Jeff looks around the room. The question is rhetorical. The team is family. If one goes, they all go—and they know it. Jeff’s question is really just a pointless courtesy. Brad, Ryan, Kato, and David all nod and mumble their consent. Jeff continues, “We’ll take three vehicles and put one Iraqi in each vehicle. We’ll need them as shooters and translators. In the morning, we’ll stage at NAVISTAR and from there we’ll call the contact number for Abu Hyder. He’s supposed to tell us where to meet him in Nasiriyah. They say that the trucks and drivers are somewhere in the Nasiriyah area and they’ll take us to them. Then we’ll head south to the Kuwaiti border and return SIMCO’s trucks and drivers to Bill Schmidt. Granted, this is a vague plan right now, so on the way to Nasiriyah, we’ll stop about two hundred klicks north at Tallil Air Base and try and collect more intelligence and refine the plan.”
Jeff stops talking. He looks around the room. Brad is the first to speak: “What time do we roll?” “We load out at 0400,” Jeff responds. David adds, “I’ll get ahold of Mohammed and have him round up a couple of the Iraqis. Jeff responds, “Mohammed already knows. He’ll be at the border at 0600. He’s making some contacts tonight to see what he can learn about Hyder’s pukes. Mohammed will be bringing Khalid and Saadoun.”
The four men think about that for a moment. Then, Ryan tosses out a question, “Why Khalid? You know he’s a Sunni and this whole thing could get ugly.” “Hey, Khalid’s been with me since I started this company,” Jeff responds. “I’ve got no reason to believe he would turn on us. Hell, I trust him more than some of our Shiites. Besides, he hates Abu Hyder, and since Abu Hyder is a Shiite it probably works in our favor. He’ll be fine.” The fact that Jeff had Mohammed already putting plans in the works is interesting. It tells everyone in the room that their participation was really a foregone conclusion. Then again, maybe not, Jeff would have run this mission alone if he had to.
At 6 a.m. the team leaves NAVISTAR and crosses the border headed north. Just across the border they link up with Mohammed, Khalid, and Saadoun. Jeff gives the three Iraqi men a quick briefing. They actually seem excited about the operation, but they laughingly remark about Jeff being nuts. He says, “We’ll talk more when we get to Tallil.” Everyone locks and loads. The three Iraqis separate and each one jumps into one of the three SUVs. Jeff, Brad, and Mohammed are in the lead. Ryan, Kato, and Khalid are in the center vehicle, and David and Saadoun are bringing up the rear.
About a hundred miles into Iraq, Jeff’s cell phone rings. The Iraqi contact says, “Oh no. Big mix-up. Not Nasiriyah. You must meet me in Safwan at the border. You come Safwan now. I wait for you.” Now the team has to turn around and drive a hundred miles south back to the border. Frustrated, angered, and apprehensive, the team cuts across the highway median strip and heads back south.
Brad tells the rest of the story: “We get all the way back down to the border and we meet this guy who works for Hyder alongside the road on the outskirts of Safwan. He tells us, ‘No, you must go to Nasiriyah.’ By now it’s clear that were getting jerked around. So Jeff says to this guy, ‘I’ve had enough of this bullshit! We’re not going anywhere. You tell Abu Hyder to meet us right here.’ So the guy is all shook up and makes several phone calls. Finally the guy says, ‘OK, you meet Abu Hyder’s cousin at the office in Safwan. I take you there.’ This was the hijackers’ first mistake. Until then, we had never seen Hyder’s office. So we get to Hyder’s office in Safwan and meet the cousin. The cousin climbs into the car with Jeff, me, and our Iraqi interpreter, Mohammed.
“We start working everything out with the cousin. The cousin says that this is all a big mix-up and that he will call Abu Hyder and fix it. Everything seems to be coming together. After several more phone calls, the cousin says, ‘You must go to Nasiriyah.’ Jeff was the kind of guy who just had infinite patience. If you pushed him over the edge, he could burst out and make his point felt like you wouldn’t believe. But I never saw him blow up with anyone on the team. To my surprise, Jeff just smiled and said, ‘OK, we’ll go to Nasiriyah.’ Once again, the plan was to stop at Tallil Air Base, make contact with Hyder’s group, and finalize our procedures. So we drove 150 miles back north to Tallil.
