by Scott Shane
Awlaki’s congregants traded stories about insults These details, including the appearance of people with video cameras at Dar Al-Hijrah, are from interviews with multiple worshippers at Dar Al-Hijrah, 2010 and 2014.
When Awlaki stepped to the microphone Awlaki, “It’s a War Against Islam,” audio, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVvQ-m9f8b8 and elsewhere on the web.
The raids were the culmination of Operation Green Quest See, for instance, Sharon Behn, “US Muslim Community Outraged by Raids on Muslim Offices and Homes,” Agence France Press, March 21, 2002; and Josh Gerstein, “A Prosecutor Is Called Relentless,” New York Sun, July 28, 2008.
“the United States is not, and has not been, a substantial source of al Qaeda funding” National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” 4, http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrFin_Monograph.pdf.
6. TOTALLY PLANNING TO STAY
Awlaki’s December 13, 2001, visit to the Marriott Residence Inn FBI documents obtained by J. M. Berger, “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files; Hijacker Travel Questions,” Intelwire, January 21, 2014, http://news.intelwire.com/2014/01/intelwire-releases-awlaki-foia-files.html, 400–1. The account of the prostitutes’ descriptions of Awlaki is from the same set of documents.
“She comes from a poor family” Ibid., 469.
he had denounced zina, or fornication See Anwar al-Awlaki, “Zina” or Fornication, YouTube, uploaded August 21, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GQouNwZN7g.
twenty-page memorandum to James A. Baker FBI documents, “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files,” 616–35.
studied with concern by both the Congressional Joint Inquiry and the 9/11 Commission Eleanor Hill, staff director of the Congressional Joint Inquiry, and Philip D. Zelikow, executive director of the 9/11 Commission, interviews, 2010.
Hazmi and Mihdhar’s arrival in California The 9/11 Commission Report (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2004), 215ff.
Omar al-Bayoumi Ibid., 419.
four calls were recorded between Bayoumi’s phone and Awlaki’s phone FBI agent, name redacted, interview by Raj De of the 9/11 Commission, November 17, 2003, Memorandum for the Record, 9/11 Commission Records, National Archives. The 9/11 Commission Report mistakenly says that all four calls were on February 4, 2001 (517).
lengthy closed-door discussions with the imam 9/11 Commission Report, 517. It is interesting to note that the San Diego Field Office of the FBI, which had long watched Awlaki, described him as the “spiritual leader” of Hazmi and Mihdhar as early as September 20, 2001, according to a memo in the Intelwire FBI documents, “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files,” 1739. But the public documents give little idea of what the judgment was based on apart from worshippers who recalled seeing the hijackers with the imam.
Hazmi later turned up at Dar Al-Hijrah 9/11 Commission Report, 221, 229–30.
Eyad al-Rababah and Daoud Chehazeh Bob Bukowski, former FBI agent, telephone interview, March 6, 2014.
Khaleel, who was vice president of the Denver Islamic Society in the early 1990s Bruce Finley, “War Divides Colorado Arabs,” Denver Post, January 27, 1991.
would later earn a modest footnote in history by purchasing a battery for Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone in 1996 The 9/11 Commission Report, 517, described contact between Awlaki and a “possible procurement agent” for Bin Laden, who a US official later told me was Ziyad Khaleel.
Charitable Society of Social Welfare Internal Revenue Service 1998 Form 990-EZ for the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, filed May 13, 1999.
an FBI agent later testified Tom Hays, “Charity Eyed in Terror Money Probe,” Associated Press, February 26, 2004.
FBI counterterrorism investigators, who opened a terrorism investigation on Awlaki 9/11 Commission Report, 517 n. 33.
Awlaki had recently been visited by an associate of Omar Abdel Rahman Congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11, Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, December 2002, https://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_rpt/911rept.pdf, 179.
A police search of the apartment in Hamburg, Germany, of Ramzi bin al-Shibh Ibid., 178.
a sort of communications hub for the scattered conspirators of 9/11 was a satellite phone in Yemen See James Bamford, The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 7ff.
Mihdhar was visiting his wife 9/11 Commission Report, 222.
Awlaki was visiting his family in the same city Awlaki family members, interviews, 2014.
a plot investigators believed Mihdhar probably knew about in advance Mihdhar and Hazmi had attended a January 2000 Al Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the USS Cole plot was likely discussed, before flying to California; see 9/11 Commission Report, 158; Congressional Joint Inquiry, Report, 144.
Awlaki offered a puzzling reply Lincoln Higgie, interview, 2010.
he considers the Awlaki question “one of the three largest loose ends” Philip Zelikow, e-mail to author, November 10, 2009.
“Extensive investigation by the FBI” Beth Lefebvre, FBI Public Affairs, e-mail to author, April 1, 2014.
Heavily redacted FBI documents FBI documents, “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files.”
