The Black Banners

by Soufan, Ali H.

  Steve Bongardt: FBI special agent and member of the I-49 squad who was my co–case agent during the USS Cole bombing investigation. He tried to challenge the CIA’s refusal to share information with the FBI pre-9/11—information that may have stopped the attacks—but he was repeatedly told to “stand down.”

  Mike Butsch: FBI special agent assigned to the 9/11 investigation and tasked with tracking down Ramzi Binalshibh. With [18 words redacted].

  Jack Cloonan: FBI special agent and member of the I-49 squad whom I worked alongside in many cases, including the recruitment of L’Houssaine Kherchtou.

  Daniel Coleman: Senior FBI agent and I-49 squad member. He opened the FBI’s case on bin Laden in 1996 and was an FBI expert on the al-Qaeda leader. He played a key role in many high-profile investigations.

  Dina Corsi: FBI analyst who worked with the CIA. On June 11, 2001, together with a CIA official and another analyst assigned to the CIA, she met Steve Bongardt and other members of the FBI’s USS Cole team and showed them three photos. She told them that one of the men in the pictures was named Khalid al-Mihdhar. Only the CIA official knew more than that, but he wouldn’t say anything. After 9/11 we learned that those pictures were from al-Qaeda’s 9/11 planning summit in Malaysia. If the CIA official had told us what he knew then, we might have stopped 9/11.

  George Crouch: FBI special agent from the I-49 squad who was a member of the USS Cole investigation team. We conducted several interrogations together after the Cole investigation, including that of Salim Hamdan, bin Laden’s driver and confidant, at Guantánamo in 2002.

  Pat D’Amuro: The assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism when I joined the bureau, he was my boss through my most important cases—the Millennium Operation in Jordan, Operation Challenge in the UK, the USS Cole bombing, the 9/11 investigation—and during key interrogations in Guantánamo and elsewhere. He fully supported my decision to object to the introduction of coercive interrogation techniques.

  Ahmed al-Darbi (alias Abdul Aziz al-Janoubi): Al-Qaeda operative who was the son-in-law of Ahmed al-Hada and a close friend and brother-in-law of 9/11 hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar. He and Mihdhar were in same combat class in Afghanistan, and it was from this class that Mihdhar was selected for the 9/11 operation. Darbi rose through al-Qaeda’s ranks to become a deputy of Abdul Rahim al-Nashiri. He was eventually captured in 2002 while visiting his mistress in Azerbaijan, and information gained from him by an FBI colleague led to the arrest of Ramzi Binalshibh, [1 word redacted], and [1 word redacted] other al-Qaeda operatives on September 11, 2002. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  Tom Donlon: Senior FBI official and the case agent in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was the supervisor of the I-40 squad, which focused on Sunni extremists, when I joined the FBI, and he encouraged me to write and circulate memos on bin Laden and al-Qaeda. It was one of these memos that attracted the attention of John O’Neill. Donlon was on a thirty-day rotation in Yemen, as a supervisor of the USS Cole investigation, when we received the news about 9/11.

  Kevin Donovan: Senior FBI official who did a thirty-day rotation in Yemen as part of the USS Cole investigation. Later he was promoted to assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office.

  Debbie Doran: FBI special agent on the I-49 squad; from a family of FBI agents. She played an important role in many operations. These included the 1998 East Africa embassy bombing investigation, the recruitment of L’Houssaine Kherchtou, and the DocEx program.

  Maj. Gen. Michael E. Dunlavey: Commander of Joint Task Force 170 at Guantánamo; responsible for military interrogations from the opening of the base until November 8, 2002, when he was replaced in command by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller. Many FBI and military personnel were critical of his leadership and attitude toward detainees, although my interactions with him on the whole were positive.

  Ed (not his real name): CIA interrogator whom I first met in Yemen while investigating the USS Cole bombing. We worked together during [5 words redacted], and later we partnered a few times at Guantánamo. He was unhappy with the coercive interrogation techniques the CIA contractors were using on Abu Zubaydah, and demanded that his superiors provide in writing orders that he go along with the contractors.

  Joe Ennis: FBI special agent nicknamed “Alabama Joe” because of his pride in his roots; he joined us in Yemen during the USS Cole investigation. The material witness warrant for Jose Padilla was issued based on an affidavit sworn to by him.

