Dirty Wars

by Jeremy Scahill

  158 “over a hundred ‘high value detainees’”: “Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Treatment by the Coalition Forces of Prisoners of War and Other Protected Persons by the Geneva Conventions in Iraq During Arrest, Internment and Interrogation,” ICRC, February 2004, http://military.piac.asn.au/sites/default/files/documents/document-03.pdf.

  159 list of complaints: Memorandum from Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby to Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone, “Alleged Detainee Abuse by TF 6-26 Personnel,” June 25, 2004, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, available at www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/t2596_0297.pdf.

  159 scribbled a handwritten letter: Schmitt and Marshall, “Task Force 6-26.”

  159 “no pattern of misconduct”: Ibid.

  159 “subject of this investigation”: Army Criminal Investigation Command memorandum concerning allegations of abuse at Camp Nama, May 31, 2004, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/030705/9117_9134.pdf.

  159 thirty-four task force members: Schmitt and Marshall, “Task Force 6-26.”

  159 “did not see any form of oversight”: Author interview, former Air Force interrogator, June 2012.

  160 changed the letterhead: Committee on Armed Services, Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees, p. 167.

  160 eventually investigated: Seymour M. Hersh, “The General’s Report: How Antonio Taguba, Who Investigated the Abu Ghraib Scandal, Became One of Its Casualties,” New Yorker, June 25, 2007.

  160 Rumsfeld’s congressional testimony: Captain Ian Fishback to Senator John McCain, “A Matter of Honor,” September 16, 2005, published by the Washington Post, September 25, 2005.

  161 “For 17 months”: Ibid. All quotations of Captain Fishback come from this letter.

  161 denied permission: John H. Richardson, “Acts of Conscience,” Esquire, September 21, 2009, www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0806TERROR_102.

  161 “lapses of discipline”: General Stanley McChrystal (US Army, Ret.), My Share of the Task: A Memoir (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2012), pp. 201–202.

  161 moved the task force: Sifton and Garlasco, “No Blood, No Foul.”

  15: The Death star

  162 “the Death Star”: Mark Urban, Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the SAS and the Secret War in Iraq (London: Little, Brown, 2010), p. 82. Other characterizations of the JOC come from Urban’s book.

  162 “experiment in intel crowdsourcing”: Spencer Ackerman, “How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill It,” Danger Room (blog), Wired.com, September 9, 2011, www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/mcchrystal-net-work/all/.

  163 killed in an ambush: Jeffrey Gettleman, “Enraged Mob in Fallujah Kills Four American Contractors,” New York Times, March 31, 2004.

  163 “Kick ass!”: Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), pp. 349–350.

  163 “Thugs and assassins”: Transcript, “Defense Department Operational Update Briefing,” April 20, 2004.

  163 “arrogance and hubris”: Urban, Task Force Black, p. 40.

  163 body was discovered: Associated Press, “Body Found on Baghdad Overpass Identified as That of American,” USAToday.com, posted May 11, 2004.

  163 video appeared online: CBS/AP, “CIA: Top Terrorist Executed Berg,” CBSNews.com, posted May 13, 2004. The video was also posted with the title “Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Slaughters an American Infidel with His Own Hands.”

  164 “Jihadi Advanced University”: Author interview, Malcolm Nance, May 2011.

  164 money poured in: Jonathan Masters and Greg Bruno, “Al-Qaeda in Iraq,” Council on Foreign Relations, updated March 20, 2012, www.cfr.org/iraq/al-qaeda-iraq/p14811.

  164 “media spotlight”: Author interview, Richard Rowley, September 2011.

  164 Enron executive: “Jim Steele, Counselor to US Ambassador for Iraqi Security Forces,” Premiere Speakers Bureau, accessed August 2012, http://premierespeakers.com/jim_steele/bio.

  164 senior Iraq job: Jon Lee Anderson, “The Uprising: Shia and Sunnis Put Aside Their Differences,” New Yorker, May 3, 2004.

  165 key “counterinsurgency”: Peter Maass, “The Salvadorization of Iraq: The Way of the Commandos,” New York Times Magazine, May 1, 2005.

