Objective Troy
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Dennis Blair on “specific permission” to kill an American Hearing of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Annual Threats Assessment, Part I, February 3, 2010 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2010), Federation of American Scientists website, https://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2010_hr/hpsci-threat.pdf.
conventional wisdom that Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen was now the most dangerous See, for instance, the January 27, 2010, testimony of Juan Zarate, a top counterterrorism official under Bush, to the House Armed Services Committee. Of various Al Qaeda affiliates, Zarate said, “the outpost in Yemen is the most dangerous because you have seasoned al Qaeda members, long ties to Bin Laden and the core group, directing their attention to the west.” Hearing of the US House Committee on Armed Services, Al Qa’ida in 2010: How Should the U.S. Respond?, January 27, 2010 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2010), http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg58293/html/CHRG-111hhrg58293.htm.
“They throw grenades at weddings” Confidential interview with a retired American military officer, 2014.
famously described his job as “dancing on the heads of snakes” See Victoria Clark, Yemen: Dancing on the Heads of Snakes (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010). Clark’s book is an excellent introduction to Yemen’s history and politics through the Saleh era.
“the Yaman” See, for instance, George Antonius, The Arab Awakening (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1938).
Per capita income of Saudi Arabia and Yemen The CIA’s World Factbook, “Country Profiles,” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook.
he told the London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, A False Foundation? AQAP, Tribes and Ungoverned Spaces in Yemen, ed. Gabriel Koehler-Derrick (West Point, NY: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, September 2011), 19.
Bin Laden maintained an intense interest in Yemen See, for instance, Nelly Lahoud et al., Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Laden Sidelined? (West Point, NY: Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, May 2012), 19, 29–35.
Theo Padnos Padnos, “Anwar Awlaki’s Blog,” London Review of Books, January 28, 2010, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n02/theo-padnos/anwar-awlakis-blog. Padnos’s books on his time in Yemen, Light of the Crescent Moon: An Undercover Journey to the Soul of Radical Islam (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), and an updated version, Undercover Muslim: A Journey into Yemen (London: Bodley Head, 2011), are beautifully written and very helpful in explaining Awlaki’s appeal. Padnos, who also uses the name Peter Theo Curtis, was later kidnapped in Syria and was held for two years before being released in August 2014.
diplomatic cable sent by the American embassy in Canberra “Visas Viper: Post Recommends 23 Names for No Fly and Selectee Lists,” WikiLeaks, January 21, 2010, https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10CANBERRA51_a.html. The original uses the spelling “Aulaqi.”
a Senate report claimed that as many as three dozen American ex-convicts US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Al Qaeda in Yemen, 1, 4.
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad A detailed account of the case, “Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad (Carlos Bledsoe): A Case Study in Lone Wolf Terrorism,” was written by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and posted on December 23, 2013, at Jihadology (blog), http://jihadology.net/2013/12/23/guest-post-abdulhakim-mujahid-muhammad-carlos-bledsoe-a-case-study-in-lone-wolf-terrorism/. Also revealing are letters Muhammad wrote from jail to reporter Kristina Goetz of Commercial Appeal; see Kristina Goetz, “Muslim Who Shot Soldier in Arkansas Says He Wanted to Cause More Death,” Knoxville News Sentinel, November 13, 2010, http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/nov/13/muslim-who-shot-solider-arkansas-says-he-wanted-ca/.
“I don’t wish to have a trial” See James Dao, “Man Claims Terror Ties in Little Rock Shooting,” The New York Times, January 22, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/22littlerock.html. That full letter from Muhammad to Judge Herbert T. Wright Jr., January 12, 2010, is posted at Murderpedia, http://murderpedia.org/male.M/images/muhammad-abdulhakim/muhammad-letter.pdf.
“Awlaki,” the agents said See Peter Finn’s story on Sharif Mobley, “The Post-9-11 Life of an American Charged with Murder,” Washington Post, September 4, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/04/AR2010090403328.html.
sixteen intelligence agencies and subagencies For a complete list, see “Members of the IC,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, http://www.dni.gov/index.php/intelligence-community/members-of-the-ic.
