The world is not facing a clash of civilizations or cultures, but a clash between those who want to build bridges and those who would rather see the world in polarities, who are working hard to spread hatred and divide us. While the work of the bridge builders is certainly difficult, there are people in every generation who live their beliefs and who are willing and able to seek out common ground. I was lucky enough to have the examples of my parents and grandparents to show me what is possible.
Who sets the rules for everyone else? This isn’t just a problem for the Muslim world; it is also a problem for the West. You cannot expect tolerance if you’re not willing to give it to others. The minute somebody says I’m right, you’re wrong, is the minute we give up the space for conversation. This has happened too often. It is still happening.
Over the years, my work had made me a target of various forms of hatred, from Germany, the land of my birth, to Iraq and Pakistan, among Muslims and Christians alike. These days, people expect a reporter to take sides. But that’s not my job. It is difficult to stand in the middle, but I believe losing the ability to listen is far more destructive.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s this: a mother’s screams over the body of her murdered child sound the same, no matter if she is black, brown, or white; Muslim, Jewish, or Christian; Shia or Sunni.
We will all be buried in the same ground.
NOTES
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PROLOGUE: MEETING ISIS
“If the U.S. hits us with flowers”: Anthony Faiola and Souad Mekhennet, “In Turkey, a Late Crackdown on Islamic Fighters,” Washington Post, August 14, 2014.
1: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
on the first day of the Islamic year 1400: Information in these paragraphs for the most part is from Yaroslav Trofimov’s superb The Siege of Mecca: The 1979 Uprising at Islam’s Holiest Shrine (New York: Anchor Books, 2008).
a group of armed religious extremists: “While the [Saudi Interior Ministry] statement did not specify the nationality of the attackers or mention casualties, unconfirmed reports from other Arab sources indicated the invaders were followers of Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and said the takeover resulted in casualties when the attackers clashed with Saudi authorities.” Edward Cody, “Armed Men Seize Mecca’s Great Mosque,” Washington Post, November 21, 1979.
German companies were recruiting workers: The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) concluded various recruitment agreements with: Italy (1955), Spain (1960), Greece (1960), Turkey (1961), Morocco (1963), South Korea (1963), Portugal (1964), Tunisia (1965), and the then Yugoslavia (1968). The number of recruitments decreased during the economic recession of 1966–67 and then came to a complete halt in 1973 due to the economic impact of the oil crisis. The former German Democratic Republic (GDR) employed so-called contract laborers from Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba, Mozambique, Poland, and Angola.
the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich: David Binder, “Munich Police Ordered 5 to Ambush 8 Terrorists,” New York Times, September 8, 1972.
Baader-Meinhof included the children of German intellectuals: Stefan Aust and Anthea Bell, Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the RAF (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
a dynasty of sharifs: “Sharif.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, edited by John L. Esposito, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2173.
some Shia see Aisha more critically: Nabia Abbott, “Women and the State in Early Islam,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 1, no. 1 (1942): 106–26.
They didn’t realize that a quiet battle was beginning: “But with the benefit of hindsight it is painfully clear: the countdown to September 11, to the terrorist bombings in London and Madrid, and to the grisly Islamist violence ravaging Afghanistan and Iraq all began on that warm November morning, in the shade of the Kaaba.” Trofimov, Siege of Mecca, p. 7.
xenophobic riots broke out in Hoyerswerda: Stephen Kinzer, “A Wave of Attacks on Foreigners Stirs Shock in Germany,” New York Times, October 1, 1991.
The attackers called the fire department: Marc Fisher, “2 Neo-Nazis Confess in Death of 3 Turks,” Washington Post, December 2, 1992.
another Turkish guest worker, Durmus Genc: Mevlüde and Durmus Genc emigrated from Turkey in the early 1970s. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, “Hintergrund aktuell: 20 Jahre Brandanschlag in Solingen,” August 25, 2013, http://www.bpb.de/politik/hintergrund-aktuell/161980/brandanschlag-in-solingen-28-05-2013.
