by Mark Moyar
continued to fly: David C. Martin and John Wolcott, Best Laid Plans: The Inside Story of America’s War Against Terrorism (New York: Harper and Row, 1988), 18, 34; Vandenbroucke, Perilous Options, 132.
storms had been lost: John E. Valliere, “Disaster at Desert One: Catalyst for Change,” Parameters 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1992): 76; Special Operations Review Group, “Rescue Mission Report,” National Security Archive, George Washington University, http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB63/doc8.pdf, 38–39.
“… bowl of milk”: Paul B. Ryan, The Iranian Rescue Mission: Why It Failed (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1985), 71.
suck it up: Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, 450–451.
nerve among the pilots: James H. Kyle and John R. Eidson, The Guts to Try: The Untold Story of the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission by the On-Scene Desert Commander (New York: Orion, 1990), 287–288.
vulnerability to enemy fire: Vandenbroucke, Perilous Options, 129–130; Special Operations Review Group, “Rescue Mission Report,” 33–34.
“… with his recommendation”: John T. Carney and Benjamin F. Schemmer, No Room for Error: The Covert Operations of America’s Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002), 93; Kyle and Eidson, Guts to Try, 289–293; Gary Sick, All Fall Down: America’s Tragic Encounter with Iran (New York: Random House, 1985), 351.
issue an apology: Beckwith and Knox, Delta Force, 312–314.
“… we let you down”: Carter, Keeping Faith, 529.
“… never to return”: Haney, Inside Delta Force, 207.
assigned staff and forces: Special Operations Review Group, “Rescue Mission Report,” 61.
halfway through the briefing: Sean Naylor, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of the Joint Special Operations Command (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015), 6.
“… say ‘fuck’ to”: Richard Marcinko with John Weisman, Rogue Warrior (New York: Pocket Books, 1992), 190–191.
“… take the troops drinking”: Robert A. Gormley, Combat Swimmer: Memoirs of a Navy SEAL (New York: Dutton, 1998), 176.
bars along the boardwalk: Orr Kelly, Brave Men—Dark Waters: The Untold Story of the Navy SEALS (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1992), 189.
“… too good to fail”: Chuck Pfarrer, SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama (New York: St. Martin’s, 2011), 38.
reprimand for the escapade: Naylor, Relentless Strike, 17.
sent to work at the Pentagon: Gormley, Combat Swimmer, 177–179; Kelly, Brave Men—Dark Waters, 191.
had been scrimshawed: Kelly, Brave Men—Dark Waters, 191–203.
fined him $10,000: John M. Broder, “Ex-SEAL Unit Head Convicted of Fraud,” Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1990; Marcinko with Weisman, Rogue Warrior, 312.
trials of beer swilling: Chuck Pfarrer, Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL (New York: Random House, 2004), 268–270.
“… Marcinko stink on us”: Naylor, Relentless Strike, 48.
“… takes over the presidency of the United States”: William M. LeoGrande, Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 69.
from military rule to liberal democracy: Robert D. Ramsey, Advising Indigenous Forces: American Advisors in Korea, Vietnam, and El Salvador (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006), 85–97; Kalev I. Sepp, The Evolution of United States Military Strategy in Central America, 1979–1991, PhD diss., Harvard University, 2002; Hugh Byrne, El Salvador’s Civil War: A Study of Revolution (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996); Mark Moyar, A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 173–189.
guarding it: Tom Clancy, Carl Stiner, and Tony Koltz, Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces (New York: G. P. Putnam, 2002), 11.
flew into the country: Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, “A History of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne),” October 2001, 8.
