46 “various investigations”: Chitra Ragavan, “The Imam’s Very Curious Story,” US News and World Report, June 13, 2004, www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/040621/21plot.htm.
46 flip him: Awlaki, “Spilling Out the Beans.”
46 “across state lines”: Ragavan, “The Imam’s Very Curious Story.”
46 “Why are you leaving?”: Transcript, “Connections Between Radical Cleric, Hasan Closely Examined,” NewsHour, PBS, November 12, 2009.
47 running for parliament: Meleagrou-Hitchens, “As American as Apple Pie.”
47 his own TV show: Shane and Mekhennet, “Imam’s Path.”
47 “ruined him”: Meleagrou-Hitchens, “As American as Apple Pie.”
47 “war against Muslims”: Audio recording of Imam Anwar al Awlaki sermon, unconfirmed location, March 2002.
3: Find, Fix, Finish: The Rise of JSOC
48 “worldwide war”: Transcript, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, “Address to the Men and Women of Fort Bragg/Pope AFB,” Fort Bragg, NC, November 21, 2001.
48 secret meeting: Rowan Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War: The Untold Story of America’s Anti-Terrorist Commander (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2004), pp. 8–10.
48 “joint headquarters”: Description of Joint Special Operations Command from “Special Operations Forces Reference Manual,” compiled and developed for the Joint Special Operations Forces Institute by Cubic Applications, Inc., January 1998.
49 Operation Eagle Claw: Mark Bowden, “The Desert One Debacle,” Atlantic, May 2006.
49 went down in a sandstorm: Ibid.
49 several crucial aircraft: Ibid.
49 abort mission order: Ibid.
49 Eight US service members: Ibid.
49 hostages for weapons: Gary Sick, “The Election Story of the Decade,” op-ed, New York Times, April 15, 1991.
49 just minutes after: NBC Nightly News, January 20, 1981, www.nbc.com/news-sports/msnbc-video/2012/01/from-the-archives-reagan-sworn-in-iran-hostages-released/.
49 Honey Badger: Tom Clancy, with General Carl Stiner (Ret.), Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces (New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2002), p. 9.
49 Che Guevara: Author interview, Colonel W. Patrick Lang (Ret.), September 2010. Details of Colonel Lang’s background and credentials come from the author’s interview. Also see “Bio of Col. W. Patrick Lang,” Sic Semper Tyrannis (blog), turcopolier.typepad.com.
50 “training and leading indigenous forces”: Ibid. All statements and information attributed to Colonel Lang come from the author’s interview.
50 force multiplier: Lieutenant Colonel David E. Hill Jr., “The Shaft of the Spear: US Special Operations Command, Funding Authority, and the Global War on Terrorism,” US Army War College Strategy Research Project, March 15, 2006.
50 Delta Force had formed: See Command Sergeant Major Eric L. Haney, Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit (New York: Bantam Dell, 2003), pp. 1–4.
50 founding commander: “Seal Team Six,” Special Operations Forces Situation Report (SOFREP), accessed September 5, 2012, http://sofrep.com/devgru-seal-team-6/. Other details of the origins of SEAL Team 6 come from SOFREP’s brief history.
51 Field Operations Group: Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006), pp. 20–21.
51 successful rescue operation: Ibid., pp. 22–46.
51 Grenada: See Ronald H. Cole, “Operation Urgent Fury: Grenada,” Joint History Office, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1997.
51 “the use of sabotage, killing”: Robert Chesney, “Military-Intelligence Convergence and the Law of the Title 10/Title 50 Debate,” Journal of National Security Law and Policy 5 (2012): 539–629.
52 Pablo Escobar: See Mark Bowden, Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (New York: Penguin Books, 2001), pp. 147, 259.
52 former Yugoslavia: Paula Broadwell, with Vernon Loeb, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus (New York: Penguin Press, 2012), pp. 148–153; Smith, Killer Elite, pp. 192–193.
52 secret presidential directive: “Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC),” GlobalSecurity.org, accessed October 1, 2012, www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/dod/jsoc.htm.
52 Waco, Texas: Philip Shenon, “Documents on Waco Point to a Close Commando Role,” New York Times, September 5, 1999.
52 World Cup, Summer Olympics: “Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC),” GlobalSecurity.org.
52 “transnational threats”: Eric Schmitt, “Commandos Get Duty on U.S. Soil,” New York Times, January 23, 2005.