National Reconnaissance Office scandal in 1994 Tim Weiner, “Senate Committee Receives Apology from Spy Agency,” The New York Times, August 11, 1994.
intelligence budget at $80 billion a year Federation of American Scientists, “Intelligence Budget Data,” http://www.fas.org/irp/budget/index.html.
Washington Post on the number of top-secret clearances Dana Priest and William Arkin, “A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control,” Washington Post, July 18, 2010.
the real total Steven Aftergood, “Number of Security Clearances Soars,” Federation of American Scientists, Secrecy News (blog), September 20, 2011, http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2011/09/clearances/.
Obama on Abdulmutallab attack showing “systemic failure” “Statement by the President on Preliminary Information from His Ongoing Consultation About the Detroit Incident,” December 29, 2009, at Kaneohe Bay Marine Base, Kaneohe, Hawaii; White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-preliminary-information-his-ongoing-consultation-about-detroit-.
“not acceptable” “Remarks by the President on Security Reviews,” January 5, 2010, White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-security-reviews.
six-page summary of the White House review “White House Review Summary Regarding 12/25/2009 Attempted Terrorist Attack,” January 7, 2010, White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/white-house-review-summary-regarding-12252009-attempted-terrorist-attack.
“After that, as president, it seemed like he felt in his gut the threat” Mike Leiter, interview, February 24, 2012.
“He said, ‘In the long run, as a country, we cannot be spending billions of dollars’ ” Ben Rhodes, interview, October 27, 2013.
President’s Daily Brief, or PDB See Glenn Kessler, “The Bogus Claim That Obama ‘Skips’ His Intelligence Briefings,” Washington Post, September 24, 2012; and on different presidents’ preferences, Walter Pincus, “Measuring a President’s Approach on Foreign Policy,” Washington Post, January 16, 2012; other details on the PDB are from interviews with former government officials.
“Bin Laden Determined to Strike” A copy of the famous April 10, 2004, PDB is posted by the Federation of American Scientists in their Central Intelligence Agency Product Archive, http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/pdb080601.pdf.
When Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff Former government official, confidential interview, 2012.
on the very day of his inauguration as president, January 20, 2009, Saudi and Yemeni militants had announced The name had been used earlier, but it came into common parlance only after the re-formation of the group on that date. On AQAP and its history, see “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” Mapping Militant Organizations, Stanford University research project, last updated September 10, 2012, http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/19.
growth of the National Security Council staff See Spencer S. Hsu
, “Obama Integrates Security Councils, Adds New Offices,” Washington Post, May 27, 2009; and I. M. Destler and Ivo H. Daalder, “A New NSC for a New Administration,” Brookings Institution, November 2000, Brookings Policy Brief No. 68, http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2000/11/governance-daalder.
By 6 a.m., each director Former NSC staff members, confidential interviews, 2014.
Dr. Awlaki said he hadn’t had any contact with Anwar in eight months Ahmed al-Haj and Donna Abu-Nasr, “US Imam Wanted in Yemen over al-Qaida Suspicions,” Associated Press, November 10, 2009.
Nasser spoke to a Washington Post reporter Sudarsan Raghavan and Michael D. Shear, “Yemen Strikes at al-Qaeda Meeting; U.S.-Aided Attack May Have Killed Cleric Linked to Fort Hood Suspect,” Washington Post, December 25, 2009, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122400536.html.
Nasser, who was already caring for Anwar’s first wife and five children at his son’s request Nasser al-Awlaki, video interview by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, June 2013, Sanaa.
he agreed to speak to CNN reporter Paula Newton in Sanaa Paula Newton, “CNN Exclusive: Al-Awlaki’s Father Says Son Is ‘Not Osama bin Laden,’ ” CNN, January 11, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/10/yemen.al.awlaki.father/.
