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112 “determined adversaries”: Transcript, remarks as delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Veterans of Foreign Wars event, San Antonio, TX, August 25, 2003.
113 withdraw all remaining: Edith M. Lederer, “Annan Orders U.N. Cutbacks in Iraq Staff,” Associated Press, September 25, 2003.
113 traveled to Afghanistan: Mary Anne Weaver, “The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” Atlantic, July–August 2006.
113 indicted in absentia: “Jordan Says Major al Qaeda Plot Disrupted,” CNN.com, April 26, 2004.
113 medical treatment: Brian Ross, “CIA Questions Saddam’s Ties to al Qaeda,” ABCNews.go.com, October 5, 2004.
113 “some al-Qaeda leaders”: Transcript, “Remarks by the President on Iraq,” Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 7, 2002.
113 “deadly terrorist network”: Transcript, Colin Powell address before the United Nations Security Council, February 5, 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/world/threats-responses-powell-s-address-presenting-deeply-troubling-evidence-iraq.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
113 was a dubious one: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Postwar Findings About Iraq’s WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments, S. Report 109-331, p. 63 (2006).
113 $25 million bounty: “U.S. Raises Zarqawi Reward to $25m,” CNN.com, July 1, 2004.
113 pledge allegiance: Weaver, “The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”
114 “They killed huge numbers”: Author interview, Gareth Porter, September 2010.
114 September 16, 2003, fifteen countries: Priest and Arkin, Top Secret America, pp. 236–237.
114 “the nexus”: Advance Questions for Lieutenant General Bryan D. Brown, USA Nominee for Commander, accessed August 10, 2012, www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/congress/2003_hr/brown.pdf.
114 “capturing, killing, or deterring”: Donald Rumsfeld, memorandum for Gen. Richard Myers, Paul Wolfowitz, Gen. Peter Pace, and Douglas Feith, “Subject: The Global War on Terrorism,” October 16, 2003, published in full by USAToday.com, May 20, 2005.
115 consumer product: Lisa Burgess, “Buyers Beware: The Real Iraq ‘Most Wanted’ Cards Are Still Awaiting Distribution,” Stars and Stripes, April 17, 2003.
115 “forward commander”: John Barry and Michael Hirsh, “The Hunt Heats Up,” Newsweek, March 14, 2004.
115 “‘grow up to be 007’”: Barton Gellman, “Person of the Year 2011; Runners-Up; William McRaven: The Admiral,” Time, December 14, 2011.
115 constituent SEAL teams: Ibid.
115 debauched parties: Ibid.
115 “The SEALS were happy”: Ibid.
116 “some questionable activities”: Barry and Hirsh, “The Hunt Heats Up.”
116 “end of his career”: Gellman, “Person of the Year 2011.”
116 twenty-one months: Orr Kelly, Brave Men—Dark Waters: The Untold Story of the Navy SEALs (Novato, CA: Pocket Books, 1992), p. 235.
116 “task unit”: “Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander, United States Special Operations Command, United States Navy,” United States Navy, accessed August 5, 2012, www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=401. Information about Admiral McRaven’s subsequent assignments comes from his official biography.
116 first graduate: Amanda D. Stein, “USSOCOM McRaven Honors Longtime NPS Professor During SGL,” Naval Postgraduate School, June 11, 2012, www.nps.edu/About/News/USSOCOM-McRaven-Honors-Long-time-NPS-Professor-During-SGL.html.
116 “the smartest SEAL that ever lived”: Gellman, “Person of the Year 2011.”
116 fractured his pelvis: Ibid.
117 principal author: Ibid.
117 vetting and assembling: Author interview, confidential source, June 2012.
10: “Their Intention and Our intention is the Same”
118 secluded airstrip: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
118 powerful warlords: Emily Meehan, “Notes from a Failed State: Entry 2,” Slate, August 19, 2008.
118 smuggling mira: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011. See also, Ernst Jan Hogendoorn, Mohamed Abdoulaye M’Backe, and Brynjulf Mugaas, “Report of the Panel of Experts on Somalia Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1425 (2002),” Panel of Experts on Somalia, United Nations Security Council, March 25, 2003, p. 39.
118 Bluebird Aviation: Ibid. Many journalists have documented the smuggling business run by Bluebird Aviation. See Donald G. McNeil Jr., “Correspondence/Touring Somalia: When All Else Fails (Like the State), Take the Drug Flight into Town,” New York Times, February 3, 2002.