Genc’s two daughters and two granddaughters: Terrence Petty, “Five Turks Killed in Arson Attack,” Associated Press, May 29, 1993.
2: THE HAMBURG CELL
Der Spiegel was Germany’s most famous weekly magazine: Christoph Gunkel, “50th Anniversary of the ‘SPIEGEL Affair’: A Watershed Moment for West German Democracy,” Spiegel Online, September 21, 2012.
The case involved five Algerians: Four were convicted in March 2003; the fifth was dropped from the case in August 2002 due to lack of evidence. “Four Convicted of Strasbourg Bomb Plot,” Guardian, March 10, 2003, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/10/germany.france; Peter Finn and Erik Schelzig, “Algerian Accused in Bombing Plot Ejected by Judge; Defendant Disrupts Trial in Germany,” Washington Post, April 17, 2002.
“Hamburg’s Cauldron of Terror”: Peter Finn, “Hamburg’s Cauldron of Terror,” Washington Post, September 11, 2002.
Al-Janabi’s alarming claims: Vice Admiral L. E. Jacoby, Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Info Memo, Subject: CURVEBALL Background, January 14, 2005. National Security Archive, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB534-DIA-Declassified-Sourcebook/documents/DIA-36.pdf.
the Bush administration ignored the warnings: Professor Friedbert Pflüger was interviewed for a public broadcast documentary by the German Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), 2010: “Die Lügen vom Dienst: Der BND und der Irakkrieg” (The Lies of the Service: The BND and the Iraq War), http://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/videos/die-luegen-vom-dienst-der-bnd-und-der-irakkrieg-100.html.
Powell spoke of the “sinister nexus”: Weeks after Powell’s presentation, UN weapons inspectors investigated a facility in Djerf al-Nadaf, Iraq, finding a concrete wall where Curveball reported mobile weapons production trailers would enter and leave the installation. Inspectors found that the wall must have already existed for quite some time, making trailer movement impossible. Only in March 2004 did the CIA gain access to Curveball. He was questioned directly for the first time and confronted with satellite imagery that contradicted his claims about large trailers moving through the facility in Djerf al-Nadaf. The CIA and DIA officially declared Curveball a fabricator. George Tenet later resigned as the director of the CIA.
3: A COUNTRY WITH A DIVIDED SOUL
The historic roots of the religious Sunni-Shia conflict: Heinz Halm, Der Schiitische Islam: Von der Religion zur Revolution (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1994), p. 16.
their own religious practices and sources: The Shia themselves are also divided in subsects, the Shia of the twelve, Ithna Ashariyya, being the biggest. In referring to “Shia” in this book, I generally refer to the practices of the Ithna Ashariyya. Oxford Islamic Studies, “Shii Islam,” accessed November 25, 2016, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2189.
the Americans had arrested him: Vernon Loeb and John Mintz, “Iraqi Who Might Have Met with 9/11 Hijacker Is Captured; New Focus Is Put on Iraq’s Alleged Links to al-Qaeda,” Washington Post, July 9, 2003.
he’d lived in Iran and Syria: “Maliki Gives Up Fight to Remain Iraqi Prime Minister,” Radio Free Europe, August 14, 2014.
Iran continued to provide political, financial, and military support: Kenneth Katzman, “Iran’s Activities and Influence in Iraq,” Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress, June 4, 2009.
Anot
her Post reporter, Kevin Sullivan, joined me: Kevin Sullivan and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “The Doorbell Rang and ‘There They Were’; Hussein Sons Came to House to Hide,” Washington Post, July 24, 2003.
his role as a respected religious leader: Anthony Shadid, “Cleric Mourned by Huge Crowds,” Washington Post, September 1, 2003.
claimed responsibility for the attack: Laura Smith, “Timeline: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Guardian, June 8, 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/08/iraq.alqaida1.
