The Longest War

by Peter L. Bergen

  187 Hassan Gul: “U.S. reveals al-Qaeda Iraq plot,” BBC, February 9, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3473881.stm; “the case of Omar Al Farouk”: Justin Huggler, “The last stand of Al Qaida’s Houdini,” The Independent (London), September 27, 2006.

  188 “trained in Iraq”: Author interview with Hamid Mir, Islamabad, Pakistan, May, 2007.

  188 “We are on a good and strong relationship”: Mustafa Abu al-Yazid’s interview with Al Jazeera, June 22, 2009, translated by NEFA Foundation. www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/…/nefa_yazidqa0609.pdf.

  188 a piece of red-hot coal: Pamela Constable, “Tales of the Taliban: Part tragedy, part farce,” Washington Post, February 28, 2004.

  188 their cell phone numbers: Daniel Kimmage, “Al-Qaeda Central and the Internet,” New America Foundation, February 2010.

  188 Hundreds of dollars: Author interview with U.S. military official in Afghanistan, September 2006.

  189 scores of tapes like this: Selection of Taliban propaganda tapes, IntelCenter, Washington, D.C., 2005–2009.

  189 two dozen law courts: Yochi Dreazen and Siobhan Gorman, “Taliban regains power, influence in Afghanistan,” Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2008. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122713845685342447.html.

  189 fourteen pages of “national caveats”: Author interview with senior NATO commander, Kabul, Afghanistan, December 2005; “only a handful of countries”: Author interview with U.S. military official, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 2007.

  189 German forces: “A Different Kind of War” op. cit., p. 298.

  190 the summer of 2008: Carlotta Gall, “Afghan border concerns NATO’s force leader,” New York Times, June 5, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/world/asia/05afghan.html.

  190 $100 or more a month: Peter Bergen, “The Taliban, regrouped and rearmed,” Washington Post, September 10, 2006; “$70 salary of an Afghan policeman”: Farah Stockman, “On the streets of Kabul, a scramble for money,” New York Times, April 11, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/world/asia/11iht-afghan.5226639.html.

  190 millions of dollars: author interview with Abdul Haq Hanif, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 2007.

  190 a drug cartel: author interview with Abdul Haq Hanif, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 2007.

  190 from April 2007 to January 2009: Embassy of Afghanistan, History. http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/history.html; “preference for aerial eradication”: Kirk Semple and Tim Golden, “Afghans pressed by U.S. on plan to spray poppies,” New York Times, October 8, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/world/asia/08spray.html.

  191 jump into a fifty-five-gallon drum: Author interview with U.S. official then involved in Afghan policy, Washington, D.C.

  191 General Mohammed Daud: Two years later Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper would identify General Daud as someone who himself profited from the drug trade, a charge he denied. “a very dangerous place”: Author interview with Afghan counternarcotics official, Uruzgan, Afghanistan, April 2007.

  191 fifth-largest poppy harvest: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2008, http://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/Afghanistan_Opium_Survey_2008.pdf, p. 171.

  192 DynCorp guys were easy to spot: Author observation of the Afghan Eradication Force in Uruzgan province, April 2007.

  192 Afghan support for poppy cultivation: ABC/BBC/ARD News poll, “Afghans’ criticism of U.S. efforts rises; in the southwest, Taliban support grows,” December 3, 2007. abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1049a1Afghanistan-WhereThingsStand.pdf.

  192 put up to three million people out of work: Vanda Felbab-Brown, Shooting Up (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Press, 2009), p. 135.

  192 twelve dollars a day: Felbab-Brown op. cit., p. 134.

  192 successful counternarcotics policy: Lt. Gen. David Barno, observation to author, Washington, D.C. 2007.

  193 one of the most corrupt countries: Transparency International, “Corruption Perceptions Index 2008,” http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/

  surveys_indices/cpi/2008/cpi_2008_table.

  193 nine tons: William Grimes, “Afghan struggle to change poppy fields into roads,” New York Times, November 7, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/books/07grim.html?fta=y.

  193 profiting from the drug business: James Risen, “Reports link Karzai’s brother to heroin trade,” International Herald Tribune, October 4, 2008. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/04/asia/05afghan.php.

  193 instituted a review: Meghan O’Sullivan interview. Washington, D.C., November 6, 2009 and email to author, June 11, 2011.

