by Stephen Grey
12 Interview by Gordon Corera, Newsnight, BBC Two, 16 November 2006.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Nasiri, Inside the Global Jihad, p. 48.
16 Ibid., p. 52.
17 Interview by Gordon Corera, Newsnight, BBC Two, 16 November 2006.
18 Henry A. Crumpton, The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service (New York, Penguin, 2012), p. 133.
19 Ibid., p. 134.
20 Nasiri, Inside the Global Jihad, p. 99.
21 Author interview with Nasiri, May 2013.
22 Ibid.
23 Bin Laden had fled to Sudan from Saudi Arabia following his opposition to the Saudi regime’s alliance with the US to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
24 Andrew Staniforth and Fraser Sampson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to UK Counter-Terrorism (Oxford, Routledge, 2012), p. 136.
25 Interview by Gordon Corera, Newsnight, BBC Two, 16 November 2006.
26 Author interview with Nasiri, May 2013.
27 Overheard by an ex-prisoner, interviewed by the author in Yemen, who had been in the cell next to al-Libi’s in Afghanistan.
28 Nasiri, Inside the Global Jihad, p. 152.
29 Ibid., p. 165.
30 Tony Jones in conversation with the former CIA analyst, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 17 November 2006. Scheuer also told the New York Times, ‘I’ve never seen anything from that period that was so complete and rang so true’: Mark Landler, ‘Jihadist Double Agent Writes of Derring-Do,’ 16 November 2006.
31 Author interview with Nasiri, May 2013.
32 Nasiri, Inside the Global Jihad, p. 250.
33 Ibid., p. 252.
34 Author interview with Nasiri, May 2013.
35 From the declassified version of ‘Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001’, December 2002, Finding no. 11, p 90.
36 Interview by Gordon Corera, Newsnight, BBC Two, 16 November 2006.
37 Craig Whitlock, ‘After a Decade at War with West, Al-Qaeda Still Impervious to Spies’, Washington Post, 20 March 2008.
38 Michael Scheuer, ‘Why It’s So Hard to Infiltrate al-Qaeda’, Atlantic, 1 April 2005.
Chapter 6: Caveat Emptor
1 Peter Taylor, ‘The Spies Who Fooled the World’, Panorama, BBC Two, 31 May 2013.
2 The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, Report to the President, 31 March 2005, official edition, pp. 11, 48 (hereafter WMD Commission report).
3 Bob Drogin, Curveball: Spies, Lies and the Con Man Who Caused a War (New York, Random House, 2007), Author’s Note, p. xi.
4 Robert Dreyfuss and Jason Vest, ‘The Lie Factory’, Mother Jones, January–February 2004.
5 ‘Lexington’, ‘The Power behind the Throne’, The Economist, 21 December 2000.
6 Andrew Gilligan, ‘I Asked My Intelligence Source Why Blair Misled Us…’, Mail on Sunday, 1 June 2003.
7 WMD Commission report, p. 48.
8 George J. Tenet, statement on his website: www.georgejtenet.com/CURVEBALL.html.
9 Butler Report, Point 330, p. 80.
10 Gordon Corera, MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service (London, Phoenix Paperbacks e-book, 2012), Kindle location 7388.
11 Hauptstelle für Befragungswesen (HBW).
12 Footnotes to WMD Commission report: ‘Defense HUMINT confirmed that it had disseminated 95 reports from Curveball. DIA, Memorandum from Director, DIA Re: Curveball Background (Jan. 14, 2005)’.
13 Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd, ‘Defector Admits to WMD Lies That Triggered Iraq War’, Guardian, 15 February 2011.
14 Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Remarks to the United Nations Security Council, 5 February 2003: transcript available at http://2001-2009.state.gov/secretary/former/powell/remarks/2003/17300.htm.
15 Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd, ‘Defector Admits to WMD Lies That Triggered Iraq War’, Guardian, 15 February 2011.
16 Peter Taylor, ‘The Spies Who Fooled the World’, Panorama, BBC Two, 31 May 2013.
17 WMD Commission report, note 274 of Chapter 1, p. 217.
18 US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, ‘Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq’, 7 July 2004, p. 154.
