The Targeter
Page 34
35. subjected him to a cavity search: Ibid.
36. wrapped in a diaper, then a jumpsuit, and blindfolded: Ibid.
37. Headphones would have been placed over his ears: Ibid.
38. a loose hood would have been draped over his head: Ibid.
39. His hands and feet would have been shackled: Ibid.
40. loaded onto a small plane: Ibid.
41. “placed in [a] standing position against the wall”: Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study.”
42. His hands were suspended… two hours at a time: Ibid.
43. “enhanced measures… what he expects to happen”: Ibid.
44. fifty-nine straight hours of sleep deprivation: Ibid.
45. he began hallucinating: Ibid.
46. placed in a hanging stress position: Ibid.
47. “and mild paralysis of arms, legs and feet”: Ibid.
48. “notable physiological fatigue”: Ibid.
49. “when he decides to be truthful”: Ibid.
50. “new and unique insight… operations”: Ibid.
51. confirming the nom de guerre of bin Ladin’s personal courier: Ibid.
52. “announced their allegiance to the Sheikh al-Mujahideen of our time”: Jeffrey Pool, trans., “Zarqawi’s Pledge of Allegiance to al-Qaeda: From Mu’asker Al-Battar, Issue 21,” Terrorism Monitor 2, no. 24 (December 15, 2004), http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews [tt_news]=27305#.VnHgTPFqeaw.
53. The letter: “Al-Zarqawi Group Claims Allegiance to bin Laden,” CNN, October 17, 2004, http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/17/al.zarqawi.statement/.
54. the past eight months: Pool, “Zarqawi’s Pledge of Allegiance.”
55. “until Islam enters the home of every city-dweller and nomad”: Ibid.
56. known as Tanzim Qai’dat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn: Ibid.
Chapter 12
1. the CIA’s seven-man Jawbreaker mission: “FLASHBACK: Sept. 26, 2001—CIA Is ‘First In’ After September 11th Attacks,” CIA Featured Story Archive, September 26, 2013, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2013-featured-story-archive/flashback-sept-26-2001.html.
2. coordinate with Northern Alliance commanders and US Special Operations Forces units: Ibid.
3. Office of Russian and European Analysis: “Offices of CIA: Office of Russian and European Analysis,” CIA, January 23, 2013, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/think-ahead-directorate-of-intelligence.html.
4. Office of Asian Pacific, Latin American, and African Analysis: “Offices of CIA: Office of Asian Pacific, Latin American, and African Analysis,” CIA, January 23, 2013, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/think-ahead-directorate-of-intelligence.html.
5. Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis: “Offices of CIA: Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis,” CIA, January 23, 2013, https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2008-featured-story-archive/think-ahead-directorate-of-intelligence.html.
6. our team member embedded with SOF: Stanley McChrystal, My Share of the Task: A Memoir (New York: Portfolio, 2013).
7. that’s where cooperation ended: Ibid.
8. McChrystal arrived in Iraq: Ibid.
9. General Michael Flynn was brought on board: Ibid.
10. “our fight against Zarqawi… intelligence”: Ibid.
11. It is not a secret now: Matthew Rosenberg, “Michael Flynn Is Harsh Judge of C.I.A.’s Role,” New York Times, December 12, 2016.
12. ten times that: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.
13. his teams needed to be more agile: Ibid.
14. and has instead used its own network… classified material: Bruce Berkowitz, “Failing to Keep Up with the Information Revolution,” Studies in Intelligence 47, no. 1 (June 27, 2008), https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol47no1/article07.html.
15. illegally pulled 250,000 State Department cables… off the network: Paul Lewis, “Bradley Manning Given 35-Year Prison Term for Passing Files to WikiLeaks,” The Guardian, August 21, 2013.
16. raiding the right homes only around 50 percent of the time: Dana Priest and William Arkin, Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State (New York: Little, Brown, 2011).
17. “left to clean up the mess”: Ibid.
18. “former regime elements”: David C. Gompert, Hans Binnendijk, and Bonny Lin, “The Iraq War: Bush’s Biggest Blunder,” Newsweek, December 25, 2014.
19. “a conviction that’s deep in my soul”: Sean Loughlin, “Bush Stands Firm on Iraq, War on Terror,” CNN, April 14, 2004, http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/13/bush.conference/.
20. some twenty-five attacks in Iraq per day: Anthony H. Cordesman, “Iraq: Security Trends,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, November 19, 2009, http://csis.org/files/publication/091118 _IraqSecTrends.pdf.