“It was about lunch time now, and we were having problems getting a good cell phone connection, so we headed over to the Italian army part of the base, Camp Mittica. They have a great pizza place. I can’t say much about their soldiering but they’re a lot fun to party with. When you’re with the Italians they seem a lot more relaxed than the U.S. soldiers. I guess they don’t take anything too seriously. Whenever one of their convoy trucks breaks down on the highway, they usually just blow it up and drive on. It’s too much trouble for them to hang around and try to recover their vehicle.
“While we were wolfing down some food, Jeff continued trying to contact Hyder’s group. Finally, he got through to them. The guy on the other end of the phone call says, ‘It’s too dangerous for you to take your vehicles to where the trucks are. You will be noticed and you will probably get ambushed on the way there.’ So Jeff tells this guy OK, and they set up a time to meet us at a spot just a few miles from Tallil.
“Jeff quickly outlines a hasty plan. Jeff, David, myself, and one of our Iraqis would put on traditional Iraqi headdress. It was a pretty weak disguise, but since it would be starting to get dark by the time we did this, it might just work. We would link up with Hyder’s man and get in the car with him. The rest of the team would stand by in a quick reaction force mode. We would be able to track our vehicles through a satellite tracking system and cell phone communication. The three of us would also have red star clusters as an emergency backup signal. The QRF would locate as close as possible without compromising the operation. It was a dangerous plan, but we believed that it was unlikely that Hyder was planning on killing Americans. Committing crimes and killing foreign truck drivers is one thing, but killing an American would bring down some real grief on his operation. Hyder knew it, so we decided to chance the mission.
“I took as many ammo magazines as I could stash in my gear. Then I grabbed a day pack and loaded it with another ten thirty-round mags and some additional water. We clipped on as many hand grenades as we could and brought along several light antitank weapons. We reviewed every possible scenario that could be imagined. The plan had to be flexible. There were a lot of unknowns outside of the basic objective of recovering the trucks and drivers. We headed out for the link-up point. Our plan was to arrive at the link-up point at the exact agreed-upon time. It was important that we weren’t seen loitering around some intersection. Insurgents might be quick to take advantage of us as a target of opportunity.
“A half hour passed. An hour passed. Two hours passed. We called and called the phone number we had for the contact—no answer. After about two-and-a-half hours the phone rang. It was Hyder’s man. The guy beat around the bush. We couldn’t get any direct answers from him. Finally, Hyder’s guy laid down the hammer. He wanted forty thousand dollars more, or no trucks!
“Jeff is now in a controlled rage. With pursed lips, he tells the hijackers that we will call them back. Jeff paces a moment, takes a deep breath, and calls Bill Schmidt. During the conversation with Bill, it turns out that the two SIMCO drivers had turned up somewhere unharmed. Now the only remaining issue was the trucks.
“Bill and Jeff talk. Tempers are high. They are both in agreement that forty thousand dollars more is just throwing good money after bad. This game could continue forever, and the trucks may never be recovered. Negotiations are over. The two men determine that driving around Nasiriyah in the middle of the night looking for two trucks is not a sound idea. Jeff tells Bill that we know where Hyder’s offices are in Safwan and that he has an idea about how we might recover the trucks. Bill Schmidt is exasperated. His exact words are, ‘Hit the motherfuckers and hit ’em hard.’ At this point, that’s all Jeff needs to hear.” Jeff Katz had been pushed over the edge of his tolerance level. As far as Jeff is concerned, Abu Hyder is never going to tak
e U.S. citizens for granted again.
“We all loaded up and headed back to Tallil Air Base. It was dark now and we drove over to the Tomb of Abraham, a massive pyramid-like structure at the south end of the base. I don’t know if Abraham is really buried there. It seems to be a point of some contention, but it was a good spot for us to regroup and consider our next move. We decided we were going to raid Abu Hyder’s offices in Safwan. We figured we’d confiscate all his documents and records that might help point the finger at his rampage of corruption. And while we were at it, if the opportunity presented itself, we’d take one or more of his relatives hostage. We didn’t want to kill anyone but we knew that it was a risk. We counted on the element of surprise. Abu would never expect this.
