Dirty Wars

by Jeremy Scahill

  10 enacted a law: Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 1981, Pub. Law 96-450 (1980). Title V of the law—“Accountability for Intelligence Activities”—states that “the Director of the Central Intelligence and the heads of all departments, agencies, and other entities of the United States involved in intelligence activities shall...keep the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives...fully and currently informed of all intelligence activities which are the responsibility of, are engaged in by, or are carried out for or on behalf of, any department, agency, or entity of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity.”

  10 “seriously weakened”: Savage, Takeover, p. 43.

  11 “congressional resurgence,” “signing statements”: Ibid.

  11 unlawful use of force: “Case Concerning the Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America),” Summary of the Judgment, International Court of Justice, June 27, 1986.

  11 Boland Amendment: Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition and House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, with Supplemental, Minority, and Additional Views, Senate Rep. No. 100-216, House Rep. No. 100-433 (1987), pp. 498–500.

  11 Fourteen members: Paula Dwyer, “Pointing a Finger at Reagan,” Businessweek, June 23, 1997.

  11 “minority report”: Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition and House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Section II: Minority Report, Senate Rep. No. 100-216, House Rep. No. 100-433 (1987), pp. 437, 469.

  12 commissioning a study: Tom Squitieri, “Role of Security Companies Likely to Become More Visible,” USA Today, April 1, 2004.

  12 American Enterprise Institute: Savage, Takeover, p. 67.

  12 portraits: The second portrait was, for the time being, only a photograph, but it would later be replaced by a painting worth nearly $50,000. See Christopher Lee, “Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze,” Washington Post, October 21, 2008.

  12 “a serious threat”: Transcript, Donald Rumsfeld remarks, “DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff—Bureaucracy to Battlefield,” The Pentagon, September 10, 2001.

  13 “revolution in military affairs”: Paul C. Light, “Rumsfeld’s Revolution at Defense,” Brookings Policy Brief Series, Paper No. 142, Brookings Institution, July 2005.

  13 massive missile defense systems: James M. Lindsay and Ivo H. Daalder, “The Bush Revolution: The Remaking of America’s Foreign Policy,” Brookings Institution, May 2003.

  13 “threat of jihadist terrorism”: Douglas Feith, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism (New York: Harper, 2009), p. 1.

  13 “From the start”: Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2004), p. 86.

  13 “laid out the case”: Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2006), p. 49.

  14 “immediate priority targets”: Feith, War and Decision, p. 51.

  14 “The agenda was very clear”: Author interview, General Hugh Shelton (Ret.), March 2011. All information and statements attributed to General Shelton come from the author’s interview, unless otherwise noted.

  14 “any shred”: Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror (New York: Free Press, 2004), p. 32.

  14 “10 percent chance”: 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 335–336.

  14 clashed with Wolfowitz: “The War Behind Closed Doors,” Frontline, PBS, February 20, 2003.

  15 “have no clear information”: Author interview, Dr. Emile Nakhleh, February 2012. Details of Dr. Nakhleh’s career are from the author’s interviews. Information about Dr. Nakleh’s scholarship at the CIA can also be found in his biography on the American Foreign Policy Project, accessed October 5, 2012, http://americanforeignpolicy.org/iran-experts/emile-nakhleh.

  15 “humble” foreign policy: Transcript, presidential debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 11, 2000, www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-11-2000-debate-transcript.

  15 more than a dozen visits: Some reports have stated that Cheney made around a dozen visits to CIA headquarters; other reports have put the number slightly lower. Dubose and Bernstein report that “Cheney made at least eight, perhaps as many as fifteen” visits, citing interviews within and connected to the CIA. Libby was reportedly a more frequent visitor. See Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten (Los Angeles Times), “Cheney’s Tussles with CIA Are Subtext of Leaker Probe; Vice President’s Skeptical View of Intelligence Agency Dates Back to the Late 1980’s,” Baltimore Sun, October 21, 2005; Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein, Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency (New York: Random House, 2006, Kindle edition).