21. late that year… sixty per day: Ibid.
22. More than 160 US soldiers… following the official handover of power: iCasualties.org, “Iraq Coalition Casualties: Fatalities by Year and Month,” http://icasualties.org/App/Fatalities.
23. US military fatalities in Iraq had passed one thousand: Monica Davey, “For 1,000 Troops, There Is No Going Home,” New York Times, September 9, 2004.
24. nearly 5.5 million Sunnis: Michael Eisenstadt and Jeffrey White, “Assessing Iraq’s Sunni Arab Insurgency,” Washington Institute for Near East Policy, December 2005.
25. more than a million of traditional military age: Ibid.
26. “the prince of Al Qaida in Iraq”: “Purported bin Laden Tape Endorses al-Zarqawi,” CNN, December 27, 2004, http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/27/binladen.tape/.
27. “obey him in his good deeds”: Ibid.
28. Fallujah, a city of three hundred thousand: Alex Rodriguez, “‘Window… Is Closing’ for Fallujah,” Chicago Tribune, November 6, 2004.
29. hundreds of non-Iraqi Arabs moving into the city during that year: Ibid.
30. loads of cash and a militant vision of Islam: Hannah Allam, “In Fallujah, a Backlash Against Foreign Fighters: With Their City Under Siege, Iraqis Are Feeling Betrayed,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 14, 2004.
31. In April, Zarqawi’s men had helped repel a coalition advance: Ibid.
32. Zarqawi’s men were beginning to wear out their welcome: Ibid.
33. longtime residents bristled at the extreme interpretation of religion: Ibid.
34. those accused of spying… were murdered on the spot: Ibid.
35. Iraqi police arrested Umar Baziyani, a former head of Ansar al Islam: Robert Alt, “The Supreme Court Has Rewritten a Well-Established Statute,” National Review, June 29, 2004.
36. Baziyani had the sort of organizational chart we needed: Ibid.
37. Al Qaida in Iraq was in fact headquartered in Fallujah: Ibid.
38. his top deputy, a Syrian named Mahi Shami: Ibid.
39. including his bodyguard and driver: Ibid.
40. Zarqawi had married the daughter of one longtime Palestinian associate: Urs Gehriger and Marwan Shehadeh, “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: In the Network of the Phantom,” Die Weltwoche, October 13, 2005.
41. Zarqawi’s key deputies also married one another’s daughters: Ibid.
42. nine regional operations throughout Iraq: Jonathan Schanzer, “Inside the Zarqawi Network,” Weekly Standard, August 16, 2004, https://www.weeklystandard.com/jonathan-schanzer/inside-the-zarqawi-network.
43. There were seven of those commanders: Ibid.
44. Fallujah, Mosul… and Diyala Provinces: Ibid.
45. as well as in al-Qaim: Ibid.
46. Zarqawi had some fourteen hundred fighters at his disposal: Ibid.
47. the attacks Zarqawi claimed credit for: Jean-Charles Brisard and Damien Martinez, Zarqawi: The New Face of al-Qaeda (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2005).
48. twelve tho
usand US troops stormed Fallujah: Dan Lamothe, “Remembering the Iraq War’s Bloodiest Battle, 10 Years Later,” Washington Post, November 4, 2014.
49. the bloodiest stretch of urban warfare since Vietnam: Liz Sly, “Al-Qaeda Force Captures Fallujah amid Rise in Violence in Iraq,” Washington Post, January 3, 2014.
50. two thousand insurgent and foreign fighters were dead… captured: Timothy S. McWilliams with Nicholas J. Schlosser, U.S. Marines in Battle: Fallujah, November–December 2004 (Quantico, VA: History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2014).
51. More than eighty US troops had been killed: Ibid.
52. some 70 percent of the buildings… destroyed: Dahr Jamail, “Seven Years After Sieges, Fallujah Struggles,” Al Jazeera, January 4, 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/20121210 2823143370.html.
53. including at least one hundred mosques: Ibid.
54. he might have dressed as a woman: Peter R. Mansoor, Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013).
55. strolled through a decimated Al Qaida in Iraq… command center: Jackie Spinner, “Insurgent Base Discovered in Fallujah,” Washington Post, November 19, 2004.
56. A black-and-white banner in Arabic: Ibid.
57. Along with computers: Associated Press, “U.S. Claims Finding Headquarters of al-Zarqawi Group,” November 18, 2004, http://usa today30.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-11-18-iraq_x.htm.