  165 called to testify: Christopher Drew, “Testimony on Contras Still Haunts Colonel,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1991.

  165 “Salvador Option”: John Barry and Michael Hirsh, “‘The Salvador Option,’” Newsweek, January 7, 2005.

  165 “good lesson,” “cut off their hands”: Rod Nordland, “Iraq’s Repairman,” Newsweek, July 5, 2004.

  165 Special Police Commando Unit: Maass, “The Salvadorization of Iraq.”

  165 “embracing a new strategy”: Ibid.

  165 “Vital months”: Urban, Task Force Black, pp. 52–53.

  166 “smart and cunning”: John Barry and Michael Hirsh, “The Hunt Heats Up,” Newsweek, March 14, 2004.

  16: “The Best Technology, the Best Weapons, the Best People—and Plenty of Money to Burn”

  167 Joint Prioritized Effects List: Nick Davies, “Afghanistan War Logs: Task Force 373—Special Force Hunting Top Taliban,” Guardian, July 25, 2010.

  167 leadership targeting cell: Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, Operation Dark Heart: Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan—and the Path to Victory (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010), p. 32.

  167 fake documents, Chris Stryker: Ibid., p. 24.

  167 “started to roll into Bagram”: Ibid., p. 195.

  168 large operations center, “Death Star”: Ibid, p. 196.

  168 didn’t sit well: Ibid., p. 197.

  168 “the intel indicates,” “it’s not an option”: Ibid., p. 116.

  169 secret deal: Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan,” New York Times, June 30, 2008.

  169 “violate the sovereignty of Pakistan”: Author interview, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, May 2011.

  169 Rules of Engagement: Scott Lindlaw (AP), “U.S. OK’d Troop Terror Hunts in Pakistan,” Washington Post, August 23, 2007.

  169 34 percent increase: Jennifer D. Kibbe, “Rise of the Shadow Warriors,” Foreign Policy, (March–April 2004).

  170 “protect U.S. citizens and interests”: Communication from the President of the United States: A Supplemental Consolidated Report, Consistent with the War Powers Resolution, To Help Ensure That the Congress Is Kept Fully Informed on U.S. Military Activities in Support of the War on Terror, Kosovo, and Bosnia Herzegovina, Pursuant to Pub. L. 93-148, H. Doc. 110-5, December 15, 2006.

  170 fifteen to twenty such countries: Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, “Secret Order Lets US Raid al Qaeda,” New York Times, November 8, 2008.

  170 drafted in 2003: Documents provided to the author in confidence; author interview, Special Operations source, November 2009.

  170 “you can go after him”: Author interview, Special Operations source, November 2009.

  170 “bureaucratic drag”: Documents provided to the author in confidence.

  170 Military Liaison Elements: Thom Shanker and Scott Shane, “Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence,” New York Times, March 8, 2006.

  170 “certain to increase significantly”: Ibid.

  171 “I don’t interpret it that way at all”: Barton Gellman, “Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld’s Domain; New Espionage Branch Delving into CIA Territory,” Washington Post, January 23, 2005.

  171 “seventy-two-hour heads up,” new guidelines: Ibid.

  171 “Why aren’t they telling us?”: Gellman, “Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld’s Domain.”

  171 insert language: Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 20
06), p. 268; author interview, Special Operations source, January 2011.

  171 “There are a lot of things in NSPD-38”: Author interview, Special Operations source, January 2011.

  172 “pretty plainly illegal”: Author interview, Scott Horton, September 2010.

  172 “Preparation of the Battlespace”: Memorandum from Donald Rumsfeld for General Dick Myers, Doug Feith; CC: General Pete Pace, Steve Cambone, “Preparation of the Battlespace,” September 2, 2004, www.rumsfeld.com/library/.

  172 nascent stage: John Sifton, “A Brief History of Drones,” Nation, February 27, 2012.

  172 “Unblinking Eye”: Michael T. Flynn, Rich Juergens, and Thomas L. Cantrell, “Employing ISR; SOF Best Practices,” Joint Forces Quarterly 50 (July 2008).