  15 mass arrests: Martha Mendoza (AP), “One Man Still Locked Up from 9/11 Sweeps,” Washington Post, October 14, 2006.

  16 rigorous legal and oversight system: Joshua A. Bobich, “Note: Who Authorized This?! An Assessment of the Process for Approving U.S. Covert Action,” William Mitchell Law Review 33 (3) (April 10, 2007): 1111–1142, 1126. The details of the Clinton administration’s process for approving covert actions are from the article.

  16 closely mirrored: Ibid., p. 1126; memorandum from George W. Bush, “Subject: Organization of the National Security Council System,” February 13, 2001. The memorandum is known as National Security Presidential Directive-1 (NSPD-1), and though the unclassified memorandum does not mention covert action specifically, it purports to preserve much of the structure of the national security system.

  16 “new series of authorities,” covert actions: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 210.

  16 counterterrorism funding, retaliatory strike: Ibid., p. 202.

  17 “taking the offensive,” “breaking the back”: Ibid., p. 204.

  17 Uzbekistan, stopped short: Ibid., p. 203.

  17 “admittedly ambitious”: Ibid., pp. 204–205.

  17 five more meetings: Prepared testimony of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for delivery to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, March 23, 2004.

  17 “concluded”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 212.

  17 began flying drones: Ibid., p. 190.

  17 K2: Author interview, US military intelligence source, February 2010.

  17 not yet operational: Bill Yenne, Attack of the Drones: A History of Unmanned Aerial Combat (St. Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2004), p. 86. According to Yenne, “On February 16, 2001, during tests at Nellis Air Force Base, a Predator successfully fired a Hellfire AGM-114C into a target. The notion of turning the Predator into a predator had been realized.”

  17 Cofer Black argued: 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 190, 211.

  17 “in front of CNN”: Ibid., p. 211. The commission obtained and quoted from a memorandum sent by Cofer Black to Richard Clarke, January 25, 2001.

  17 shelve the use of the drones: Ibid.

  17 “‘This was new ground’”: Ibid.

  18 assistant director for collection: “The Honorable Charles E. Allen, Principal,” Chertoff Group, accessed October 5, 2012, http://chertoffgroup.com/bios/charles-allen.php.

  18 “happy to pull the trigger”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 211.

  18 September 4 meeting: Ibid., p. 213.

  18 three years to implement: Ibid.

  18 “‘broad covert action program’”: Ibid., p. 214.

  18 “Only a crisis”: Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 40th anniv. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), Preface, 1982, p. xiv.

  18 mentored Rumsfeld: Naomi Klein,
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (New York: Picador, 2007), p. 14.

  18 Cheney, sought his counsel: Nina Easton, “Why Is Dick Cheney Smiling?” Money.CNN.com, November 25, 2007.

  19 “When that crisis occurs”: Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, Preface, 1982, p. xiv.

  19 “a new Pearl Harbor”: “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” p. 51.

  19 “duty to use his bully pulpit”: Feith, War and Decision, p. 51.

  19 “all necessary and appropriate force”: Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Those Responsible for the Recent Attacks Launched Against the United States, Pub. Law 107-40, Sec. 2 (2001).

  19 one opposing vote, no dissent: Richard F. Grimmett, “Authorization for Use of Military Force in Response to the 9/11 Attacks (P.L. 107-40): Legislative History,” Congressional Research Service, updated January 16, 2007.

  19 “urge the use of restraint”: “Barbara Lee’s 9/14/01 Speech,” YouTube video, 2:19, from footage of debate prior to passage of the “Authorization for Use of Military Force,” September 14, 2001, posted by “OneVoicePAC,” September 12, 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_sxilhyV0.

  19 “There must be some of us”: Prepared speech of Representative Barbara Lee, in opposition to authorizing the use of force in Afghanistan, September 14, 2001.