In another Internet statement in the spring of 2010, titled “Western Jihad Is Here to Stay” The text is available in several locations on the web, including Awlaki’s blog, March 19, 2010, http://anwar-awlaki.blogspot.com/2011/10/western-jihad-is-here-to-stay.html.
May 2010, AQAP’s leader Nasser al-Wuhayshi issued a statement SITE Intelligence Group, “AQAP Leader Speaks in Support of Anwar al-Awlaki,” May 16, 2010, http://ent.siteintelgroup.com/Multimedia/site-intel-group-5-16-10-aqap-leader-audio-awlaki.html.
the terrorist group’s media arm released a lengthy video interview with Awlaki SITE Intelligence Group, “AQAP Releases Interview with Anwar al-Awlaki,” May 23, 2010, https://news.siteintelgroup.com/Multimedia/awlaki52310.html.
Senior Yemeni officials had raised such a possibility Margaret Coker and Charles Levinson, “Yemen in Talks for Surrender of Cleric,” Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704363504575003434023229978.
3. HE HAD A BEAUTIFUL TONGUE
“I told him” Ghassan Khan, telephone interview, January 3, 2014; all quotations from Ghassan Khan are from this interview.
Tablighi Jamaat Ibid.
he called his father at home in Sanaa Nasser al-Awlaki, interview, February 1, 2014, Sanaa.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Greensboro, North Carolina See, for instance, Terry McDermott, Josh Meyer, and Patrick J. McDonnell, “The Plots and Designs of Al Qaeda’s Engineer,” Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2002.
Sayyid Qutb See John Calvert, Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 139ff.
Qutb’s 1951 essay “The America I Have Seen” Kamal Abdel-Malek, ed., America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature: An Anthology (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000), 9–28.
“What happened, happened in America” Remark of Nasser al-Awlaki to a foreign visitor who recounted it to the author, 2010.
Aden College For a sense of the atmosphere at the college, which closed in 1967, see their website at http://adencollege.net/body_index.html.
“He said, ‘If you want to pray’ ” Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014, Sanaa.
“a cute little boy” This and other quotations and biographical details are from written answers by Nasser al-Awlaki to questions sent by the author, January 2014.
their mother repeatedly putting a prayer rug in Anwar’s suitcase Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014.
For boys of their generation Walid al-Saqaf, telephone interview, 2010.
“That was my first exposure to the field of teaching” Anwar al-Awlaki, “Statement of Purpose,” submitted to George Washington University doctoral program, undated but probably about September 2000.
Nasser spoke with friends at the US Agency for International Development Nasser al-Awlaki, interview by Medea Benjamin, June 2013, Sanaa; a form completed and signed by a USAID official authorizing Anwar’s scholarship lists his birthplace incorrectly as Sanaa.
“My father at the time” Anwar al-Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans: Al Awlaki Revealing His Side of the Story,” Inspire, no. 9 (May 2012).
listed his place of birth as Sanaa “Affidavit of Probable Cause,” signed by Steven R. Click, special agent of the Diplomatic Security Service, June 17, 2002.
Awlaki’s time in the Muslim Student Association Yusuf Siddiqui, telephone interviews, 2010.
“I felt like the MSA” Former Colorado State University student, confidential telephone interview, 2010.
“I started taking my religion more seriously” Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans.”
“We did nothing” Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014, Sanaa.
“I actually only knew about that trip” Nasser al-Awlaki, written answers to questions sent by the author, January 2014.
“I spent a winter there” Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans.”
“To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters” Ronald Reagan, “Message on the Observance of Afghanistan Day,” March 21, 1983, American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=41078.
“He said, ‘I really need to get an A’ ” Ghassan Khan, telephone interview, January 3, 2014.
“Shortly after my scholarship was terminated” Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans.”
“You’d have a bunch of Pakistanis” Moin Siddiqui, interview, 2010.
“He was very knowledgeable” Mumtaz Hussain, interview, 2010.
