The Longest War

by Peter L. Bergen

  210 bin Laden drew attention: Osama bin Laden, “Statement,” December 16, 2004, posted on the internet (translated by BBC monitoring); perhaps the most important”: Chris Zambelis, “Attacks in Yemen reflect al-Qaeda’s global oil strategy,” Terrorism Monitor, September 4, 2008; “10%”: Hassan M. Fatah, “Attack on Saudi oil facility thwarted,” New York Times, February 24, 2006.

  210 Grand Hyatt, Radisson, and Days Inn: Scott Macleod, “Behind the Amman hotel attack,” Time, November 10, 2005. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/

  0,8599,1128209,00.html.

  210 According to Spanish prosecutors: interview by author Florence, Italy, May 27, 2009.

  210 “were under pledge”: Anne Stenersen, “Are the Afghan Taliban involved in international terrorism?” CTC Sentinel, September 2009.

  211 The suicide bomber: Joby Warrick and Pamela Constable, “CIA base attacked in Afghanistan supported airstrikes against al-Qaeda, Taliban,” Washington Post, January 1, 2010; “Bomber Fooled CIA, Family, Jordanian Intelligence,” Associated Press, January 6, 2010.

  211 how he planned to attack the group: “An interview with the Shaheed Abu Dujaanah al Khorshani (Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi),” February 28, 2010, NEFA Foundation.

  211 “avenge our good martyrs”: Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, “Infiltrating the American Fortresses,” December 31, 2009, NEFA Foundation. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/nefaAbul-Yazid0110.pdf.

  211 was revenge: Stephen Farrell, “Video links Taliban to CIA attack,” New York Times, January 9, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/

  world/middleeast/10balawi.html.

  211 Armed with that training and $8,000 in cash: United States of America v. Faisal Shahzad, Plea agreement, Southern District of New York, June 21, 2010.

  211 “only organization qualified”: Quoted in Peter Bergen, “Where you bin?” The New Republic, January 29, 2006.

  211 the green light: Author interview with Saudi official, February 25, 2008, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  211 battle is conducted in the media: See for instance his letter to Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, in West Point’s Harmony documents, February 14, 2006. AFGP-2002-600321.

  211 nearly one hundred: IntelCenter Breakout of as-Sahab audio/video, 2002-26 February 2009. Email from Ben Venzke, February 26, 2009.

  211 2 percent: In 2007, 1.8% of Afghans and .01% of Pakistanis were Internet users, according to the International Telecommunications Union, “Information Society Statistical Profiles—Asia and the Pacific, 2009.” http://www.itu.int/publ/D-INDRPM.AP-2009/en; “1%”: In 2008, 1% of Iraqis were Internet users, according to the International Telecommunications Union, “Information Society Statistical Profiles—Arab states, 2009,” http://www.itu.int/publ/D-IND-RPM.AR-2009/en.

  Chapter 13

  214 “Acquiring nuclear”: Rahimullah Yusufzai, “Osama bin Laden lashes out against the West,” Time, January 11, 1999. http://www.time.com/time/

  asia/asia/magazine/1999/990111/osama1.html.

  214 “I wish to declare”: Hamid Mir, “Osama claims he has nukes,” Dawn, November 10, 2001. http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/10/top1.htm.

  215 “I asked this question”: Hamid Mir, interview by author, Islamabad, Pakistan, May 11, 2002.

  215 in a pre-9/11 memo: Roland Jacquard, L’Archive Secretès d’al Qaida, (Paris: Jean Picollec, 2002), p. 291.

  215 For that information: Peter Baker, “Pakistani Scientist Who Met Bin Laden Failed Polygraphs, Renewing Suspicions,” Washington Post, March 3, 2002.

  215 al-Qaeda’s leaders turned to: Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism (New York: Henry Holt, 2004), pp. 20–22.

  215 “a rather strange man”: author interview with Pervez Hoodbhoy, May 11, 2002, Islamabad, Pakistan.

  215 spent part of his retirement: Baker op. cit.

  216 charity aimed to establish: David Albright and Holly Higgins, “Pakistani Nuclear Scientists: How Much Nuclear Assistance to Al-Qaeda?” Washington, D.C.: Institute for Science and International Security. August 30, 2002.

  216 reporters found: Albright and Higgins op. cit.

  216 failed polygraph tests: Peter Baker, “Pakistani Scientist Who Met Bin Laden Failed Polygraphs, Renewing Suspicions,” Washington Post, March 3, 2002.

