very, very narrow exception”: Ben Smith, “McCain Team Mocks Hil Torture Loophole,” New York Daily News, October 16, 2006.

  Obama voted against: William Neikirk and Andrew Zajac, “Tribunal Bill OK’d by Senate; Bush’s Legislative Victory Comes amid Concerns,” Chicago Tribune, September 26, 2006.

  When the Times revealed: Wolf Blitzer et al., “Senate Panel Approves Torture Bill Opposed by President Bush,” The Situation Room, CNN, September 24, 2006.

  mildest of rebukes: Barack Obama, “A Way Forward in Iraq,” Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, November 20, 2006.

  Months before, Senate Democrats: Shailagh Murray, “Iraq Vote in Senate Blocked by GOP,” Washington Post, February 18, 2007.

  His army mentor: John Bresnahan, “Believing Petraeus and Crocker Requires ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief,’ ” Politico, September 11, 2007. Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq (New York: Penguin Press, 2009), 250. Landler, “How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk.”

  reiterating a phrase: Democratic presidential debate, Des Moines, Iowa, December 13, 2007. Available at www.c-span.org/video/?203026-1/iowa-democratic-presidential-candidates-debate.

  he would not stop: Democratic presidential debate, Los Angeles, Calif., January 30, 2007.

  But it was conspicuous: Barack Obama, A Promised Land (New York: Crown, 2020), 305, 447.

  Brennan’s CIA tribalism: Spencer Ackerman, “The Obama Doctrine,” The American Prospect, March 2008. Ackerman, “Experts Differ on How to End Iraq War,” Washington Independent, April 11, 2008. Eli Lake, “Contra Expectations,” The New Republic, July 30, 2008.

  Obama broke with a constituency: Eric Lichtblau, “Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers,” New York Times, July 10, 2008.

  Obama belatedly rebuked MoveOn: Alexander Mooney, “Obama Takes Swipe at MoveOn,” CNN, July 1, 2008.

  Maliki’s spokesman endorsed: Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Alissa J. Rubin, “Obama Meets Iraqi Prime Minister in Baghdad,” New York Times, July 22, 2008. Bush had wanted a U.S. presence through 2015, but Maliki successfully pressed for 2010. Peter Baker, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House (New York: Anchor, 2014), 619–20.

  “Foreign policy is about protecting America”: Michael Finnegan, “Giuliani Stumps in Central Valley,” Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2007. Chris Reiter, “Romney, Giuliani Terrorism Comments Draw Criticism,” Reuters, May 16, 2007. Andy Sullivan, “Candidate Paul Assigns Reading to Giuliani,” Reuters, May 24, 2007.

  endorsement of John Hagee: Amy Goodman, “McCain Embraces Endorsement from Anti-Catholic, Anti-Gay, Anti-Muslim Televangelist John Hagee,” Democracy Now!, March 7, 2008.

  W. James Antle III: W. James Antle III, “The War Party,” The American Conservative, April 23, 2007.

  Clinton herself spoke: Kate Philips, “Clinton Touts White Support,” New York Times, May 8, 2008.

  Islamophobic Clarion Fund: Deborah Feyerick and Sheila Steffen, “Muslim DVD Rattles Voters in Key Battleground States,” American Morning, CNN, October 15, 2008. Ben Smith, “McCain Camp: Obama Is ‘Radical,’ Pals Around with Terrorists,” Politico, October 4, 2008.

  “terrorist fist jab”: Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir, Islamophobia Inc., Center for American Progress, August 2011. Mark Sweeney, “Fox News Anchor Taken Off Air after Obama ‘Terrorist Fist Jab’ Gaffe,” Guardian, June 13, 2008.

  Rallygoers told McCain: Nico Pitney, “Obama Hatred on Display Again at Palin Rally, Supporter Screams, ‘Treason!,’ ” HuffPost, November 7, 2007. Matthew Quirk, “More Racism, Please,” The Atlantic, October 2008.

  respectable New Republic: Naples Daily News staff, “Sheriff Scott’s Use of Obama’s Middle Name Causes National Stir,” Naples (Fla.) Daily News, October 6, 2008. Scott Conroy, “Defending the ‘Hussein’ Game,” CBS News, October 9, 2008. Eli Lake, “Jihadists for Obama,” The New Republic, November 10, 2008.

  appalled Colin Powell: Jonathan Martin, “Powell Embarrassed by the Obama-Is-a-Muslim Stuff,’ ” Politico, October 19, 2008.

