Dirty Wars

by Jeremy Scahill

  240 did not speak Arabic: Wesley Yang, “The Terrorist Search Engine,” New York, December 5, 2010.

  241 “little surprise”: Kohlmann, “Investigating Ft. Hood.”

  241 “he preaches in English”: Author interview, Joshua Foust, January 2011.

  241 “call from the pulpits”: Anwar al Awlaki, “Yemeni-American Jihadi Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki in First Interview with al-Qaeda Media calls on Muslim US Servicemen to Kill Fellow Soldiers,” transcription of interview with Al-Malahem Media, May 23, 2010, by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/2480.htm.

  242 “The US has come to the conclusion”: Anwar al Awlaki, “A New Year: Reality and Aspirations,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, anwar-alawlaki.com, December 31, 2008.

  242 “Jihad will carry on”: Ibid.

  24: “Obama Is Set to Continue the Course Set by Bush”

  244 “I am opposed to”: Barack Obama, “Transcript: Obama’s Speech Against the Iraq War,” October 2, 2002, transcript available via NPR.org, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99591469.

  244 “Let’s be the generation”: Barack Obama, “Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s Announcement Speech,” February 10, 2007, transcript available via Associated Press, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/10/AR2007021000879.html.

  244 “harshest interrogation techniques”: Scott Shane, David Johnston, and James Risen, “Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations,” New York Times, October 4, 2007.

  245 “This is an example”: Transcript, “Barack Obama on MSNBC,” October 4, 2007, transcript available via NYTimes.com, www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/us/politics/04obama-text.html?pagewanted=all.

  245 “governed by fear”: “Oct. 30 Democratic Debate Transcript,” October 30, 2007, transcript available via MSNBC.com, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21528787/ns/politics-the_debates/t/oct-democratic-debate-transcript/#.UPeUQhzKZcR.

  245 “a terrible mistake”: Associated Press, “Obama Says He Might Send Troops to Pakistan,” NBCNews.com, August 1, 2007.

  245 “You don’t broadcast”: Andy Merten, “Presidential Candidates Debate Pakistan; McCain, Clinton Criticize Obama for Threatening to Order Attacks,” NBCNews.com, February 28, 2008.

  245 “the right strategy”: “Feb. 26 Democratic Debate Transcript,” February 26, 2007, transcript available via MSNBC.com, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23354734/ns/politics-the_debates/t/feb-democratic-debate-transcript/#.UPeVjBzKZcR.

  245 “John McCain likes to say”: Obama Blasts McCain, Lays Out His Own Agenda,” CNN.com, August 28, 2008.

  246 “reassuring”: Karl Rove, “Thanksgiving Cheer from Obama; He’s Assembled a First-Rate Economic Team,” Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2008.

  246 “I am gobsmacked”: Max Boot, “Obama’s Picks,” Commentary, posted November 11, 2008, www.commentarymagazine.com/2008/11/25/obamas-picks/.

  246 “continue the course”: Michael Goldfarb, “Obama the Realist,” Weekly Standard (blog), November 26, 2008, www.weekly-standard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/11/obama_the_realist_1.asp.

  247 “we need to look forward”: Transcript, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC, January 11, 2009.

  247 “take down a lot of those policies”: Transcript, Face the Nation, CBS, May 10, 2009.

  25: Obama’s Signature Strikes

  248 “message we are sending”: Jake Tapper, Jan Crawford-Greenburg, and Huma Khan, “Obama Order to Shut Gitmo, CIA Detention Centers,” ABCNews.go.com, January 22, 2009.

  248 Hayden briefed him: Daniel Klaidman, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), p. 39.

  248 The first strike: Reprieve, “Complaint Against the United States of America for the Killing of Innocent Citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the UN Human Rights Council,” February 23, 2012, http://reprieve.org.uk/media/downloads/2012_02_22_PUB_drones_UN_HRC_complaint.pdf?utm_source=Press+mailing+list&utm_campaign=89f3db0a75-2012_02_23_drones_UN_complaint&utm_medium=email. The complaint was filed on behalf of the victims of different strikes, including Ejaz Ahmad, whose relatives were among those killed and injured by the strike in question.

  248 The second struck: Klaidman, Kill or Capture, p. 39.

  248 “five al Qaeda militants,” “Good”: Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), p. 93.

  248 straight to the president: Klaidman, Kill or Capture, p. 40.

  248 between seven and fifteen: “Obama 2009 Pakistan Strikes,” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, August 10, 2011, www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/10/obama-2009-strikes/.

