Dirty Wars (112 page)

This chapter is based on a series of interviews in 2010 and 2011 with “Hunter,” a Special Operations source. Hunter is a pseudonym created to protect the identity of the source.

180
home of JSOC's intelligence wing
:
See Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady,
The Command: Deep Inside the President's Secret Army
(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2012, Kindle edition), chap. 8, “The Activity.”

184
“
could not get a scholarship
”:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012. All information and statements attributed to Nasser al Awlaki come from the author's interviews, in January, August and September 2012, unless otherwise noted. Details about Anwar from this period come from the author's interviews with Nasser and other members of the family, unless otherwise noted.

184
study at Iman University
:
Author interviews, Awlaki family members, January and August 2012; Sudarsan Raghavan, “Cleric Linked to Fort Hood Attack Grew More Radicalized in Yemen,”
Washington Post
, December 10, 2009.

185
tribal dispute
:
Susan Schmidt, “Imam from Va. Mosque Now Thought to Have Aided al-Qaeda,”
Washington Post
, February 27, 2008.

185
prison in Sana'a
:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

185
confiscated
:
Schmidt, “Imam from Va. Mosque.”

185
“
look after” Anwar
:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

185
“
first nine months
”:
Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki,” Cageprisoners, December 31, 2007,
www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/interviews/item/159-moazzam-begg-interviews-imam-anwar-al-awlaki
.

186
“
I was held at the request
”:
Transcript, “Interview with In Focus News, California,” by Saaqib Rangoonwala, posted by “SoldierOfAllah” on Shaykh Anwar's Blog, October 13, 2011,
http://anwar-awlaki. blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-in-focus-news-california.html
. This is not the same domain name once used by Anwar al Awlaki.

186
“
began asking me questions
”:
Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

186
“
at the request of the United States
”:
Christof Heyns, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Executions,” submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, May 27, 2011, p. 395.

186
“
did not object
”:
Scott Shane and Souad Mekhennet, “Imam's Path from Condemning Terror to Preaching Jihad,”
New York Times
, May 8, 2010.

186
meeting between Negroponte
:
Author interview, former Yemeni government minister, January 2012. Details of the meeting are from the author's interview.

186
“
Bandar Bush
”:
Ian Black, “Prince Bandar bin Sultan—Profile,”
Guardian
, October 10, 2012.

186
some 750,000 people
:
Author interview, Sheikh Saleh bin Fareed, January 2012.

186
“
asked us to keep him in jail
”:
Ibid. All information and statements attributed to bin Fareed come from the author's interview.

187
Saleh visited Washington
:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012; also see “Visits by Foreign Leaders of Yemen,” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, accessed December 15, 2012,
http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/visits/yemen
. President Saleh visited the US from April 29 to May 7, 2007.

187
stayed for two days
:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

187
“
summoned to an office
”:
Shaykh Harith al Nadari, “My Story with al-Awlaki,”
Inspire
9 (winter 2012), released May 2012.

187
Yemeni intelligence insisted
:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012.

187
“
There was some pressure
”:
Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

188
“
detention as a blessing
”:
Anwar al Awlaki, “Book Review 3: In the Shade of the Quran by Sayyid Qutb,” Imam Anwar's Blog, June 22, 2008,
www.anwar-alawlaki.com
.

188
“
they took everything away
”:
Transcript, “Moazzam Begg Interviews Imam Anwar al-Awlaki.”

188
studying in Colorado
:
Lawrence Wright,
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and
the Road to 9/11
(New York: Vintage Books, 2007), p. 20.

188
“
numb to faith
”:
David Von Drehle, “A Lesson in Hate; How an Egyptian Student Came to Study 1950s America and Left Determined to Wage Holy War,”
Smithsonian Magazine
, February 2006.

188
arrested, put in jail
:
Wright,
The Looming Tower
, p. 33.

188
his most influential texts
:
Ibid., pp. 33-34.

188
Qutb was hanged
:
Ibid., p. 37.

189
“
so immersed
”:
Awlaki, “Book Review 3.”

189
“
particularly mean Prison Head
”:
Anwar al Awlaki blog post, “Book Review 9: English Novels,” Imam Anwar's Blog, August 6, 2008, anwar-alawlaki.com.

189
“
staple breads
”:
Anwar al Awlaki, “Food Reviews from Behind Bars,” Imam Anwar's Blog, August 21, 2008,
anwar-alawlaki.com
.

189
“
Before my imprisonment
”:
Transcript, “Interview with In Focus News.”

190
“
alleged spiritual advisor
”:
US diplomatic cable 07SANAA2333, from Deputy Chief of Mission Angie Bryan, US Embassy Sana'a, “Yemeni-American Awlaqi Released from ROYG Custody,” December 18, 2007, released by WikiLeaks,
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2007/12/07SANAA2333.html
.

190
“
kidnapping for ransom
”:
“Treasury Designates Anwar al-Aulaqi, Key Leader of Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” press release, US Department of the Treasury, July 16, 2010.

191
first approached by the CIA
:
Author interview, Yusuf Mohamed Siad, June 2011.

191
Lower Shabelle
:
Ken Menkhaus, “Governance without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building, and the Politics of Coping,”
International Security
31 (3) (winter 2006-2007): 74-106, 85,
www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/isec.2007.31.3.74
.

