Predators

by Williams, Brian Glyn

  2. “Interviews Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill,” 60 Minutes, CBS, January 11, 2004.

  3. David Rennie, “US Tried to Kill Warlord with Drone Missile,” Telegraph (London), May 10, 2002.

  4. Ron Moreau et al., “Day of the Vampire,” Newsweek, June 17, 2002.

  5. Bob Graham, “Senator Bob Graham Remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations” (speech, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, DC, March 26, 2004), http://www.cfr.org/terrorism/senator-bob-graham-remarks-council-foreign-relations/p6905.

  6. Tom Brook, “US Shifts Spy Planes to Afghan War,” USA Today, August 23, 2009.

  7. David Sanger, The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges of American Power (New York: Harmony Books, 2009), 138.

  8. “Dogfight between MQ-1 Predator Drone and Mig-25 Foxbat,” YouTube video, 2:04, from CBSNews.com, posted by “OakRidgejet,” November 19, 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWUR3sgKUV8.

  9. Philip Smucker, “The Intrigue behind the Drone Strike,” Christian Science Monitor, November 12, 2002.

  10. “Yemen Strike Opens New Chapter in War on Terror,” Time, November 5, 2002.

  11. Smucker, “Intrigue behind the Drone Strike.”

  12. James Bamford, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America (New York: Doubleday, 2009), 135.

  13. “They Didn’t Know What Hit Them,” Time, November 18, 2002.

  14. “U.S. Citizen Killed by CIA Linked to N.Y. Terror Case,” Washington Post, November 9, 2002.

  15. “Assassination by Remote Control,” Economist, November 5, 2002.

  16. “U.S. Drone Hits Al-Qaida in Yemen; 6 Alleged Operatives Killed,” Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2002.

  17. Hassan Abbas, “A Profile of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 1, no. 2 (January 28, 2008): 3.

  18. Abdul Saboor Khan, “Orokzai Becomes New Haven for the Taliban,” Daily Times (Pakistan), February 4, 2009.

  19. Owen Bennett-Jones, “Tide Turns against the Taliban,” BBC News, May 21, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8059900.stm.

  20. “Qaeda Firmly Rooted in Tribal Fiefdom, Report,” Agence France-Presse, August 26, 2011.

  21. “Pakistan: 100 Fighters Captured in Battle: Confusion over Whether Al-Zawahiri Being Protected,” CNN, May 6, 2004, http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/03/20/pakistan.alqaeda/index.html; “49 Troops Dead or Missing So Far in Al Qaeda Offensive,” Agence France-Presse, March 23, 2004.

  22. “Pakistan: 100 Fighters”; “49 Troops Dead or Missing.”

  23. “Nek Warns of Attacks throughout Pakistan,” Dawn, June 11, 2004.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Ismail Khan, “Night Raid Kills Nek, Four Other Militants: Wana Operation,” Dawn, June 19, 2004, http://archives.dawn.com/2004/06/19/top1.htm.

  26. Ibid.

  27. “US, Pakistani Forces Clash on Afghan Border,” CNN, January 1, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/central/01/01/afghan.clashes/index.html.

  28. “CIA Drone Kills Al-Qaida Operative,” MSNBC, May 14, 2005, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7847008/ns/us_news-security/t/cia-drone-kills-al-qaida-operative.

  29. “Surveillance Operation in Pakistan Located and Killed Al Qaeda Official,” Washington Post, May 15, 2005; “Exclusive: CIA Aircraft Kills Terrorist: Senior Al Qaeda Operative Struck by Predator Missile,” ABC News, May 13, 2005, http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=755961.

  30. David Ensor, “Sources: Key Al Qaeda Operative Killed,” CNN, May 14, 2005, http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/13/alqaeda.killing/index.html.

  31. “CIA Drone Kills Al-Qaida Operative,” MSNBC, May 14, 2005, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7847008/ns/us_news-security/t/cia-drone-kills-al-qaida-operative.

  32. “Exclusive: CIA Aircraft Kills Terrorist.”

  33. Aamir Borbra, “Musharraf Okayed Drones, Not Strikes: PM,” Daily Mail News, October 23, 2010.

  34. “An Extrajudicial Execution by the CIA?” Amnesty International, May 18, 2005, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/079/2005/en/bcffa8d8-d4ea-11dd-8a23-d58a49c0d652/amr510792005en.html.

  35. “CIA Drone Kills Al-Qaida Operative.”

  36. Bill Roggio, “Cross-Border Strike Targets One of the Taliban’s 157 Training Camps in Pakistan’s Northwest,” Long War Journal, August 13, 2008, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/08/crossborder_strike_t.php.

  37. “Evidence Suggests U.S. Missile Used in Strike,” NBC News, December 5, 2005, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10303175/#.USFX4Gckf5Q.