  173 “Continuous Clandestine Tagging”: Doug Richardson, SOAL-T WSO, “US Special Operations Command; Continuous, Clandestine, Tagging, Tracking and Locating (CTTL),” PowerPoint presentation prepared for USSOCOM, September 5, 2007.

  173 “bioreactive taggant”: Author interviews, Hunter (pseudonym), June 2012; Richardson, “US Special Operations Command.”

  174 “JSOC is awesome”: “On the Record; Excerpts from Bob Woodward’s Oval Office Interviews with President George W. Bush, May 20–21, 2008,” Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/war-within/audio/.

  174 press commanders: Bob Woodward, The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006–2008 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 13.

  174 “I don’t even know how many”: Michael Hastings, The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan (New York: Blue Rider Press, 2012), p. 173.

  174 JSOC liaison offices: Mark Urban, Task Force Black: The Explosive True Story of the SAS and the Secret War in Iraq (London: Little, Brown, 2010), p. 53; Shanker and Shane, “Elite Troops Get Expanded Role.”

  174 “Department of Defense is very eager”: Shanker and Shane, “Elite Troops Get Expanded Role.”

  175 “It’s not a good idea”: Author interview, Colonel W. Patrick Lang (Ret.), September 2010.

  175 “why not go hammer?”: Author interview, Andrew Exum, March 2012.

  175 behind-the-scenes scuffle: Mazzetti and Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes.”

  175 “would never cooperate”: Author interview, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, May 2011. All statements and information attributed to Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer come from the author’s interview, unless otherwise noted.

  175 “biggest folly”: Mazzetti and Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes.”

  176 CIA took advantage of the disorder: Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady, The Command: Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2012, Kindle edition), chap. 10, “Widening the Playing Field.”

  176 “SCREEN HUNTER”: Ibid.

  176 “first among equals”: Mark Mazzetti, “C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden,” New York Times, July 4, 2006.

  177 “hurting because of Iraq”: Mazzetti and Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes.”

  177 “boys with toys”: Ibid.

  177 “They choppered in”: Greg Miller, “War on Terror Loses Ground,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2008.

  177 “violated Pakistani airspace”: Rahimullah Yusufzai, “Forty-Six Killed in North Waziristan Fighting; Military Claims Killing Forty-one Foreign Militants,” accessed April 10, 2012, www.pakdef.info/forum/printthread.php?t=6012&p-p=25&page=15.

  177 including Pakistan’s Frontier Corps: Author interview, former Blackwater executive, November 2009.

  177 Forward Operating Bases: Erik Prince, speech given January 2010, author copy of audio.

  178 Blackwater SELECT: James Risen and Mark Mazzetti, “C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put on Drones,” New York Times, August 20, 2010.

  178 “Vibrant Fury”: Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, and Brian Ross, “Mercenaries? CIA Says Expanded Role for Contractors Legitimate,” ABCNews.go.com, December 11, 2009.

  178 “secondary in importance”: Letter, Ayman al Zawahiri to Musab al Zarqawi, July 9, 2005, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on October 11, 2005, www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/report/2005/zawahiri-zarqawi-letter_9jul2005.htm.

  179 “make you an example,” Askariyya Mosque: Seth G. Jones, Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qaeda Since 9/11 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012), p. 249.

  179 alliance with the occupation: John Ward Anderson, “Iraqi Tribes Strike Back at Insurgents,” Washington Post, March 7, 2006.

  179 found, fixed and finished: Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti, and Richard A. Oppell Jr., “How Surveillance and Betrayal Led to a Hunt’s End,” New York Times, June 9, 2006. Details of the Zarqawi raid can be found in this article.

  17: “A Lot of It Was of Questionable Legality”

  This chapter is based on a series of interviews in 2010 and 2011 with “Hunter,” a Special Operations source. Hunter is a pseudonym created to protect the identity of the source.

  180 home of JSOC’s intelligence wing: See Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady, The Command: Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2012, Kindle edition), chap. 8, “The Activity.”