His choice of courses Awlaki’s courses and grades are from his Colorado State University transcript, part of two thousand pages of FBI records released to J. M. Berger of Intelwire under the Freedom of Information Act, available at “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files; Hijacker Travel Questions,” Intelwire, January 21, 2014, http://news.intelwire.com/2014/01/intelwire-releases-awlaki-foia-files.html.
Many years later, on his blog Anwar al-Awlaki, “Book Review 9: English Novels,” http://www.anwar-alawlaki.com, August 6, 2008, archived at http://cryptome.org/anwar-alawlaki/08-0806.htm. Awlaki’s blog was taken down after reports of his connection to the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, but it has been archived at cryptome.org.
“That would be the topic at the lunch table” Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014.
“I discussed the issue with him” Nasser al-Awlaki, written answers to questions sent by the author, January 2014.
Anwar’s wealthy uncle, helped play matchmaker Saleh bin Fareed, interview, January 28, 2014.
six foot one and 135 pounds From his California driver’s license application, August 4, 1997.
their first child, a boy they named Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki See Abdulrahman’s birth certificate, posted online by the Washington Post, Peter Finn, “Awlaki Family Releases Teen’s Birth Certificate,” Checkpoint Washington (blog), October 18, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/awlaki-family-releases-teens-birth-certificate/2011/10/18/gIQA9zycuL_blog.html.
“He had a beautiful tongue” Palestinian American elder at the Denver Islamic Society, confidential interview, 2010.
students who felt the city’s main mosque was too liberal Awlaki, “Spilling out the Beans.”
“He lit up when he was with the youth” Jamal Ali, interview, 2010.
Awlaki read lots of books on leadership Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014.
/> Lincoln W. Higgie III Higgie, telephone interview, 2010.
His father spent six months in San Diego Nasser al-Awlaki, written answers to questions sent by the author, January 2014.
He “lost everything,” Nasser later recalled Nasser al-Awlaki, interview, February 1, 2014.
Ammar came for the summer Ammar al-Awlaki, interview, January 25, 2014.
San Diego prostitution and loitering charges FBI documents in “Intelwire Releases Awlaki FOIA Files,” 229–35.
Awlaki incorporated a company “Articles of Incorporation of Al Fahm Inc.,” filed with the Nevada Secretary of State, February 18, 2000.
“I told him, ‘If you come back to Yemen, you’ll be just another imam’ ” Nasser al-Awlaki, telephone interview, October 18, 2014.
a scholarship to do a master’s degree in educational leadership at San Diego State The status of the degree is a bit of a puzzle. Awlaki later put the master’s degree in educational leadership on his résumé and other documents. His transcript shows ten courses completed, all but one with a grade of A or A–, a dramatic improvement on his undergraduate record; the transcript lists thirty “UE,” or units earned, and the degree requirement was thirty units. The transcript sent by San Diego State (SDSU) to George Washington University does not show that Awlaki was awarded the master’s degree, but a handwritten note by an unnamed George Washington administrator says: “Degree awarded on Aug. 18 [2000]—Grad school 619-594-5213—Called on 12/5/00.” Another George Washington University document places an asterisk next to the SDSU master’s degree listed on the form and notes: “Not on transcript but SDSU Grad School verified.” In addition, Awlaki’s application documents include a glowing recommendation for Awlaki from an SDSU official whose name is blacked out in records made public by the FBI but whose title in 2000 was “Coordinator, Postsecondary Education.” The writer says Awlaki “was my advisee in our MA in Educational Leadership program and he was a student in a few of my postsecondary education classes.” The adviser said Awlaki’s “peers in the classes looked to Anwar as a leader,” said he would make “an outstanding doctoral student,” and predicted a stellar postdoctoral career in Yemen. But SDSU officials, interviewed in 2010 and again in 2014, insisted that they could find no record that the master’s degree was officially awarded. They declined to say whether a bureaucratic glitch might be responsible. Certainly the assertion made in some later news reports that Awlaki fraudulently claimed a degree he had not earned is unproven.