Najaf, one of the holiest places on earth for Shia: Halm, Der Schiitische Islam; Hussain Abdul-Hussain, “Hezbollah: “A State within a State,” Hudson Institute, May 21, 2009, http://www.hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/1312/abdul_hussain_vol8.pdf; August R. Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009); Ian Rutledge, Enemies of the Euphrat: The Battle for Iraq, 1914–1921 (London: Saqi Books, 2015).
one of only three women on the Iraqi Governing Council: Vivienne Walt, “Iraqi Official Dies; Bomb Hits NBC Hotel,” Boston Globe, September 26, 2003.
al-Hashimi had been shot in the stomach and leg: E. A. Torriero and Bill Glauber, “Wounded Official Dies; 8 Soldiers Injured As 2 Bombs Hit Military Convoy,” Chicago Tribune, September 26, 2003.
an explosion at the hotel where the NBC crews stayed: “Bomb Explodes at Baghdad Hotel Housing NBC Offices,” Associated Press, September 25, 2003.
4: A CALL FROM KHALED EL-MASRI
U.S. soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib: “Chronology of Abu Ghraib,” Washington Post, February 17, 2006.
what its leaders called “the shadows”: “Vice President Cheney on NBC’s Meet the Press,” transcript of an interview with Vice President Cheney conducted by Tim Russert, Washington Post, September 16, 2001.
deeply involved in water security issues: He was even once appointed by the UN secretary-general as chairman of the advisory board on water and sanitation (UNSGAB): https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/water/unsgab/board.
“My name is Khaled el-Masri”: “Khaled el-Masri,” The Rendition Project, https://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/khaled-elmasri.html. With links to additional source material.
“They asked a lot of questions”: Don Van Natta Jr. and Souad Mekhennet, “German’s Claim of Kidnapping Brings Investigation of U.S. Link,” New York Times, January 9, 2005.
Al Haramain was an Islamic charity: In June 2008, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHIF) was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury “for having provided financial and material support to al-Qaida, as well as a wide range of designated terrorists and terrorist organizations,” https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1043.aspx. Already in 2004, the Treasury Department designated the U.S.-based branch of AHIF over links to terrorists, https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js1895.aspx. The AHIF later sued the U.S. government for infringing its constitutional rights and won a partial summary judgment. This ruling was reversed on appeal, and the case was dismissed.
the Macedonian authorities turned him over: “He was then transferred by armed officers in plainclothes to the Skopski Merak hotel in Skopje, where he was detained for 23 days, guarded at all hours by rotating shifts of armed Macedonian officers.” “El-Masri v. Macedonia,” Open Society Foundations, last updated January 23, 2013, https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/litigation/el-masri-v-macedonia.
“outside of the legal process”: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (New York: Anchor Books, 2009), p. 102.
Maher Arar, a Canadian born in Syria: “Maher Arar,” The Rendition Project, https://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/arar.html; Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, “Report of the Events Relating to Maher Arar,” September 2006, http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.688875/publication.html; “Rendition to Torture: The Case of Maher Arar,” Joint Hearing of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and the Judiciary, https://fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/arar.pdf.
an Australian man named Mamdouh Habib: “Mamdouh Ahmed Habib,” The Rendition Project, https://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/mamdouh-habib.html; U.S. Department of Defense, “JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment: Mamdouh Habib,” http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/661-mamdouh-ibrahim-ahmed-habib/documents/11.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh and a future 9/11 hijacker, Marwan al-Shehhi: According to the 9/11 Commission Report, it was Binalshib (transliteration used in the report) and Shehhi who were approached by Khalid al-Masri, not Binalshib and Atta. The paragraph reads: “The available evidence indicates that in 1999, Atta, Binalshib, Shehhi, and Jarrah decided to fight in Chechnya against the Russians. According to Binalshib, a chance meeting on a train in Germany caused the group to travel to Afghanistan instead. An individual named Khalid al-Masri approached Binalshib and Shehhi (because they were Arabs with beards, Binalshib thinks) and struck up a conversation about jihad in Chechnya. When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a significant al-Qaeda operative, who, even then, was well known to U.S. and German intelligence, though neither government apparently knew he was operating in Germany in late 1999. When telephoned by Binalshib and Shehhi, Slahi reportedly invited these promising recruits to come see him in Duisburg.” Thomas H. Kean and Lee Hamilton, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Washington, DC: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 2004), p. 165.
recruited to commit the September 11 attacks: Kean and Hamilton, 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 165–66.