  193 “There were many discussions”: U.S. national security official Washington, D.C., January 2009.

  193 everything was fine: Author interview with former U.S. official, Washington, D.C., December 2009.

  193 “from their bubble”: Author interview with U.S. official, Washington, D.C., January 2009.

  193 “the shura”: David Kilcullen, author interview, New York; November 20, 2009, “in May 2007”: Associated Press, “Bush Taps Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as ‘War Czar’ for Iraq, Afghanistan,” May 15, 2007; “the green shrinking”: Eliot Cohen, author interview, December 10, 2009, Washington, D.C.

  194 “There is a point”: Douglas E. Lute, interview by author, Washington, D.C., January 8, 2010.

  194 soup-to-nuts: Lute interview.

  194 “all Iraq all the time”: Kilcullen interview.

  194 “I don’t want a written report”: Kilcullen ibid.

  194 private polling: Author interview with former U.S. official Washington, D.C., January 2009.

  195 “We gave them a briefing”: Kilcullen interview, Washington, D.C. January 19, 2010.

  195 “leave it for us”: Hadley op. cit.

  195 “unpublicized Bush review”: Lute, Hadley, Kilcullen interviews.

  195 adjusting their tactics: Julian Barnes, “U.S. general seeks to curb Afghan civilian deaths,” Los Angeles Times, September 17, 2008. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/17/world/fg-afghan17.

  195 four hundred tribes: Author interview with U.S. intelligence official, 2008.

  195 pilot program: Dexter Filkins, “Afghan and U.S. plan to recruit local militias,” New York Times, December 23, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/world/asia/24afghan.html.

  195 requested more than 20,000: Tom Vanden Brook, “Commander sees ‘tough fight’ in Afghan war,” USA Today, December 8, 2008. http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-12-07-afghantroops_N.htm. See also Stephen J. Hadley in the Washington Post, “How Obama’s surge can stabilize Afghanistan,” December 11, 2009. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/10/AR2009121003439.html.

  196 Taliban had a permanent presence: International Council on Security and Development, “Struggle for Kabul: The Taliban Advance,” London, UK, December 2008, p. 9.

  196 by 2008 more American: iCasualties.org; compare U.S. casualties in Iraq in June 2008 (29) to Afghanistan (46). http://icasualties.org/oef/.

  196 “not part of the formula”: David Barno quoted in Peter Bergen, “How Osama bin Laden beat George W. Bush,” The New Republic, October 15, 2007. http://www.lawandsecurity.org/get_article/?id=82; and David Barno, “Fighting the other war,” Military Review, September/October 2007. http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/CAC/milreview/

  English/SepOct07/barnoengseptoct07.pdf.

  Chapter 12

  197 “God has bestowed”: Al Jazeera, “Al-Qaeda’s Afghan head named,” May 24, 2007. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2007/05/

  20085251431519301.html.

  197 “We are at war”: Mohammed Siddique Khan, al Jazeera, released September 2, 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/

  middleeast/1497473/We-areat-war-I-am-a-soldier.html.

  197 “The plague bacillus”: Albert Camus, The Plague (1947).

  197 happy, even euphoric: U.K. House of Commons Home Office Narrative of 7 July 2005 Bombings, news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_05_06_narrative.pdf.

  198 an unremar
kable bunch: United Kingdom, House of Commons, Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London on 7th July 2005; a keen cricketer: Ian Herbert and Arifa Akbar, “He was proud to be British,” The Independent, July 14, 2005, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/shahzad-tanweer-i-cannot-begin-to-explain-this-he-was-proud-to-be-british-498754.html; “red Mercedes”: London Investigation Update, PBS, July 13, 2005. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/europe/july-dec05/london_7–13.html.

  198 They seemed utterly ordinary: Milan Ray, 7-7: The London Bombings, Islam, and the Iraq War (London: Pluto Press, 2006), p. 10; buy jihadi videos: Richard Watson, “Rise of the British Jihad,” Granta 103, http://www.granta.com/Magazine/ Granta-103, p. 49.

  198 link up there with militant groups: Home Office Report op. cit.

  198 a farewell video: Watson op. cit., p. 74; and Lee Glendinning, “Look after mummy,” Guardian, April 25, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/25/july7.uksecurity.