  Jamal al-Fadl (alias Abu Bakr Sudani): Nicknamed “Junior” within U.S. government circles, he was an early al-Qaeda member who served as bin Laden’s secretary before turning himself over to the United States in 1996 after getting caught stealing $110,000 from al-Qaeda. The information he gave us was central to our understanding of how the organization operated and evolved up till 1996, and he also became a key witness in subsequent trials against al-Qaeda members. He is in the U.S. Witness Protection Program.

  Khalid al-Fawwaz: A trusted bin Laden lieutenant who first led al-Qaeda’s cell in Nairobi; once it was operational he went to London to run al-Qaeda’s operations there, focusing on logistics and public relations. In 1999 I helped the British build a case against Fawwaz and other members of the al-Qaeda–Egyptian Islamic Jihad cell in London. We won the case. Fawwaz is still awaiting extradition to the United States.

  Harun Fazul (alias of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed; known mainly as Harun; another alias is Yaqoub al-Dusari): Al-Qaeda operative who served as Wadih el-Hage’s secretary in Nairobi and helped investigate the drowning of Abu Ubaidah. He also helped plan and execute the 1998 East African embassy bombings, and often wrote reports for al-Qaeda leaders. He ran al-Qaeda operations in the Horn of Africa until his death, on June 10, 2011.

  Carlos Fernandez: FBI special agent whom I served alongside in many operations.

  Patrick Fitzgerald: Worked closely with the FBI when he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York. He played a central role in gaining the cooperation of several al-Qaeda members, including Mohamed al-Owhali and L’Houssaine Kherchtou, and I worked closely with him on operations in London, Italy, and Yemen. He also successfully prosecuted many terrorists, including Omar Abdul Rahman, and al-Qaeda members involved in the 1998 East African embassy bombings.

  Fred (not his real name): CIA official who wrote faulty cables during the Millennium Operation in Jordan that had to be withdrawn, and who tried disrupting George Crouch’s successful interrogation of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Liby. Some of his other errors are discussed in the CIA inspector general’s report on the CIA’s coercive interrogation program.

  Louis Freeh: Director of the FBI from September 1993 to June 2001. Aware of problems we were having during the Cole investigation, he flew to Yemen to speak to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an effort that greatly helped us.

  Stephen Gaudin: FBI special agent who was my partner in [4 words redacted]. [19 words redacted] During the 1998 East African embassy bombing investigation, he helped gain the confession of Mohamed al-Owhali, and after 9/11 he served as the FBI Legat in Yemen.

  Ahmed al-Hada: Yemeni al-Qaeda member whose son Jaffar and sons-in-law Ahmed al-Darbi and Khalid al-Mihdhar (one of the 9/11 hijackers) also belonged to the organization. During the 1998 East African embassy bombing investigation, we discovered that his phone number in Yemen served as a virtual switchboard for al-Qaeda. The Yemenis only let us question him after 9/11; the interrogation was conducted by Bob McFadden, Andre Khoury, and me.

  Wadih el-Hage: Lebanese al-Qaeda member who moved to the United States (and became a citizen) and was inspired by Abdullah Azzam to join the mujahideen. After the Soviet jihad he worked for bin Laden as his secretary, and in Nairobi he replaced Khalid al-Fawwaz (who had been sent by bin Laden to London). El-Hage was later arrested and sentenced to life in prison in the United States for his role in the 1998 East African embassy bombings.

  Hambali: Commonly used name of Riduan Isamuddin, a commander of the Southeast Asian terrorist grou
p Jemaah Islamiah with responsibility for Singapore and Malaysia. A disciple of Abdullah Sungkar, he was sent by him in 1996 to train in Afghanistan, where he built a relationship with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Through KSM he pledged allegiance to bin Laden and was central to cementing the relationship between al-Qaeda and JI. On August 11, 2003, he was arrested by Thailand’s Special Branch. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  Salim Hamdan (alias Saqr al-Jadawi): Al-Qaeda member who joined the organization as part of the Northern Group in 1996. He is the brother-in-law of Abu Jandal, and served as bin Laden’s driver and confidant. I interrogated him at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with George Crouch, and gained his confession and cooperation. Without our knowledge, or that of assistant U.S. attorney David Kelley, who was prosecuting the case, Hamdan was labeled an enemy combatant by the Bush administration and barred from cooperating with us anymore. I served as the main witness in his eventual trial. He was convicted, but because of the mishandling of the case by the Bush administration (the enemy combatant label), he was sentenced to only five and a half years in prison. Based on time served, he was released after only a few months in prison. Today he is free in Yemen.