118 “American intelligence”: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011. Quotations from Mohamed Afrah Qanyare come from the interview with the author, unless otherwise noted.
119 simultaneous attacks: Dexter Filkins, “Terror in Africa: Attacks in Mombasa; Kenyans Hunting Clues to Bombing; Toll Rises to Thirteen,” New York Times, November 30, 2002.
119 Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582: Tim Butcher, “Missiles Launched at Holiday Plane as Bombers Bring Carnage to Hotel,” Telegraph, November 29, 2002.
119 later indicted: United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., United States District Court Southern District of New York, April 2000, cns.miis.edu/reports/pdfs/binladen/indict.pdf.
119 assembling a team: Johan Peleman, Edward Howard Johns, Pavanjeet Singh Sandhu, and John Tambi, “Report of the Panel of Experts on Somalia Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1474 (2003),” UN Security Council, published November 4, 2003, pp. 29–30.
119 weapons black market: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia: Losing Hearts and Minds?” Africa Report No. 95, July 11, 2005, p. 8.
119 Tariq Abdullah: Ibid.
119 traced back to him: Marc Lacey, “Threats and Responses: African Investigation; Kenya Clears Fishermen, Saying They Had No Ties to Attackers,” New York Times, December 14, 2002.
119 principal intermediary: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia.”
119 escaped to Somalia: J. Peleman, E. H. Johns, P. S. Sandhu, and J. Tambi, “Report of the Panel of Experts on Somalia Pursuant to Security Council resolution 1425 (2002),” UN Security Council, published March 25, 2003, pp. 29–30.
120 Mennonite missionaries, keeping the books: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
120 once or twice a week: Ibid.
120 US team: Sean D. Naylor, “Clandestine Somalia Missions Yield AQ Targets,” Army Times, November 14, 2011.
120 “The airport is inland”: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
120 network of surveillance: Naylor, “Clandestine Somalia Missions Yield AQ Targets.”
120 pay him $100,000–$150,000: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
120 “non-traditional liaison partners”: US diplomatic cable 06NAIROBI2425 from Ambassador William Bellamy, US Embassy Nairobi, “Somalia: A Strategy for Engagement,” June 2, 2006, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/06/06NAIROBI2425.html.
120 “Operation Black Hawk”: Naylor, “Clandestine Somalia Missions Yield AQ Targets.”
121 Radical Islam was new: Dr. Ken Menkhaus, “Political Islam in Somalia,” Middle East Policy 9 (1) (March 2002). Menkhaus writes, “Despite—or perhaps because of—the fact that it is the only country in the Horn of Africa which is almost entirely Muslim, Somalia has not historically been home to the same level of radical Islamic political activity as has been the case in neighboring, religiously divided states.”
121 “Either you are with us”: President Bush, “Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,” Washington, DC, September 20, 2001.
121 “We are with you”: Author interview, Ismail Mahmoud Hurre, June 2011.
121 groups and individuals, “disrupt the financial support”: Executive Order 13224, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, September 23, 2011, www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/122570.htm.
121 largely disbanded: International Crisis Group, “Somalia’s Divided Islamists,” Africa Briefing No. 74, May 18, 2010, pp. 3–4.
121 insurrection: David Chazan, “Who Are al-Ittihad?” BBC.co.uk, November 30, 2002.
122 assassinations in Ethiopia: International Crisis Group, “Somalia: Countering Terrorism in a Failed State,” Africa Report No. 45, May 23, 2002, p. 10.
122 Task Force 150: Michael R. Gordon, “Threats and Responses: The Operations; U.S. Turns Horn of Africa into a Military Hub,” New York Times, November 17, 2002.
122 “not a question of ‘if’”: “US Chides German Minister,” BBC.co.uk, December 20, 2001.
122 “a funny report”: Transcript, “DoD News Briefing—Secretary Rumsfeld,” December 19, 2001.
122 “ripe for misuse”: Alan Sipress and Peter Slevin, “Powell Wary of Iraq Move; U.S. Eyes Somalia in Continuing Al Qaeda Hunt,” Washington Post, December 21, 2001.
122 “rebuilding its infrastructure”: Ambassador William Bellamy, “Somalia: A Strategy for Engagement.”