  18: The Imprisonment of Anwar Awlaki

  184 “could not get a scholarship”: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012. All information and statements attributed to Nasser al Awlaki come from the author’s interviews, in January, August and September 2012, unless otherwise noted. Details about Anwar from this period come from the author’s interviews with Nasser and other members of the family, unless otherwise noted.

  184 study at Iman University: Author interviews, Awlaki family members, January and August 2012; Sudarsan Raghavan, “Cleric Linked to Fort Hood Attack Grew More Radicalized in Yemen,” Washington Post, December 10, 2009.

  185 tribal dispute: Susan Schmidt, “Imam from Va. Mosque Now Thought to Have Aided al-Qaeda,” Washington Post, February 27, 2008.

  185 prison in Sana’a: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  185 confiscated: Schmidt, “Imam from Va. Mosque.”

  185 “look after” Anwar: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  185 “first nine months”: Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki,” Cageprisoners, December 31, 2007, www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/interviews/item/159-moazzam-begg-interviews-imam-anwar-al-awlaki.

  186 “I was held at the request”: Transcript, “Interview with In Focus News, California,” by Saaqib Rangoonwala, posted by “SoldierOfAllah” on Shaykh Anwar’s Blog, October 13, 2011, http://anwar-awlaki.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-in-focus-news-california.html. This is not the same domain name once used by Anwar al Awlaki.

  186 “began asking me questions”: Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

  186 “at the request of the United States”: Christof Heyns, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Executions,” submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, May 27, 2011, p. 395.

  186 “did not object”: Scott Shane and Souad Mekhennet, “Imam’s Path from Condemning Terror to Preaching Jihad,” New York Times, May 8, 2010.

  186 meeting between Negroponte: Author interview, former Yemeni government minister, January 2012. Details of the meeting are from the author’s interview.

  186 “Bandar Bush”: Ian Black, “Prince Bandar bin Sultan—Profile,” Guardian, October 10, 2012.

  186 some 750,000 people: Author interview, Sheikh Saleh bin Fareed, January 2012.

  186 “asked us to keep him in jail”: Ibid. All information and statements attributed to bin Fareed come from the author’s interview.

  187 Saleh visited Washington: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012; also see “Visits by Foreign Leaders of Yemen,” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, accessed December 15, 2012, http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/visits/yemen. President Saleh visited
the US from April 29 to May 7, 2007.

  187 stayed for two days: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  187 “summoned to an office”: Shaykh Harith al Nadari, “My Story with al-Awlaki,” Inspire 9 (winter 2012), released May 2012.

  187 Yemeni intelligence insisted: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  187 “There was some pressure”: Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

  188 “detention as a blessing”: Anwar al Awlaki, “Book Review 3: In the Shade of the Quran by Sayyid Qutb,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, June 22, 2008, www.anwar-alawlaki.com.

  188 “they took everything away”: Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

  188 studying in Colorado: Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Vintage Books, 2007), p. 20.

  188 “numb to faith”: David Von Drehle, “A Lesson in Hate; How an Egyptian Student Came to Study 1950s America and Left Determined to Wage Holy War,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 2006.

  188 arrested, put in jail: Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 33.

  188 his most influential texts: Ibid., pp. 33–34.

  188 Qutb was hanged: Ibid., p. 37.

  189 “so immersed”: Awlaki, “Book Review 3.”

  189 “particularly mean Prison Head”: Anwar al Awlaki blog post, “Book Review 9: English Novels,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, August 6, 2008, anwar-alawlaki.com.

  189 “staple breads”: Anwar al Awlaki, “Food Reviews from Behind Bars,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, August 21, 2008, anwar-alawlaki.com.

  189 “Before my imprisonment”: Transcript, “Interview with In Focus News.”

  190 “alleged spiritual advisor”: US diplomatic cable 07SANAA2333, from Deputy Chief of Mission Angie Bryan, US Embassy Sana’a, “Yemeni-American Awlaqi Released from ROYG Custody,” December 18, 2007, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2007/12/07SANAA2333.html.

  190 “kidnapping for ransom”: “Treasury Designates Anwar al-Aulaqi, Key Leader of Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” press release, US Department of the Treasury, July 16, 2010.