Black Flags (48 page)

“We fundamentally do not understand”:
McChrystal,
My Share of the Task
.

“The level of organization”:
Quoted in Brian Knowlton, “U.S. Blames Iraq Attacks on Jordanian-Born Sunni Militant,”
New York Times
, March 3, 2004.

“Why,” she shrieked:
Vivienne Walt, “Over 150 Killed in Iraq Blasts,”
Boston Globe
, March 3, 2004.

Chapter 11

The man he selected for the mission:
Author interview with two senior Jordanian officials present during the events.

“They’re using middlemen”:
Author interview with Abu Mutaz.

“By the time we found them”:
Ibid.

“The men in the Caprice”:
“Al Qaeda Plans Terrorist Attack in Chemical Weapons Against Jordan,”
Petra News Agency
, April 27, 2004. (Full text of confession, unsigned.)

“unforeseen negative consequences”:
Abdullah, King of Jordan,
Our Last Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril
(New York: Viking, 2011).

“Yes, there was a plot”:
Jamie Holguinap, “Terrorist: Wish We Had That Bomb,” Associated Press, April 16, 2004.

Chapter 12

“Nation of Islam, great news!”:
Nicholas Berg beheading. video transcript archived by University of Georgia Islamic Studies Department,
http://islam.uga.edu/zarqawi.html
.

“I am reasonably confident”:
Nicholas Berg letter,
Tom’s Photography
, Jan. 4, 2004,
http://www.nickberg.org/berg/Email_from_Berg/Entries/2004/1/4_Bergs_Email_from_Iraq.html
.

“He went where no one else did”:
Michael Powell and Michelle Garcia, “In a Pennsylvania Town, Friends Recall the Pranks and the Promise,”
Washington Post
, May 14, 2004.

“No one could figure out”:
Author interview with Nada Bakos.

“Their intention is to shake our will”:
“President Bush Condemns Brutal Execution of Nicholas Berg,” May 12, 2004,
http://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/05/text/20040512-2.html
.

“If you had your thumb”:
David E. Sanger and Richard W. Stevenson, “Bush Supporters Are Split on How to Pursue Iraq Plan,”
New York Times
, May 13, 2004.

“Zarqawi jumped the shark”:
Author interview with Nada Bakos.

Chapter 13

“Not a good sign”:
Author interview with Robert S. Ford.

“He spent his entire career”:
Author interview with Ronald Neumann.

“Insurgents and foreign fighters”:
“USEB 154: 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Discusses Situation in Al Anbar Province,” Public Library of US Diplomacy, July 23, 2004,
https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/04BAGHDAD235_a.html
.

“He surrounds himself with the scum”:
Author interview with Zaydan al-Jabiri.

“swore he’d never personally beheaded”:
Hannah Allum, “Fallujah’s Real Boss: Omar the Electrician,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, June 25, 2004.

“This is a call for help from the depths”:
“Al-Zarqawi’s Message to the Fighters of Jihad in Iraq on September 11, 2004,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Sept. 15, 2004,
http://www.memri.org/report/en/print1219.htm
.

the most “deadly weapons we have”:
Muhammad Abu Rumman and Hassan Abu Hanieh,
The “Islamic Solution” in Jordan: Islamists, the State, and the Ventures of Democracy and Security
(Amman, Jordan: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Jordan & Iraq, 2013).

“I hear and monitor the chaos”:
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, “Support and Advice, Hopes and Pains,” open letter, July 2004, translation provided by MEMRI,
http://www.memri.org/report/en/print1473.htm
.

“We denounce and condemn extremism”:
For the entire “Amman Message” statement, see “The Official Website of the Amman Message,”
www.ammanmessage.com
.

“The ability of a few extremists”:
Abdullah, King of Jordan,
Our Last Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril
(New York: Viking, 2011).

“It should be known”:
Bin Laden’s Dec. 15, 2004, statement quoted in “Bin Laden’s Tape: Key Excerpts,”
BBC News
, Dec. 27, 2004.

“great joy to the people of Islam”:
Jeffrey Pool, “Zarqawi’s Pledge of Allegiance to Al-Qaeda: From Mu’Asker Al-Battar, Issue 21,”
Terrorism Monitor
, vol. 2, no. 24 (Dec. 15, 2004),
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=27305#.VUdYf5N0v64
.