When I saw the story online: Van Natta and Mekhennet, “German’s Claim of Kidnapping.”
the Germans publicly admitted that they had mishandled el-Masri’s case: Souad Mekhennet and Craig S. Smith, “German Spy Agency Admits Mishandling Abduction Case,” New York Times, June 2, 2006.
Skopje to Baghdad to Kabul: “No public record states how Mr. Masri was taken to Afghanistan. But flight data shows a Boeing Business Jet operated by Aero Contractors and owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, one of the C.I.A.-linked shell companies, flew from Skopje, Macedonia, to Baghdad and on to Kabul on Jan. 24, 2004, the day after Mr. Masri’s passport was marked with a Macedonian exit stamp.” Scott Shane, Stephen Grey, and Margot Williams, “C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights,” New York Times, May 31, 2005.
The man, Laid Saidi: Craig S. Smith and Souad Mekhennet, “Algerian Tells of Dark Term in US Hands,” New York Times, July 7, 2006; “Laid Saidi,” The Rendition Project, https://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/saidi.html.
“The Director strongly believes that mistakes should be expected”: U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture: Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program (New York: Melville House, 2014), pp. 118–19.
“This Report concludes that there was an insufficient basis”: CIA Office of Inspector General, “Report of Investigation: The Rendition and Detention of German Citizen Khalid al-Masri,” July 16, 2007, https://www.thetorturedatabase.org/document/report-investigation-rendition-and-detention-german-citizen-khalid-al-masri, p. 5.
The unanswered questions were frustrating: Both “Khalid ‘Abd al Razzaq al-Masri” (#98) and “Laid Ben Dohman Saidi” (#57) are on the list of 119 names of people detained by the CIA in the Senate’s report on torture. Khaled el-Masri’s name is still misspelled as Khalid al-Masri in the report. Saidi’s name is bolded as one of those “subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques.” El-Masri’s is not. U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture: Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program
, Appendix 2: CIA Detainees from 2002 to 2006, Errata, February 6, 2015, http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/5/8/5871bb22-f4fb-4ec4-b419-99babb2eca3d/2CE49560261479702BE070249CACE775.errata.pdf.
“People in the West are the last ones in the world”: Souad Mekhennet, “A German Man Held Captive in the CIA’s Secret Prisons Gives First Interview in 8 Years,” Washington Post, September 16, 2015.
5: EVEN IF I DIE TODAY OR TOMORROW
the bombings in Madrid: Victoria Burnett, “Conviction and Key Acquittals End Madrid Bomb Trial,” New York Times, November 1, 2007.
bombs exploded on three underground trains and a bus in London: “Report of the Official Account of the Bombings in London on 7th July 2005,” May 11, 2006, p. 13, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-of-the-official-account-of-the-bombings-in-london-on-7th-july-2005.
A Palestinian born in the West Bank: Justin Salhani, “Forgotten but Not Gone: Fatah al-Islam Still a Factor in Lebanon,” Daily Star (Lebanon), December 6, 2014.
he’d given up his medical studies: Andrew Wander, “Fatah al-Islam Says Leader Was Killed or Captured in Syria,” Daily Star (Lebanon), December 11, 2008.
He later staged attacks on Israel: “Abssi denied accusations by Syrian interior minister Bassam Abdel Majid that the Palestinian militant has been jailed in Syria because of links with al-Qaeda and for planning terrorist attacks. ‘I was jailed in Syria, but not over links with al-Qaeda as he has claimed,’ Abssi said. ‘I was jailed because I was accused of having planned to carry out an operation in the [Syrian] Golan [territory occupied by Israel], as well as of having carried and smuggled arms into Palestine [Israel],’ he said.” “Fatah al-Islam Chief Denies Al-Qaeda Link,” Agence France-Presse, March 16, 2007.
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