  249 One boy, loss of an eye: Reprieve, “Complaint Against the United States of America.”

  249 “wrong house”: “Obama 2009 Pakistan Strikes.”

  249 “pro-government peace committee”: Klaidman, Kill or Capture, p. 40.

  249 first the new president had heard: Ibid., pp. 40–41.

  249 added a constraint: Ibid., p. 42.

  249 But he didn’t: Obama has reportedly made other small changes to the signature strike protocol, such as bringing the State Department, namely, the ambassador in Islamabad, into the process. Adam Entous, Siobhan Gorman, and Julian E. Barnes, “U.S. Tightens Drone Rules,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2011.

  249 “crash course”: Klaidman, Kill or Capture, p. 120.

  249 “tutorial”: Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against al Qaeda (New York: Times Books, 2011), p. 232.

  250 most of the ExOrds: Ibid., p. 245.

  250 “reached a tacit agreement”: R. Jeffrey Smith, Candace Rondeaux, and Joby Warrick, “Two U.S. Airstrikes Offer a Concrete Sign of Obama’s Pakistan Policy,” Washington Post, January 24, 2009.

  250 “fully endorsed”: Woodward, Obama’s Wars, p. 93.

  250 “all the key personnel”: Jane Mayer, “The Predator War: What Are the Risks of the C.I.A.’s Covert Drone Program?” New Yorker, October 26, 2009.

  250 “the real [secret]”: Woodward, Obama’s Wars, p. 6.

  250 “number one goal”: Peter Bergen, Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden—from 9/11 to Abbottabad (New York: Crown, 2012), p. 116.

  250 “detailed operation plan”: Jake Tapper, “Chapter Six: The President Takes Aim,” in Terry Moran, Martha Raddatz, Nick Schifrin, Brian Ross, and Jake Tapper, Target: Bin Laden—the Death and Life of Public Enemy Number One, ABCNews.go.com, June 9, 2011.

  250 Scores of civilians: “Obama 2009 Pakistan Strikes.”

  250 “After the prayers”: Agence France-Presse, “US Drone Fires on Taliban Territory,” National (UAE), June 24, 2009.

  251 “among the mourners”: Mayer, “The Predator War.”

  251 father-in-law’s house: Ibid.

  251 “target boxes”: Klaidman, Kill or Capture, p. 121.

  251 as many drone strikes: “2009: The Year of the Drone,” Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative, New America Foundation, accessed December 17, 2012, http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones/2009.

  251 “hidden bases”: James Risen and Mark Mazzetti, “C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones,” New York Times, August 20, 2009.

  251 “With an ACCM”: Author interview, US military intelligence source, October 2009. All information from and quotations of the “military intelligence source” come from the author’s interview.

  253 introduced legislation: Transparency and Accountability in Military and Security Contracting Act of 2007, S. 674, 110th Cong. (2007).

  26: Special Ops Want to “Own This Shit Like They Did in Central America in the ’80s”

  254 prisoner number 372: Associated Press, “Report: Ex-Gitmo Detainee Now al-Qaeda’s No. 2 in Yemen,” USAToday.com, January 23, 2009.

  254 “al Qaeda travel facilitator”: Memorandum from DoD Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants at US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Said Ali Jabir al Khathim al Shihri, “Uncla
ssified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the Case of Said Ali Jabir al Khathim al Shihri,” June 16, 2005, accessed December 18, 2012, http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/372-said-ali-al-shihri/documents/1/pages/411#3.

  254 went missing: Robert F. Worth, “Freed by the U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief,” New York Times, January 22, 2009.

  254 “By Allah”: Agence France-Presse, “Former Guantanamo Detainee Elevated to Senior Qaeda Rank,” January 23, 2009.

  255 “transformed al Qaeda in Yemen”: Barak Barfi, “Yemen on the Brink? The Resurgence of al Qaeda in Yemen,” Counterterrorism Strategy Initiative Policy Paper, New America Foundation, January 2010, p. 5.

  255 “85 Most Wanted”: Ibid., p. 8.

  255 “deteriorated significantly”: Associated Press, “U.S. Report Says Pakistan Terror Attacks Up,” USAtoday.com, April 30, 2009.

  255 “I don’t think there’s any doubt”: Hearing to Receive Testimony of Afghanistan, Before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, 111th Cong. p. 63 (December 2, 2009) (testimony of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State).

  255 “toothpaste in a tube”: Annual Threat Assessment Hearing, Before the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 111th Cong. (February 25, 2009) (testimony of Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence).