Chapter 14

“An apostasy against Allah”:
Jeffrey Pool, “Zarqawi’s Pledge of Allegiance to Al-Qaeda: From Mu’Asker Al-Battar, Issue 21,”
Terrorism Monitor
, vol. 2, no. 24 (Dec. 15, 2004),
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnewsltt_news]=27305#.VUdYf5N0v64
.

“Local government is in a state of crisis”:
State Department, “Governor in Trouble-Ridden Anbar Province Held Hostage,” cable, Aug. 3, 2004, retrieved from
https://cablegatesearch.wikileaks.org/search.php?q=governor+in+trouble-ridden+anbar&qo=0&qc=0&qto=2010-02-28
.

“We’re not going to put candidates”:
Author interview with Robert S. Ford.

“We are satisfied”:
“Iraqi Vice-President on Tackling ‘Security Chaos,’ Coalition Pullout, Government,” Al-Jazeera TV, April 29, 2006.

the drone picked up the deputy’s car:
Author interview with a former senior U.S. official familiar with the events.

“Just wreck!”:
Author interview with Nada Bakos.

“There was a PowerPoint briefing”:
Author interview with a former senior U.S. official familiar with the events.

“The mujahed movement must avoid”:
Letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, translation provided by Combating Terrorism Center at West Point,
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Zawahiris-Letter-to-Zarqawi-Translation.pdf
.

“He does not and should not”:
Zarqawi, “Zarqawi Clarifies Issues Raised by Sheikh Maqdisi,” open letter, July 21, 2005, retrieved from
http://thesis.haverford.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10066/4760/ZAR20050712.pdf?sequence=3
.

“The al-Qaeda Organization”:
“Al-Zarqawi Declares War on Iraqi Shia,” Al-Jazeera, Sept. 14, 2005,
http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2005/09/200849143727698709.html
.

It took place on the morning of June 29, 2005:
Author interviews with two senior U.S. officials present at the event.

“Are you going to get him?”:
Stanley A. McChrystal,
My Share of the Task: A Memoir
(New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2013).

“By design, often the first time”:
Author interview with Stanley A. McChrystal.

“If we could apply relentless body blows”:
McChrystal,
My Share of the Task
.

“That was a screw-up”:
Author interview with a senior U.S. official present during the event.

Chapter 15

“He put one on me, and wore the other”:
“Full Text of Iraqi Woman’s Confession,” Associated Press, Nov. 13, 2005,
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10027725/#.VUdcKZN0v64
.

listened quietly:
Author interview with senior Jordanian official.

“Everyone got the call”:
Author interview with Jordanian intelligence officer.

“This was a criminal cruel act”:
Malmoud al-Abed and Mohammad Ghazal, “Thousands Rally in Unity Against Terror,”
Jordan Times
, Nov. 12, 2005.

“We’re going on the offensive”:
Abdullah, King of Jordan,
Our Last Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril
(New York: Viking, 2011).

“This is our 9/11”:
Author interview with Robert Richer.

“People who would have never worked”:
Author interview with a senior Jordanian official familiar with the investigation.

“Our brothers knew their targets”:
“Al-Zarqawi Purportedly Says Wedding Wasn’t Targeted,” Associated Press, Nov. 18, 2005.

“Let us not merely be people of killing”:
Letter from Atiyah Abd al-Rahman to Abu Musab al-Zaraqawi, late 2005, translation provided by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point,
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Atiyahs-Letter-to-Zarqawi-Translation.pdf
.

“In Iraq, time is now beginning”:
“Text of a Document Found in Zarqawi’s Safe House,” Associated Press, June 6, 2006.

“In public and private”:
State Department, “Sectarian Nerves on Edge After Samarra Shrine Explosion,” cable, Feb. 23, 2006, retrieved from
https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06STATE29555_a.html
.

“lit the match”:
Peter Baker,
Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House
(New York: Doubleday, 2013).

Every scene conveyed:
Video excerpts can be seen at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0apnoVf8Y
.

“my treasured nation”:
Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D., “Zarqawi Video (with Subtitles) [Updated: Transcripts],”
e Jawa Report
, April 26, 2006,
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/173861.php
.

“there were some mistakes made”:
Edward Wong and John F. Burns, “Iraqi Rift Grows After Discovery of Prison,”
New York Times
, Nov. 17, 2005.

Chapter 16

“He seemed almost relieved”:
Author interview with a senior Jordanian official familiar with the events.

“We were just trying”:
Author interview with senior U.S. official present at the meeting.