58. notebooks full of fighters’ names: Liz Sly and James Janega, “Suspected al-Zarqawi Base Is Found in Fallujah,” Chicago Tribune, November 19, 2004.
59. ammunition: Ibid.
60. medicine that had been stolen from USAID deliveries: Ibid.
61. letters written by Zarqawi to his lieutenants: Ibid.
62. “there is something there for you”: Ibid.
63. rudimentary drawings of US fighter jets: Spinner, “Insurgent Base Discovered.”
64. a Ford Explorer… converted into a bomb: Ibid.
65. The SUV was registered in Texas: Ibid.
66. Inside a metal-sided warehouse: Daniel P. Bolger, Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).
67. insurgent caches of… artillery rounds: Ibid.
68. a crawl space barricaded with a safe: Bing West, No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah (New York: Bantam, 2005).
69. who’d been abducted… with a pair of French journalists: Ibid.
70. what appeared to be a ramshackle movie studio: Ibid.
71. a glass with ice in it: Ibid.
72. two video cameras… instructions on how to get footage: Ibid.
73. the black-and-green flag of Ansar al-Islam: Ibid.
74. caked in dried blood: Ibid.
75. a pair of simultaneous car bombings: Associated Press, “Timeline: Major Attacks Claimed by Zarqawi and His Followers,” June 8, 2006.
76. a funeral procession in Karbala: Ibid.
77. Najaf’s main bus terminal: Ibid.
78. Sixty people, mostly Iraqi civilians, were killed: Ibid.
79. Abu Omar al-Kurdi: “Iraq Interim Government Announces Capture of ‘Top Zarqawi Ally,’” BBC, January 24, 2005.
80. veteran of various jihadist camps across Afghanistan: Ibid.
81. He was Zarqawi’s headline bomb maker: Ibid.
82. used in both the UN and Najaf bombings: Ibid.
83. hanged by the Iraqi government: Stephen Farrell, “Iraq Hangs Insurgent Who Killed Shiite Leader in Bombing of Shrine in 2003,” New York Times, July 7, 2007.
84. “this lie that is called democracy”: “Purported al-Zarqawi Tape: Democracy a Lie,” CNN, January 23, 2005.
85. “considered enemies of God”: Ibid.
86. “we are relieved from any responsibility”: William Branigin, “Three Top Zarqawi Lieutenants Arrested,” Washington Post, January 28, 2005.
87. More than a dozen small-scale attacks: Anthony Shadid, “Iraqis Defy Threats as Millions Vote,” Washington Post, January 31, 2005.
88. thirty thousand polling stations across Iraq: “Milestone Elections Begin in Iraq,” CNN, January 30, 2005.
89. 14.2 million registered Iraqi voters: Ibid.
90. the senseless ongoing violence: Ibid.
91. On February 20, midafternoon Langley time: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.
92. gave a tip to an Arab-American soldier: Ibid.
93. task force was busy establishing an ambush: Ibid.
94. made preparations to leave the scene altogether: Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008).
95. Zarqawi grabbed his rifle: Peter Beaumont, “Upsurge in Iraq Bloodshed as US Seizes Key Militants,” The Guardian, May 7, 2005.
96. an ammunition clip: Ibid.
97. and a fistful of the cash: Ibid.
98. “What sub-tribe is here?”: Ibid.
99. outside a health clinic in… Hillah: Associated Press, “Timeline: Major Attacks.”
100. More than 125 people were killed: Ibid.
Chapter 13
1. without awareness that they could be tracked: U.S. House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, “FISA Section 702 Debate: Important Facts about FISA Section 702,” January 2018.
2. a gunrunner named Abu Abbas: Andy Geller, “Zarqawi Top Aide Bagged—Hit Plot Foiled,” New York Post, May 9, 2005.
3. responsible for stealing… rockets: Ibid.
4. provided the raw materials Abu Omar al-Kurdi used: Ibid.
5. Abu Talha, AQI’s emir of that city: “U.S. Military: Al Qaeda Leader in Mosul Captured,” CNN, June 18, 2005, http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/16/iraq.main/.
6. had split with Ansar al-Islam: Richard A. Oppel Jr., “U.S. and Iraqi Troops Capture a Top Militant Leader in Mosul,” New York Times, June 17, 2005.
7. as often as once a month: Ibid.
