The Way of the Knife (50 page)

North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Bajaur:
Classified CIA paper described by two senior American intelligence officials.

“Well, why don’t you go in and get them?” Gates asked:
Author interview with a senior military official who attended the briefing.

“I’ve had enough”:
Bush’s response to the CIA briefing can be found in Bob Woodward,
Obama’s Wars
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010): 4–5. The most detailed account of the CIA briefing in July 2008 is in Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker,
Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda
(New York: Times Books, 2011).

Pakistani troops and policemen:
Account of the Mullah Baradar capture comes from five different American and Pakistani intelligence officials.

a personal courier for Osama bin Laden:
Author interview with two American intelligence officials, and from Peter Bergen,
Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden—from 9/11 to Abbottabad
(New York: Crown, 2012): 122–124.

“I’m back with the people I was with before”:
Peter Bergen,
Manhunt
, 123.

it had only small, opaque slits for windows:
Peter Bergen,
Manhunt
, 4.

the telephoto lens was useless:
Author interview with two senior American intelligence officials.

He must not be allowed:
Ahtishamul Haq, “Raymond Davis Case: Wife of Man Killed Commits Suicide,”
The Express Tribune
(February 7, 2011).

Davis would be released from jail:
Details about the discussions between Munter and Pasha, and the subsequent narrative of the events leading to Davis’s release come from interviews with both American and Pakistani officials.

to offer “forgiveness”:
As the talks dragged on, American officials developed a backup plan: appealing the matter to an international arbitration panel in Switzerland. The American officials in Geneva began consulting Swiss lawyers but all the while figuring it was a long shot that a panel in Switzerland would get Ray Davis out of jail.

locked inside an iron cage:
Carlotta Gall and Mark Mazzetti, “Hushed Deal Frees CIA Contractor in Pakistan,”
The New York Times
(March 16, 2011).

that he was safe:
Author interview with two American officials.

a fifty-year-old minister:
Sara Burnett, “Charges Upgraded Against Ex-CIA Contractor in Parking-Spot Dispute,”
The Denver Post
(October 4, 2011).

“Relax,” Maes said, “and quit being stupid”:
“CIA Contractor in Court Over Felony Assault Charges,”
CBS Denver
(October 4, 2011). As of this book’s publication, the legal proceedings in the case had not concluded.

a reduction of terrorist violence:
“Getting Rid of US Saboteurs,”
The Nation
(August 11, 2011).

Saeed insisted that night:
Author attended the July 2012 rally in Islamabad.

CHAPTER 15: THE DOCTOR AND THE SHEIKH

an American woman he knew:
Most of the details about Dr. Shakil Afridi’s meetings with his CIA handlers come from Afridi’s statements to a Pakistani investigative group examining his role in the bin Laden operation. Other details have been filled in by American government officials with knowledge of Afridi’s work for the CIA from 2008 to 2011.

sold hospital medicines:
Aryn Baker, “The Murky Past of the Pakistani Doctor Who Helped the CIA,”
Time
(June 13, 2012).

Islamabad moved to shutter:
Declan Walsh, “Pakistan May Be Expelling Aid Group’s Foreign Staff,”
The New York Times
(September 6, 2012).

“I believe it is unreasonable”:
John Deutch’s statement available at http://intellit.muskingum.edu/cia_folder/ciarelations_folder/ciareldcistmt.html.

the CIA paid him:
Afridi statement to Pakistani investigative group.

when the transmitter:
Ibid.

she agreed to cooperate with Afridi:
Sami Yousafzai, “The Doctor’s Grim Reward,”
Newsweek
(June 11, 2012).

she should call again in the evening:
Afridi statement to Pakistani investigative group.

dragged it down the stairs:
Mark Bisonette (aka Mark Owen),
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden
(New York: Dutton): 254.

Panetta kept one hand in his pocket:
Leon Panetta, unpublished interview with
The New York Times.

he immediately ordered:
Peter Bergen,
Manhunt,
235.