  38. Craig Whitlock and Kamran Khan, “Blast in Pakistan Kills Al Qaeda Commander: Figure Reportedly Hit by U.S. Missile Strike,” Washington Post, December 4, 2005.

  39. B. Raman, “Mystery Shrouds Top Terrorist’s Death,” Rediff.com, December 5, 2005, http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/05raman.htm.

  40. “Al Qaeda No. 3 Dead, but How?” CNN, December 4, 2005, http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/pakistan.rabia/index.html.

  41. Yenne, Birds of Prey, 103.

  42. Haji Mujtaba, “US Missile Parts at Pakistan Al Qaeda Site,” Information Clearing House, December 5, 2005, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11216.htm.

  43. For the full story, see the important documentary “The Stories of a Warlord and a Journalist,” part 5 of Return of the Taliban, Frontline, PBS, October 3, 2006, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/view/main.html. See also “Evidence Suggests U.S. Missile Used in Strike.”

  44. “Stories of a Warlord and a Journalist.”

  45. “US Missile Parts at Pakistan Al Qaeda Site.”

  46. Raman, “Mystery Shrouds Top Terrorist’s Death.”

  47. “Blast Kills Al Qaeda Commander,” BBC News, December 3, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4494428.stm.

  48. “AP Exclusive: Close Calls for Al-Qaida’s No. 2,” Associated Press, November 29, 2010.

  49. Christina Lamb, “Airstrike Misses Al-Qaeda Chief: ‘Wrong Information’ Blamed for Pakistan Deaths,” Sunday Times, January 15, 2006.

  50. Brian Ross, “U.S. Strike Killed Al Qaeda Bomb Maker,” ABC News, January 18, 2006. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1517986.

  51. “Pakistan: At Least 4 Terrorists Killed in U.S. Strike,” USA Today, January 17, 2006; “AP Exclusive: Close Calls.”

  52. Elaine Shannon, “Can Bin Laden Be Caught?” Time, January 22, 2006.

  53. “AP Exclusive: Close Calls”; Michael Hirsh et al., “Predator and Prey,” Newsweek, January 29, 2006.

  54. Imtiaz Ali, “Pakistan Fury as CIA Airstrike on Village Kills 18,” Telegraph, January 15, 2006.

  55. Ross, “US Strike Killed Al Qaeda Bomb Maker”; “Pakistan: At Least 4 Terrorists.”

  56. “AP Exclusive: Close Calls.”

  57. Associated Press, “Pakistanis Protest US Airstrike,” Fox News, January 16, 2006, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181698,00.html.

  58. Lamb, “Airstrike Misses Al-Qaeda Chief.”

  59. Shannon, “Can Bin Laden Be Caught?” claims that thirteen died in the strike; “Pakistan Condemns Deadly Airstrike Targeting Al Qaeda Number 2,” Associated Press, January 15, 2006, reports the number as thirty.

  60. “Zawahiri Strike Sparks Protests,” BBC News, January 14, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4613108.stm.

  61. Associated Press, “Pakistanis Protest US Airstrike,” Fox News, January 16, 2006, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181698,00.html.

  62. “Pakistan Condemns Deadly Airstrike.”

  63. “Terror Chief Calls Bush a ‘Butcher,’” CBS, January 31, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-224_162-1255755.html.

  64. “Pakistan Condemns Deadly Airstrike.”

  65. William E. Alberts, “Remember Damadola,” CounterPunch, March 4–5, 2006, http://www.counterpunch.org/alberts03042006.html.

  66. Hirsh et al., “Predator and Prey.”

  67. Shannon, “Can Bin Laden Be Caught?”

  68. Ibid.

 
; 69. Greg Miller, “War on Terror Loses Ground: Al Qaeda Is Regrouping in Pakistan, an Ally the U.S. Must Work with but Doesn’t Trust,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2008.

  70. Bruce Rolfson, “Predator Was Involved in Zarqawi Assault,” Air Force Times, July 17, 2006.

  71. Bill Roggio and Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, “Pakistan Surrenders,” Weekly Standard, October 2, 2006, http://www.daveedgr.com/news/pakistan-surrenders/.

  72. Gordon Corera, “Bomb Plot—The Al-Qaeda Connection,” BBC News, September 9, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7606107.stm.

  73. “Pakistan School Raid Sparks Anger,” BBC News, October 30, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6099946.stm.

  74. Christina Lamb, “US Carried Out Madrasah Bombing,” Sunday Times, November 26, 2006.

  75. Anwarullah Khan, “82 Die as Missiles Rain on Bajaur: Pakistan Owns Up to Strike: Locals Blame US Drones,” Dawn, October 31, 2006.

