Dirty Wars (132 page)

483
took credit
:
“Pirates Could Face Trial in US over American Deaths,”
BBC.co.uk
, February 23, 2011.

483
fifteen remaining pirates
:
Hanna Siegel, “Pirates Charged in Death of American Yachters,”
ABCNews.go.com
, March 10, 2011.

483
inked a deal
:
Ambassador James Swan, “Djibouti Approves Blackwater for Commercial Counter-Piracy Operations.” Details of the arrangement and the ship come from the cable.

484
“
likely oil reserves
”:
“Somalia,” CIA World Factbook,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html
.

484
counterpiracy/counterterrorism force
:
Associated Press, “One-Thousand-Man Militia
Being Trained in North Somalia,”
USA Today
, December 1, 2010.

484
later be revealed
:
Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, “Blackwater Founder Said to Back Mercenaries,”
New York Times
, January 20, 2011.

484
Executive Outcomes
:
Ibid.

484
offices and shell companies
:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea,” p. 274.

484
Civil Cooperation Bureau
:
Desmond Tutu, Alex Boraine, Mary Burton, Bongani Finca, Sisi Khampepe, Richard Lister, Wyn-and Malan, Khoza Mgojo, Hlengiwe Mkhize, Dumisa Ntsebeza, Wendy Orr, Fazel Randera, Yasmin Sooka, and Glenda Wildschut, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, vol. 2, October 29, 1998, pp. 138–139. Lafras Luitingh is described by the commission as a “core member” of the CCB who held the position of “administrative or production manager” on its management board.

484
“
seed money
”:
Ibid.

484
officials from Abu Dhabi
:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea,” p. 274.

484
also hired
:
Associated Press, “One-Thousand-Man Militia Being Trained in North Somalia.”

484
1,000-member counterpiracy force
:
Ibid.

484
“
You cannot have oil exploration
”:
Ibid.

484
well under way
:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea.” The following details of Saracen's work in Somalia are found pp. 53, 276–279, and 281–282.

485
traveled to Mogadishu
:
Ibid., p. 275.

485
at least five other private companies
:
Mohamed Ibrahim and Jeffrey Gettleman, “Parliament Takes on Contractors in Somalia,”
New York Times
, December 30, 2010.

485
“
unknown armed groups
”:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea,” p. 275.

485
demanding the suspension
:
Ibrahim and Gettleman, “Parliament Takes on Contractors in Somalia.”

485
“
opaque web of affiliated entities
”:
Matt Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea pursuant to Security Council resolution 1926 (2010),” p. 53.

485
“
increased tension
”:
Ibid., p. 282.

485
overcome the scourge of piracy
:
Katherine Houreld (AP), “Blackwater Founder Secretly Backing Somali Militia,”
Salon.com
, January 20, 2011.

485
“
anything to do with Blackwater
”:
Jeffrey Gettleman, “Somalia Is Likely to Cut Ties to Mercenaries, Official Says,”
New York Times
, January 23, 2011.

485
negotiations around the Saracen deal
:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea,” p. 275.

485
suspending Saracen's operations
:
Ibid., p. 273.

485
discreetly operating
:
Author interview, senior Somali official, June 2011.

485
other private security companies
:
Bryden et al., “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea,” p. 256.

486
“
American footprint
”:
Gettleman, Mazzetti, and Schmitt, “U.S. Relies on Contractors in Somalia Conflict.”

487
$5 million bounty
:
Malkhadir M. Muhumed and Jason Straziuso (AP), “Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Alleged U.S. Embassy Bomber, Dead: Somali Government,”
Huffington Post
, June 11, 2011.

487
“
We shall redouble our struggle
”:
Abdi Sheikh, “Somalia's al Shabaab Vows to Avenge bin Laden,” Reuters, May 7, 2011.

487
“
He was criticizing them
”:
Author interview, Mogadishu, Somalia, June 2011. All information and statements attributed to the “Somali source” come from the author's interview.

487
finding it increasingly difficult
:
Author interview, Mogadishu, Somalia, June 2011.

488
increased the size of its forces
:
Abdi Sheikh, “Burundi Sends 1,000 Extra AU Troops to Somalia,” Reuters, March 12, 2011.

488
pushing into al Shabab territory
:
Agence France-Presse, “Amisom Pinning Back Rebels in Mogadishu,”
News24.com
, April 7, 2011.

488
new technology
:
Associated Press, “Pentagon Sends Drones, Anti-Terror Equipment to Counterterror Forces Dealing with Somalia,”
FoxNews.com
, June 26, 2011.

488
South African passport
:
Malkhadir M. Muhumed (AP), “Young Somali Soldier: I Killed Top al-Qaida Operative,” NBCnews.com, June 14, 2011.

488
high on khat
:
Mohamed Odowa, “Fazul's Last Moments; Soldiers Tell of Shootout That Killed Al-Qaeda Commander,” SomaliaReport.com, June 16, 2011.

489
refused to comply with instructions
:
Author interviews, Somali militia members at the scene, June 2011, and a senior Somali intelligence official, June 2011.

489
they discovered
:
Jeffrey Gettleman, “Somalis Kill Mastermind of Two U.S. Embassy Bombings,”
New York Times
, June 11, 2011.

489
promptly looted the car
:
Author interview, Somali intelligence official, June 2011.

489
“
There was a lot of English and Arabic stuff
”:
Ibid. All information and statements attributed the Somali intelligence official come from the author's interview.

489
The men's bodies were taken
:
Details of what happened after the raid are from the author's interview with the Somali intelligence official.

489
“
significant blow to Al Qaeda
”:
Secretary Clinton's statement to the press, “Death of Harun Fazul,” June 11, 2011,
www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/06/165942.htm
.

