The Longest War (73 page)

157
drifted over the four hundred mark
: ICasualties.org, U.S. Deaths by Month/Year: January–November 2003: 446 deaths.
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/usByYear.aspx

157
“the Expanding Insurgency in Iraq”
: Linda Robinson,
Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq
(New York: Perseus Books, 2008), p. 7; and James Risen,
State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
(New York: Free Press, 2006), pp. 145–146.

157
would rise to two thousand
: Ricks op. cit., p. 408.

158
just one of a long series of jihads
: Tenet op. cit., pp. 437–438.

158
“We’re not calling it an insurgency”
: Robert Grenier, interview with author Washington, D.C., January 19, 2010.

158
“pockets of dead enders”
: Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Department Operational Update Briefing, Arlington, VA, June 18, 2003; “the more desperate”: George W. Bush, Remarks with L. Paul Bremer, Washington, D.C., October 27, 2003.

158
“not an insurgency”
: Paul Wolfowitz, MSNBC Hardball with Campbell Brown, June 23, 2004; “last throes”: Dick Cheney, CNN Larry King Live, May 30, 2005; “state of desperation”: Dick Cheney, CBS Face the Nation, March 19, 2006.

159
at least ninety thousand Iraqis
: Iraq Body Count, Monthly Table, 2003–2008. Accessed Feb. 5, 2009.
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/
.

159
4.7 million Iraqis
: United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Iraq Country Page.
http://www.unhcr.org/iraq.html
; “largest single movement”: Jennifer Pagonis, United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Geneva, April 8, 2008;
http://www.aims.org.af/services/sectoral/
emergency_assistance/refugee/unhcr_summaries/
jul_08/summary1.pdf
.

159
“seem not to make the press”
: Donald Rumsfeld, Washingon, D.C., August 9, 2004.
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/
transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2547
.

159
“terrible ecosystem”
: Dexter Filkins,
The Forever War
(New York: Random House, 2008), p. 294; ribbon cuttings: Filkins op. cit., p.171.

159
Some 130 journalists
: “Kurdish journalists under assault in Iraq,” Reuters, August 26, 2008.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/
idUSLQ27271020080827
.

159
more than double
: 63 journalists were killed in Vietnam from 1955–1975: Reporters Without Borders, “Three years of slaughter in Iraq,” March 20, 2006.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_
article=16793
.

159
morphed into a fortress
: Filkins op. cit., p. 223.

160
one hundred civilians were dying every day
: Unclassified total; from coalition and Iraqi reports, Department of Defense document, author collection.

160
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
: For a good profile see Jeffrey Gettleman and Abu Romman, “Zarqawi’s Journey: From Dropout to Prisoner to an Insurgent Leader in Iraq,”
New York Times
, July 13, 2004.

160
whiled away his youth
: David S. Cloud, “Elusive Enemy: Long in U.S. Sights, A Young Terrorist Builds Grim Resume,”
Wall Street Journal
, February 10, 2004.

160
“he wasn’t that smart”
: Betsy Pisik, “Mother denies suspect is terrorist,”
Washington Times
, February 24, 2003.

161
“He can fight an army alone”
: Hutaifa Azzam, interview by author, Amman, Jordan, September 13, 2005.

161
worked out manically
: Loretta Napoleoni,
Insurgent Iraq: Al Zarqawi and the New Generation
(New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005), pp. 61–70; Fuad Hussein,
Al Zarqawi: The Second Al-Qaeda Generation
, serialized in
Al Quds al Arabi
, May 15, 2005, and June 8 to July 15, 2005.

161
gave an amnesty
: BBC News, “Jordan: King endorses general amnesty law,” March 23, 1999.

161
plotted to blow up a Radisson hotel
: Jonathan Finer and Craig Whitlock, “Zarqawi’s network asserts it launched attacks in Amman,”
Washington Post
, November 11, 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2005/11/10/
AR2005111002074_pf.html
.