  199 Typical of this view: David Leppard and Robert Winnett, “Blair’s extremism proposals attacked as the hunt continues for terror’s new breed,” The Sunday Times (London), August 7, 2005. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/arti cle552690.ece.

  199 videotape of Khan: London bomber: text in full, BBC News, September 1, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4206800.stm.

  199 Zawahiri himself made an appearance: “CIA: bomber tape ‘appears genuine,’” CNN.com, September 2, 2005. http://www.cnn.com/2005/

  WORLD/europe/09/02/london.tape.cia/index.html; and Alan Cowell, “Al Jazeera video links London bombings to al-Qaeda,” New York Times, September 2, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/international/

  europe/02london.html.

  199 martyrdom video: BBC News, “Video of 7 July bomber released,” July 6, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5154714.stm.

  199 Khan returned to England: House of Commons Report op. cit., p. 20; noticed that their plants were wilting: Silber et al op. cit, p. 49; bleach their hair: Watson op. cit., p. 52; commercial grade refrigerator: Christopher Dickey, Securing the City: Inside America’s Best Counterterror Force—the NYPD (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), p. 212.

  200 cost around £8,000: House of Commons report op. cit., p. 23.

  200 to watch videos: Sarah Lyall, “In Britain, migrants took a new path: to terrorism,” New York Times, July 28, 2005.

  200 black burqa: Steve Bird, “21/7 leader Yassin Omar’s fiancée is jailed for disguising him in burka,” The Times (London), July 12, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/

  news/uk/crime/article4319160.ece.

  200 Prosecutors said: Alison Pargeter, The New Frontiers of Jihad: Radical Islam in Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2008), p. 159; BBC News, “Four guilty over 21/7 bomb plot,” July 10, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6284350.stm.

  200 “to do jihad”, “convicted Ibrahim”: Pargeter op. cit., p. 159; BBC News, “Four guilty over 21/7 bomb plot,” July 10, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6284350.stm.

  201 popped up: For instance, two tapes from bin Laden were released on May 15, 2008 and May 18, 2008.

  201 “on the run”: George W. Bush quoted in Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde, “Signs of al-Qaeda resurgence,” New York Times, February 19, 2007, http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/19/africa/

  web.0219intel.php?page=2.

  201 “We Won”: James Fallows, “Declaring victory,” The Atlantic, September 2006.

  201 “Al-Qaeda is operationally dead”: Marlena Telvick, “Al-Qaeda’s New Front,” PBS Frontline, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

  shows/front/etc/today.html.

  201 “the present threat”: Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), p. viii.

  201 “main terrorist threat”: Marc Sageman, “The homegrown young radicals of next-gen jihad,” Washington Post, June 8, 2008.

  202 “a fundamental misreading”: Bruce Hoffman, “The myth of grass-roots terrorism,” Foreign Affairs, May/June 2008.

  202 “the go-to guy”: Elaine Sciolino and Eric Schmitt, “A not very private feud over terrorism,” New York Times, June 8, 2008.

  202 “a typical pyramid organization”: Louis Beam, “Leaderless resistance,” The Seditionist, February 1992. http://www.louisbeam.com/leaderless.htm.

  202 set up his own training camp: Brynjar Lia, Architect of Global Jihad: The life of al-Qaeda strategist Abu Musab al-Suri (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008), p. 230.

  203 Videotapes recovered: Key sections of the tapes were translated by Mohannad Hage Ali, who reports on al-Qaeda for Al Hayat in London, material that was translated for The Osama bin Laden I Know (New York: Free Press, 2006).

  203 “nizam la tanzim”: Lia op. cit., p. 421.

  203 assassination of Theo van Gogh: “Gunman kills Dutch film director,” BBC, November 2, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3974179.stm.

  204 dead man’s chest: For an excellent account of the van Gogh assassination see Ian Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam (New York: Penguin, 2006).

  204 There had been some discussion: Gabriel Weimann, Terror on the Internet (Washington, D.C.: USIP Press, 2006), p. 133.

  204 Spain a potential target: Osama bin Laden audiotape, “A message to the Americans,” aired on Al Jazeera, October 18, 2003.

  204 the Madrid attacks: Spanish police calculated the attacks cost between 41,000 and 54,000 Euros. Javier Jordan, Fernando M. Manas, Nicola Horsburgh, “Strengths and Weaknesses of Grassroot Jihadist Networks in the West,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 31:1, January 2008.

