The Targeter

by Nada Bakos

  49. carried an array of weaponry: Ibid.

  50. an Iraqi Army battalion was based… down the road: Ibid.

  51. US troops were stationed… military operations center: Ibid.

  52. a nine-foot-high wall: Ibid.

  53. It was supposed to have been locked at 5:00 p.m.: Ibid.

  54. nine security guards hired by Sunni authorities: Ibid.

  55. the four members of AQI overpowered the nine guards: Ibid.

  56. broke through a locked door: Ibid.

  57. just before 7:00 a.m.: Ibid.

  58. Six seconds later, a second explosion: Ibid.

  59. “our 9/11”: Peggy Faw Gish, Walking Through Fire: Iraqis’ Struggle for Justice and Reconciliation (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013).

  60. armed Shias flooded into Baghdad on flatbed trucks: Robert F. Worth, “Blast at Shiite Shrine Sets off Sectarian Fury in Iraq,” New York Times, February 23, 2006.

  61. self-proclaimed Mahdi Army: Ibid.

  62. gruesome torture, often involving power drills: Jeffrey Gettleman, “Bound, Blindfolded and Dead: The Face of Revenge in Baghdad,” New York Times, March 26, 2006.

  63. and promptly executed them: Ellen Knickmeyer and K. I. Ibrahim, “Bombing Shatters Mosque in Iraq,” Washington Post, February 23, 2006.

  64. more than 150 Sunni mosques… bullets: Patrick Cockburn, “Ten Imams Murdered in Iraq as Sectarian Killings Intensify,” The Independent, February 23, 2006.

  65. ten imams being killed: Ibid.

  66. roughly one thousand Iraqis were dead: Associated Press, “Eight Workers Shot Dead at Baghdad Shop,” March 29, 2006, http://usato day30.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-03-29-firm-employees _x.htm.

  67. 2.7 million people would be displaced inside Iraq: Elizabeth Ferris, “Remembering Iraq’s Displaced,” Brookings Institution, March 18, 2013.

  68. two million more would flee for refuge: Ibid.

  69. Operation Larchwood 4: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.

  70. Abu Sayyif: Ibid.

  71. media specialist in the nearby Abu Ghraib regional cell: Ibid.

  72. a doughy English speaker… in his midthirties: Ibid.

  Chapter 14

  1. He was a pediatrician by trade: Stanley McChrystal, My Share of the Task: A Memoir (New York: Portfolio, 2013).

  2. one of the other detainees, identified as Mubassir: Ibid.

  3. an infamous video of Zarqawi wearing a black bandana: “Defiant al-Zarqawi Shows Face on Video,” CNN, April 25, 2006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/04/25/zarqawi/.

  4. standing in a landscape barren and beige: Nelson Hernandez, “Now Playing in Iraq: Zarqawi Outtakes,” Washington Post, May 5, 2006.

  5. a massive M249 squad automatic weapon: Ibid.

  6. It released outtakes from the filming: Ibid.

  7. “we’re going to establish an Islamic caliphate”: Richard A. Oppel Jr. and David S. Cloud, “U.S. Uses Iraq Insurgent’s Own Video to Mock Him,” New York Times, May 5, 2006.

  8. “Go help the sheikh”: Ibid.

  9. “It’s just a matter of time before we take him out”: “U.S. Airs Video of Zarqawi Bloopers,” Washington Times, May 5, 2006.

  10. “and shot him twice in the head”: Associated Press, “Deadly Attacks Include Mosque,” Tampa Bay Times, May 24, 2006.

  11. Rahman’s existence wasn’t news to our team back at the Agency: Brian Fishman, “The Man Who Could Have Stopped the Islamic State,” Foreign Policy, November 23, 2016.

  12. Zarqawi’s newest spiritual adviser: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.

  13. Mubassir broke: Ibid.

  14. Only when Rahman got into a small blue vehicle: Ibid.

  15. nine Iraqis were killed and forty-four wounded: Richard A. Oppel Jr., “In Image War, U.S. Shows Video of Bumbling Zarqawi,” New York Times, May 4, 2006.

  16. was moving at a frenetic pace, assaulting house after house: “Killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and His Legacy: A Discussion with General Stanley A. McChrystal,” Brookings Institution, January 28, 2013.

  17. “I could almost smell those pancakes”: Eli Lake, “Secret Weapons,” Newsweek, September 17, 2012.

  18. a 1953 report: Panel on Career Service for Women, “Career Employment of Women in the Central Intelligence Agency,” November 1953, http://www.foia.cia.gov/typisttrailblazer/pdfs/1953-11-01a.pdf.