161
did succeed in killing Laurence Foley
: “U.S. diplomat killed in Jordan,” CNN, October 28, 2002.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/
meast/10/28/jordan.shooting/
.

161
set up a training camp
: Fuad Hussein,
Al Zarqawi: The Second al-Qaeda Generation
, serialized in
Al Quds al Arabi
, May 15, 2005 and June 8 to July 15, 2005. “Jihadist Biography of the Slaughtering Leader Abu Mus’ab al Zarqawi” by Saif al-Adel, military commander of al-Qaeda which surfaced on a jihadist website on June 20, 2009 and was translated by World News Connection on August 17, 2009. File Number 985 Accession Number 285351362.

162
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
: ibid.

162
complexion and accents
: Fuad Hussein op. cit.

162
arrive in Kurdish Iraq
: Fuad Hussein op. cit.

162
Zarqawi traveled
: Bundeskriminalarnt (BKA) Intelligence Report, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, April 2002, translated by Steven Arons. Author’s collection.

162
bombed the United Nations’ headquarters
: Ricks op. cit., p. 216; “bombed the Jordanian embassy”: BBC News, “Jordan embassy blast inquiry.” August 8, 2003.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east
/3134145.stm
; “25 killed in Iraq blast,”
The Guardian
, November 12, 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2003/nov/12/iraq.italy
.

163
viewed millions of times
: Garry Barker, “A war of pictures,”
The Age (Australia)
, May 16, 2004.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/
2004/05/16/1084646070652.html
.

163
on the tape Berg is
: BBC News, “Zarqawi beheaded U.S. man in Iraq.” May 13, 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3712421.stm
.

163
two other Americans
: “Video shows American hostage beheaded,” CNN.com, September 20, 2004.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/
09/20/iraq.beheading/
and Edward Wong, “Iraqi video shows beheading of man said to be American,”
New York Times
, September 21, 2004.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/international
/middleeast/21iraq.html
; Jason Burke, “Theatre of terror,”
The Guardian
, November 21, 2004.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2004
/nov/21/features.review7
.

163
living under some form of arrest
: U.S. counterterrorism officials, interview by author, Washington, D.C., June 6, 2003.

163
beloved Syrian mother
:
Growing Up Bin Laden
op. cit., pp. 8–9 and 166.

164
snakes and scorpions
: Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s letter to Osama bin Laden, Coalition Provisional Authority, February 12, 2004.

164
Zarqawi’s father-in-law
: Mary Anne Weaver, “The short, violent life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,”
The Atlantic
, July/August 2006.
http://www.theatlantic.com
/doc/200607/zarqawi/4
. “Najaf bombing kills Shiite leader,” CNN.com, August 30, 2003,
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/
meast/08/29/sprj.irq.najaf/
.

164
the Golden Mosque in Samarra
: Fuad Hussein op. cit.; Knickmeyer, Ellen and Ibrahim, K.I., “Bombing shatters mosque in Iraq.”
Washington Post
, February 23, 2006.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200454.html
.

164
in Anbar province
: Cloud and Jaffe op. cit., p. 188.

164
Shia death squads
: BBC News, Iraq ‘death squad caught in act,” February 16, 2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_
east/4719252.stm
.

164
soldiers of the 82nd Airborne
: “U.S. Troops Fire Back at Iraqi Protesters,” Associated Press, April 29, 2003; and Human Rights Watch, “Violent Response,” June 16, 2003.
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/12318
/section/4
; four American security contractors: PBS
Frontline
, “The High Risk Contracting Business,” June 21, 2005.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/
shows/warriors/contractors/highrisk. html
.

165
halted by Bremer on April 9
: “Marines half offensive operations in Fallujah for negotiations,” Associated Press, April 9, 2004.

165
was a turning point
: Sanchez op. cit., pp. 350–351.

165
on November 7, 2004
: Global Security.org, Operation al-Fajr (Dawn). November 8, 2004.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/oif-
phantom-fury-fallujah.htm
.

165
thousands of jihadist insurgents
: Dexter Filkins and James Glanz, “With airpower and armor, troops enter rebel-held city,”
New York Times
, November 8, 2004.

