The Looming Tower (72 page)

288
“I shed tears”:
Robert Fisk, “Bin Laden’s Secrets Are Revealed by al-Jazeera Journalist,”
Independent
, October 23, 2002.
“We consider you”:
Burke,
Al-Qaeda
, 168.
fishing:
Stephen Braun and Judy Pasternak, “Long Before Sept. 11, bin Laden Aircraft Flew Under the Radar,”
Los Angeles Times
, November 18, 2001.
“This time”:
interview with Prince Turki al-Faisal.

289
on drugs:
“Spiegel Interview: ‘And Then Mullah Omar Screamed at Me,’ ”
Der Spiegel
, March 8, 2004. Translated by Christopher Sultan.
they were easily relocated:
interview with Abdul Rahman Khadr.

290
“There is no need”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 6, March 24, 2005.
“Did you expect”:
ibid.

291
military objected:
9/11 Commission Report
, 131.

292
“burned out”:
interview with Michael Scheuer.

294
“Catholic thing”:
interview with Grant Ashley.

295
“Gee, John”:
interview with anonymous FBI agent.
paying the mortgage:
Weiss,
The Man Who Warned America
, 279.
borrowing money:
interview with Joe Cantemessa.
“common strategy”:
Anonymous,
Through Our Enemies’ Eyes
, 124.
the prophesied Mahdi:
interview with Ahmed Badeeb.
stop backing anti-Saddam insurgents:
9/11 Commission Report
, 61.

295
met the Iraqi dictator:
Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Great Terror,”
New Yorker
, March 25, 2002.

296
Iraqi intelligence officials flew:
9/11 Commission Report
, 66.
Zawahiri went to Baghdad:
“Iraq: Former PM Reveals Secret Service Data on Birth of al-Qaeda in Iraq,”
Aki
, May 23, 2005.

297
piece of the infrastructure:
interview with Lewis Schiliro.
The CIA warned:
statement of Samuel R. Berger,
Joint Congressional Inquiry
, September 19, 2002.
“Hey, we’ve got something”:
Robert Draper, “The Plot to Blow Up LAX,”
GQ
, December 2001.

298
Times Square:
interviews with Joseph Dunne and Mark Rossini.
“If they’re gonna”:
Clarke,
Against All Enemies
, 214.

299
Night of Power:
interview with Robert McFadden.

18. Boom

301
middle or upper:
interview with Marc Sageman. Many of the statistics derive from his important study,
Understanding Terror Networks
.
mental disorders:
Sageman remarks that “only four of the 400 men [in his sample] had any hint of a disorder. This is below the worldwide base rate for thought disorders.” Marc Sageman, “Understanding Terror Networks,”
E-Notes
, Foreign Policy Research Institute, November 1, 2004.
middle-class professionals:
Nick Fielding, “Osama’s Recruits Well-Schooled,”
Sunday Times
, April 3, 2005.
young, single men:
interview with Abdullah Anas.
Shia Muslims had participated:
interview with Abdullah Anas.
ten and twenty thousand trainees:
9/11 Commission Report
, 66. Sageman privately estimates the number of recruits during this period was no more than five thousand.

302
utopian goals:
Bernstein,
Out of the Blue
, 86.
three main stages:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 5, March 23, 2005.

303
“enemies of Islam”:
interview with Ali Soufan.
“shooting the personality”:
David Rohde and C. J. Chivers, “Al-Qaeda’s Grocery Lists and Manuals of Killing,”
New York Times
, March 17, 2002.
Kamikaze Camp:
Abu Zayd, “After Ben Ladan’s Return to Afghanistan and Revival of Fundamentalist Alliance,”
Al-Watan al-Arabi
, June 7, 1996.
Arnold Schwarzenegger:
interview with Jack Cloonan. The author’s own movie,
The Siege
, was also viewed by al-Qaeda members.
“the destructive power”:
Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins, “Computer in Kabul Holds Chilling Memos,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 31, 2001.

304
five hours to die:
undated, unsigned document, “CIA Report on the Zawahiri Brothers.”
Yazid Sufaat:
“Is al-Qaeda Making Anthrax?”
CBS News
, October 9, 2003; Eric Lipton, “Qaeda Letters Are Said to Show Pre-9/11 Anthrax Plans,”
New York Times
, May 21, 2005.
preferred nuclear bombs:
“The Story of the Afghan Arabs,”
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, part 1, December 8, 2004.