  19. “at your operational inconvenience”: Ibid.

  20. “and they are out of the running”: Tasneem Raja, “The Secret History of CIA Women,” Mother Jones, November 4, 2013.

  21. Those task forces are overseen by the FBI: “Support to the War on Terrorism and Homeland Security,” CIA 2002 annual report, updated January 3, 2012, https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/archived-reports-1/Ann_Rpt_2002/swtandhs.html.

  22. “calling for national unity”: Joel Roberts, “Zarqawi Calls for Civil War in Iraq,” CBS News, June 3, 2006.

  23. Midmorning Baghdad time on June 7: McChrystal, My Share of the Task, chap. 13, “Hibhib.”

  24. Rahman… was spotted climbing into a silver sedan: Ibid.

  25. He headed off into Baghdad: Ibid.

  26. the sedan wound its way through various neighborhoods: Ibid.

  27. then turned back to its starting point: Ibid.

  28. the sedan bolted east across Baghdad: Ibid.

  29. merged onto a six-lane highway running… Diyala Province: Ibid.

  30. Rahman’s car slowed… highway’s shoulder: Ibid.

  31. a stubby blue Kia Bongo pulled up beside him: Ibid.

  32. Rahman climbed into the passenger side: Ibid.

  33. finally reaching Baquba: Ibid.

  34. the truck pulled up outside… a restaurant: Ibid.

  35. Rahman exited the vehicle and entered the building: Ibid.

  36. a white pickup with a red stripe on the side: Ibid.

  37. Rahman emerged from the building… pickup: Ibid.

  38. no fewer than nine surveillance aircraft were orbiting the area: Ibid.

  39. now merging onto Route 5 and heading west: Ibid.

  40. entered the small town of Hibhib: Ibid.

  41. the pickup turned right again into the driveway: Ibid.

  42. walked down the driveway to meet them: Ibid.

  43. “So I’m saying absolutely—whack it”: Ibid.

  44. a man emerging from the shadows outside the home: Ibid.

  45. they were armed in case of contingencies: Ibid.

  46. immediately engage the safe house: Ibid.

  47. one of those planes… midair refueling: Ibid.

  48. was ordered… leave his wingman: Ibid.

  49. At 6:11 p.m.: Ibid.

  50. and then pulled up without releasing a bomb: Ibid.

  51. he locked onto the target… weapon: Ibid.

  52. just after 6:12 p.m.: Ibid.

  53. the F-16 was ordered to double back: Ibid.

  54. GPS-enabled GBU-38: Ibid.

  55. “to ensure the target set was serviced appropriately”: Craig Gordon, “Death of a Terrorist Leader / How Aide’s Betrayal Doomed al-Zarqawi,” Newsday, June 9, 2006.

  56. Iraqi police stationed nearby arrived on the scene: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.

  57. who arrived… 6:40 p.m.: Ibid.

  58. Police officers were struggling to hoist a stretcher: Ibid.

  59. closed in on the ambulance: Ibid.

  60. The Jordanian had actually survived the bombing: Ibid.

  61. burst the blood vessels in his lungs and ears: Joshua Partlow and Michael Abramowitz, “Officials Detail Zarqawi’s Last Hour,” Washington Post, June 13, 2006.

  62. broken right leg and massive internal injuries: Ibid.

  63. team members found the remains… girl: Ibid.

  64. those of Rahman and another man: Ibid.

  65. At 7:04 p.m.: McChrystal, My Share of the Task.

  66. “turn the tide of this struggle”: “Statement by the President on Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” White House archives, June 8, 2006,
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060608.html.

  67. laid Zarqawi’s body… next to Rahman’s: McChrystal, My Share of The Task.

  68. the “godfather” of sectarian violence in Iraq: “Terrorist Leader Zarqawi’s Death Called ‘Severe Blow’ to al-Qaida,” Bureau of International Information Programs, US Department of State, June 8, 2006.

  69. “this is an honor for our nation”: John F. Burns, “After Long Hunt, U.S. Bombs Al Qaeda Leader in Iraq,” New York Times, June 9, 2006.

  70. “the word of God will be supreme”: Associated Press, “Al-Qaida in Iraq’s al-Zarqawi ‘Terminated,’” June 8, 2006.

  71. “His death will re-ignite yet another wave of revenge”: “Beheaded Man’s Father: Revenge Breeds Revenge,” CNN, June 8, 2006, http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/08/berg.interview/.