19 Les’s email is described ibid., pp. 155–6.
20 Report by Stephen Grey, ‘Iraq War Intelligence Probed’, Newsnight, BBC Two, 30 March 2008.
21 WMD Commission report, pp. 91–2, and notes 292 and 293, Chapter 1.
22 Ibid., p. 93.
23 Ibid.
24 Telephone interviews and email exchanges with the author.
25 WMD Commission report, p. 85, with further detail in note 258, Chapter 1.
26 Ibid., note 242.
27 Notes provided by senior retired SIS officer.
28 Chilcot evidence from SIS1, p. 18.
29 Sir Richard Dearlove’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on 16 June 2010, pp. 87–9.
30 Chilcot evidence from SIS3, p. 17.
Chapter 7: Cover Blown
1 José María Irujo, ‘Si atacamos el metro de Barcelona los servicios de urgencia no pueden llegar’ [‘If We Attack the Barcelona Metro, the Emergency Services Will Be Unable to Get Down There], El País, 26 January 2008. The description of Asim’s journey to and movements in Barcelona is taken from police documents, F1’s court testimony and the author’s retracing of F1’s steps in 2013.
2 F1’s court testimony, audio provided to the author.
3 Tablighi Jamaat is proscribed in Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Source: Igor Rotar, ‘The Tablighi Jamaat: A Soft Islamization from the Ferghana Valley to Russia’s Turkic Regions?’, Eurasia Daily Monitor, Vol. 10, Issue 12, 23 January 2013.
4 Graham Keeley and Paul Haven, ‘Spain, France at Odds over Terror Probe’, USA Today online, 8 February 2008.
5 Since the end of 2005; F1 court testimony, notes p. 21.
6 F1 court testimony, notes p. 30.
7 José María Irujo, ‘Si atacamos el metro de Barcelona los servicios de urgencia no pueden llegar’ [‘If We Attack the Barcelona Metro, the Emergency Services Will Be Unable to Get Down There], El País, 26 January 2008.
8 Guardia Civil application for search warrant, 18 January 2008, courtesy of Rastros de Dixan: http://rastrosdedixan.wordpress.com.
9 Court Ruling no. 1.140/2010, Appeal no. 10256/2010 P, Spanish Supreme Court, Madrid, 29 December 2010 (hereafter Appeal document), p. 5.
10 Appeal document, p. 5.
11 Ibid., p. 32.
12 Ibid., pp. 6 and 32.
13 F1 court testimony.
14 See Glossary.
15 Europa Press, ‘El servicio secreto francés convocó de urgencia al CNI en Navidad para informarle de la trama terrorista’ [The French secret service urgently summoned the CNI at Christmas to inform them of the terrorist plot], 2 February 2008. The existence of a protected informant had emerged when the suspects appeared in court on 23 January and was reported in El Mundo and 20minutos, after the judge ordered they remain in custody on 23 January. El País also covered it on 24 January.
16 First Guardia Civil official report, 23 January 2008, p. 4.
17 Antonio Baquero and Jordi Corachán, ‘Abortado en BCN un gran atentado de Al Qaeda’ [A big al-Qaeda terrorist attack thwarted in Barcelona], El Periódico de Catalunya, 20 January 2008.
18 Garzón and McConnell were both quoted in Elaine Sciolino, ‘Terror Threat from Pakistan Said to Expand’, New York Times, 10 February 2008.
19 Graham Keeley and Paul Haven, ‘Spain, France at Odds over Terror Probe’, USA Today online, 8 February 2008.
20 Elaine Sciolino,
‘Terror Threat from Pakistan Said to Expand’, New York Times, 10 February 2008.
21 Craig Whitlock, ‘After a Decade at War with West, Al-Qaeda Still Impervious to Spies’, Washington Post, 20 March 2008.
22 Graham Keeley and Paul Haven, ‘Spain, France at Odds over Terror Probe’, USA Today online, 8 February 2008.
23 ‘Al-Qaeda’s White Army of Terror’, Scotsman, 12 January 2008.
24 Morten Storm, with Tim Lister and Paul Cruickshank, Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al-Qaeda (London, Viking, 2014).
25 Wikileaks: cable ID 10MADRID78, ID #245306, dated 25 January 2010.
26 Roshan Jamal Khan, testimony at his trial.
27 Blog maintained by Roshan Jamal Khan’s brother and family: roshan-jamal-khan.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/motive-for-association.html.
28 Graham Keeley and Paul Haven, ‘Spain, France at Odds over Terror Probe’, USA Today online, 8 February 2008.
29 Appeal document, pp. 116, 121–122.
Chapter 8: Allah Has Plans
1 Koran, 8:30, Surat Al-’Anfāl (The Spoils of War): available at http://quran.com/8/30.
2 President Obama’s Inaugural Address: available at www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President_Barack_Obamas_Inaugural_Address.