52 80 percent: Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady, The Command: Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2012, Kindle edition).
52 “ace in the hole”: Author interview, General Hugh Shelton (Ret.), March 2011. All information and statements attributed to General Shelton come from the author’s interview, unless otherwise noted.
52 most of his military career: “General Henry Hugh Shelton Biography,” website of the General H. Hugh Shelton Leadership Center at North Carolina State University, accessed October 5, 2012, www.ncsu.edu/extension/sheltonleadership/shelton-forum/documents/GENERALHENRYHUGHSHELTONBIOGRAPHYOct07.pdf.
53 rescue of Kurt Muse: “Delta Force Pulled Off Daring Rescue,” Associated Press, January 3, 1990.
53 war plan: Tom Clancy, with General Carl Stiner (Ret.), Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces (New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2002), p. 409. Clancy writes, “‘Schwarzkopf was a good example of a senior officer who did not understand special operations and was afraid of it,’ said Special Forces vet Maj. General Jim Guest, who served as the J-3 at SOCOM. Schwarzkopf’s mentality was, ‘I have a coiled cobra in a cage and if I open the cage, that cobra is going to get out and possibly embarrass me.’”
53 “In 1996 alone”: U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), History of SOCOM, 6th ed., March 31, 2008.
53 large-scale operations: Ibid.
53 “reduced emphasis”: General Wayne Downing, memorandum to Rumsfeld and General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, “Special Operations Forces Assessment,” November 9, 2005. Retrieved from http://rumsfeld.com/library/.
53 propose missions: Richard H. Shultz Jr., “Showstoppers: Nine Reasons Why We Never Sent Our Special Operations Forces After al Qaeda Before 9/11,” Weekly Standard 9 (19), January 26, 2004.
53 included JSOC: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (Philip Zelikow, Executive Director; Bonnie D. Jenkins, Counsel; Ernest R. May, Senior Advisor), The 9/11 Commission Report (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004), p. 136.
53 “never used once”: Shultz, “Showstoppers.”
54 approximately twenty operations: Ibid.
54 “‘finish’ capabilities”: Downing, memorandum to Rumsfeld and Pace, “Special Operations Forces Assessment.”
54 Title 10: See sections 153 and 163 of Title 10 of the US Code.
54 “based on deception”: General Hugh Shelton (Ret.), Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010), pp. 401, 413.
55 had lawyered: Rowan Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War: The Untold Story of America’s Anti-Terrorist Commander (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2004), p. 16. Scarborough discusses Shultz’s report, for which he received top security clearances to interview senior commanders and policy makers. “Pentagon lawyers in the 1990s argued that DoD did not have the legal authority until Title 10” to authorize covert operations, Shultz wrote. “Rumsfeld overturned the Clinton policy of arguing in favor of Title 10 restrictions, and has decided that covert missions can indeed be authorized from the Pentagon,” Scarborough wrote.
55 “possibility of hunting”: Shultz, “Showstoppers.”
55 security clearance: Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War, p. 14.
55 UN peacekeeping mission: United Nations Security Council Resolution 794, adopted December 3, 1992,
accessed December 5, 2012, www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1992/scres92.htm.
55 warlords openly defied: Dr. Richard W. Stewart, The United States Army in Somalia, 1992–1994, U.S. Army Center of Military History, accessed January 2011, www.history.army.mil/brochures/Somalia/Somalia.pdf.
55 green light: Mark Bowden, “How a Relief Mission Ended in a Firefight,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1997.
55 descended into disaster: Ibid.
56 “Mogadishu disaster”: Shultz, “Showstoppers.”
56 “check off boxes”: Ibid.
57 began briefing: Ibid.
57 SECRET: Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War, p. 14.
57 “for fifteen minutes”: Jamie McIntyre, “Rumsfeld Versus Shelton,” Line of Departure (blog), Military.com, February 25, 2011, www.lineofdeparture.com/tag/rumsfeld-shelton/.
57 “learn the right lessons”: Scarborough, Rumsfeld’s War, p. 15.
57 “allies and friends”: Douglas J. Feith, War and Decision; Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism (New York: Harper, 2009), p. 51.
57 “Forget about ‘exit strategies’”: Donald H. Rumsfeld, “A New Kind of War,” New York Times, September 27, 2001.
58 “No one amongst those people”: Author interview, Malcolm W. Nance, May 2011.