Awlaki himself said later that he had no idea that Hazmi had moved to the Washington area Ajras al-khatar [Bells of danger], documentary by Yosri Fouda for al-Jazeera Television, first broadcast September 14, 2005.
“I think Awlaki had to know” Former FBI agent Bob Bukowski, telephone interview, March 6, 2014.
One night, Ammar recalled Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 23, 2014, Sanaa.
Neither Anwar nor Ammar knew it, but an FBI surveillance team followed them The FBI surveillance notes from March 2002 are in the second collection of FBI documents obtained by J. M. Berger of Intelwire, who shared them with me in November 2014. They are not online at the time of this writing, but the surveillance notes for the period of Ammar’s visit to Anwar, March 23 to March 31, 2002, are on pages 1806–49.
Ammar asked Anwar lightheartedly Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014, Sanaa.
A long-secret document reveals “Memorandum for the Record: Interview of FBI Special Agent Wade Ammerman,” October 16, 2003, 9/11 Commission Records, National Archives. This five-page document was withheld from public release for years at the request of several agencies that considered it sensitive. The author’s request to the National Archives in 2014 led to its release with some redactions.
Bin Fareed asked him about the fallout from 9/11 Saleh bin Fareed al-Awlaki, interview, January 28, 2014, Aden.
The mosque prepared a letter The letter is in the Intelwire FBI documents, “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files,” 519.
Nussaibah Younis described memorably Nussaibah Younis, “The Anwar al-Awlaki Who Impressed Me as a Teenager,” Guardian, November 1, 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/01/anwar-al-awlaki-transformation-political.
They were taken aside for secondary screening The relevant government documents recording Awlaki’s detention at JFK were obtained by Paul Sperry, a researcher on terrorism and author of Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005). He has posted the documents on his website at http://www.sperryfiles.com/documents.shtml.
Awlaki recalled that customs officials seemed “quite baffled” Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans: Al Awlaki Revealing His Side of the Story,” Inspire, no. 9 (May 2012).
a determined Diplomatic Security Service officer Ray Fournier, telephone interview, 2010.
warrant was issued for Awlaki’s arrest Warrant for Arrest, issued June 17, 2002, by US Magistrat
e Judge Michael J. Watanabe, United States District Court, District of Colorado, Case No. 02-1146M.
David Gaouette, ordered the arrest warrant withdrawn David Gaouette, telephone interview, 2010.
Timimi, an American-born biologist, was later sentenced to life Jerry Markon, “Muslim Lecturer Sentenced to Life,” Washington Post, July 14, 2005.
Awlaki showed up at Timimi’s house “Defendant Dr. Ali Al-Timimi’s Memorandum in Support of Motion to Compel Discovery,” filed July 17, 2003, in Case cr-04-385, United States v. Ali Al-Timimi, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
But the bureau flatly denies that Awlaki was cooperating Beth Lefebvre, FBI Public Affairs, e-mail to author, April 1, 2014.
7. STEALTHY, AGILE, AND LETHAL
Senator Barack Obama stood at the podium For the text of the speech, see “Obama’s Speech at Woodrow Wilson Center,” August 1, 2007, Council on Foreign Relations, http://www.cfr.org/elections/obamas-speech-woodrow-wilson-center/p13974. The C-Span video includes the introduction by Lee Hamilton: Obama Foreign Policy Speech, http://www.c-span.org/video/?200258-1/obama-foreign-policy-speech.
Five years earlier, at an antiwar rally in Chicago’s Federal Plaza, Obama had warned Just thirteen seconds of the video of Obama’s 2002 speech has been preserved: Obama’s 2002 Speech Against the War, Delivered by Supporters, uploaded October 1, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUV69LZbCNQ. The full text and audio of his remarks are at “Transcript: Obama’s Speech Against the Iraq War,” January 20, 2009, NPR, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99591469.
“greeted as liberators” Cheney to Tim Russert on NBC’s Meet the Press, March 16, 2003. Russert first used the word liberators, asking the vice president, “If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?” Cheney replied: “Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”
burning through some $10 billion a month These statistics on the Iraq War are from an Associated Press update, “Key Figures About the Iraq War,” published on the day of Obama’s speech. The day’s headlines from Iraq are also from AP stories.
But the sound bites from 2002 Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006), 292–93.
Mark Mazzetti had reported Mark Mazzetti, “U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05,” The New York Times, July 8, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/washington/08intel.html.
I had written about a new National Intelligence Estimate Scott Shane, “6 Years After 9/11, the Same Threat,” The New York Times, July 18, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/washington/18assess.html.
Hillary Clinton, who had repeatedly labeled Obama “naive,” took him to task for “telegraphing” US moves Dennis Conrad, “Obama: Nukes ‘Not on the Table,’ ” Associated Press, August 1, 2007.
in a presidential debate, she spoke scornfully of his remarks February 26, 2008, presidential debate, MSNBC, transcript from “The Democratic Debate in Cleveland,” The New York Times, February 26, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/politics/26text-debate.html?pagewanted=all.