165
since the battle of Hue
: Jim Garamone, “ScanEagle proves worth in Fallujah fight,” DefenseLink, January 11, 2005.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news
/newsarticle.aspx?id=24397
.

165
thousands of the city’s buildings were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants fled
: Ann Scott Tyson, “Increase security in Fallujah slows efforts to rebuild,”
Washington Post
, April 19, 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/
articles/A64292-2005Apr18.html
.

165
“Bring’em on”
: George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 2, 2003,
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives
.gov/news/releases/
2003/07/20030702-3.html
.

166
“a terrorist magnet”
: Ricardo Sanchez, CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, July 27, 2003.
http://www.defenselink.mil/
transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2904
; George W. Bush, Greeley, Colorado, October 25, 2004.

166
“Seems like the reverse”
: Interview by author with Art Keller, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 13, 2007.

166
National Intelligence Estimate
: Declassified Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,” dated April 2006.
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/
Declassified_NIE_Key_Judgments.pdf
.

166
“plunge into the ocean”
: Jeffrey Pool (translator), “Zarqawi’s pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda.” Jamestown Foundation, Terrorism Monitor, December 16, 2004.
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article
.php?articleid=2369020
; “Mujahid brother”: CRS Report for Congress, “Al-Qaeda: Evolving Statements and Ideology,” January 26, 2006; and Osama bin Laden, audiotape, Al Jazeera, December 27, 2004.

166
exercise more restraint
: Ayman al Zawahiri, letter to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, July 9, 2005.
www.rjchq.org/media/pdf/zawahiriletter.pdf
.

166
thirteen hundred foreign fighters
: Michael Gordon and Mark Mazzetti, “General Warns of Risks in Iraq if G.I.’s are Cut.”
New York Times
, November 16, 2006.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/
world/middleeast/16policy.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper
&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
.

166
90 percent Iraqis
: Edward Gistaro, Statement for the Record House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Armed Services Committee. Director of National Intelligence, July 25, 2007.
http://www.dni.gov/testimonies/20070725_testimony.pdf
.

166
more than ten thousand Iraqis
: Mohamed Hafez, email to author December 14, 2009.

166
combined since 1981
: Assaf Moghadam
Globalization of Martyrdom
(Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), p. 251.

166
up to 90 percent
: Jim Michaels, “Foreign fighters leaving Iraq, military says,”
USA Today
, March 21, 2008.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/
world/iraq/2008-03-20-fighters_N.htm
.

166
of the 139 “known” suicide bombers
: Author correspondence with Mohammed Hafez, December 14, 2009; and see generally Mohammed Hafez,
Suicide Bombers in Iraq
(Washington, D.C.: USIP Press, 2007).

167
61 percent were Saudi
: Reuven Paz quoted in Susan Glasser, “‘Martyrs’ in Iraq mostly Saudis,”
Washington Post
, May 15, 2005.

167
Of the 606 foreign fighters
: West Point, Combating Terrorism Center. “Al-Qaida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq: a First Look at the Sinjar Records.” December 19, 2007.
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/CTCForeign
Fighter.19.Dec07.pdf

168
“as my wedding party”
: Will and Testament of a Suicide Bomber, NMEC-2007-637872, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

168
killing sixty
: Hassan Fattah and Michael Slackman, “3 Hotels Bombed in Jordan; At Least 57 Die.”
New York Times
. November 10, 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/international/
middleeast/10jordan.html
; “Israeli spies”: PBS News-hour, “Analyzing the Jordan bombings,” November 11, 2005.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/
terrorism/july-dec05/jordan
_11-11.html
.

168
highly bureaucratized group
: West Point, Combating Terrorism Center,
“
Al-Qaida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq,” 2007 op. cit.

169
eighty executions
: Michael Ware, “Papers give peek inside al-Qaeda in Iraq,” CNN.com, June 11, 2008.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/
11al.qaeda.iraq/index.html
.