The Looming Tower (71 page)

14. Going Operational

237
Khobar Towers:
interviews with John Lipka, Dale Watson, Jack Cloonan, and anonymous political officer in Riyadh; Freeh,
My FBI
, 11ff. Kenneth M. Pollack, in personal communication, writes, “The Saudis fully concurred with our conclusion that Iran was behind Khobar Towers. I never heard the slightest hint that they believed al-Qa’eda was responsible. However, because they had begun their rapprochement with Tehran—and especially after Muhammad Khatemi’s election in Iran—it was our strong sense that they did not want us to be able to reach that definitive conclusion for fear that we would either want to mount a retaliatory strike against the Iranians or feel compelled to do so.” Richard A. Clarke and Steven Simon have expressed similar sentiments in interviews. The 9/11 Commission, however, leaves open the possibility of a connection between the Khobar Towers bombing and al-Qaeda, saying that there was “strong but indirect evidence” that the organization “did in fact play some as yet unknown role.” Douglas Jehl, “No Saudi Payment to Qaeda Is Found,”
New York Times
, June 19, 2004. That evidence has not been made public, however. According to Michael Scheuer, the link was made in a memorandum prepared by the CIA and turned over to the commission.

238
“Wasn’t that a great trip?”:
interview with Richard A. Clarke. Freeh, in personal communication, denies this exchange took place. O’Neill told many others the same story, however.

239
It was Naif who decided:
interview with anonymous former U.S. State Department official.
“Maybe you have”:
interview with Rihab Massoud.
“go operational”:
interview with John Lipka.

240
“got this town wired”:
interview with R. P. Eddy.

241
TWA Flight 800:
interviews with Richard A. Clarke, Tom Corrigan, and Tom Lang.
Alec Station:
interviews with Daniel Coleman and Michael Scheuer.

243
“Send ten green papers”:
exhibit from
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.
six children:
bail hearing,
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.
Coleman put the women:
interview with Daniel Coleman.

244
“Would you like”:
interview with Daniel Coleman.

15. Bread and Water

245
They flattered him:
Abdel Bari Atwan, “Interview with Saudi oppositionist Usmah bin-Ladin,”
Al-Quds al-Arabi
, November 27, 1996.
endorsed their rule:
Burke, “The Making of bin Laden: Part 1,”
Observer
, October 28, 2001.
television crew:
Bergen,
Holy War
, 17ff.

247
sent a helicopter:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 5, March 23, 2005.
plot…to kidnap:
“Walidee Ramama al-Aqsa Bilkhasara” [My Father Renovated al-Aqsa Mosque, with a Loss],
Al-Umma al-Islamiyya
, October 18, 1991.

248
“We want a simple life”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 5, March 23, 2005.
about eighty mud-brick:
Coll,
Ghost Wars
, 391.
“in perfect harmony”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 6, March 24, 2005.
two T-
55
Soviet tanks:
Clarke,
Against All Enemies
, 149.
“May God be praised”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 6, March 24, 2005.

249
Switzerland:
“Secrets of Relations Among al-Zawaheri, ben Ladan, and Hezb ul-Tahrir in Terrorist Operations in Europe” [
sic
],
Al-Watan al-Arabi
, October 13, 1995. Translated by FBIS. One of Zawahiri’s associates testified in Egypt that he had had telephone contacts with Zawahiri in Geneva. Khalid Sharaf-al-Din, “Surprises in the Trial of the Largest International Fundamentalist Organization in Egypt,”
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, March 6, 1999. Translated by FBIS. The
Swiss villa
is from “Al-Jihad Terrorist Claims Strong CIA-Terrorist Ties,”
MENA
, September 8, 1996. Yassir al-Sirri, who was close to al-Jihad, maintained in an interview that Zawahiri never lived in Switzerland, but Zawahiri’s cousin Maha Azzam says he did.
Bulgaria:
interview with Saeed Badeeb.
Copenhagen:
interview with Jesper Stein; Michael Taarnby Jensen, personal correspondence.
fake passport:
Andrew Higgins and Alan Cullison, “Terrorist’s Odyssey: Saga of Dr. Zawahri [
sic
] Illuminates Roots of al-Qaeda Terror,”
Wall Street Journal
, July 2, 2002.
satellite television channel:
Wright, “The Man Behind bin Laden,”
New Yorker
, September 16, 2002.
“Conditions there”:
Andrew Higgins and Alan Cullison, “Terrorist’s Odyssey: Saga of Dr. Zawahri [
sic
] Illuminates Roots of al-Qaeda Terror,”
Wall Street Journal
, July 2, 2002.
“If the Chechens”:
al-Zawahiri, “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,” part 7.