  Mustafa al-Hawsawi: Al-Qaeda financial operative who worked with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s nephew Ammar al-Baluchi in helping to coordinate the 9/11 hijackers’ travel and money. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  John Helgerson: Inspector general of the CIA who investigated the agency’s coercive interrogation program after receiving complaints from CIA professionals unhappy with what was being done, and whose report was very critical of the program.

  Edmund Hull: Barbara Bodine’s replacement as ambassador to Yemen; served there from 2001 to 2004.

  Ibn al-Shaykh al-Liby: An independent terrorist who worked closely with al-Qaeda, he was the internal emir of the Khaldan training camp—Abu Zubaydah’s partner. After his capture he was interrogated by George Crouch and another FBI colleague, and provided actionable intelligence. He was taken away from the FBI and rendered by the CIA to another country, where he was tortured and forced to admit to false connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam. His “confession” was used by Bush administration officials to build its case for war with Iraq. He was later transferred to Libya, where he was put in prison and died under suspicious circumstances.

  Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi: One of al-Qaeda’s military commanders. A member of the shura council, after 9/11 he was appointed commander of all the Arabs in Afghanistan. In April 2007 it was reported that he had been arrested. The exact date of the arrest is unclear. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  Kenneth Karas: We worked together when he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York, gaining the conviction in the UK of members of the al-Qaeda–Egyptian Islamic Jihad cell in London. He is a federal judge.

  [70 words redacted]

  David Kelley: We worked closely together on many operations while he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York, including during the USS Cole investigation and while building a case against Salim Hamdan. He later became the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York but still continued to personally oversee the USS Cole case.

  Khallad (alias of Walid bin Attash; other aliases: “Silver,” Saleh Saeed Mohammed, Sa’eed bin Saleh bin Yousaf, Tawfiq Muhammad Salih bin Rashid, and Saleh bin Saeed bin Yousef): Senior al-Qaeda operative from a family of al-Qaeda members, including older brother Muhannad and younger brothers al-Bara, [1 word redacted], and Moaz. He joined al-Qaeda with the Northern Group, lost a leg in 1997—at Murad Beg, where his brother Muhannad was killed—and rose up through the organization to become a key bin Laden aide. He helped plan major attacks, including the bombing of the USS Cole and 9/11. The failure of the CIA to share information that the FBI requested during the Cole investigation prevented us from following his trail and possibly stopping the 9/11 attacks. He headed al-Qaeda operations in the Arabian Gulf after the November 2002 arrest of Nashiri, and he himself was arrested, by chance, in April 29, 2003, alongside Ammar al-Baluchi, by Pakistani police. [9 words redacted] and the FBI was not given access to him. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  Hassan al-Khamiri (alias Abu Yousef al-Ta’efi): Yemeni al-Qaeda member who was the emir of the al-Farouq training camp in Afghanistan until it was hit by U.S. missiles in response to the East African embassy bombings. That experience, along with his arrest in Yemen during the Bayt Habra car theft incident, pushed him to request a martyrdom operation from bin Laden. He was a suicide bomber, alongside Ibrahim al-Nibras, in the October 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole.

  L’Houssaine Kherchtou (alias Mzungu): Early al-Qaeda member who served as bin Laden’s personal pilot and ran errands for the group. In Morocco Pat Fitzgerald, Jack Cloonan, Debbie Doran, and I convinced him to become a U.S. government asset and witness, and on September 21, 1999, he flew with us to the United States. Nicknamed “Joe the Moroccan,” he helped us understand al-Qaeda—picking up where Jamal al-Fadl left off (his knowledge stopped in 1996, when he defected)—and became a key prosecution witness in the trials of al-Qaeda members. He is in the U.S. Witness Protection Program.

  Andre Khoury: FBI special agent whom I worked alongside in Yemen during the USS Cole investigation and in operations after 9/11. We interrogated several al-Qaeda members together, including Ahmed al-Hada.