  72. roughly thirty-five thousand civilians were murdered in Iraq: Project Ploughshares, “Armed Conflicts Report: Iraq (2003—First Combat Deaths),” http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/02/25/Iraq.pdf.

  73. the bloodiest twelve-month stretch… for them: Gordon Lubold, “2006 Was Deadliest Year for U.S. Troops in Iraq,” Army Times, January 5, 2007.

  74. “Whenever there is a new al-Zarqawi, we will kill him”: Associated Press, “Al-Qaida in Iraq’s al-Zarqawi.”

  75. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross: Greg Jaffe, “Combat Generation: Drone Operators Climb on Winds of Change in the Air Force,” Washington Post, February 28, 2010.

  76. Two members… received the Bronze Star Medal from McChrystal: McChrystal, My Share of the Task, chap. 13, “Hibhib.”

  Epilogue

  1. The findings… were at times ghastly: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, “Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” December 9, 2014, https://www.congress.gov/113/crpt/srpt288/CRPT-113 srpt288.pdf.

  2. extensive waterboarding: Greg Miller, Adam Goldman, and Julie Tate, “Senate Report on CIA Program Details Brutality, Dishonesty,” Washington Post, December 9, 2014.

  3. mock executions: Jeremy Diamond, “Top Takeaways from the CIA Torture Report,” CNN, December 9, 2014.

  4. “rectal feeding”: Alan Yuhas, “Controversial ‘Rectal Feeding’ Technique Used to Control Detainees’ Behavior,” The Guardian, December 9, 2014.

  5. no clear actionable intelligence gained from torture: Brian Bennett, “Senate Report Says CIA Torture Methods Yielded No Useful Intelligence,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2014.

  6. East Coast media were already in high dudgeon: Miller et al., “Senate Report on CIA Program.”

  7. read the New York Times: Mark Mazzetti, “Panel Faults C.I.A. Over Brutality and Deceit in Terrorism Interrogations,” New York Times, December 9, 2014.

  8. “how forthcoming he was”: Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study.”

  9. a panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations: “CFR and HBO Screening of the New HBO Documentary Manhunt,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 16, 2013, http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-leaders/cfr-hbo-screening-new-hbo-documentary-manhunt/p35447.

  10. a story I’d read on Rudaw: Wladimir van Wilgenburg, “Kurds of Iraq Played Major Role in Finding bin Laden,” Rudaw, September 5, 2011, http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/3665.html.

  11. divulged more useful information at a black site: Eyder Peralta, “‘Torture Report’: Did Harsh Interrogations Help Find Osama Bin Laden?” National Public Radio, December 9, 2014.

  12. nearly one in five Iraq veterans suffers from PTSD: Terri Tanielian and Lisa H. Jaycox, eds., “Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery,” RAND Corporation, April 17, 2008.

  13. have been diagnosed with PTSD: Jamie Reno, “Nearly 30% of Vets Treated by V.A. Have PTSD,” Daily Beast, October 21, 2012.

  14. only 35 percent: Kristina Wong, “Study: Most Troops Don’t Seek Military Help with PTSD,” Washington Times, May 8, 2012.

  15. Abu Ayyub al-Masri: Eben Kaplan, “Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, Zarqawi’s Mysterious Successor (aka Abu Ayub al-Masri),” Council on Foreign Relations, June 13, 2006, http://www.cfr.org/iraq/abu-hamza-al-muhajir-zarqawis-mysterious-successor-aka-abu-ayub-al-masri/p10894.

  16. an Egyptian cohort of Zarqawi’s: Ibid.

  17. trained in al Qaida terrorist camps in Afghanistan: Ibid.

  18. a bit of bomb-making experience: Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Identifies Successor to Zarqawi,” New York Times, June 15, 2006.

  19. ability to shuttle foreign fighters: Ibid.

  20. a familiarity with the various extremist groups: Ibid.

  21. masterminding the July 7, 2005, attacks: Kevin Sullivan, “5 British Men Guilty in Foiled Bombing Plot,” Washington Post, May 1, 2007.

  22. He’s still there today: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, “Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” December 9, 2014, https://www.congress.gov/113/crpt/srpt288/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf.

  23. Masri changed AQI’s name: Stanford University, “Mapping Militant Organizations: The Islamic State,” https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/1.

  24. He appointed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: Khalid al-Ansary, “Iraqis Say Qaeda Deaths Will Not Improve Their Lives,” Reuters, April 20, 2010.

  25. killed them both: Ibid.

  26. “likely living in [the] Peshawar area”: Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study.”