  76. Ibid.

  77. Yousuf Ali, “Most Bajaur Victims Were under 20,” News (Pakistan), November 5, 2006.

  78. Ibid.

  79. Christine Fair, The Militant Challenge in Pakistan (Washington, DC: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2010), 125.

  80. “Pakistan School Raid Sparks Anger.”

  81. Dan Gillmor, “Suicide Blast Kills 42 Pakistani Soldiers,” Guardian, November 8, 2006.

  82. “Pakistan Says Planes Used in Raid,” BBC News, January 19, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6280153.stm.

  83. Bill Roggio, “The Pro-Osama Meeting in Bajaur,” Long War Journal, October 29, 2006, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2006/10/the_proosama_meeting.php.

  84. Associated Press, “Missile Strike in Pakistan Kills 4,” Washington Post, April 27, 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042701056.html.

  85. Griff Witte, “Blast Kills at Least 20 in Pakistan,” Washington Post, June 20, 2007.

  86. Barbara Sude, Al-Qaeda Central: An Assessment of the Threat Posed by the Terrorist Group Headquartered on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Border, Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper (Washington, DC: New America Foundation, February 25, 2010).

  87. Schmitt and Shanker, Counterstrike, 100.

  88. “Musharraf Vows War on Militants,” BBC News, July 12, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6896179.stm.

  89. “Scores Killed in Pakistan Attacks,” BBC News, July 19, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6905808.stm.

  90. Ismail Khan, “Missile Kills 5 in Northwest Pakistan: U.S. Denies Attack,” New York Times, November 3, 2007.

  91. Katherine Hubbard, Strategic Concerns, Historical Ties Make Pakistan Unwilling to Take On Haqqani Network (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, February 3, 2010).

  92. Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, “Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials Say,” New York Times, August 1, 2008.

  93. Elizabeth Rubin, “In the Land of the Taliban,” New York Times, October 22, 2006.

  94. “Mullah Akhtar Usmani Named Successor to Mullah Omar,” Rediff.com, November 19, 2001, http://www.rediff.com/us/2001/nov/19ny7.htm.

  95. Ahmed Rashid, Descent into Chaos: The US and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (New York: Viking, 2008), 370.

  6. THE DRONE WAR BEGINS

  1. Greg Miller and Judie Tate, “CIA Focus Shifts to Killing Targets,” Washington Post, August 30, 2011.

  2. Brian Glyn Williams, “Cheney Attack Reveals Taliban Suicide Bomber Targeting Patterns,” Terrorism Monitor 5, no. 4 (March 1, 2007): 2–5.

  3. “A Strike against Al Qaeda,” Economist, February 1, 2008.

  4. “Al Qaeda’s New Leadership,” Washington Post, September 8, 2007.

  5. “Top Al Qaeda Commander Killed,” BBC News, February 1, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7220823.stm; Jon Boone and Jason Burke, “Top Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Afghanistan,” Guardian, January 31, 2008.

  6. “Missile Strike Near Pakistan Border Kills 13, Injures 7,” Gulf News, February 28, 2008.

  7. Ibid.; “Many Die in Pakistani Missile Strike,” Al Jazeera, February 28, 2008.

  8. “16 Dead in Pakistan Missile Strike,” Agence France-Presse, March 16, 2008.

  9. Candace Rondeux, “Airstrike Kills 18 in Pakistan,” Washington Post, March 17, 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/16/AR2008031600840.html.

  10. Sanger, Inheritance, 235.

  11. Schmitt and Shanker, Counterstrike, 119.

  12. Mark Hosenball, “With a Quiet Blessing, U.S. Attacks on Al Qaeda Spike,” Newsweek, March 22, 2008.

  13. David Sanger and Eric Schmitt, “Pakistan Shift Could Curtail Drone Strikes,” New York Times, February 22, 2008.

  14. Sanger, Inheritance, 235.

  15. David Cloud, “CIA Drones Have Broader List of Targets,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2010.

  16. Adam Entous, Siobhan Gorman, and Julian Barnes, “US Tightens Drone Rules,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2011.

  17. Sanger, Inheritance, 236.

  18. Marcy Wheeler, “‘Pattern of Life’ Drone Strikes,” Empty Wheel (blog), May 6, 2010, http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/05/06/pattern-of-life-drone-strikes/.

  19. Noah Shachtman, “No-Name Terrorists Now CIA Drone Targets,” Danger Room (blog), Wired, May 6, 2010, http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/05/no-name-terrorists-now-cia-drone-targets/.

  20. Schmitt and Shanker, Counterstrike, 102–3.

  21. “Claim Pakistan ‘Supports Taliban,’” BBC News, October 26, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15456858.

  22. Matthew Aid, Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight against Terror (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012), 108–9.

  23. Jeremiah Gertler, US Unmanned Aerial Systems, CRS Report for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, January 3, 2012), 35.