8. a logical successor for the top spot: Bill Roggio, “US Forces Capture Key Zarqawi Commander,” Long War Journal, June 16, 2005, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2005/06/the_demise_of_a.php.
9. Talha oversaw a few hundred fighters: Oppel, “U.S. and Iraqi Troops.”
10. approximately fifty car bombings: Ibid.
11. Talha was a former Republican Guard: Ibid.
12. Talha began wearing a suicide vest: “Coalition, Iraqi Raid Nabs Mosul’s Top al Qaeda Operative,” Department of Defense, DOD News, June 16, 2005.
13. He languished in a cell: Agence France-Presse, “Top Zarqawi Aide Captured in Iraq’s Mosul: US,” June 16, 2005.
14. Qaduli was released from an Iraqi prison in 2012: “Department of Defense Press Briefing by Secretary Carter and General Dunford in the Pentagon Briefing Room,” Department of Defense press release, March 2016.
15. Zarqawi’s men abducted three dozen Iraqi soldiers: Mohammad Barakat, “At Least 17 Bodies Found in Iraqi Desert Town Near Syrian Border,” Associated Press, June 10, 2005.
16. crimes “against Sunnis and their loyalty to crusaders”: Ibid.
17. the killing of… Dhari Ali al-Fayadh: Associated Press, “Slaying of Top Shiite May Stoke Ethnic Tension,” NBC News, June 28, 2005, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8202434/ns/world_news-mideast_n _africa/t/slaying-top-shiite-may-stoke-ethnic-tension/#.Vpa20 PFqeaw.
18. Fayadh’s son and two bodyguards were also killed: Ibid.
19. a 6,300-word letter: David Ensor, “Al Qaeda Letter Called ‘Chilling,’” CNN, October 12, 2005.
20. written by Ayman al-Zawahiri: Ibid.
21. bullet-pointed the organization’s larger plans: Ibid.
22. offered a stinging rebuke to Zarqawi: Ibid.
23. reflects upon Zarqawi’s attacks on the Shia population: “Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, October 11, 2005, http://fas.org/irp/news/2005/10/dni 101105.html.
24. the grisly beheading videos: Ibid.
25. “media battle”: Ibid.
26. “hearts and minds”: Ibid.
27. “on the mausoleum of Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib”: Ibid.
28. “Has any Islamic state in history ever tried that?”: Ibid.
29. “the supporter of the resistance in Iraq”: Ibid.
30. focus first on expelling the Americans from Iraq: Ibid.
31. whatever amount of Sunni territory… controlled: Ibid.
32. gradually extend the reach of that new Islamic “state”: Ibid.
33. bring terror to Israel: Ibid.
34. Sulayman Khalid Darwish: “Syrian National Designated by U.S. as Terrorist Financier,” Bureau of International Information Programs, US Department of State, January 25, 2005, https://wfile.ait.org.tw/wf-archive/2005/050125/epf209.htm.
35. Darwish had trained… at Zarqawi’s camp: Ibid.
36. Sayf al-Adl, Zarqawi’s original champion within al Qaida: Stanley McChrystal, My Share of the Task: A Memoir (New York: Portfolio, 2013).
37. The former dentist: Robert Spencer, “Top Zarqawi Aide Killed in US Attack,” Jihad Watch, June 26, 2005, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2005/06/top-zarqawi-aide-killed-in-us-attack.
38. perfecting document fraud: Sami Moubayed, “Abu al-Ghadia to Build on al-Zarqawi’s Legacy in Iraq,” Terrorism Focus 3 no. 26 (July 9, 2006).
39. a steady supply of fake passports: Ibid.
40. terrorist forces AQI recruited and trained: Greg Bruno, “Profile: Al-Qaeda in Iraq (a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia),” Council on Foreign Relations, November 19, 2007.
41. the US Department of the Treasury froze his assets: “Syrian National Designated by U.S.”
42. add Darwish to the consolidated list of terrorists: Ibid.
43. “fracturing the financial backbone… Al Qaida”: Ibid.
44. At 8:00 p.m. on February 21, 2006: Louise Roug, “The Day Civil War Erupted in Iraq,” Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2007.
45. four men: Ibid.
46. dressed in the signature camouflage… of the Iraqi police: Peter R. Mansoor, Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013).
47. the al-Askari mosque in the ancient Iraqi town of Samarra: Roug, “The Day Civil War Erupted.”
48. an Iraqi police unit kept surveillance over the mosque: Ibid.