Christopher Dodd called Obama’s comment “irresponsible” Jeff Zeleny and Steven Greenhouse, “War on Terror Takes Focus at Democrats’ Debate,” The New York Times, August 8, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/us/politics/08dems.html.
“In one week he went from saying he’s going to sit down” Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential debate of August 5, 2007, transcript from “The Republican Candidate Debate,” The New York Times, August 5, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/us/politics/05transcript-debate.html.
“I find it amusing” Zeleny and Greenhouse, “War on Terror.”
Obama was talking about the drone Two Obama advisers, confidential interview, 2014.
“The drones were coming into sight” Lee Hamilton, telephone interview, May 22, 2014.
In Dreams from My Father, Obama describes Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father, updated ed. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 78–91.
Obama’s part-time work teaching constitutional law See David Remnick, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama (New York: Knopf, 2010), 261–67; and Jodi Kantor, “Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Slightly Apart,” The New York Times, July 30, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html.
“constitutional-law-professor-president” Jeremy Scahill, interview by Touré, The Cycle, MSNBC, June 6, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLHUelPX8eY.
a seminar called “Current Issues in Racism and the Law” The syllabus, for spring term 1994, is posted by The New York Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/2008OBAMA_LAW/Obama_CoursePk.pdf, along with comments by several legal scholars who examined it for The New York Times in 2008: Jodi Kantor, “Inside Professor Obama’s Classroom,” July 30, 2008, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/inside-professor-obamas-classroom/0/.
“You rarely got his opinion or his view” Salil Mehra, telephone interview, May 22, 2014.
“Is It Right and Wise to Kill a Kidnapper?” This editorial by Frederick Douglass ran June 2, 1854, in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, the abolitionist’s Rochester-based newspaper, formerly known as the North Star. It can be found in Frederick Douglass, Selected Speeches and Writings (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1999), 277–80.
a riveting drama that was playing out in 1854 The Boston Slave Riot and Trial of Anthony Burns (Boston: William V. Spencer, 1854) is a compilation of contemporary news accounts of the events; it is available online at http://books.google.com/books?id=SNhleTwnWSIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.
asked by the Hyde Park Herald Remnick quotes the entire statement in Bridge, 337.
In the unlikely setting of a Barnes & Noble Obama’s answer to the question on terrorism is at Obama on Terrorism in 2004, uploaded September 19, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjUI7vM8TrI.
He hired Robert Barnett Nicole Ziegler Dizon, “Obama Gets Three-Book Deal Worth $1.9 Million,” Associated Press, December 17, 2004.
“we have played fast and loose” Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 56.
“the battle against international terrorism” Ibid., 23.
“the growth of militant, fundamentalist Islam” Ibid., 278.
“I would argue that we have the right” Ibid., 308–9.
Mohammed al-Asaadi, the Yemeni newspaper editor and activist Asaadi, interview, January 30, 2014, Sanaa.
Some of the local guests were in tears A person who had been present at the election-day embassy reception, confidential interview, 2010.
on December 9, 2008, Obama visited a secure room The description of Obama’s December 9, 2009, intelligence briefing is based on confidential interviews in 2012 and 2014 with several of those present.
Evidence would later surface that more than one hundred prisoners The Senate Intelligence Committee would count “at least 119” detainees at the black sites, as well as finding a photograph of a waterboard at a CIA site in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit, though officially no prisoner had been subjected to waterboarding there. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program, 106 n. 620, http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/executive-summary.pdf, 14, 51, n245. Also see Charlie Savage and Scott Shane, “Libyan Alleges Waterboarding by
C.I.A., Report Says,” The New York Times, September 6, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/world/middleeast/libyan-alleges-waterboarding-by-cia-human-rights-watch-report-says.html.
Obama asked which six techniques were still authorized The Justice Department memo authorizing the six techniques has been declassified. See Stephen G. Bradbury, “Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency,” July 20, 2007, American Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/files/torturefoia/released/082409/olc/2007%20OLC%20opinion%20on%20Interrogation%20Techniques.pdf.
8. THAT WAS THE TRANSFORMATION
Awlaki lectures on Ibn Nuhaas and the Book of Jihad Audio of the complete lecture series is posted at the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/Mshri and can be found on YouTube as well. I have not been able to determine for certain the location where Awlaki delivered these particular lectures.
Salamah Ibn al-Akwa Awlaki’s lecture on his early Muslim hero is excerpted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rCUq6HZLrQ.
Among the audience at one of Awlaki’s lectures The informant, who had adopted the name Aimen Dean, went public in a series of interviews in 2015. He described one of Awlaki’s Book of Jihad lecture series and the presence of the future bombers in BBC News Magazine in an April 3, 2015, article by Steve Swann, “A Truly Dangerous Meeting of Minds,” http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32065132.