  24. “MQ-9 Reaper/Hunter Killer UAV,” Defense Update, July 2009, http://defense-update.com/products/p/predatorB.htm.

  25. Tom Vanden Brook, “Faster, Deadlier Pilotless Plane Bound for Afghanistan,” USA Today, August 27, 2007.

  26. “Reaper Scores Insurgent Kill in Afghanistan,” Air Force Times, October 29, 2007.

  27. Anwarullah Khan, “12 Killed in Drone Attack on Damadola,” Dawn, May 14, 2008.

  28. Jason Burke, “Al Qaeda Chief Dies in Missile Strike,” Guardian, June 1, 2008.

  29. Zahid Hussain and Michael Evans, “US Airstrike Kills 11 Pakistani Soldiers in ‘Cowardly and Unprovoked Attacks,’” Times, June 12, 2008.

  30. Bill Roggio, “Pakistani Leader Killed in March 2008 Predator Strike,” Long War Journal, May 19, 2008, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/05/pakistani_al_qaeda_l.php.

  31. Declan Walsh, “US Bomb Kills Eleven Pakistani Troops,” Guardian, June 12, 2008.

  32. “US Missile Strike Kills One in S Waziristan,” Daily Times, June 15, 2008.

  33. “Al Qaeda Chemical Expert Killed,” BBC News, July 28, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7529419.stm.

  34. Dan Darling, “Al Qaeda’s Mad Scientist,” Weekly Standard, January 19, 2006.

  35. “Pakistan Seeks Confirmation of Top Al-Qaeda Death,” Agence France-Presse, July 27, 2008, http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZeuUhq2BG8kHdGutqrP0ujlye8A.

  36. “US Kills Al Qaeda Chief in Air-Strike,” Telegraph, July 19, 2011.

  37. Kathy Gannon, “Al Qaeda Said to Lose Key WMD Operative,” San Diego Union-Tribune, August 9, 2008. http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20080809-1135-al-qaidasloss.html.

  38. “Taliban Commander, 9 Others Killed in Missile Attack,” Geo.TV, August 13, 2008, http://www.geo.tv/8-13-2008/22577.htm; and Roggio, “Cross-Border Strike.”

  39. “Pakistan Missile Strike Kills Eight: Officials,” Agence France-Presse, August 20, 2008, http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5grLj6xRsGSHp7FJtyLelxa6i3omA.

  40. “Pakistan’s Musharraf Steps Down,” BBC News, August 18, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7567451.stm.
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br />   41. Government Accountability Office, U.S. Efforts to Address the Terrorist Threat in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas Require a Comprehensive Plan and Continued Oversight (Washington, DC: May 2008).

  42. “Missile Attack Kills 5 Militants in Waziristan,” Daily Times, August 31, 2008; “Two Canadians Killed in Wana Missile Attack,” Dawn, August 31, 2008.

  43. Huma Yusuf, “Fallout of the Davis Case,” Dawn, February 21, 2011.

  44. “6 Killed, 8 Injured in Missile Attack in N. Waziristan,” Geo.TV, September 1, 2008.

  45. Farhan Bokhari, Sami Yousufzai, and Tucker Reals, “U.S. Special Forces Strike in Pakistan,” CBS News, September 3, 2008, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/03/terror/main4409288.shtml.

  46. Pir Zubair Shah, Eric Schmitt, and Jane Perlez, “American Forces Attack Militants on Pakistani Soil,” New York Times, September 3, 2008.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Julian Barnes and Greg Miller, “Pentagon May Step Up Raids in Pakistan,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2008.

  49. Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, “Bush Said to Give Orders Allowing Raids in Pakistan,” New York Times, September 10, 2008.

  50. Shah et al.,“American Forces Attack Militants.”

  51. Jonathan Karl, Nick Schifrin, Kirit Radia, and Luis Martinez, “US Conducts First Raid on Terrorists in Pakistan,” ABC News, September 3, 2008, http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=5718172.

  52. “Pakistani Fury over US Assault,” BBC News, September 4, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7597529.stm.

  53. “Bush OKs US Raids into Pakistan—Gen. Kayani Vows to Protect Sovereignty,” Arabnews.com, September 12, 2008.

  54. Jane Perlez, “Pakistan’s Military Chief Criticizes U.S. over a Raid,” New York Times, September 10, 2008.

  55. AFP, quoted in Bill Roggio, “Report: US Airstrike Kills 4 in North Waziristan,” Long War Journal, September 4, 2008, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/09/report_us_airstrike.php.

  56. Pir Zubair Shah and Jane Perlez, “U.S. Missiles Killed at Least Six People on Afghanistan-Pakistan Border, Residents Say,” New York Times, September 5, 2008.

  57. Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, “US Attack on Taliban Kills 23 in Pakistan,” New York Times, September 9, 2009.