  256 “a very persistent enemy”: Transcript, “Media Roundtable with CIA Director Leon E. Panetta,” February 25, 2009, transcript from Federal News Service.

  256 “immediate threat”: Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), p. 8.

  256 “adequate plans”: Ibid., p. 35.

  256 “establishing new safe-havens”: Dan Pfeiffer, “The Same Old Washington Blame Game,” The White House Blog, December 30, 2009, www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/30/same-old-washington-blame-game.

  256 Almost half: Worth, “Freed by the U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief.”

  256 Khobar Towers: Pam Benson, “Obama to Name John Brennan to Lead CIA,” Security Clearance (blog), CNN.com, January 7, 2013, http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/07/obama-to-name-john-brennan-to-lead-cia/.

  257 “direct and immediate”: “Profile: John O. Brennan,” Who Runs Gov, Washington-Post.com, accessed December 15, 2012.

  257 released 176 of the men: “Yemen Frees 176 al-Qaeda Suspects,” AlArabiya.net, February 9, 2009.

  257 South Korean tourists: “Tourists Die in Yemen Explosion,” BBC.co.uk, March 15, 2009.

  257 “repeatedly rebuffed”: US diplomatic cable 09SANAA495, from Chargé d’Affaires Angie Bryan, “Saleh Shows No Flexibility on GTMO Detainees,” March 23, 2009, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/03/09SANAA495.html. The author relies on this cable for details of the meeting.

  257 “praised Yemen’s efforts”: Saba (Yemen), “Yemeni Leader Receives Letter from US President,” BBC Monitoring International Reports, March 16, 2009.

  257 addressed the Guantánamo situation: Bryan, “Saleh Shows No Flexibility on GTMO Detainees.”

  258 “We are not obedient soldiers”: Kevin Peraino, “Our Main Enemy Is Al Qaeda,” Newsweek, April 17, 2009.

  258 “know how to deal with us”: Author interview, Colonel W. Patrick Lang, February 2011. All quotations of Lang come from the author’s interview.

  258 pushed hard: Gareth Porter, “True Believer: Petraeus and the Mythology of Afghanistan,” Truthout, December 20, 2012.

  258 “Success against the extremist networks”: General David H. Petraeus, Commander US Central Command, “The Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review and the Posture of U.S. Central Command,” prepared statement for Senate Armed Services Committee, April 1, 2009.

  258 approved a plan: “Yemen,” excerpt from General David H. Petraeus, Commander US Central Command, statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review and the Posture of US Central Command, March 16, 2010, www.centcom.mil/yemen/.

  258 “inability of the Yemeni government”: Petraeus, “The Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review and the Posture of U.S. Central Command,” April 1, 2009.

  259 advised President Obama, under Petraeus’s command: Marc Ambinder, “Obama Gives Commanders Wide Berth for Secret Warfare,” Atlantic, May 25, 2010, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/05/obama-gives-commanders-wide-berth-for-secret-warfare/57202/.

  259 boarded a Yemeni Air Force helicopter: US diplomatic cable 09SANAA1015 from Ambassador Stephen Seche, US Embassy Sana’a, “Saleh Sees Foreign Hand Behind Yemen’s Internal Woes,” May 31, 2009, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09SANAA1015.html. The author relies on this cable for details of the meeting.

  260 US military recruiting center: CNN Wire Staff, “Man Pleads Guilty to Recruiting Center Killing, Gets Life,” CNN.com, July 25, 2011.

  260 literature by Anwar Awlaki: Kristina Goetz (Commercial Appeal, Memphis), “Muslim Who Shot Soldier in Arkansas Says He Wanted to Cause More Death,” Knox-news.com, November 13, 2010.

  260 “If you ever get out”: James Dao, “Suspect’s Lawyer Outlines Defense in Killing of Soldier,” New York Times, June 4, 2009.

  260 he was investigated: Pierre Thomas, Richard Esposito, and Jack Date, “Recruiter Shooting Suspect Had Ties to Extremist Locations,” ABCNews.go.com, June 3, 2009.

  260 told police officials: Steve Barnes and James Dao, “Gunman Kills Soldier Outside Recruiting Station,” New York Times, June 1, 2009.

  260 “a jihadi attack”: “Arkansas Recruiting Center Killing Suspect: ‘This Was a Jihadi Attack,’” CNN.com, January 22, 2010.