  27. “security apparatus would be minimal”: Ibid.

  28. “with a family somewhere in Pakistan”: Ibid.

  29. “always with Abu Ahmed”: Ibid.

  30. A phone number for the Pakistani courier: Ibid.

  31. had been collected by the CIA two years earlier: Ibid.

  32. An e-mail address: Ibid.

  33. six months after that: Ibid.

  34. in the address books… operatives: Ibid.

  35. deeply uncertain about his importance: “Did Enhanced Interrogation Help the CIA Find Osama Bin Laden?” CBS News, December 10, 2014, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/did-enhanced-interrogation-help-the-cia-find-osama-bin-laden/.

  36. “his true role… in the hunt for bin Laden”: Ibid.

  37. “closest assistant”: Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study.”

  38. “likely handled all of [bin Ladin’s] needs”: Ibid.

  39. Ghul described… letters from bin Ladin: CIA review team, “Comments on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Former Detention and Interrogation Program,” June 27, 2013.

  40. insisted that the courier had “retired” from al Qaida: Select Committee on Intelligence, “Committee Study.”

  41. “our belief that Abu Ahmad… courier or facilitator”: Ibid.

  42. “the long analytic targeting trek that led to Bin Ladin”: Ibid.

  43. “no success in eliciting… bin Ladin’s location”: Ibid.

  44. walls as high as fifteen feet: Issam Ahmed, “Osama bin Laden’s Compound: 4 Oddities,” Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2011.

  45. no Internet connection or phone line: Bob Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden: Phone Call Pointed U.S. to Compound—and to ‘the Pacer,’” Washington Post, May 6, 2011.

  46. cell-phone calls were taken well away from the property: Ibid.

  47. burning their trash in the yard: Gloria Borger, “Attack on Osama bin Laden Was Years in the Making,” CNN, May 4, 2011.

  48. a mysterious third family… top floors: Mark Bowden, “The Death of Osama bin Laden: How the US Finally Got Its Man,” The Guardian, October 12, 2012.

  49. Agency analysts referred to him simply as “the pacer”: Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden.”

  50. “I’m with the same ones as before”: Bowden, “The Death of Osama bin Laden.”

  51. “the notion that we have any greate
r certainty than that”: Ibid.

  52. Shortly after midnight Abbottabad time: Macon Phillips, “Osama Bin Laden Dead,” White House blog, May 2, 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-dead.

  53. President Bush authorized… additional forces to Iraq: Tom Bowman, “As the Iraq War Ends, Reassessing the U.S. Surge,” All Things Considered, December 16, 2011.

  54. “It was won. The victory was there”: Ian Schwartz, “Fireworks: McCain vs. Carney on Iraq: ‘It’s Not a Matter of Disagreement; It’s a Matter of Facts,’” RealClearPolitics, September 10, 2014, http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/09/10/fireworks_mccain_vs_carney _on_iraq_its_not_a_matter_of_disagreement_its_a_matter_of _facts.html.

  55. arrested some five thousand people during the summer of 2007: Walter Pincus, “‘Surge’ Has Led to More Detainees,” Washington Post, August 15, 2007.

  56. brought the total number of detainees… twenty-three thousand: Ibid.

  57. finishing a doctoral degree in Quranic studies: William McCants, “The Believer: How an Introvert with a Passion for Religion and Soccer Became Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Leader of the Islamic State,” Brookings Institution, September 1, 2015.

  58. held by US forces at Camp Bucca: Ibid.

  59. “we had created a pressure cooker for extremism”: Terrence McCoy, “How the Islamic State Evolved in an American Prison,” Washington Post, November 4, 2014.

  60. “what the conditions were at the facility during that time”: Jenna McLaughlin, “Was Iraq’s Top Terrorist Radicalized at a US-Run Prison?” Mother Jones, July 11, 2014.

  61. “the Academy”: McCants, “The Believer.”

  62. “they were ticking time bombs”: Ali Hashem, “The Many Names of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” Al-Monitor, March 23, 2015.

  63. “so he leaves a burning flame”: McCants, “The Believer.”

  64. Baghdadi reportedly connected… joined al Qaida: Ibid.

  65. from Damascus Baghdadi helped oversee… propaganda mill: Ibid.

  66. he was selected by the group’s senior consultative cousel: Ibid.

  67. fellow radicalized inmates… Camp Bucca: Ibid.

  68. rename his network… ISIS: Ibid.

  69. “as they feel imminent danger”: “Zarqawi Letter,” US Department of State press release, http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/nea/rls/31694.htm.