There was a downed American helicopter:
Details about Mullen’s conversation with Kayani come from two American officials with direct knowledge of what transpired during the phone call.

a “military-aged male”:
The rules governing CIA “signature strikes” were described by four American government officials.

give him the chance:
Author interview with two American government officials.

“No, Hillary,” Panetta said:
Details of the fight during the National Security Council meeting come from two participants in the meeting.

an attack against an American base:
Author interview with two American military officials.

a particularly close relationship:
Declan Walsh, “US Bomb Warning to Pakistan Ignored,”
The Guardian
(September 22, 2011).

shrapnel killed an eight-year-old:
Ray Rivera and Sangar Rahimi, “Deadly Truck Bomb Hits NATO Outpost in Afghanistan,”
The New York Times
(September 11, 2011).

Afridi received an urgent call:
Afridi statement to Pakistani investigative group. Afridi’s account has been independently confirmed by an American official with direct knowledge of Afridi’s contacts with the CIA after the Abbottabad raid.

the bus driver–cum–drug lord:
Court documents included in a memo from an assistant political agent in Khyber Agency to the senior superintendent of police, JIT, Special Branch, Peshawar. Documents obtained by author.

Dr. Afridi was sentenced:
Ibid.

because of his history:
Agence France Press, “Lashkar-I-Islami Denies Links with Shakil Afridi,” May 31, 2012.

CHAPTER 16: FIRE FROM THE SKY

carve out time to do something else:
Author interview with a former senior American official.

“Often I know their background as intimately as I knew my students’”:
Harold Koh, speech before the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security, December 2011.

he was picked up multiple times:
Scott Shane and Souad Mekhennet, “From Condemning Terror to Preaching Jihad,”
The New York Times
(May 8, 2010).

who both prayed at his mosque:
Ibid.

“the bridge between”:
Ibid.

he used Internet chat rooms:
Ibid.

Abdulmutallab had written an essay:
Gregory Johnsen,
The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2012): 257.

Brennan believed that al-Awlaki:
Johnsen, 262.

“dancing in the snake pit”:
“U.S. Intelligence on Arab Unrest Draws Criticism,” Associated Press (February 6, 2011).

where he spent hours in surgery:
BBC News, “Yemen: Saleh ‘Gravely Wounded’ in Rocket Attack,” June 7, 2011.

in the hope of intercepting e-mail traffic:
Author interview with a senior Pentagon official and a retired American counterterrorism official.

“can’t bomb moving targets”:
SITE Intelligence Group, “Yemeni Journalist Documents Experiences with AQAP in Abyan,” October 21, 2011.

no human being will die:
Johnsen, 276.

they worried that anyone suspected of helping:
Author interview with one current and two former American officials with knowledge of how the CIA handled its advanced warning about
Inspire
.

“I’m going to find my father”:
Author interview with Jameel Jaffer and Hina Shamsi, lawyers for the al-Awlaki family.

al-Awlaki was sitting with friends:
Filing in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of
Nasser Al-Aulaqi et al. v. Leon C. Panetta et al
., 13.

“blood did not and will not go in vain”:
Nasser al-Awlaki’s video message can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GHP5Rf7dbE.

“You’ve got an intelligence agency”:
Jameson’s comments came during an open session of an American Bar Association conference.

“Or whoever is left out there”:
President Barack Obama, presidential press conference, December 8, 2011.

The effort to bring clarity:
Scott Shane, “Election Spurred a Move to Codify U.S. Drone Policy,”
The New York Times
(November 24, 2012).

they supported the American government:
The poll for Amy Zegart was conducted by YouGov. The author is grateful to Professor Zegart for sharing the polling data.

CIA officials hadn’t learned of his death:
Mark Landler and Choe Sang-Hun, “In Kim Jong-Il Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure,”
The New York Times
(December 19, 2011).

were beginning to stream through:
The description of the Benghazi attack comes primarily from a detailed timeline contained in the investigative report of the State Department’s Accountability Review Board. Additional details came from interviews with several American officials.