The Longest War
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Abu Musab al-Suri, seen here in an instructional videotape made before 9/11 in which he criticized the existing hierarchical and bureaucratic nature of al-Qaeda and instead advocated for a less centralized jihadist movement. Photo courtesy of Peter Bergen.
The academic Laurie Mylroie, taken in 2002. Her erroneous claims of Saddam Hussein’s sponsorship of anti-American terrorism were influential among top Bush administration officials and provided part of the rationale for the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Photo courtesy of WANGO.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the thuggish leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, shows his face publicly for the first time in this video in March 2006. A few weeks later he would be killed in an American airstrike. Department of Defense.
Vice President Dick Cheney, left, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, center, and Iraq adviser Meghan O’Sullivan, second right, listen to President Bush discuss the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on June 8, 2006. Hadley and O’Sullivan played a critical role in developing the “surge” strategy in Iraq. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images.
On the sixth anniversary of September 11, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about conditions there. Then-Senator Hillary Clinton told the general his report required a “willing suspension of disbelief.” Carol T. Powers/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returns home to Pakistan triumphantly from eight years of exile on October 18, 2007. Two months later she would be assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban. Daniel Berehulak/Getty.
Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban who ordered Bhutto’s assassination. In August 2009 he would die in a U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan. A Majeed/AFP/Getty.
President Barack Obama meets with his national security team to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room of the White House on Nov. 11, 2009. During this meeting, Obama instructed the U.S. military to come up with a timetable to surge troops into Afghanistan more quickly than the Pentagon had planned. White House photo by Pete Souza.