58 seven hundred covert operatives: Jennifer Kibbe, “The Rise of the Shadow Warriors,” Foreign Affairs 83 (2) (March–April 2004): 112.
58 “paramilitary expertise”: Author interview, Vincent Cannistraro, August 2010. All information and statements attributed to Vincent Cannistraro come from the author’s interview.
58 “bunch of pansies”: Author interview, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Ret.), May 2011.
59 were cautioning against: Transcript, NewsHour, PBS, March 26, 2004. Colin Powell: “I recommended to the president that our focus had to be on al-Qaida, the Taliban and Afghanistan. Those were the ones who attacked the United States of America on 9/11.”
59 “no choice”: Transcript, “Secretary Rumsfeld News Briefing in Brussels,” December 18, 2001.
59 draw up a list: Seymour Hersh, “Manhunt: The Bush Administration’s New Strategy in the War Against Terrorism,” New Yorker, December 23, 2002.
60 “exploring targets”: Memorandum to President George W. Bush, no subject, September 23, 2001, www.rumsfeld.com/library/.
4: The Boss: Ali Abdullah Saleh
61 Yemen’s leader: Robert F. Worth, “For Yemen’s Leader, a Balancing Act Gets Harder,” New York Times, June 21, 2008.
61 “The Boss”: Gregory D. Johnsen, “The Boss Falls. Then What?” New York Times, March 24, 2011.
61 “We would drive around”: Author interview, Colonel W. Patrick Lang (Ret.), February 2011. All information and statements attributed to Colonel Lang come from the author’s interview. Details about Colonel Lang’s background are from the author’s interview.
62 coordinated and funded: Gregory D. Johnsen, The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia (New York: W. W. Norton, 2013), p. 7.
62 “sent to Afghanistan”: “An Interview with President Ali Abdullah Saleh,” New York Times, June 28, 2008.
62 safe haven: Worth, “Balancing Act Gets Harder.”
62 “political pluralism”: “An Interview with President Ali Abdullah Saleh.”
62 Islamic Jihad: Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Vintage Books, 2006), p. 365.
62 southern secessionists: Robert F. Worth, “Yemen’s Deals with Jihadists Unsettle the U.S.,” New York Times, January 28, 2008.
62 against Shiite Houthi rebels: Author interview, former US counterterrorism official, January 2011.
62 “They were the thugs”: Author interview, Ali Soufan, January 2011.
62 five hundred pounds of explosives: William Branigin, “Two Sentenced to Die for USS Cole Attack,” Washington Post, September 30, 2004.
63 “charged and destroyed”: Diana Elias, “Video Offers Strong Bin Laden-USS Cole Link,” ABCNews.go.com, June 19, 2001.
63 aides had written: Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 333.
63 “50 million machine guns,” “the most hostile environment”: Ibid., p. 365.
63 had to pull out completely: Ibid.
63 “death threats”: Ali H. Soufan, “Closing the Case on the Cole,” op-ed, New York Times, October 11, 2010.
63 Saleh’s government: Soufan does note in his op-ed that the FBI team “left Yemen with most of the terrorists locked up” but says that they were soon released by the government.
63 “No one in the Clinton White House”: Soufan, “Closing the Case on the Cole.”
63 “great victory”: Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 374.
63 “denied them access”: Walter Pincus, “Yemen Hears Benefits of Joining U.S. Fight; Officials Discuss up to $400 Million in Aid,” Washington Post, November 28, 2001.
64 “Those who make war”: Transcript, President George W. Bush radio address, September 15, 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/us/after-the-attacks-the-president-s-message-a-different-battle-awaits.html.
64 put Yemen on a list: Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against al Qaeda (New York: Times Books, 2011), p. 30.
64 “graveyard for the invaders”: Jonathan Mahler, “The Bush Administration vs. Salim Hamdan,” New York Times Magazine, January 8, 2006.
64 held talks: “Issues of Interest; Yemeni-American Relations,” website of the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Washington, DC, accessed December 1, 2012, www.yemenembassy.org/issues/ymusrelshp/index.htm.
64 “principal partner”: Ibid.
64 Ritz Carlton: Author interview, Yemeni official, January 2013.
64 presented with an aid package: Pincus, “Yemen Hears Benefits of Joining U.S. Fight.”
65 “counterterrorism camp”: Philip Smucker and Howard LaFranchi, “Anti-US strike Shakes Yemen; Three US aid Workers Slain in a Hospital,” Christian Science Monitor, December 31, 2002.