  204 a known jihadist organization: Fernando Reinares, “Jihadist radicalization and the 2004 Madrid bombing network,” CTC Sentinel, November 2009.

  204 “many groups without links”: Author interview with Armando Spataro, Florence, Italy, May 22, 2008.

  204 “a fundamental reference point”: Author interview with Baltasar Garzon, Florence, Italy, May 23, 2008.

  204 was resurging: “Terrorist Threat to the U.S. homeland,” National Intelligence Estimate, July 2007.

  204 Jonathan Evans: Jonathan Evans, address to the Society of Editors, November 5, 2007, Manchester, England. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/intelligence-counter-terrorism-and-trust.html.

  205 “a dime a dozen”: Author interview with Michael Sheehan, Florence, Italy, May 22, 2008.

  205 “almost mathematical increase”: Author interview with Philip Mudd, Florence, Italy, May 23, 2008.

  205 “We have seen an influx”: Prepared Testimony of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Washington, D.C., February 5, 2008.

  206 were directed by al-Qaeda: “Bin Laden allegedly planned attack in Turkey,” Associated Press, December 17, 2003. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3735645/.

  206 he lectured into the camera: BBC News, “Suicide videos: what they said,” April 4, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7330367.stm.

  206 On July 4: Emails from Ali’s trial that British prosecutors obtained from the American email service Yahoo! and published, in part, by the Wall Street Journal September 7, 2009. Original email trial exhibits in author collection.

  206 “a couple of weeks”: Duncan Gardham, “Airline bomb plot: one of the biggest since WW2,” Telegraph, September 8, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6152185/Airline-bomb-plot-investigation-one-of-biggest-since-WW2.html

  207 “We’ve got our virgins”: Greenberg et al. op. cit.

  207 began to chair meetings: Michele Malvesti, interview by author, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2010.

  207 “They had a bomb-making factory”: Author interview with Frances Fragos Townsend, by author, Washington, D.C., December 7, 2009.

  207 When Ali was arrested: Nico Hines, “Terror mastermind Abdullah Ahmed Ali guilty of bombing plot,” Times of London, September 8, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

  tol/news/uk/crime/article4707468.ece; “
time taken”: David Byers, “Terror gang plotted to blow up transatlantic airlines,” Times of London, April 3, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

  tol/news/uk/crime/article3674413.ece. Most of the details of the case are taken from the opening statement of Mr. Wright, the prosecutor in the case. Author collection.

  208 HMTD: traces of hexamine: Sciolino op. cit.

  208 some fifteen hundred passengers would have died: Richard Greenberg, Paul Cruickshank, and Chris Hansen, “Inside the plot that rivaled 9/11,” Dateline NBC, September 14, 2009. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26726987/.

  208 “get a move on”: Henry Chu and Sebastian Rotella, “Three Britons convicted of plot to blow up planes,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2009, http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/08/world/fg-britain-verdict8?pg=3.

  208 twenty-nine bottles: Agence France Press, “Terror charges dropped against alleged UK terror mastermind,” December 13, 2006.

  208 “Who are these people?” Bruce Riedel, interview by author, Washington, D.C., November 23, 2009.

  208 affiliate in Kenya almost succeeded: “Al-Qaeda claims Kenya attacks,” BBC, December 3, 2003.

  209 struck by a missile as it took off: Agence France Presse, “Civilian plane hit by missile over Baghdad,” November 23, 2003.

  209 The same year militants: “British Airways suspends flights to Saudi Arabia after threats,” New York Times, August 14, 2003.

  209 initially planned to attack Incirlik: Associated Press, May 31, 2004; and Jarret Brachman, Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice (Routledge: 2008), pp. 17–18.

  209 “Every dollar”: “Bin Laden: goal is to bankrupt U.S.,” CNN.com, November 1, 2004. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/.

  209 launched an attack: Dan Murphy, “What other al-Qaeda linked attacks have involved Yemen?” Christian Science Monitor, December 29, 2009.

  209 In Yanbu: “Gunmen kill at least six in Saudi Arabia,” Associated Press, May 1, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-05-01-saudi-attack_x.htm.

  209 Four weeks later: Abdul Hameed Bakier, “Lessons from al-Qaeda’s attack on the Khobar compound,” Terrorism Monitor, August 11, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-05-01-saudi-attack_x.htm.