“So, there in the sand at the base of Abraham’s tomb, using our vehicle headlights, we began constructing a terrain model of the town of Safwan and Hyder’s headquarters.
“The entire team participated in recollecting the town layout and the interior of the office building. It’s what we call a Chinese parliament: Jeff outlined the basic plan, and each one of us threw in our two cents. Jeff and I would comprise the assault team that would actually enter Hyder’s offices.
“We found an empty building nearby and rehearsed our room-clearing procedures. We did a slow walk-through at first, and then just kept repeating the procedures until we could move swiftly from room to room covering each other. Jeff and I had never cleared rooms together, but we had both been to military schools that taught essentially the same principles.
“Eventually we did full dress rehearsals at mock speed. Our guiding concept was speed and intensity. The practice runs incorporated prisoner detention and questioning. We assigned our security elements and identified each man’s responsibilities for blocking all possible exits. We identified a final staging area just north of Safwan where we would wait until the right moment. By the time we finished rehearsals, it was 1 a.m. We were all in agreement; the raid would take place just before dawn.
“We redistributed ammunition, locked and loaded, and drove one hundred forty miles south through Iraq in the middle of the night. None of us could sleep. We were wound pretty tight. By the time we pulled off into the staging area twenty-five miles north of Safwan, we had all been up over twenty-four hours. Everyone had plenty of time to think about the plan. Surprisingly, there were no major changes suggested. Just a few comments to fine tune what we already knew. Jeff, being the perfectionist warrior he is, made each one of us brief him again on our individual actions at the objective. He wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.
“We were running the risk of getting into a firefight with everyone: police, Iraqi army soldiers, insurgents, local militia, Hyder’s security guards, and even armed neighbors [who] might think we were Ali Babas or insurgents. Our hope was to be fast and efficient. It was too risky to run a reconnaissance of the objective. We decided that about fifty yards from the building we would turn on our police light bars, headlights, and roof lights. This would hopefully deter some people from opening fire on us, but once we exposed ourselves we would have just seconds to control the entire building and its occupants. We were ready.”
There is no bravado at a moment like this. There is no whining. In fact, there isn’t much discussion at all. What can be planned for has been planned for. What can’t be known will be discovered soon enough. This is the moment of commitment. This is the point of no return. In the history of men and women going into battle, this is the point and time that one comes to know who he or she is and what he or she is made of. This is when cowards quibble and brave men and women just nod and say, “Let’s do it.” And that is all Jeff Katz needed to say: “Let’s do it.”
The Paradigm security team and their three SUVs roll into Safwan just as the sky is starting to show signs of first light. The point vehicle and the first to arrive at the building will be Ryan and Kato. They will seal the back exit. Jeff and Brad, the assault team in the second vehicle, will enter through the main door and clear each room. David, in the trail vehicle, will provide security for the road network. He has the additional responsibility for building containment. Mohammed, Khalid, and Saadoun are now in David’s vehicle. They will cover the office building windows to intercept anyone attempting to burst out. David’s rear-mounted PKM machine gun, manned by Khalid, will be trained on the approach roads to greet any outsiders [who] might try to interfere.
Brad continues, “According to plan, our three vehicles stop in the center of town, at what we call the four corners. We are about five hundred meters short of Hyder’s offices. Nothing is moving: no vehicles, no people, no animals, no birds. With the exception of the low rumble of our engines, everything is silent.”
The team takes it all in. They visually scan the war-ravaged, dilapidated ruins that pass for buildings and homes—nothing unusual. The sand table back at the tomb had reflected the town layout quite well. At least it was close enough. From their vantage point, they can see Hyder’s office. The wait is unnerving. Without anyone speaking a word, you can hear the metallic sound of rifle safeties being clicked off and into the fire position. Unconsciously, forefingers normally extended parallel to the rifle barrel begin to move onto the triggers. Finally, Jeff picks up the mike on his radio, “Execute now.”