“… Air Force delays”: Ibid., 9.
abortive raid: Daniel P. Bolger, “Special Operations and the Grenada Campaign,” Parameters 18, no. 4 (December 1988): 58; Carney and Schemmer, No Room for Error, 146–147.
campus buildings near the airstrip: Mark Adkin, Urgent Fury: The Battle for Grenada (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1989), 204–212; Ronald H. Cole, Operation Urgent Fury (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 1997), 41–42.
two dozen wounded: H. Norman Schwarzkopf, It Doesn’t Take a Hero (New York: Bantam, 1992), 256; Cole, Operation Urgent Fury, 53–54; Carney and Schemmer, No Room for Error, 152; Adkin, Urgent Fury, 278–285.
closed-door session: Kelly, Brave Men—Dark Waters, 213.
separate SOF funding line: James R. Locher III, “Congress to the Rescue: Statutory Creation of USSOCOM,” Air Commando Journal 1, no. 3 (Spring 2012): 33–39; Lenahan, Crippled Eagle, 205–213; Susan Marquis, Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1997), 107–144.
theater search and rescue: Public Law 99-61, November 14, 1986, US Code, US House of Representatives, http://uscode.house.gov/statutes/pl/99/661.pdf.
remainder of the century: John P. Piedmont, Det One: U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Special Operations Command Detachment (Washington, DC: US Marine Corps History Division, 2010), 1–8.
“… build higher”: Lanning, Blood Warriors, 196.
“… setting sail out to sea”: Marquis, Unconventional Warfare, 171.
“… things inside it”: Clancy et al., Shadow Warriors, 221–223.
standard-bearers of the reform movement: Richard W. Potter, interview with author, 2016.
Noriega propaganda: Thomas Donnelly, Margaret Roth, and Caleb Baker, Operation Just Cause: The Storming of Panama (New York: Lexington Books, 1991), 122–130.
as a result of these conversations: United States Special Operations Command History, 1987–2007 (MacDill Air Force Base, FL: USSOCOM, 2007), 41–43.
huddled in his cell’s bathroom: Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, “A History of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne),” 26–27; Kurt Muse and John Gilstrap, Six Minutes to Freedom: How a Band of Heroes Defied a Dictator and Helped Free a Nation (New York: Citadel Press, 2006), 278–285.
pulled a gun on them: Donnelly et al., Operation Just Cause, 208; United States Special Operations Command History, 34–35.
Panamanians capitulated: United States Special Operations Command History, 35.
jars of human organs: Ronald H. Cole, Operation Just Cause: The Planning and Execution of Joint Operations in Panama, February 1988–January 1990 (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 1995), 38; William G. Boykin with Lynn Vincent, Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom (New York: FaithWords, 2008), 211–212.
effort to unsettle him: Per Liljas, “These Five Songs Have All Been Used to Torture People,” Time, October 29, 2013.
interacted effectively with conventional forces: Interviews with veterans of Operation Just Cause, 2015–2016.
deep interest in global politics: Douglas C. Waller, The Commandos: The Inside Story of America’s Secret Soldiers (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), 229–230.
participate in combat operations: Thomas K. Adams, US Special Operations Forces in Action (London: Frank Cass, 1998), 232–237.
trouble and embarrassment: Clancy et al., Shadow Warriors, 408–411; Marquis, Unconventional Warfare, 231.
“… four-star in the theater”: Rick Atkinson, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), 142; Waller, Commandos, 247–250.
foreign conventional forces needed: US Department of Defense, “Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress,” April 1992, Appendix J, 8–9, 28.
operate behind Iraqi lines against the Scuds: Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War: The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf (B
oston: Little, Brown, 1995), 241–242; Atkinson, Crusade, 142–144.
“… They’re going”: Clancy et al., Shadow Warriors, 435–436.
uncaging of JSOC in the desert: Waller, Commandos, 341–350; Naylor, Relentless Strike, 52.
CHAPTER 7: GOTHIC SERPENT
“… might lose the war”: Rick Atkinson, “The Raid That Went Wrong: How an Elite U.S. Force Failed in Somalia,” Washington Post, January 30, 1994.
“Screw you!”: Keni Thomas, Get It On! What It Means to Lead the Way (Nashville: B&H, 2011), 54–61; Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999), 15.
chance of survival: Matt Eversmann, “Operation Gothic Serpent,” in Matt Eversmann and Dan Schilling, eds., The Battle of Mogadishu: First Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger (New York: Presidio, 2004), 15–17.
every day for war wounds: Keith B. Richburg, Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa (New York: Basic Books, 1997), 51.
500,000 Somalis: Robert B. Oakley, “An Envoy’s Perspective,” Joint Force Quarterly, Autumn 1993, 45.