122 “terror cells being in Somalia”: Associated Press, “U.S. Concerned About Terrorist Activity in Somalia,” Navy Times, December 12, 2001.
122 “Identifying Somalia as a terrorist base”: Simon Reeve, “News Analysis; U.S. Returning to a Nightmare Called Somalia,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 16, 2001.
123 “People mention Somalia”: Transcript, “DoD News Briefing—Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz and Rear Admiral Stufflebeem,” December 10, 2001.
123 “small potatoes”: Karl Vick, “Al Qaeda Ally in Somalia in Tatters; Only Remnants Remain of Potential U.S. Target,” Washington Post, February 24, 2002.
123 “There’s no need”: Ibid.
123 between ten and twelve: Ibid.
123 “abysmal”: Ibid.
123 “bring the full resources”: Author interview, former task force member, March 2011.
124 team on standby: Naylor, “Clandestine Somalia Missions Yield AQ Targets.”
124 removed from the Somali equation”: Ambassador William Bellamy, “Somalia: A Strategy for Engagement.”
124 included in a 1998 indictment: United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., United States District Court Southern District of New York, April 2000, cns.miis.edu/reports/pdfs/binladen/indict.pdf.
124 “cut the head off”: John J. Goldman, “Testimony Shines Light on Bid [sic] Laden’s Terror Strategy,” Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2001.
124 250 jihadists: Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Vintage Books, 2006), p. 214.
124 “The youth were surprised”: John Miller, “Greetings, America. My Name is Osama Bin Laden,” Esquire, February 1, 1999.
124 “never heard of bin Laden”: Reeve, “U.S. Returning to a Nightmare Called Somalia.”
125 Operation Gothic Serpent, Garrison, contingent’s commander: Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008), pp. 179–180.
125 “This ragged place”: Lieutenant General William G. Boykin (Ret.), with Lynn Vincent, Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom (New York: FaithWords, 2008), p. 276.
125 ramping up: Smith, Killer Elite, p. 189.
125 retired: “Pillars of Success: William F. Garrison (BBA ’66),” The University of Texas-Pan American, accessed November 20, 2012, http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/dua_2011/alumni_home/awards/pillars_of_success/2008/#.UO0VRxzKZcQ.
125 exactly two days, injuries: Haroun M. Hassan, “Gen. Mohamed Aidid, Self-Proclaimed Somali President, Is Dead,” Associated Press, August 2, 1996.
125 five members: Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 305.
125 electric shock: Andrew Higgins and Christopher Cooper, “CIA-Backed Team Used Brutal Means to Break Up Cell in Albania,” Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2001.
125 “a language they will understand”: Wright, The Looming Tower, pp. 305–306.
125 Ten Most Wanted List: Dan Eggen, “Bin Laden, Most Wanted for Embassy Bombings?” Washington Post, August 28, 2006.
125 payback: Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 308.
125 eighth anniversary: Phil Hirschkorn, “Embassy Bombings Jury Asks for Even More Evidence,” CNN.com, May 14, 2001.
125 “all the means at our disposal”: Philip Shenon, “Bombings in East Africa: In Washington; Focus on Suspects in Past Attacks,” New York Times, August 8, 1998.
126 “not inconsistent,” arresting: Joint Inquiry Briefing by Staff on US Government Counterterrorism Organizations (Before September 11, 2001) and on the Evolution of the Terrorist Threat and U.S. Response: 1986–2001, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, June 11, 2002.
126 “was much easier”: Richard H. Shultz Jr., “Showstoppers: Nine Reasons Why We Never Sent Our Special Operations Forces After al Qaeda Before 9/11,” Weekly Standard 9 (19), January 26, 2004.
126 “Don’t let these SOF guys”: Ibid.
126 scouting missions: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia.”
126 Operation Infinite Reach: James Risen, “To Bomb Sudan Plant, or Not: A Year Later, Debates Rankle,” New York Times, October 27, 1999.
126 half of Sudan’s medications: European Sudanese Public Affairs Council, “‘Confused, Inconclusive and Contradictory’: An Assessment and Analysis of the American Government’s ‘Evidence’ for the Cruise Missile Attack on Sudan,” September 1998, www.espac.org/al_shifa_pages/al-shifa_1.asp.
126 “long-term struggle”: Transcript, “Terrorism on Trial,” NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, February 5, 2001.