  216 Mahmood had provided information: Albright and Higgins op. cit.

  216 “wouldn’t you tell him”: Charles Faddis, interview by author, Washington, D.C., January 20, 2010.

  217 told his interrogators: Henry Schuster, “Walker Lindh: Al-Qaeda spoke of more attacks,” CNN.com, October 4, 2002. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/10/03/

  walker.lindh.documents/index.html; “told al Jazeera”: BBC News, “Al-Qaeda ‘plotted nuclear attacks,’” September 8, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2244146.stm.

  217 crop-dusting planes: Transcript from Johnelle Bryant interview by Brian Ross, ABC News, June 6, 2002. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130304&page=1.

  217 wrote an essay: The essay was posted on Al Neda and translated by MEMRI. Suleiman Abu Ghaith, “In the Shadow of the Lances,” The Middle East Research Institute, Special Dispatch Series—No. 338, June 12, 2002.

  217 the fatwa of a Saudi cleric: Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, “A treatise on the legal status of using weapons of mass destruction against infidels,” May 2003. http://www.carnegieendowment.org/static/npp/fatwa.pdf.

  218 first known atomic thief: PBS Frontline, “Loose Nukes,” 1996. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/

  nukes/interviews/smirnov.html.

  218 “I was the shift leader”: Author interview with Leonid Smirnov, Podolsk, Russia, April 28, 2002; Blinding Horizon, National Geographic, 2003. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/blinding-horizon-1337/Overview.

  219 strictly an amateur affair: Abu Walid al-Masri, The history of the Arab Afghans from the time of their arrival in Afghanistan until their departure with the Taliban, serialized in Al Sharq al Awsat, December 8–14, 2004.

  219 issued a statement: Osama bin Laden statement, “Dangers and Signs of the Indian Nuclear Explosions,” May 14, 1998, author collection.

  219 al-Masri: Abu Walid al-Masri, The history of the Arab Afghans from the time of their arrival in Afghanistan until their departure with the Taliban, serialized in Al Sharq al Awsat, December 8–14, 2004.

  219 Zawahiri wrote to Mohamed Atef: Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins, “A computer in Kabul reveals thinking behind four years of al-Qaeda doings,” Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2001.

  220 $2,000–$4,000: Anne Stenersen, Al-Qaida’s Quest for Weapons of Mass Destruction: The History behind the Hype (Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag, 2009), p. 35.

  220 “refused to voice”: Al-Masri op. cit.

  220 Fadl said: USA vs. Usama bin Laden, Testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, February 7 and 20, 2001.

  220 stockpiled a considerable quantity: Al-Masri op. cit.

  220 advised the Taliban leader: Charles J. Hanley, “Taliban naïve of nuclear arms,” Associated Press, July 1, 2002.

  220 underground facility near Kandahar airport: Drew Brown, “U.S. finds materials for dirty bombs,” Knight Ridder, December 22, 2001.

  221 “some forms”: Peter Zimmerman and Cheryl Loeb, “Dirty bombs: the threat revisited,” National Defense University, Defense Horizons, No. 38. January 2004. http://www.ndu.edu/inss/DefHor/DH38/dh38.htm.

  221 In 1996: International Atomic Energy Agency, “Combating illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive material,” Technical Guidance Reference Manual (Vienna: IAEA, 2007), p. 127.

  221 one hundred times above normal levels: The information about the Gisht-Kuprik incident comes from the author’s 2002 visit to the Uzbek-Kazakh border, interviews with U.S. Customs officials William Lambert and Richard Melton and Colonel Sadritdin Jalilov of Uzbek Customs, and National Geographic’s Blinding Horizon documentary, op. cit.

  222 virtually impossible: David Albright, Kathyrn Buehler, and Holly Higgins, “Bin Laden and the bomb,” Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists, January/February 2002. http://www.isis-online.org/publications/terrorism/binladenandbomb.pdf.

  222 U.S government analysts: Thom Shanker, “U.S. analysts find no sign bin Laden had nuclear arms,” New York Times, February 26, 2002.

  222 crude chemical weapons: Barton Gellman, “Al-Qaeda nears biological, chemical arms production,” Washington Post, March 23, 2003.

  222 al-Qaeda videotape from this period: Nic Robertson, “Tapes shed new light on bin Laden’s network,” CNN.com, August 19, 2002. CNN videotape collection.