  20 “the dark side”: Transcript, interview with Vice President Richard Cheney, Meet the Press, NBC, September 16, 2001.

  20 secret presidential directive: Woodward, Bush at War, pp. 75, 101. Woodward outlines an earlier proposal made by CIA director George Tenet during the meetings at Camp David, titled “Going to War,” which includes authorities to detain and use lethal force against members of the al Qaeda network. The September 17 finding, Woodward writes, “authorized all the steps proposed by Tenet at Camp David.”

  20 Zambia, Somalia and South Africa: Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (New York: Penguin Press, 2004), p. 267.

  20 Zaire: Ibid.

  20 CIA station chief: Ibid., front matter.

  20 “the Ford Foundation of Sunni Islamic terrorism”: Ibid., p. 271.

  20 “operating directive”: Ibid., p. 267.

  21 not yet signed: Ibid.

  21 “taboo in the outfit”: Bill Waugh with Tim Keown, Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Ground Soldier’s Fifty-Year Career Hunting America’s Enemies (New York: William Morrow, 2004), p. 143.

  21 dump his body: Robert Young Pelton, Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006), p. 28.

  21 “He used to come in my office”: Author interview, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.), May 2011.

  21 August 6, 2001, Crawford, Texas, ranch: Michael Hirsh and Michael Isikoff, “What Went Wrong,” Newsweek, May 27, 2002.

  21 “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US”: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 261. The commission’s report includes partial text of the presidential daily brief from August 6, 2001.

  21 “struck soon”: J. Cofer Black, prepared testimony for delivery to the Joint House-Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing into September 11, September 26, 2002.

  21 “I just couldn’t wait”: Gordon Corera, “How Terror Attacks Changed the CIA,” BBC.co.uk, March 13, 2006.

  22 “flies walking across their eyeballs”: Woodward, Bush at War, p. 52.

  22 “Let’s go”: Ibid.

  22 “I was astonished”: Author interview, Philip Giraldi, March 2012.

  22 “your marching orders”: Gary C. Schroen, First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan (New York: Presidio Press, 2005), p. 38.

  22 “You’d need some DNA”: Jane Mayer, “The Search for Osama: Did the Government Let bin Laden’s Trail Go Cold?” New Yorker, August 4, 2003, p. 27.

  22 “rock their world”: Woodward, Bush at War, p. 103.

  23 majority of the first Americans: Pelton, Licensed to Kill, pp. 30–32.

  23 seven to two dozen: Seymour M. Hersh, “Manhunt: The Bush Administration’s New Strategy in the War Against Terrorism,” New Yorker, December 23, 2002, p. 66; James Risen and David Johnson, “Threats and Responses: Hunt for Al Qaeda; Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists,” New York Times, December 15, 2002.

  23 officially launched: George W. Bush, “Presidential Address to the Nation,” October 7, 2001.

  23 “partnership is sound”: Woodward, Bush at War, p. 175.

  23 small paramilitary capability: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 351.

  24 “the War Council”: Tom Lasseter, “Day Four: Easing of Laws That Led to Detainee Abuse Hatched in Secret,” McClatchy, June 18, 2008.

  24 “minority report”: Chitra Ragavan, “Cheney’s Guy,” US News.com, May 21, 2006, www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060529/29addington.htm.

  24 also included: Lasseter, “Day Four.”

  24 explicitly excluded: Tim Golden, “After Terror, a Secret Rewriting of Military Law,” New York Times, October 24, 2004. Golden’s article refers explicitly to the exclusion of certain lawyers and officials from the internal discussions of the military tribunal policy.

  24 issue a finding, must comply: 50 U.S.C. Sec. 413b, “Presidential Approval and Reporting of Covert Actions.”

  24 Greystone: Author interview, military intelligence source, November 2009. The existence of a program known by the abbreviation “GST” was originally reported by Dana Priest for the Washington Post. Priest later mentioned the name “Greystone” in an interview featured on the PBS documentary Top Secret America.