127 “small slice of Mogadishu”: Author interview, Ismail Mahmoud Hurre, June 2011.
127 “a low-to-invisible”: General Wayne A. Downing (Ret.), Forward to report by Clint Watts, Jacob Shapiro, and Vahid Brown, “Al-Qaida’s (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa,” The Harmony Project, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, July 2, 2007.
127 fly from Nairobi, ground rules: Naylor, “Clandestine Somalia Missions Yield AQ Targets.”
127 reluctant to pull the trigger: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
127 captured in spring 2003: Human Rights Watch, “Off the Record: US Responsibility for Forced Disappearances in the ‘War on Terror,’” June 2007.
127 Mohamed Dheere: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia.”
127 two secret prisons: Human Rights Watch, “Off the Record: US Responsibility for Forced Disappearances.”
127 home of a Somali militant, Sudani: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia.”
128 According to Isse: Paul Salopek, “‘Nobody Is Watching’; America’s Hidden War in Somalia,” Chicago Tribune, November 24, 2008. Information about Isse’s time in US custody comes from this article.
128 “The scramble”: International Crisis Group, “Counter-Terrorism in Somalia.”
128 repatriate them, execute them: Author interview, Mogadishu, Somalia, June 2011.
128 “already heinous warlords”: Author interview, Abdirahman “Aynte” Ali, June 2011.
128 “may seem unpalatable”: Ambassador William Bellamy, “Somalia: A Strategy for Engagement.”
129 “No mercy”: Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011.
129 “US government was not helping”: Author interview, Ismail Mahmoud Hurre, June 2011.
129 “Jedi Knights”: John Barry and Michael Hirsh, “The Hidden General,” Newsweek, June 25, 2006.
11: “A Defeated Enemy Is Not a Vanquished One”
130 Shortly after 11:00 p.m.: Owen Bowcott and David Pallister, “‘The Message Is: You’re Not Safe Here,’” Guardian, May 13, 2003.
130 Vinnell Corporation, pro-US Saudi billionaire: “One Bombed Compound Owned by Pro-Western Saudi,” CNN.com, May 13, 2003.
130 Al Mohaya housing compound: “Riyadh Attack Deat
h Toll Mounts,” BBC.co.uk, November 9, 2003.
130 campaign against al Qaeda: Evan Osnos, “Al Qaeda Blamed for Saudi Blast; Death Toll at Seventeen; Americans Are Among Wounded,” Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2003.
130 Muhammad Hamdi al Ahdal: “Yemen Arrests a Leading Member of Al Qaeda,” New York Times, November 26, 2003.
130 arrested more than one hundred: Craig S. Smith, “Fire on French Tanker off Yemen Raises Terrorism Fears,” New York Times, October 7, 2002.
130 “There was an interlude”: Yemen: Confronting al-Qaeda, Preventing State Failure, Hearing Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 111th Cong. 53 (2010) (prepared testimony of Gregory D. Johnsen).
131 disillusioned: Author interviews, former Special Operations Forces members, February 2011 and March 2011.
131 Houthi minority launched: Christopher Boucek, “War in Saada: From Local Insurrection to National Challenge,” Carnegie Paper series Yemen: On the Brink, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, April 2010, www.carnegieendowment.org/files/war_in_saada.pdf.
131 special operations forces: See US diplomatic cable 09SANAA2230 from Ambassador Stephen Seche, US Embassy Sana’a, “Subject: Yemen’s Counter Terrorism Unit Stretched Thin by War Against Houthis,” December 17, 2009, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/12/09SANAA2230.html.
131 “eas[ing] the persecution”: “Yemen: Al-Qaeda Fighting Rebels ‘at Government’s Request,’” Adnkronos.com, January 31, 2008.
131 backed up: Author interviews, former US intelligence and military officials, January 2011 and February 2011.
131 $10 million a month: David Hughes, “Yemen’s Problems Are the Region’s Problems,” NATO Review (blog), accessed March 2012, www.nato.int/docu/review/2010/yemen/Yemen_region_problems/EN/index.htm.
132 $2 billion a year: Camille Pecastaing, Jihad in the Arabian Sea (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2011, Kindle edition).
132 indicted in 2003: Attorney General John Ashcroft, prepared remarks, “Indictment for the Bombing of the U.S.S. Cole,” Washington, DC, May 15, 2003.