3 ‘The Appearance of the Mahdi’, Sunan Ibn Majah, Vol. 1, Book 36, Hadith 4084.
4 ‘When Will My Words Drink from My Blood?’: available at www.ummah.com and first published on militant websites on 27 December 2008.
5 As-Sahab Foundation for Islamic Media, a jihadist website, interview with Humam al-Balawi, posted 27 September 2009 (hereafter As-Sahab interview).
6 As-Sahab interview.
7 Ibid.
8 Wikileaks: cable ID 07ISLAMABAD5283, ‘PAKISTAN: ATTEMPTED INTERCEPTS OF COALITION AIRCRAFT’, dated 14 December 2007.
9 New America Foundation: available at http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones.
10 F. M. Begoum, ‘Observations on the Double Agent’, Studies in Intelligence Journal, 1962; declassified and released 18 September 1995: available at www.cia.gov.
11 Steve Coll, Ghost Wars (London, Penguin, 2005), p. 87.
12 Ibid.
13 Omar Nasiri, Inside the Global Jihad: How I Infiltrated Al Qaeda and Was Abandoned by Western Intelligence (London, Hurst & Co., 2006), p. 234.
14 ‘The al-Qaeda Manual, Part 19’. Retrieved 1 November 2013 from www.usborderpatrol.com/Border_Patrol1803_19.htm.
15 Ibid.
16 Brian Fishman, ‘Al-Qa’ida’s Spymaster Analyzes the U.S. Intelligence Community’, 6 November 2006: available at www.ctc.usma.edu.
17 ‘The Myth of Delusion’: available from a variety of sources, including http://counterterrorismblog.org/site-resources/images/Myth-of-Delusion.
18 As-Sahab interview.
19 Joby Warrick, The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA (New York, Doubleday, 2011), Kindle locations 813–20.
20 As-Sahab interview.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 ‘Difference Engine: Unblinking Eye in the Sky’, The Economist, 13 January 2012.
24 Warrick, The Triple Agent, Kindle location 1409. Mehsud was killed on the night of 5–6 August and Humam appeared in late August.
25 As-Sahab interview.
26 Ibid.
27 ‘Interview with Brother Abu Dujanah al-Khorasani, a Well-Known Blogger in Jihadi Forums, and a Newcomer to the Land of Khorasan’, published in English translation on Vanguards of Khorasan, Issue 15, 26 September 2009.
28 Ibid.
29 As-Sahab interview.
30 Ibid.
31 F. M. Begoum, ‘Observations on the Double Agent’, Studies in Intelligence Journal, 1962; declassified and released 18 September 1995: available at www.cia.gov.
32 Warrick, The Triple Agent, Kindle location 1840. Panetta was CIA director from 2009 to 2011.
33 Ibid., Kindle location 1999.
34 As-Sahab interview.
35 F. M. Begoum, ‘Observations on the Double Agent’, Studies in Intelligence Journal, 1962; declassified and released 18 September 1995: available at www.cia.gov.
36 As revealed in the military logs published by Wikileaks. See, for instance, www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2010/jul/25/wikileaks-afghanistan-war-logs-glossary.
37 First mentioned in Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars (New York, Simon & Schuster, 2010) and articles relating to the book. See, inter alia, Steve Luxenberg, ‘Bob Woodward Book Details Obama Battles with Advisers over Exit Plan for Afghan War’, Washington Post, 22 September 2010.
38 Ian Shapira, ‘For CIA Family, a Deadly Suicide Bombing Leads to Painful Divisions’, Washington Post, 28 January 2012.
39 Joby Warrick, ‘CIA: Systemic Failures Led to Suicide Attack’, Washington Post, 20 October 2010.
40 As-Sahab interview.
41 Video broadcast in Peter Taylor, The Secret War on Terror, BBC Two, 14 March 2011.
42 ‘Prompting the Dying Person’, Sunan Abi Dawud, Book 20, Hadith 3110.
43 As-Sahab interview.
44 Ian Shapira, ‘For CIA Family, a Deadly Suicide Bombing Leads to Painful Divisions’, Washington Post, 28 January 2012.
45 Ibid.
46 Blackwater was the name of a major private security and training business which operated in various war zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2009, Blackwater was renamed Xe Services, followed in 2011 by another new name, Academi.
47 Courtesy of Dr Jarret Brachman, expert in extremist thought and militancy. The poem was posted on the English sub-forum of the Al-Faloja forum in early January 2010.
