Dirty Wars (122 page)

328
McChrystal was instrumental
:
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/
.

328
heated debate
:
“Sharp Division Inside White House on Afghanistan, Analyst Says,” CNN.com, October 5, 2009.

328
advocated for a shift
:
Peter Baker, “How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge' in Afghanistan,”
New York Times
, December 5, 2009.

328
“
I don't foresee the return
”:
Transcript, interview with General James Jones on
State of the Union with John King
, CNN, October 4, 2009.

329
“
a fairly good relationship
”:
Author interview, confidential source, December 2010.

329
surge in Afghanistan
:
Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson, “Obama to Send 34,000 Troops to Afghanistan,”
Washington Post
, December 1, 2009.

329
“
Disrupt, dismantle and defeat
”:
Transcript of President Barack Obama remarks, “Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” West Point Military Academy, West Point, New York, December 1, 2009.

329
“
I was somewhat stunned
”:
Author interview, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, May 2011.

329
“
The Kabul Command
”:
Author interview, Scott Horton, September 2010.

330
McChrystal made it clear
:
Spencer Ackerman, “Special Operations Chiefs Quietly Sway Afghanistan Policy,”
Washington Independent
, November 9, 2009.

330
“
heavy COIN presence
”:
Ibid.

330
“
They're focusing on the main population
”:
Ibid.

330
embracing its core tenets
:
General Stanley McChrystal, Commander ISAF (COMISAF) Initial Assessment (Declassified), released September 21, 2009, accessed December 1, 2012,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/21/AR2009092100110.html
.

330
“
essential to [the] credibility
”:
Hearing to Consider the Nominations of Admiral James G. Stavridis, USN for Reappointment to the Grade of Admiral and to be Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; Lieutenant General Douglas M. Fraser, USAF to be General and Commander, U.S. Southern Command; And Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal, USA, to be General and Commander, International Security Assistance Force and Commander, U.S. Forces, Afghanistan, Day 5, Before the Senate Armed Services Committee
, 111th Cong. (June 2, 2009) (testimony of General Stanley McChrystal).

330
significantly reduced air strikes
:
Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Tightens Airstrike Policy in Afghanistan,”
New York Times
, June 21, 2009.

330
ninety-seven Afghan civilians
:
Dan De Luce, “We Failed to Follow Bombing Rules: Pentagon,” Agence France-Presse, June 8, 2009.

330
“
any entry into an Afghan house
”:
Memorandum, from International Security Assistance Force Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan, July 6, 2009,
www.nato.int/isaf/docu/official_texts/Tactical_Directive_090706.pdf
. The memo contains unclassified excerpts of a tactical directive sent out by McChrystal on July 2, 2009.

330
1,000 Special Operations Forces
:
Rowan Scarborough, “Pentagon Quietly Sending 1,000
Special Operators to Afghanistan in Strategy Revamp,” FoxNews.com, June 5, 2009.

331
SOF teams set to mowing down
:
Associated Press, “Analysis: Gen. Petraeus Promotes Special-Ops Success to Show Part of Afghan War US Is Winning,” FoxNews.com, September 3, 2010.

331
“
By any objective reckoning
”:
Author interview with Gareth Porter, September 2010.

331
more than 2,000 people
:
Nick Davies, “Afghanistan War Logs: Task Force 373—Special Forces Hunting Top Taliban,”
Guardian
, July 25, 2010.

331
increased fourfold
:
Julian E. Barnes, “U.S. Steps Up Special Operations Mission in Afghanistan,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 16, 2009.

331
“
This is Gen. McChrystal's play
”:
Ibid.

331
own detainee operations
:
Kimberly Dozier (AP), “Afghanistan Secret Prisons Confirmed by U.S.,”
Huffington Post
, April 8, 2011.

331
Field Detention Sites
:
Anand Gopal, “America's Secret Afghan Prisons,”
Nation
, January 28, 2010.

331
ninety-six hours
:
Ibid.

331
nine weeks
:
Dozier, “Afghanistan Secret Prisons Confirmed by U.S.”

331
Black Jail
:
Alissa J. Rubin, “Afghans Detail Detention in ‘Black Jail' at U.S. Base,”
New York Times
, November 28, 2009.

331
forced nudity, environmental manipulation, solitary confinement
:
Dozier, “Afghanistan Secret Prisons Confirmed by U.S.”

331
being beaten
:
Rubin, “Afghans Detail Detention in ‘Black Jail' at U.S. Base.”

331
record number
:
Joshua Partlow, “July Becomes Deadliest Month for U.S. Troops in Nearly Nine-Year Afghan War,”
Washington Post
, July 31, 2010.

332
enter their areas of responsibility
:
Author interviews, Afghan police commanders, October 2010.

332
“
U.S. and NATO presence
”:
Matthew Hoh, letter of resignation to Ambassador Nancy J. Powell, Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, U.S. Department of State, September 10, 2009,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/ssi/wpc/ResignationLetter.pdf
.

332
“
sent ripples
”:
Karen DeYoung, “U.S. Official Resigns over Afghan War,”
Washington Post
, October 27, 2009.

332
“
If he really wanted to affect policy
”:
Ibid.

332
“
need to be killed
”:
Author interview, Matthew Hoh, September 2010. All quotations attributed to Matthew Hoh are from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.

333
McChrystal knew how to promote
:
Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General,”
Rolling Stone
, July 8, 2010.

333
“
facilitators,” “suspected militants
”:
Open Society Foundations and The Liaison Office, “The Cost of Kill/Capture: Impact of the Night Raid Surge on Afghan Civilians,” September 19, 2011.