191
trafficking operations
:
Bruno Schiemsky, Melvin E. Holt Jr., Harjit S. Kelley, and Joel Salek, “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1587 (2005),” UN Security Council, October 4, 2005, pp. 23-24.

191
“
They offered me money
”:
Author interview, Yusuf Mohamed Siad, June 2011. All quotations of Indha Adde come from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.

192
five specific terrorists
:
US diplomatic cable 06NAIROBI2425, from Ambassador William Bellamy, US Embassy Nairobi, “Somalia: A Strategy for Engagement,” June 2, 2006, released by WikiLeaks,
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/06/06NAIRO-BI2425.html
. “Fazul [Abdullah Mohammed], [Saleh Ali Saleh] Nabhan, [Abu Talha] el-Sudani, [Ahmed] Abdi [Godane] and [Aden Hashi] Ayrow must be removed from the Somali equation.”

192
“
start an open war in Mogadishu
”:
US diplomatic cable 06NAIROBI1484, from Ambassador William M. Bellamy, US Embassy Nairobi, “Ambassador to Yusuf: Alliance Against Terror Not Directed at TFG,” April 4, 2006, released by WikiLeaks,
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/04/06NAI-ROBI1484.html
.

193
small, regional Islamic courts
:
Cedric Barnes and Harun Hassan, “The Rise and Fall of Mogadishu's Islamic Courts,”
Journal of Eastern African Studies
1 (2) (July 2007).

193
twelve courts united
:
Author interview, Abdirahman “Aynte” Ali, June 2011.

193
receiving shipments
:
Schiemsky et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia,” p. 15. The Monitoring Group reported that “another State in the region provided support to the opposition and the Oromo National Liberation Front [a Somali nationalist guerrilla group operating along the border] in the form of arms. That State provided arm[s] to opposition allies including Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde...Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys...and other[s] for the purpose of countering support provided to the TFG by Ethiopia.” The country being reported was confirmed to be Eritrea by subsequent UN and other reports.

193
supporting the CIA's warlords
:
Schiemsky et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia,” pp. 20-21.

193
“
whole mess started from that point
”:
Author interview, Ali Mohamed Gedi, June 2011.

193
officially announcing
:
“Somali Warlords Battle Islamists,” BBC News, February 21, 2006,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4735614.stm
.

193
endorsed the US campaign
:
Mark Mazzetti, “Efforts by C.I.A. Fail in Somalia, Officials Charge,”
New York Times
, June 8, 2006.

193
“
work with responsible individuals
”:
Emily Wax and Karen DeYoung, “U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia,”
Washington Post
, May 17, 2006.

194
“
suitcases filled with dollars
”:
Salim Lone, “Destabilizing the Horn,”
Nation
, January 22, 2007.

194
“
This war is easy
”:
Author interview, Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, June 2011. All quotations from Mohamed Afrah Qanyare are from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.

194
“
some of the most violent
”:
Wax and
DeYoung, “U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia.”

194
“
clandestine third-country
”:
Schiemsky et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia,” p. 15.

194
“
rallying to the cause
”:
US diplomatic cable 06NAIROBI1261, from Leslie Rowe, Deputy Chief of Mission US Embassy Nairobi, “Worst Combat in Five Years Put at USG Doorstep,” March 20, 2006, released by WikiLeaks,
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2006/03/06NAIROBI1261.html
.

194
“
thwarted counterterrorism efforts
”:
Mazzetti, “Efforts by C.I.A. Fail in Somalia, Officials Charge.”

194
“
join the jihad
”:
Mohamed Olad Hassan (AP), “Ethiopian Troops off to Somalia,” News24.com, November 11, 2006.

194
“
killing [of] prayer leaders
”:
Author interview, Abdirahman “Aynte” Ali, June 2011. Quotations of Aynte come from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.

195
“
end to the warlords' ruthlessness
”:
Author interview, Sheikh Ahmed “Madobe” Mohammed Islam, June 2011.

195
“
promise of order and security
”:
International Crisis Group, “Somalia's Islamists,” Africa Report No. 100, December 12, 2005.

196
“
We share no objectives
”:
Simon Robinson, “Somalia's Islamic Leaders Deny a Link to Terror,”
Time
, June 6, 2006.

196
sometime in 2003
:
Abdirahman “Aynte” Ali, “The Anatomy of al Shabaab,” unpublished paper, June 2010,
www.radiodaljir.com/audio/docs/TheAnatomyOfAlShabaab.pdf
.

196
explosives expert, financing
:
Clint Watts, Jacob Shapiro, and Vahid Brown, “Al-Qaida's (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa,” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, July 2, 2007, Appendix B: Cast of Characters from the Horn of Africa, pp. 131-132,
www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/al-qaidas-misadventures-in-the-horn-of-africa
.

197
1972 or 1974
:
Profile of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, United Nations Security Council al-Qaida Sanctions List, accessed August 14, 2012,
www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10755.doc.htm
. Fazul reportedly possessed other documents stating that his date of birth was in 1976 and 1971. Fazul was removed from the sanctions list on August 12, 2012.

197
Fazul grew up
:
Watts, Shapiro, and Brown, “Al-Qaida's (Mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa,” pp. 89-90.

197
“
got confirmed
”:
Ibid., p. 93. The authors cite a letter sent from Fazul to his brother Omar in 1991.

197
first mission
:
United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., S(9) 98 Cr. 1023, Indictment, p. 16.