  222 were ignored: Omar bin Laden, Najwa bin Laden, Jean Sasson, Growing Up bin Laden (2009) p. 230.

  222 seven-thousand-page: Encyclopedia of Jihad. Author Collection.

  222 chemical engineer: West Point, Combating Terrorism Center, “Profile of Abu Khabab,” 2007.

  222 hundreds of militants: Carlotta Gall and Douglas Jehl, “U.S. raid killed Qaeda leaders, Pakistanis say,” New York Times, January 19, 2006.

  222 “Obtain the liquid”: Roland Jacquard, L’Archive Secretès d’al Qaida, (Paris: Jean Picollec, 2002), p. 281.

  223 American-educated scientists: James Bone and Zahid Hussain, “Al-Qaeda woman Aifia Siddiqui in court on attempted murder charge,” The Times (London), August 6, 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/U.S.

  _and_americas/article4467148.ece.

  223 Al-Qaeda recruit with an American science degree: Justine Redman, “Letters detail al-Qaeda’s anthrax program,” CNN.com, May 23, 2005.

  223 biologist working for the Pakistani government:, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, former official responsible for WMD at the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center; author interview, Washington, D.C., December 18, 2009; “looking for anthrax”: Joby Warrick, “Suspects and a setback in al-Qaeda anthrax case; scientist with ties to group goes free,” Washington Post, October 31, 2006.

  223 could only weaponize anthrax: Bruce Ivins, New York Times, http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/

  timestopics/people/i/bruce_e_ivins/index.html?8qa&

  scp=1-spot&sq=bruce+ivins&st=nyt.

  223 Gary Ackerman: Gary Ackerman, email to author, May 6, 2010.

  224 CNN reported this story: “Ricin suspects linked to al-Qaeda,” CNN.com, January 16, 2003. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/16/

  ricin.alqaeda/index.html.

  224 gave his speech: Colin Powell, presentation before the United Nations, February 5, 2003, New York City. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq

  /2003/iraq-030205-powell-un-17300pf.htm.

  224 But two years later: Walter Pincus, “London ricin finding called a false positive,” Washington Post, April 14, 2005; and Stenersen op. cit. p. 48.

  224 “has the potential”: Jason Bennetto, “Mass panic was aim of £70,000 dirty bomb,” The Independent (London), November 8, 2006. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mass-panic-was-aim-of-16370000-dirty-bomb-423425.html.

  224 “comical”: Michael Sheehan, Crush the Cell; How to Defeat Terrorism without Terrorizing Ourselves (New York: Crown, 2008), p. 235.

  225 sickened hundreds of Iraqis: BBC News, “‘Chlorine bomb’ hits Iraq village.” May 16, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6660585.stm; “stopped using”: Stenersen op. cit., p. 42.

  225 “there was a lot of effort”: Charles Faddis interview by author, Washington, D.C. January 20, 2010.

  225 “poisons and deadly gases”: George W. Bush, Cincinnati, OH, October 7, 2002. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/

  10/20021007-8.html.

  225 trotted out the dubious tales: Paul Williams, Osama’s Revenge: The Next 9/11: What the Media and the Government Haven’t Told You (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004), pp. 46–47.

  225 hyperbolic reporting: Ron Suskind, The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), pp. 193–197 and 218.

  226 Milton Leitenberg of the University of Maryland: Global Security Newswire, June 26, 2006. http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2006/6/26/017198a4-bb95-40d5-9738-817ce4a469bb.html.

  226 credited with discovering: Ron Suskind, “How an Al-Qaeda cell planned a poison-gas attack on the NY subway,” TIME Magazine, June 17, 2006. http://www.time.com/time/

  nation/article/0,8599,1205309,00.html.

  226 according to Michael Sheehan: Michael Sheehan interview, New York City, November 21, 2009.

  226 “We built a model of it”: John McLaughlin, interview by author, December 7, 2009, Washington, D.C.

  227 “on the current path”: Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: the Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (New York: Times Books, 2004), p. 15.

  227 issued a report in December 2008: Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. (New York: Vintage Books, 2008). http://www.preventwmd.gov/report/.

  227 Joe Biden was briefed: Change.gov, Vice President-elect Joe Biden to be briefed on prevention of WMD and terrorism. http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/vice_president_elect

  _joe_biden_to_be_briefed_on_prevention_of_wmd_and_terro/.

  227 The total of all the known thefts of HEU: IAEA Combating Trafficking op. cit., pp. 129–130. http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1309_web.pdf.