  “a decent, family man”: “McCain Counters Obama ‘Arab’ Question,” Associated Press video, October 11, 2008. Laura Meckler, “McCain Asks Supporters to Show Obama Respect,” Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2008.

  Chapter Four: Obama and the “Sustainable” War on Terror

  Obama and his officials: Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on National Security,” May 21, 2009, transcript available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-national-security-5-21-09. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on the Administration’s Approach to Counterterrorism,” December 6, 2016, transcript available at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/06/remarks-president-administrations-approach-counterterrorism.

  the guided missile: Jo Becker and Scott Shane, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will,” New York Times, May 29, 2012.

  As much as torture: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program” (“The Torture Report”), December 9, 2014, 16. Available at www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf.

  Obama’s relationship with progressives: Noah Shachtman, “CIA Chief: Drones ‘Only Game in Town’ for Stopping Al Qaeda,” Wired, May 19, 2009.

  Obama’s closest counterterrorism adviser: Scott Shane, “CIA Is Disputed on Civilian Toll in Drone Strikes,” New York Times, August 11, 2011.

  Admiral Dennis Blair: Jeremy Scahill, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield (New York: Nation Books, 2013), 353.

  During Obama’s second year: Obama launched at least 122 drone strikes in 2010, according to statistics tallied by the New America Foundation: www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/americas-counterterrorism-wars/the-drone-war-in-pakistan. The author would like to thank cartographers Eben Dennis, Graham Twibell, and David Mayer fo
r their help.

  “a list of tyrants”: Spencer Ackerman, “Victim of Obama’s First Drone Strike: ‘I Am the Living Example of What Drones Are,’ ” Guardian, January 23, 2016. Ackerman, “After Drones: The Indelible Mark of America’s Remote Control Warfare,” Guardian, April 21, 2016.

  interrogations of suspected high-ranking terrorists: Spencer Ackerman, “Obama Task Force on Torture Considers CIA-FBI Interrogation Teams,” Washington Independent, June 24, 2009.

  the closure of Guantanamo Bay: Executive Orders 13491 and 13492, January 22, 2009, www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/2009-obama.html, accessed July 10, 2019.

  If waterboarding was deemed: “The Dark Side,” interview with John Brennan, Frontline, PBS, March 6, 2006. The Early Show, CBS News, November 2, 2007.

  “extraordinarily talented” CIA officials: David Johnson and Charlie Savage, “Obama Reluctant to Look into Bush Programs,” New York Times, January 11, 2009.

  Rahm Emanuel, told ABC News: This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, April 19, 2009.

  Bikowsky misrepresented a report: Matthew Cole, “Bin Laden Expert Accused of Shaping CIA Deception on ‘Torture’ Program,” NBC News, December 18, 2014. Marcy Wheeler, “Should Alfreda Bitkowsky’s Lawyer Really Be in Charge of Declassifying the Torture Report?” Emptywheel, August 27, 2004. Glenn Greenwald and Peter Maass, “Meet Alfreda Bikowsky, the Senior Officer at the Center of the CIA’s Torture Scandals,” The Intercept, December 19, 2014. Jane Mayer, “The Unidentified Queen of Torture,” The New Yorker, December 18, 2014. The CIA does not confirm or deny Bikowsky’s name despite considerable public reporting. John Rizzo’s book Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA (New York: Scribner, 2014) refers to “96” videotapes, but most other sources, including the CIA’s 2004 inspector general report on the matter, say the CIA destroyed ninety-two videotapes. Spencer Ackerman, “Ex-CIA Official Says Some Torture Videotapes May Still Exist,” Daily Beast, May 1, 2018.

  Washington Post identified: Greg Miller, “CIA Official Who Directed Hunt for Bin Laden Is Being Removed from Post,” Washington Post, March 25, 2015. Matthew Rosenberg and Adam Goldman, “CIA Names ‘the Dark Prince’ to Run Iran Operations, Signaling a Tougher Stance,” New York Times, June 2, 2017.