“… chaotic clan war”: “Do It Right in Somalia,” New York Times, December 1, 1992.
“… relieve suffering”: Richburg, Out of America, 59.
from the ports to the country’s interior: John L. Hirsch and Robert B. Oakley, Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace, 1995), 103–104.
“… community of nations”: Jane Boulden, Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001), 60.
participation of conventional forces: Daniel P. Bolger, Savage Peace: Americans at War in the 1990s (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1995), 306.
little support in the US military or Congress: Patrick J. Sloyan, “Mission in Somalia,” Newsday, December 5–9, 1993; David Tucker and Christopher J. Lamb, United States Special Operations Forces (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 120–121.
precautions against capture: Bolger, Savage Peace, 308.
set up its headquarters: Vernon Loeb, “The CIA in Somalia,” Washington Post, February 27, 2000.
“… gonna make general”: Bowden, Black Hawk Down, 24.
Russian roulette: Loeb, “CIA in Somalia.”
mysteriously disappeared: Sloyan, “Mission in Somalia”; Loeb, “CIA in Somalia.”
“… Aidid has been reported”: Atkinson, “The Raid That Went Wrong.”
work for the UN: John Lancaster, “U.S. Raid Was Based on a Tip,” Washington Post, August 31, 1993.
“… can’t shoot straight!”: Sloyan, “Mission in Somalia.”
Aidid’s top men: Loeb, “CIA in Somalia.”
to kill Americans: Thomas, Get It On, 63–73.
lifeless bodies into the dirt: Bowden, Black Hawk Down, 42–43.
barreled across: Thomas, Get It On, 91–93.
“… can’t find us”: Ibid., 106–110.
“… birds to land”: Mike Kurth, “Through My Eyes,” in Matt Eversmann and Dan Schilling, eds., The Battle of Mogadishu: First Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger (New York: Presidio, 2004), 73.
several men would likely die: Kent DeLong and Steven Tuckey, Mogadishu! Heroism and Tragedy (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), 29.
different route: Jeff Struecker with Dean Merrill, The Road to Unafraid: How the Army’s Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage Through “Black Hawk Down” and Beyond (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2006), 101.
vehicles back to their base: Lawrence E. Casper, “Quick Reaction Force, Falcon Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Summary of Combat Operations on 3 October 1993”; Lawrence E. Casper, Falcon Brigade: Combat and Command in Somalia and Haiti (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2001), 44–48; Bolger, Savage Peace, 320–323; Rick Atkinson, “Deliverance from Warlord’s Fury: Rangers Pinned Down in Mogadishu Recall Harrowing Rescue,” Washington Post, October 7, 1993.
Durant’s crash site: Lee A. Rysewyk, “Experiences of Executive Officer from Bravo Company, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and Task Force Ranger During the Battle of the Black Sea on 3–4 October 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia,” US Army Maneuver Center of Excellence Libraries, May 1994, www.benning.army.mil/library/content/Virtual/Donovanpapers/other/STUP5/RysewykLee%20A.%20CPT.pdf.
reliance on diplomacy: John W. Warner and Carl Levin, “Review of the Circumstances Surrounding the Ranger Raid on October 3–4, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia,” United States Senate, Committee on Armed Services, September 29, 1995, 32–36; United States Forces Somalia, After Action Report, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2003), 35–36.
contact with hostile forces: Bowden, Black Hawk Down, 165.
“… ostrich egg”: Michael J. Durant with Steven Hartov, In the Company of Heroes (New York: Putnam, 2003), 29.
“… ever had to make”: William Boykin, Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom (New York: FaithWords, 2008), 271.
Mogadishu at nightfall: Frank Hoffman, “One Decade Later—Debacle in Somalia,” Proceedings 130, no. 1 (January 2004): 69.
started to cry: Kurth, “Through My Eyes,” 104.
“… whipped ass”: Bowden, Black Hawk Down, 299.
stop killing people: Ibid., 311.
2 dead and 22 wounded: Richard W. Stewart, The United States Army in Somalia, 1992–1994 (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2003), 13.