65 permission for the CIA to fly drones: Dana Priest, “U.S. Military Teams, Intelligence Deeply Involved in Aiding Yemen on Strikes,” Washington Post, January 27, 2010.
65 “knew how to survive”: Author interview, Dr. Emile Nakhleh, January 2010.
65 “expressed his concern”: “Issues of Interest; Yemeni-American Relations.”
65 ordered his forces to raid a village: Gregory D. Johnsen, “The Expansion Strategy of Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” CTC Sentinel, September 2009, pp. 8–11.
66 nine hundred military and intelligence personnel: Robert Schlesinger, “In Djibouti, US Special Forces Develop Base amid Secrecy,” Boston Globe, December 12, 2002.
66 establish operational capacity: Priest, “U.S. Military Teams, Intelligence Deeply Involved.”
5: The Enigma of Anwar Awlaki
67 “Uncle Saleh, I am here”: Author interview, Sheikh Saleh bin Fareed, January 2012. All statements and information attributed to Saleh bin Fareed come from the author’s interview, unless otherwise noted.
67 “We should be concerned”: Audio recording of Anwar al Awlaki lecture, “Lessons from the Companions Living as a Minority,” JIMAS Conference, University of Leicester, August 2002.
68 “given permission”: Anwar al Awlaki, “The Islamic Education of Shaikh Anwar al Awlaki,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, anwar-alawlaki.com, August 12, 2008.
68 traveled to Saudi Arabia: Author interviews, Awlaki family members, January and August 2012.
68 “air went out of the balloon”: Chitra Ragavan, “The Imam’s Very Curious Story: A Skirt-Chasing Mullah Is Just One More Mystery for the 9/11 Panel,” US News and World Report, June 13, 2004, www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/040621/21plot.htm..
68 “support a criminal prosecution”: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (Philip Zelikow, Executive Director; Bonnie D. Jenkins, Counsel; Ernest R. May, Senior Advisor), The 9/11 Commission Report (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004), p
. 517.
68 warrant issued: “Justice Department Response to Fox News Regarding Colorado 2002 Awlaki Matter,” FoxNews.com, May 21, 2010. For the warrant itself, see www.scribd.com/doc/29510870/Al-Awlaki-Arrest-Warrant.
68 resolved the issue: The letter from the Justice Department, published by FoxNews.com, says he “corrected” the mistake.
68 “We were ecstatic”: Joseph Rhee and Mark Schone, “How Anwar Awlaki Got Away,” ABCNews.go.com, November 30, 2009.
68 up to ten years in prison: Ibid.
69 TECS II: Journalist Paul Sperry obtained information from the TECS II system concerning Awlaki; see www.sperryfiles.com/images/1-3.jpg.
69 “Give it another shot”: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, September 2012. All quotations from Nasser al Awlaki come from interviews the author conducted between January and September 2012, unless otherwise noted.
69 intelligence memo: 9/11 Commission Report, p. 517.
69 filed a motion: Catherine Herridge, The Next Wave: Inside the Hunt for Al Qaeda’s American Recruits (New York: Crown Forum, 2011), p. 95.
69 “having a bad reputation”: Joseph Rhee, “U.S. Attorney Defends Decision to Scrap Awlaki Arrest Warrant,” ABCNews.go.com, December 7, 2009.
69 arrived at JFK Airport: TECS II “Incident Log” entry concerning arrival of Anwar at John F. Kennedy Airport, October 10, 2002, accessed March 2012, sperryfiles.com, www.sperryfiles.com/images/1-4.jpg.
69 “ANTI-TERRORIST PASSENGER”: Database entry following a “Secondary Inspection” of Awlaki upon his arrival at JFK Airport, October 10, 2001, accessed March 2012, sperryfiles.com, www.sperryfiles.com/images/1-1.jpg.
69 registering as active: Catherine Herridge, “Mueller Grilled on FBI’s Release of al-Awlaki in 2002,” FoxNews.com, March 8, 2012.
70 three hours: TECS II “Incident Log” entry, October 10, 2002.
70 “He is a match”: Joseph Rhee and Mark Schone, “How Anwar Awlaki Got Away,” ABCNews.go.com, November 30, 2009.
70 luggage was searched: Database entry following a “Secondary Inspection,” October 10, 2001.
70 number was invalid: TECS II “Incident Log” entry, October 10, 2002.
Dirty Wars Page 77