Chapter 9: Faith in the Machine
1 Robert Baer, See No Evil (London, Arrow Books, 2002), p. 310.
2 Jane Mayer, ‘The Predator War’, New Yorker, 26 October 2009.
3 Interviewed for ‘Kill/Capture’, Frontline, PBS, written and produced by Dan Edge and Stephen Grey, 10 May 2011.
4 Video obtained by ‘Kill/Capture’, Frontline, PBS.
5 ‘Afghan Election Campaign Workers “Killed in Air Strike”’, BBC News website, 2 September 2010.
6 NATO ISAF News Release no. 2010-09-CA-027, ‘Coalition Forces Conduct Precision Strike against Senior IMU Member in Takhar Province’, 2 September 2010.
7 ‘Afghan Election Campaign Workers “Killed in Air Strike”’, BBC News website, 2 September 2010.
8 NATO ISAF News Release no. 2010-08-CA-134, ‘Assessment of Civilian Casualties in Takhar Complete’, 12 September 2010.
9 Ian S. Livingston and Michael O’Hanlon, ‘Afghanistan Index’, Brookings Institution, 10 January 2014.
10 Major General Michael T. Flynn, Captain Matt Pottinger and Paul D. Batchelor, ‘Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan’, Voice from the Field publication, January 2010, Center for New American Security.
11 Author interview with John Nagl for PBS Frontline.
12 The story of Semple’s dialogue with the Taliban in Helmand and his expulsion from Afghanistan is described in Stephen Grey, Operation Snakebite (London, Viking, 2009).
13 ‘Will the Real Mohammad Amin Please Stand Up: A Case Study in the Practical Difficulties of Using Network Analysis as a Tool for Targeting’, Eclipse Group. Supplied to the author by its director, Duane Clarridge, and first published on Eclipse’s website in March 2011 (hereafter Eclipse report).
14 Eclipse report.
15 Kate Clark, ‘The Takhar Attack, Targeted Killings and the Parallel Worlds of US Intelligence and Afghanistan’, report for the Afghan Analysts Network, May 2011, p. 12.
16 Author interview with Duane Clarridge, November 2013.
17 Author interview with General David Petraeus for PBS Frontline.
18 A US official told me, ‘Mohamed Amin was identified as our
target. He is the uncle of Abdul Rahman and the father of Jamil and Feda Rahman.’ His real family was not in Kabul but in Pakistan. ‘He maintains a home with his wife in Shamsattu, in Peshawar agency,’ the official said.
19 Interview by producer Shoaib Sharifi for PBS Frontline. The elder also confirmed that Aalem, whom he called ‘Maulavi Aalem’, had a home in Pakistan and his father was Abdul Waseh, a mujahid who was killed by the Russians. He correctly said that the nephew was in the custody of the NDS, the Afghan national security service.
20 ‘Afghanistan: Suicide Blast Kills Top Police Commander’, BBC News website, 29 May 2011.
21 Author interview with Michael Semple for PBS Frontline.
Chapter 10: The Peacemaker Spy
1 ‘Obituary: Nicholas Elliott’, Independent, 18 April 1994.
2 Michael Weiss, ‘Useful Idiots’, New Criterion, 12 August 2010.
3 The information about Alastair Crooke that follows comes from author interviews in Beirut, March 2013.
4 Frederick Montague Warren Crooke was the son of Robert Warren Crooke, born 1860 (physician and surgeon).
5 Letter from Warren Crooke, dated 7 February 1918, referenced in Nathan Wise, ‘Playing Soldiers: Sydney Private School Cadet Corps and the Great War’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 96, No. 2, December 2010, p. 197. On 31 December 1919, the Sydney Morning Herald records Warren’s brief return home: ‘Lieutenant Warren Crooke (M. M.), of the Gurkha Rifles, India, only son of Dr. Warren Crooke, of Cordeaux, has returned to Australia. He left as a sergeant in 1915, fought through Egypt, Gallipoli, and France, and gained the Military Medal and his commission. He is now an officer in the Indian Army, and is on eight months’ furlough.’
6 Vladimir Putin, First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia’s President (New York, PublicAffairs, 2000), p. 23.
7 David McKittrick (ed.), Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children Who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Edinburgh, Mainstream Publishing, 2008), p. 663.
8 James Harkin, ‘Middleman in the Middle East’, Financial Times, 2 January 2009.
9 Author interview with Milton Bearden for ‘Mint Tea with the Terrorists’, New Statesman, 11 April 2005.