“… open season on Americans”: William J. Clinton, “Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report on Somalia,” October 13, 1993, US Government Publishing Office, Federal Digital System, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1993-book2/pdf/PPP-1993-book2-doc-pg1739.pdf.
value of killing Americans: Benjamin Runkle, Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011), 154–155.
“… day after the fight”: Bowden, Black Hawk Down, 329.
“… pounded their fists”: Struecker, The Road to Unafraid, 137.
to carry out: In early October, some senior administration officials were recommending a shift from hunting for Aidid to a diplomatic solution, but Clinton had never rescinded Task Force Ranger’s orders to hunt down Aidid. He had still been hoping to bag the warlord. Michael R. Gordon and John H. Cushman Jr., “Mission in Somalia: After Supporting Hunt for Aidid, U.S. Is Blaming U.N. for Losses,” New York Times, October 18, 1993; Hirsch and Oakley, Somalia and Operation Restore Hope, 128.
“… not sufficiently attentive”: Gordon and Cushman, “Mission in Somalia.”
micromanage the military: Tucker and Lamb, United States Special Operations Forces, 127.
Aspin fired, too: Sloyan, “Mission in Somalia.”
“… thin-skinned vehicles”: Barton Gellman, “The Words Behind a Deadly Decision,” Washington Post, October 31, 1993.
“… political cowards”: Dan Schilling, “On Friendship and Firefights,” in Matt Eversmann and Dan Schilling, eds., The Battle of Mogadishu: First Hand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger (New York: Presidio, 2004), 165–166.
“… forget about Somalia”: Sloyan, “Mission in Somalia.”
share of promotions: Sean Naylor, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of the Joint Special Operations Command (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015), 60.
similar hot spots: Rowan Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War: The Untold Story of America’s Anti-Terrorist Commander (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2004), 229.
rooftops of Medellín: Mark Bowden, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2001).
wars still to come: Charles T. Cleveland, “Command and Control of the Joint Commission Observer Program, U.S. Army Special Forces in Bosnia,” US Army War College Strategy Research Project, April 2001.
end of the decade: Peter DeShazo, Johanna Mendelson Forman, and Phillip McLean, “Countering Threats to Security and Stability in a Failing State: Lessons from Colombia,” Center for Strategic and Int
ernational Studies, September 2009, http://csis.org/files/publication/090930_DeShazo_CounteringThreats_Web.pdf, 8–9.
became the senior leadership: Mark Moyar, Hector Pagan, and Wil R. Griego, Persistent Engagement in Colombia (Tampa, FL: Joint Special Operations University Press, 2014).
“… emulate them”: Ibid., 54.
“… bite them in Somalia”: Elizabeth Drew, On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994), 322.
CHAPTER 8: REGIME CHANGE
“… anything beyond threats”: Abdul Salam Zaeef, My Life with the Taliban (London: Hurst, 2010), 149–150.
training Kazakh paratroopers: Allan Zullo, Battle Heroes: Voices from Afghanistan (New York: Scholastic, 2010), 5–6.
and other rebel groups: Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (New York : St. Martin’s Press, 2007), 211.
would remain low: Henry A. Crumpton, The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service (New York: Penguin, 2012), 178–193.
in time of national crisis: Bob Woodward, Bush at War (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002), 193–194.
“… when the 101st and the 82nd Airborne arrived”: Max Boot, War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History: 1500 to Today (New York: Gotham, 2006), 355.
who would work for whom: Gary C. Schroen, First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan (Novato, CA: Presidio, 2005), 159–160.
few hundred operators: Yaniv Barzilai, 102 Days of War: How Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Taliban Survived 2001 (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2013), 34–37.
languages of Afghanistan: Charles H. Briscoe, Richard L. Kiper, Kalev I. Sepp, and James A Schroder, Weapon of Choice: ARSOF in Afghanistan (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, 2003), 52, 125–126.
single index card: Doug Stanton, Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan (New York: Scribner, 2009), 195–196.
GPS technology: Steve Call, Danger Close: Tactical Air Controllers in Afghanistan and Iraq (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007), 15–16; Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo, Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field Commander (New York: Crown, 2005), 134–135.