489
“
to take over as much land as possible
”:
Author interview, Abdirahman “Aynte” Ali, June 2011. All information and statements attributed to Aynte come from the author's interview.

490
United States carried out a strike
:
Malkhadir M. Muhumed (AP), “Somalia Says US Forces Snatch Militants Hit in Drone Strike,”
Boston.com
, July 2, 2011.

490
three more US strikes
:
Aweys Cadde, “Airstrikes Hit Lower Juba...Again,” SomaliaReport.com, July 6, 2011.

490
“
Both at the same time
”:
Author interview, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, June 2011.

490
“
We will continue to pummel
”:
John Brennan, “Ensuring al-Qa'ida's Demise,” prepared remarks for delivery at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC, June 29, 2011.

490
extreme toll on Somali civilians
:
Daniel Maxwell and Merry Fitzpatrick, “The 2011 Somalia Famine: Context, Causes, and Complications,”
Global Food Security
1 (1) (December 2012),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2012.07.002
.

490
flocking to the violence-rocked capital
:
Jane Ferguson and Moni Basu, “Amid Famine, Somalis Flock Back to the War-Torn City They Fled,”
CNN.com
, July 22, 2011.

490 30,000
refugees had arrived
:
Lauren Sutherland, “Inside Kenya's Overflowing Refugee Camps,”
Nation
, August 15, 2011.

490
lost its ability to collect taxes
:
Dr. Afyare Abdu Elmi and Abdi Aynte, “Somalia: The Case for Negotiating with al-Shabaab,” Al Jazeera Center for Studies, January 16, 2012,
http://studies.aljazeera.net/ResourceGallery/media/Documents/2012/2/16/2012216134314443734Somalia_The%20Case%20for%20Negotiating%20with%20al-Shabab.pdf
.

490
monsoon season hit
:
Associated Press, “Taxes Hastened Somalia's Famine, Militant Retreat,”
FoxNews.com
, October 1, 2011.

491
well-organized retreat
:
Jeffrey Gettleman and Mohammed Ibrahim, “Shabab Concede Control of Capital to Somalia Government,”
New York Times
, August 6, 2011.

491
evening of attacks
:
Mohamed Ahmed and Ibrahim Mohamed, “Somali Government Declares Islamist Rebellion Defeated,” Reuters, August 6, 2011.

491
“
completely vacated Mogadishu
”:
Gettleman and Ibrahim, “Shabab Concede Control of Capital to Somalia Government.”

491
“
We shall fight the enemy wherever they are
”:
“Somalia's al-Shabab Rebels Leave Mogadishu,”
BBC.co.uk
, August 6, 2011.

491
“
harvest the fruits of peace
”:
Jeffrey Fleishman and Lutfi Sheriff Mohammed, “Somali Shabab Militants Retreat from Mogadishu,”
Los Angeles Times
, August 6, 2011.

491
90 percent of the city
:
Abdi Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed, “Fighting Erupts in Somali Capital After Rebels Say Leaving,” Reuters, August 7, 2011.

491
20,000 troops
:
“World Must Aid Somalia at Historic Juncture on Its Road to Stability—UN Envoy,” UN News Centre, August 10, 2011.

491
“
Al-Qaeda's elements in East Africa
”:
Michael G. Vickers, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, “The Evolution of Al-Qaeda and Associated Movements,” prepared remarks for delivery at a National Defense University symposium, September 13–14, 2011,
www.ndu.edu/inss/docupload-ed/VICKERS.pdf
.

491
fifteen-ton truck
:
Mohamed Ibrahim and Jeffrey Gettleman, “Truck Bomb Kills Dozens in Somalia's Capital,”
New York Times
, October 4, 2011.

491
“
This is the biggest attack
”:
Clar Ni Chonghaile, “Mogadishu Truck Bomb: al-Shabaab Insurgents Claim Responsibility,”
Guardian
, October 4, 2011.

492
launched an offensive
:
Jeffrey Gettleman, “African Union Force Makes Strides Inside Somalia,”
New York Times
, November 24, 2011.

492
“
Battle of Daynile
”:
“The Burundian Bloodbath: Battle of Dayniile,” video, 32:28, propaganda video from al Shabab's Al-Ka-ta'ib Media Foundation, released November 12, 2011, posted on Vimeo by “Saadaal Wacan,” November 12, 2011,
http://vimeo.com/32059413
. The author relies on the video for details of Shabab's treatment of the slain soldiers, and for the statement from Sheik Rage.

492
“
Claims of al-Shabab's imminent collapse
”:
Christopher Anzalone, “Al-Shabab's Setbacks in Somalia,”
CTC Sentinel
4 (10) (October 2011).

493
series of meetings
:
Ibid.

493
“
To our beloved brothers and sisters
”:
Jamal Osman, “Al-Qaida Targets Somalia Drought Victims with Cash Handouts,”
Guardian
, November 1, 2011.

493
“
Whoever thinks today
”:
“Speech of
Mujahid Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Al-Zubeyr About the Death of Qaddafi and the Historical Battle of Dayniile,” translation and transcription of speech delivered by Mukhtar Abu al-Zubeyr (aka Ahmed Abdi Godane), posted on the Ansar al-Mujahideen forum on November 17, 2011,
www.ansari.info/show-thread.php?t=36981
.

494
“
They are not fighting for a cause
”:
Author interview, Mohamed Ahmed Nur, June 2011.

494
“
If you use the drone
”:
Author interview, Ismail Mahmoud Hurre, June 2011.

494
new drone base in Ethiopia
:
Craig Whitlock, “U.S. Drone Base in Ethiopia Is Operational,”
Washington Post
, October 27, 2011.

495
“
always thought that it is best
”:
Author interview, Nasser al Awlaki, January 2012. All statements and information attributed to Nasser al Awlaki come from the author's interview, unless otherwise noted.