  260 “might be trying to link himself”: James Dao, “Man Claims Terror Ties in Little Rock Shooting,” New York Times, January 21, 2010.

  261 “recklessness cloaked in righteousness”: Remarks by Richard B. Cheney, American Enterprise Institute, May 21, 2009, www.aei.org/article/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/india-pakistan-afghanistan/remarks-by-richard-b-cheney/.

  261 “doubled down on Bush policy”: Author interview, Joshua Foust, January 2011.

  261 “These guys are scalpels”: Author interview, former aide to Special Operations commander, February 2011.

  262 fly drones and US helicopters: US diplomatic cable 09STATE72112, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to US Embassy in Sana’a, “Eliciting Yemeni Cooperation for Arms Smuggling Interdiction Efforts,” July 9, 2009, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/07/09STATE72112.html. The author relies on this cable for details of Ambassador Seche’s talking points.

  262 laying the groundwork: US diplomatic cable 08SANAA1947, from Ambassador Stephen Seche, US Embassy Sana’a, “Saleh Tells Petraeus: ‘No Restrictions’ on CT Cooperation,” August 9, 2009, released by WikiLeaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/08/09SANAA1430.html. The author relies on this cable for details of the meeting.

  262 deployed his nephew: Gregory D. Johnsen, “The Expansion Strategy of Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” CTC Sentinel, January 3, 2010, www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-expansion-strategy-of-al-qaida-in-the-arabian-peninsula-2.

  262 posting a video online: Ibid.

  263 “I worry about safe havens”: Transcript, “Defense Language Institute All Hands Call,” Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA, August 10, 2009, www.jcs.mil/speech.aspx?id=1230.

  263 “got free training”: Author interview, former aide to Special Operations commander, December 2010.

  27: Suicide or Martyrdom?

  264 “Today the world turns upside down”: Anwar al Awlaki, “Suicide or Martyrdom?” Imam Anwar’s Blog, anwar-alawlaki.com, January 22, 2009.

  264 “the greatest terrorists of all”: Anwar al Awlaki, “An Offer to Retract and Unite,” Imam Anwar’s Blog, anwar-alawlaki.com, February 14, 2009.

  264 “speaking to you from Yemen”: Anwar al Awlaki, “State of the Ummah—Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki,” YouTube video (audio), 48:51, from a lecture delivered by Anwar al Awlaki via teleconference on March 1, 2009, posted by “Moahroah,” July 3, 2012, www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=PIpxw2tupdQ.

  265 “when the president was calling me”: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  265 positioning their vehicles: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, August 2012.

  265 “what the president wants”: Ibid.

  266 “I will not allow the Americans”: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

  266 “It was a heated discussion”: Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, September 2012.

  266 “You and the Americans”: Author interview, Sheikh Saleh bin Fareed, January 2012.

  266 “What am I accused of?”: Anwar al Awlaki, “Anwar al-Awlaki May 2010 Interview Video,” transcript of interview with Al-Malahem Media, released May 23, 2010, translation from Public Intelligence, May 26, 2010, http://publicintelligence.net/anwar-al-awlaki-may-2010-interview-video/.

  266 “Unguided Rockets into Israel?”: Nidal Hasan, e-mail to Anwar al Awlaki, January 16, 2009, released by Intelwire, July 19, 2012, http://news.intelwire.com/2012/07/the-following-e-mails-between-maj.html.

  266 “This can assure privacy”: Nidal Hasan, e-mail to Anwar al Awlaki, February 16, 2009, released by Intelwire, July 19, 2012, http://news.intelwire.com/2012/07/the-following-e-mails-between-maj.html. This was from the first of four e-mails Hasan sent on February 16.

  267 “$5,000.00 scholarship”: Ibid., from the third of four e-mails Hasan sent on February 16.

  267 “I pray this message reaches you”: Anwar al Awlaki, e-mail to Nidal Hasan, February 16, 2009, released by Intelwire, July 19, 2012, http://news.intelwire.com/2012/07/the-following-e-mails-between-maj.html.

  267 “looking for a wife”: Nidal Hasan, e-mail to Anwar al Awlaki, February 16, 2009, released by Intelwire, July 19, 2012, http://news.intelwire.com/2012/07/the-following-e-mails-between-maj.html. This was from the fourth of four e-mails Hasan sent on February 16.

  267 “Thanks for the offer”: Anwar al Awlaki, e-mail to Nidal Hasan, February 22, 2009, released by Intelwire, July 19, 2012, http://news.intelwire.com/2012/07/the-following-e-mails-between-maj.html.