305
Hamburg:
interviews with Georg Mascolo, Josef Joffe, Jochen Bittner, Manfred Murck, and Cordula Meyer.
200,306:
“The Hamburg Connection,”
BBC News
, August 19, 2005.

306
“a good man”:
9/11 Commission Report
, 165.

307
“elegant”:
John Crewdson, “From Kind Teacher to Murderous Zealot,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 11, 2004.
“I had a difficult”:
Brian Ross, “Face to Face with a Terrorist,” ABC News, June 6, 2002.
signed a standardized will:
Fouda and Fielding,
Masterminds of Terror
, 82.
Atta was enraged:
Nicholas Hellen, John Goetz, Ben Smalley, and Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas, “God’s Warrior,”
Sunday Times
, January 13, 2002.
“planes operation”:
ibid., 154.

308
spring of 1999:
“Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,”
U.S. v. Moussaoui
.
only ones involved:
9/11 Commission Report
, 155.
“America is:”
“Bin Laden’s Sermon for the Feast of the Sacrifice,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series—No. 476, www.memri.org, March 5, 2003.
Sears Tower:
Paul Martin, “Chicago, L.A. Towers Were Next Targets,”
Washington Times
, March 30, 2004.

309
Nawaf al-Hazmi:
Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
, 131; and
Der Spiegel, Inside 9-11
, 16.
Khaled al-Mihdhar:
Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
, 131; interview with Ali Soufan; and Eric Watkins, personal communication.
Ramadan:
Georg Mascolo, “Operation Holy Tuesday,”
Der Spiegel
, October 27, 2003.
bin al-Shibh:
interview with Ali Soufan.

310
“Something nefarious”:
9/11 Commission Report
, 353.

311
CIA already had the names:
interview with Saeed Badeeb.
“We need to continue the effort”:
“Three 9/11 Hijackers: Identification, Watchlisting, and Tracking,”
Staff Statement No
. 2, 4, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States.
“This is not a matter”:
interview with Mark Rossini.
“Is this a no go”:
Miller is identified as “Dwight” in “A Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks,” Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, November 2004, 233.

313
drowning in a flood of threats:
interview with an anonymous CIA employee of Alec Station, who told me, “The real miracle is that there was only one major failure.”
twelve employees:
The 9/11 Commission Report
, 479.
“Manson Family”:
Steve Coll, “A Secret Hunt Unravels in Afghanistan,”
Washington Post
, February 22, 2004.

314
Bayoumi:
Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas, “The Saudi Money Trail,”
Newsweek
, December 2, 2002;
9/11 Commission Report
, 215-18;
Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
, 172-74; “A Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks,” Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, November 2004, 325.

315
going nowhere:
interview with Jack Cloonan.

318
“centralization”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 4, March 22, 2005.
USS
The Sullivans:
9/11 Commission Report
, 190-91.
shaped charges:
Benjamin and Simon,
The Age of Sacred Terror
, 323.
“Enough of words”:
Bergen,
Holy War
, 186.

319
Aden:
interview with anonymous former CIA officer.
USS
Cole:
interviews with Barbara Bodine, Kenneth Maxwell, Thomas Pickard, Pascuale “Pat” D’Amuro, Jim Rhody, Tom Donlon, Ali Soufan, Kevin Giblin, Barry Mawn, David Kelley, Mark Rossini, and Kevin Donovan; also, John O’Neill, “The Bombing of the U.S.S. Cole,” speech given at 19th Annual Government/Industry Conference on Global Terrorism, Political Instability, and International Crime, March 2001; Graham,
Intelligence Matters
, 60-61; Bergen,
Holy War
, 184-92; Weiss,
The Man Who Warned America
, 287-312; “The Man Who Knew,” www.pbs.org.¨

324
clear directives:
interview with Michael Sheehan.

329
“errand boy”:
interview with Ali Soufan.
Soufan queried the CIA:
According to Soufan, “the agency went behind my back” to interview his source in Afghanistan in December 2000. The agency was sharing his source at this time, but in accordance with protocol, brought along the FBI legal attaché from Islamabad. At this time, the CIA officer had the source identify a surveillance photo of Khallad from the Malaysia meeting. This allowed the agency to correctly say that the FBI was present when the picture was shown; however, the interview was conducted in Arabic, a language that the FBI attaché didn’t speak, so he was unaware of what was actually transpiring.