  Anas al-Liby (alias of Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Ruqai’i): Senior al-Qaeda operative and computer expert whose involvement in terrorist plots included casing the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in preparation for the 1998 bombing. We tracked him down to Manchester, England, but because of a lack of immediate evidence and British rules on holding suspects, he was released and escaped. Later, among his possessions, I found what became known as the Manchester Manual—an al-Qaeda handbook full of lessons for terrorist operatives. This manual was later translated into English and misunderstood by CIA contractors and used to justify their use of coercive interrogation techniques. In reality these techniques played into al-Qaeda’s tactics as outlined in the manual.

  Mu’awiya al-Madani: Al-Qaeda operative who was a bodyguard for bin Laden and whom the al-Qaeda leader wanted to use as a suicide bomber for the USS Cole (in the end, he wasn’t used). I uncovered his martyrdom video in the DocEx program. He died in the May 12, 2003, al-Qaeda attack on the residential compounds in Riyadh.

  Major Mahmoud (not his real name): Yemeni investigator whom we worked closely with during the USS Cole investigation and on investigations after 9/11.

  Abu al-Khair al-Masri: Egyptian Islamic Jihad shura council member and a close associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri; joined al-Qaeda’s shura council following the March 2001 official merger of the two groups.

  Sheikh Sa’eed al-Masri: Al-Qaeda shura council member who ranked just below Madani al-Tayyib on the financial committee, and who took over from him after he left the group. He refused to give L’Houssaine Kherchtou the $500 he needed to pay for his wife’s Cesarean section. He was killed by a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan in May 2010.

  Ahmed Shah Massoud: Leader of the Northern Alliance who played a major role in defeating the Soviets and who was seen as the best hope for defeating the Taliban. He was assassinated by al-Qaeda on September 9, 2001, as a gift to the Taliban—helping to cement the relationship between the two groups.

  Barry Mawn: Assistant director in charge of the New York office of the FBI during the USS Cole investigation.

  Robert (Bob) McFadden: A Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent who served as my partner during the investigation into the USS Cole bombing and in several subsequent investigations. Among the very successful interrogations we partnered in was that of Abu Jandal.

  Khalid al-Mihdhar (alias Sinan al-Maki): One of the 9/11 hijackers, he was on American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon. The son-in-law of Ahmed al-Hada and the brother-in-law of Ahmed al-Darbi, he was identified by the 9/11 Commission and the CIA’s inspector general as the weakest link in t
he 9/11 plot. Both concluded that if the CIA had shared information about him with the FBI, as legally required and as the FBI had asked, 9/11 might have been averted.

  Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller: On November 8, 2002, he replaced Maj. Gen. Michael E. Dunlavey and took control of Guantánamo. He refused to listen to the professional interrogators at the base and instead allowed coercive interrogation techniques to be used. On August 31, 2003, he flew to Iraq to advise those running the Baghdad prison Abu Ghraib.

  Ali Mohamed: An al-Qaeda–EIJ double agent who served in the U.S. Army in the 1980s while also training terrorist operatives and helping plan attacks. Before joining Zawahiri’s EIJ, he had a seventeen-year career in the Egyptian military. He was part of the cell that cased the Nairobi embassy in preparation for the August 7, 1998, bombing. He was arrested by the United States in September in connection with the bombing and pleaded guilty in May 1999. He is awaiting sentencing.

  Binyam Mohamed (alias Talha): Al-Qaeda operative who plotted with Jose Padilla to attack the United States with a dirty bomb. Traveling on a fake British passport, he was arrested in Pakistan and was handed over to the CIA and taken to Guantánamo. He was never tried and is today a free man in the UK.

  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (nickname: KSM; alias Mokhtar): 9/11 mastermind; uncle of the 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and co-planner, with him, of the thwarted Manila Air (or Bojinka) plot. Originally an independent terrorist, he joined al-Qaeda to make use of its organization, operatives, and funds in plotting the 9/11 attacks. The United States only learned that KSM was behind 9/11, and a member of al-Qaeda, from the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah that [4 words redacted] conducted. He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and put into the CIA’s coercive interrogation program, and the FBI was not given access to him. He is being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.