250
four passports:
C. J. Chivers and Steven Lee Myers, “Chechen Rebels Mainly Driven by Nationalism,”
New York Times
, September 12, 2004.
“God blinded them”:
Andrew Higgins and Alan Cullison, “Terrorist’s Odyssey: Saga of Dr. Zawahri [
sic
] Illuminates Roots of al-Qaeda Terror,”
Wall Street Journal
, July 2, 2002.
ISI subsidizing:
Benjamin and Simon,
The Age of Sacred Terror
, 146.
purchase some expensive vehicles:
Vahid Mojdeh, in Bergen,
The Osama bin Laden I Know
, 164.
a hundred-dollar-per-month:
confessions of Ahmed Ibrahim al-Sayed al-Najjar, “Returnees from Albania” case, September 1998.
250 people:
Abdurrahman Khadr, in Bergen,
The Osama bin Laden I Know
, 173.

251
“This place is worse”:
Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins, “Strained Alliance: Inside al-Qaeda’s Afghan Turmoil,”
Wall Street Journal
, August 2, 2002.

254
play Nintendo:
Abdel Bari Atwan, in Bergen,
The Osama bin Laden I Know
, 170.

255
Azza:
interview with Maha Elsamneh.
nonviolence initiative:
interview with Montassir al-Zayyat.

256
twenty thousand Islamists:
Weaver,
A Portrait of Egypt
, 264. Weaver estimates the number of Islamists slain to be between seven and eight thousand, 267.
released two thousand:
Rubin,
Islamic Fundamentalism
, 161.
“The political translation”:
Mohammed el-Shafey, “Al-Zawahiri’s Secret Papers,” part 5,
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, December 17, 2002. Translated by FBIS.
bargaining chip:
interview with Hisham Kassem.

257
three thousand security:
Weaver,
A Portrait of Egypt
, 272.
red headbands:
Douglas Jehl, “70 Die in Attack at Egypt Temple,”
New York Times
, November 18, 1997.
“No to tourists”:
Weaver,
A Portrait of Egypt
, 259.
dead included:
Alan Cowell, “At a Swiss Airport, 36 Dead, Home from Luxor,”
New York Times
, November 20, 1997; also, Douglas Jehl, “At Ancient Site Along the Nile, Modern Horror,”
New York Times
, November 19, 1997.

258
Rifai Taha said:
Anonymous,
Through Our Enemies’ Eyes
, 199.
bin Laden had financed:
Jailan Halawi, “Bin Laden Behind Luxor Massacre?”
Al-Ahram Weekly
, May 20-26, 1999.
“The young men”:
Lawrence Wright, “The Man Behind bin Laden,”
New Yorker
, September 16, 2002.
“We thought we’d never”:
interview with Hisham Kassem.

259
The main point:
Fu’ad Husayn, “Al-Zarqawi…The Second Generation of al-Qa’ida, Part Fourteen,”
Al-Quds al-Arabi
, July 13, 2005.
who was responsible:
al-Zawahiri, “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,” part 11.
Zawahiri began writing:
Kenneth M. Karas summation,
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.

260
lamely explaining:
Zayyat,
The Road to al-Qaeda
, 89.
“dark past”:
Mohammed el-Shafey, “Al-Zawahiri’s Secret Papers,” part 2, trans. FBIS,
Al-Sharq al-Awsat
, December 14, 2002.
“If the Contractor”:
Mohammed el-Shafey, “Al-Qaeda’s Secret Emails,” part 2, trans. FBIS, June 13, 2005.

261
pledged to resign:
al-Zayyat,
The Road to al-Qaeda
, 109.
Zawahiri’s own brother:
interview with Hani al-Sibai.
“I myself heard”:
confessions of Ahmed Ibrahim al-Sayed al-Najjar, “Returnees from Albania” case, September 1998.