334
important promotion
:
Jerome Starkey, “Nato ‘Covered Up' Botched Night Raid in Afghanistan That Killed Five,”
Times
(UK), March 13, 2010.

334
newborn son
:
“Man Loses Five Family Members in Disputed NATO Raid,” CNN Afghanistan Crossroads (blog), CNN.com, April 6, 2010.

334
sixth day of a child's life
:
Author interview, Jerome Starkey, October 2010.

334
two dozen people, three musicians
:
Jerome Starkey, “US Special Forces ‘Tried to Cover Up' Botched Khataba Raid in Afghanistan,”
Times Online
(UK), April 5, 2010.

334
“
We invited many guests
”:
Author interview, Mohammed Tahir, October 2010. All quotations attributed to Mohammed Tahir are from the author's interviews, unless otherwise noted.

334
not ethnic Pashtun
:
Author interviews, Sharabuddin family members, October 2010. Details about the family and the night of the raid are from the author's interviews, unless otherwise noted.

334
main light
:
“Man Loses Five Family Members in Disputed NATO Raid.”

334
lasers scoping the grounds
:
Author interviews, Sharabuddin family members, October 2010.

335
both hit by sniper rounds
:
Starkey, “Nato ‘Covered Up' Botched Night Raid.”

335
“
When my father went down
”:
Author interview, Abdul Ghafar, October 2010. All quotations attributed to Abdul Ghafar are from the author's interviews, unless otherwise noted.

335
“
When I ran outside
”:
Author interview, Mohammed Sabir, October 2010.

335
pregnant
:
Author interviews, Sharabuddin family members, October 2010. Early press reports, namely, the reporting of Jerome Starkey, also stated that two of the women were pregnant.

335
sixteen children among them
:
Richard A. Oppel Jr., “U.S. Admits Role in February Killing of Afghan Women,”
New York Times
, April 4, 2010.

336
prepared burial shrouds
:
Jerome Starkey, “Nato Accused of Cover Up over Killing of Pregnant Women,”
Scotsman
, March 13, 2010.

336
handcuffing them
:
Author copy of “briefing note” by United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Human Rights unit, dated February 14, 2010.

336
barefoot, on a brutal winter morning, their hands tied
:
Ibid.

336
assaulted by the US and Afghan team
:
Ibid. According to the UNAMA briefing note, “The same witness reported having seen at least 10 people, including the 65 year old house owner, being seriously assaulted by US and Afghan Forces.”

336
“
They told us that they were informed
”:
Author interview, Hajji Sharabuddin, October 2010.

337
“
suffered from cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment
”:
UNAMA briefing note. All information attributed to the UN is from this report, unless otherwise noted.

338
“
hidden in an adjacent room
”:
“Joint Force Operating in Gardez Makes Gruesome Discovery,” ISAF Joint Command, February 12, 2010, accessed December 1, 2012,
www.dvidshub.net/news/45240/joint-force-operating-gardez-makes-gruesome-discovery#.UOLyVBzKZcQ
.

338
“
criminals and terrorists
”:
“Afghan, International Force Kills Enemy Fighters,” American Forces Press Service, February 12, 2010.

338
men, women and children, medical support
:
“Joint Force Operating in Gardez Makes Gruesome Discovery.”

338
“
It has the earmarks
”:
“Bodies Found Gagged, Bound After Afghan ‘Honor Killing,'” CNN.com, February 12, 2010.

338
Paktia Province police chief
:
Rob Norland, “Afghanistan: Different Accounts Offered About Civilian Deaths,”
New York Times
, February 13, 2010.

338
deep cuts and puncture wounds
:
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Abdul Waheed Wafa, “Afghan Investigators Say U.S. Troops Tried to Cover Up Evidence in Botched Raid,”
New York Times
, April 5, 2010.

338
inaccurate, falsified tip-off
:
Lemar Niazai, “Intelligence Official Among Five Killed by NATO Troops,”
Pajhwok Afghan News
, February 12, 2010.

339
“
We strongly condemn this
”:
Amir Shah, “NATO: Raid Killed Militants; Family Says Civilians,” Associated Press, February 12, 2010.

339
barred from entering
:
Starkey, “US Special Forces ‘Tried to Cover Up' Botched Khataba Raid.”

339
“
wouldn't let us come near
”:
Laura King, “Probe Targets Elite Unit; an Inquiry into a Raid That Killed Five Afghan Civilians May Shed Light on the Role of U.S. Special Forces,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 9, 2010.

339
top criminal investigator
:
Starkey, “US Special Forces ‘Tried to Cover Up' Botched Khataba Raid.”

339
“
extraordinary and intriguing story
”:
Author interview, Jerome Starkey, October 2010. All quotations attributed to Jerome Starkey come from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.

340
denied having been a part of
:
Starkey, “Nato ‘Covered Up' Botched Night Raid.”

340
“
This operation was a mistake
”:
Starkey, “Nato Accused of Cover Up over Killing of Pregnant Women.”

340
should have left information
:
Ibid.

341
“
You don't have to be fired upon
”:
Starkey, “Nato ‘Covered Up' Botched Night Raid.”

341
“
categorically false
”:
“ISAF Rejects Cover Up Allegation,” International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), March 13, 2010, accessed December 12, 2012,
www.dvidshub.net/news/46637/isaf-rejects-cover-up-allegation#.UOL9RhzKZcQ
.