All three drivers in the SUVs hit their accelerators. They reach speeds of seventy-five miles per hour screaming down the two-lane road headed toward Hyder’s building. About fifty yards from the objective, the drivers turn on their flashing red, white, and blue police light bars, roof lights, and headlights. As Ryan and Kato’s vehicle peels off the road headed for the building’s back door, a dust plume envelops Jeff and Brad’s SUV. Jeff veers through the dust cloud, and a rooster tail of dust trails behind him. He skids to a halt just a few yards in front of the main entrance. David slams on his brakes while still on the road in front of the building. His Iraqi team leaps from the vehicle taking up firing positions. Through the now massive, billowing dust cloud, the flashing lights give the entire scene a surreal effect. Just like we had planned, everything is going like clockwork.
Even the best battle plan survives only the first five minutes of contact. After that, the side that demonstrates the greatest flexibility wins. This plan begins to unravel in the first five seconds.
Jeff and Brad jump from the car, just off to their right flank. Brad spots two human forms lying on a flatbed trailer and shouts to Jeff, “I’m taking ’em.”
He runs toward the flatbed. As the two waking guards begin to rise, and as their blankets fall off them, he can see them reaching for their AK-47s lying next to where they had slept. Brad has covered the distance to the flatbed and is now just a few feet from them. He shouts at them in no uncertain terms to put their hands up and freeze. The guards are staring down Brad’s gun barrel. His finger is on the trigger, and he looks pretty damn intense. The two Iraqis think better of reaching for their guns. Brad has won this draw. The men surrender.
Hyder’s guards are handcuffed with zip ties. David’s security team scrambles to take control of the prisoners. Jeff and Brad still have to clear the building, but now the element of surprise is gone. In a raid like this, every second counts. Any men inside the building might now be awake and waiting for them. Both men know that they could be greeted by a hail of bullets the moment the door is opened. Still, they hoped for some advantage if they could move quickly. Jeff stood to the side and kicked open the door.
“The building was really too large for a two-man clearing team, but we managed to sweep through the rooms and complete the operation in a matter of minutes,” Brad reflects. “There were no people inside. Jeff and I began collecting every file and record book we could find. We stashed them into our vehicle. Heads were beginning to peer out of windows from surrounding buildings but no one approached us. We were a pretty intimidating-looking group. We had counted on that. Jeff and I, with Mohammed’s help as a translator, began interrogating the prisoners.
“We tried to find o
ut where the SIMCO trucks were. We tried to get the location of Abu Hyder’s home. The guards were either lying or really didn’t know. They probably knew where Hyder’s home was, but it was doubtful that they knew the whereabouts of the trucks. Jeff asked them for their weapon permits. They didn’t have any. Then Jeff came up with another hasty plan: we would leave one guard there to communicate back to Hyder and we would take the other with us. We had separated the two prisoners. We told the guard [who] would be left behind that if the trucks weren’t returned we would turn over all of Hyder’s documents and the other guard to the U.S. military. We said that the coalition will be told that the guards carry guns without permits and that Hyder’s business is really a front for terrorists.
“We told the other prisoner that he was coming with us and that he would be executed by noon if the trucks weren’t returned. To tell you the truth, the prisoner we were taking really took the threat lightly. He damn near laughed at us. He knew the reputation of Americans. Sure, we could kick ass, but he knew that we didn’t run around executing people. This guy just wasn’t gonna take us seriously. We loaded him, now blindfolded, into our SUVs and headed back north to our last staging area. During the drive, we interrogated the prisoner and tried to sound really tough. In rapid fire, Mohammed translated our comments into Arabic. At times, even I had a hard time not laughing.
“We never slapped him, kicked him, or beat him in any way. We were careful that he didn’t hit his head getting in the car. We checked the zip-tie handcuffs to make sure that his circulation was OK. We gave him water whenever he was thirsty. Since our actions didn’t support our words, it was getting pretty difficult to convince our prisoner that we were bad. We knew we could turn this guy into the military for carrying a weapon without a permit, but the surrounding questions could get pretty sticky. So we get to the staging area and we are all just exhausted, but now we gotta really figure out what we are going to do with our prisoner.
A Bloody Business Page 20