  228 are not about to hand over: Brian Michael Jenkins, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008), p. 143.

  228 distinctive signatures: Daniel Chivers and Jonathan Snider, “International nuclear forensics regime,” Security for a New Century Study Group Report, February 2, 2007.

  228 $100 million: Thom Shanker and David Sanger, “Pakistan is rapidly adding nuclear arms, U.S. says,” New York Times, May 17, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18nuke.html.

  228 Defense has assessed: Department of Defense, “Proliferation Threat and Response,” January 2001. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/ptr20010110.pdf, p. 27.

  228 stored unassembled: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “Nuclear weapons status 2005,” http://www.carnegieendowment.org/images/npp/nuke.jpg.

  228 one layer of protection: Paul Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin, “Pakistan’s nuclear weapons: proliferation and security issues,” Congressional Research Service, June 12, 2009. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34248.pdf.

  228 PAL: Kerr and Nikitin op. cit; Peter Crail, “Pakistan nuclear stocks safe, officials say,” Arms Control Today, June 2009, http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2009_6/Pakistan.

  228 “important steps”: Michael Maples, U.S. Senate. Armed Services Committee. The current and future worldwide threats to the national security of the United States. March 10, 2009.

  228 “a high probability”: Hardball with Chris Matthews, MSNBC, February 5, 2009. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29034366/.

  229 After obtaining his PhD in Belgium; traveled to Holland; made centrifuges suitable; steal the blueprints: Michael Laufer, “A.Q. Khan nuclear chronology,” Proliferation Review, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17420.

  229 placed under house arrest: Victoria Schofield and David Wastell, “Scientist who sold nuclear secrets ‘can keep his money,’” Sunday Telegraph, February 8, 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/

  asia/pakistan/1453785/Scientist-who-sold-atomic-secrets

  -can-keep-his-money.html.

  229 Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood: Gordon Corera, Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity, and the Rise and Fall of the AQ Khan Network (London: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 29 and generally pp. 9–30.

  Chapter 14

  233 “Although we have”: National Intelligence Council, National Intelligence Assessment, “The terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland,” July 2007. http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070717_release.pdf.

  234 “had a lot of girl friends”: This section draws on Peter Bergen, “The Front,” The New Republic, October 19, 2009. http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-front. Also USA v. N
ajibullah Zazi, Eastern District of New York, Indictment. http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/

  case_docs/1063.pdf; and Michael Wilson, “From smiling coffee vendor to terror suspect,” New York Times, September 25, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/nyregion/26profile.html.

  234 three or four a day: Anne Kornblut, “Obama team says Zazi case illustrates balanced approach to terror threat,” Washington Post, October 6, 2009. http://www.washing-tonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/05/AR2009100503989.html.

  234 “subway lines in Manhattan”: John Marzulli, “Najibullah Zazi pleads guilty to plotting NYC terror attack, supporting al Qaeda,” New York Daily News, February 22, 2010.

  234 pages of handwritten notes: USA v. Najibullah Zazi, Eastern District of New York, 09-CR-663 Memorandum of law in support of the government’s motion for a permanent order of detention (Via IntelWire).

  235 traveled to Pakistan’s tribal areas: USA vs Bryant Neal Vinas, Eastern District Court of New York 08-CR-823. http://intelfiles.egoplex.com/2009-07-22-Bryant-Neal-Vinas-Court-Docs.pdf. He pled guilty on January 28, 2009 to the charges against him.

  235 Long Island Rail Road: William K. Rashbaum and Souad Mekhennet, “L.I. man helped al-Qaeda, then informed,” New York Times, July 22, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/nyregion/23terror.html

  235 Californian convert: USA v. Adam Gadahn, Central District Court of California, SA CR 05-254 A Superseding Indictment.

  235 charged with treason: Raffi Khatchadourian, “Azzam the American,” New Yorker, January 22, 2007.

  235 David Headley: Headley information comes from United States vs. David C. Headley, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint. http://media1.suntimes.com/multimedia/headley%20complaint.pdf_20091027_09_57_00_15.imageContent.

  235 cartoons as a “catastrophe”: Inal Ersan, “Bin Laden warns EU over Prophet cartoons,” Reuters, March 20, 2008, http://www.reuters.com/article/idusN19338241200803201.

  236 killing six: Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, “Blast near Danish embassy in Pakistan kills six,” New York Times, June 2, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/asia/02iht-pakistan.2.13391102.html.