16. “Now It Begins”

262
thirty Algerians…Young men from Yemen:
Burke,
Al-Qaeda
, 186.

263
staged and cartoonish:
interview with Ismail Khan.
“Let’s talk”:
interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.
“Terrorism can be commendable”:
www.pbs.org/frontline.
he wouldn’t speak:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 6, March 24, 2005.
kidney disease:
interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.

264
‘Owhali…Azzam:
testimony of Stephen Gaudin,
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.
erased the Saudis’ faces:
Miller, Stone, and Mitchell,
The Cell
, 192.

265
kidnap bin Laden:
interviews with Michael Scheuer, Dale Watson, Mark Rossini, Daniel Coleman, and Richard A. Clarke.

267
“Finish this”:
interview with Prince Turki al-Faisal.
left town:
interview with Michael Scheuer.

268
“Are you agreed”:
The meeting with Mullah Omar is largely Turki’s firsthand account. Michael Scheuer says, based on CIA coverage of the meeting, that Omar and Turki quarreled, with Omar reportedly saying, “Your highness, I have just one question: When did the royal family become lackeys of the Americans?”
four hundred four-wheel-drive…Mazar-e-Sharif:
Rashid,
Taliban
, 72-73.
several hundred Arabs:
ibid., 139.
Ahmed Salama Mabruk:
interviews with Daniel Coleman, Mark Rossini, and Montassir al-Zayyat.

269
tortured:
interview with Hafez Abu-Saada.

270
Saleh:
His real name is Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, also known as Abu Mohammed el-Masri. He has never been captured. Interview with Ali Soufan; also, testimony of Stephen Gaudin,
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.

273
“Now it begins”:
interview with Daniel Coleman.

274
Nairobi:
interviews with Pascuale “Pat” D’Amuro, Stephen Gaudin, Mark Rossini, and Kenneth Maxwell.
passports:
interview with Ali Soufan.
Stephen Gaudin:
interview with Stephen Gaudin.

275
five American embassies:
interview with Mark Rossini.

277
Ahmed al-Hada:
interviews with Pascuale “Pat” D’Amuro, Daniel Coleman, and Ali Soufan.
called the number:
FBI document, “PENTBOM Major Case 182 AOT-IT,” November 5, 2001.

279
“Kissinger’s Promise”:
testimony of Stephen Gaudin,
U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al
.
“connections”:
interview with Mary Lynn Stevens.
issuing threats:
interview with Grant Ashley.

281
raising money:
interview with Michael Rolince.
bypass surgery:
interview with Paul Garmirian.

282
Jamal al-Fadl:
interview with Mark Rossini.
hired a spy:
interview with Milt Bearden. Bearden thinks the foreign asset was either Egyptian or Tunisian.

283
If surveillance aircraft:
interview with Admiral Bob Inman.
refused to share the raw data:
interview with Michael Scheuer.

284
“Where do you think”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 9, March 28, 2005.
“Can you at least”:
interview with Abdul Rahman Khadr.

285
twenty-two Afghans:
U.S. Department of State confidential cable, “Osama bin Laden: Taliban Spokesman Seeks New Proposal for Resolving bin Laden Problem,” November 28, 1998. Hospital sources and Pakistani officials counted eleven dead, and fifty-three wounded. Ismail Khan, “Varying versions,”
Islamabad the News
, August 30, 1998.
“Each house”:
al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 9, March 28, 2005.
bin Laden sold the unexploded missiles:
Murad Ahmad, “Report Cites Russian ‘Documents’ on bin Ladin’s Past,”
Al-Majellah
, December 23, 2001.

286
“survived the attack”:
interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.

17. The New Millennium

287
Mullah Omar placed a secret call:
U.S. Department of State confidential cable, “Afghanistan: Taliban’s Mullah Omar’s 8/22 Contact with State Department,” August 22, 1998.
furious:
interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.
He judged:
U.S. Embassy (Islamabad) cable, “SITREP 6: Pakistan/Afghanistan Reaction to U.S. Strikes,” August 25, 1998.