  24 umbrella, legitimate target: Dana Priest, “Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor,” Washington Post, December 30, 2005.

  24 compartmentalized programs: Ibid.

  25 directly order hits: Ibid.

  25 “selected foreign counterparts,” “broadened our options”: Tyler Drumheller, with Elaine Monaghan, On the Brink: An Insider’s Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence (New York: Carroll and Graff, 2006), p. 32.

  25 “simply extraordinary”: Transcript, interview with John Rizzo, “John Rizzo: The Lawyer Who Approved CIA’s Most Controversial Programs,” PBS.org, September 6, 2011.

  25 “Status of Forces”: John Barry, Michael Isikoff, and Michael Hirsh, “The Roots of Torture,” Newsweek, May 23, 2004.

  25 private contractors: Ibid.

  25 “lawyered up”: Dana Priest, “Former CIA Spy Boss Made an Unhesitating Call to Destroy Interrogation Tapes,” Washington Post, April 24, 2012.

  25 series of legal documents: Stephen Gillers, “The Torture Memo,” Nation, April 9, 2008.

  25 “big boy pants”: Transcript, interview with Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., 60 Minutes, CBS, April 29, 2012.

  26 shipping containers, discrete sites, brick factory: Jane Mayer, “The Black Sites: A Rare Look Inside the C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program,” New Yorker, August 13, 2007.

  26 “Salt Pit”: Dana Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons,” Washington Post, November 2, 2005.

  26 evolved: Ibid. A former senior intelligence official told Priest, “We never sat down, as far as I know, and came up with a grand strategy. Everything was very reactive. That’s how you get to a situation where you pick people up, send them into a netherworld and don’t say, ‘What are we going to do with them afterwards?’”

  26 naval vessels, Lake Kariba: Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects.”

  26 funneling suspects: Ibid.

  26 freely tortured: Rebecca Leung, “CIA Flying Suspects to Torture?” CBSNews.com, February 11, 2009.

  26 refused to provide details: Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects.”

  26 decided to reduce: Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, “Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002,” Washington Post, December 9, 2007.

  26 signed a presidential directive: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned in
to a War on American Ideals (New York: Doubleday, 2008), p. 114.

  26 suspects to Egypt: Stephen Grey, Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Rendition and Torture Program (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006), pp. 139–141.

  27 direct authorization: Ibid., pp. 140–141. According to Grey, who interviewed Michael Scheuer for the book, the White House had signed off on the rendition policy. Lawyers signed off on each operation, and “within the CIA, authority for each operation...had to come from the director of central intelligence...or his assistant director.”

  27 more than seventy renditions: Eighth Public Hearing Before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, March 24, 2004 (testimony of George Tenet, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency).

  27 Mir Aimal Kasi: Amnesty International, “Pakistan: Imminent Execution of Mir Aimal Kasi Raises Fears for Others Taken into US Custody Without Human Rights Safeguards,” 2002.

  27 Ramzi Yousef: Richard Clarke, op-ed, “The Confusion over Renditions,” Boston Globe, January 29, 2009.

  27 Wali Khan Amin Shah: Christopher S. Wren, “U.S. Jury Convicts Three in a Conspiracy to Bomb Airliners,” New York Times, September 6, 1996; rendition confirmed in “Patterns of Global Terrorism 1998,” US Department of State, April 1999.

  27 Tsutomu Shirosaki: “Patterns of Global Terrorism 1998,” US Department of State, April 1999.

  27 “not to expel, extradite”: Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act, Pub. Law 105-277, Sec. 2242(a) (1998).

  27 “won in large measure”: Jim Landers, “CIA Official Says War on Terrorism Will Be Won with Great Force,” Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, October 18, 2001.

  27 “kick the (expletive) out of them”: Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations,” Washington Post, December 26, 2002.

  27 “probably aren’t doing your job”: Ibid.

  27 “gloves come off”: Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, Hearings Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 107th Cong., 2nd Sess., September 26, 2002 (testimony of J. Cofer Black).