331
Samsonite suitcases:
“The Story of the Afghan Arabs,”
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, part 4, December 12, 2004.
Bin Laden separated:
9/11 Commission Report
, 191.
launching another missile:
Clinton,
My Life
, 925.
hoped to lure:
interview with Ali Soufan.

19. The Big Wedding

333
marriage:
interviews with Ahmed Zaidan, Jamal Khalifa, and Maha Elsamneh; Zeidan,
Bin Laden Bila Qina
’, 109-58.
A destroyer:
“Bin Laden Verses Honor Cole Attack,”
Reuters
, March 2, 2001.

334
sleeplessness:
Abdullah bin Osama bin Laden says that his father was only sleeping two or three hours a night. “Bin Laden’s Son Defiant,” BBC, October 14, 2001.
Our men are in revolt:
government exhibit,
U.S. v. Moussaoui
.
Dick Clarke:
interview with Richard A. Clarke; also, Clarke,
Against All Enemies
, 225-34.
The 9/11 Commission Report
says that Clarke told Rice he wanted to be reassigned in May or June; he told me March.

335
Rice demurred:
Philip Shenon and Eric Schmitt, “Bush and Clinton Aides Grilled by Panel,”
New York Times
, March 24, 2004.
eighty thousand dollars:
interview with Valerie James. O’Neill’s base salary was $120,336.

336
“hot-blooded revolutionary”:
Mohammed el-Shafey, “UBL’s Aide al-Zawahiri Attacks Jihad Members ‘Taking Refuge in Europe,’ ”
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, April 23, 2001. Translated by FBIS.

337
Ahmed Shah Massoud:
interview with Abdullah Anas; Kathy Gannon, “Osama Ordered Assassination,”
Advertiser
, August 16, 2002; Jon Lee Anderson, “Letter from Kabul: The Assassins,”
New Yorker
, June 10, 2002; Burke,
Al-Qaeda
, 177; Mike Boettcher and Henry Schuster, “How Much Did Afghan Leader Know?” CNN, November 6, 2003;
9/11 Commission Report
, 139; Defense Intelligence Agency confidential cable, “IIR [Excised]/The Assassination of Massoud Related to 11 September 2001 Attack,” November 21, 2001; Benjamin and Simon,
The Age of Sacred Terror
, 338; Coll,
Ghost Wars
, 568.

338
“using an airplane”:
Sam Tannehaus, “The C.I.A.’s Blind Ambition,”
Vanity Fair
, January 2002. Tannehaus reports the attack was going to be on the G-8 in Genoa, but Clarke told me that the tip involved a presidential assassination in Rome.
Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil:
“Newspaper Says U.S. Ignored Terror Warning,”
Reuters
, September 7, 2002.
Jordanian intelligence:
John K. Cooley, “Other Unheeded Warnings Before 9/11?”
Christian Science Monitor
, May 23, 2002.
Amal al-Sada:
interview with Ali Soufan.
“Songs and merriment”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 6, March 24, 2005.
mother chastised:
interview with Ali Soufan.

339
“We’re going to kill”:
interview with Richard A. Clarke.

340
“Something bad”:
Dana Priest, “Panel Says Bush Saw Repeated Warnings,”
Washington Post
, April 13, 2004.
Intelink:
Intelink is a handicapped system available to other intelligence agencies. It would have shown Gillespie only what was available to FBI intelligence. Had she looked on the Hercules system, the powerful CIA database that contained all the cables and NSA traffic and was available to her, she would have gotten a complete picture of the agency’s knowledge of Mihdhar and Hazmi.
June 11:
interviews with Dina Corsi, Steven Bongardt, Ali Soufan, and Mark Rossini. Miller, Stone, and Mitchell,
The Cell
, 305; Cofer Black statement, September 20, 2002,
Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
. Dina Corsi told me that she had written the names of Mihdhar and Hazmi on the backs of the photographs, so that the names were made available to the criminal agents on the I-49 squad, but Bongardt says he never saw them.