Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden--From 9/11 to Abbottabad (45 page)

    
1
three shots rang out:
Robert D. McFadden and Scott Shane, “In Rescue of Captain, Navy Kills 3 Pirates,”
New York Times
, April 12, 2009,
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/world/africa/13pirates.html?pagewanted=all
.

    
2
Obama had authorized the use:
Ibid.

    
3
Obama called:
Author interview with Department of Defense official, December 2011.

    
4
killing eight American servicemen:
Mark Bowden, “The Desert One Debacle,”
The Atlantic
, May 2006,
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/05/the-desert-one-debacle/4803/2/?single_page=true
.

    
5
A Pentagon investigation found:
Holloway Report, August 23, 1980,
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB63/doc8.pdf
.

    
6
creation in 1980 of the Joint Special Operations Command:
Steven Emerson, “Stymied Warriors,”
New York Times
, November 13, 1988,
www.nytimes.com/1988/11/13/magazine/stymied-warriors.html
.

    
7
suspicious of the “snake eaters”:
See for instance Michael Smith,
Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Teams
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011), p. 215.

    
8
the debacle at Mogadishu:
See Mark Bowden,
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999).

    
9
sent some of its top trainers:
“9/11 Commission Report,” p. 60.

  
10
“You know it would scare the shit out of al-Qaeda”:
Coll,
Ghost Wars
, p. 498.

  
11
“I don’t carry a brief”:
Michael Scheuer interview.

  
12
expressing his irritation:
Document 19, National Security Archives, George Washington University,
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB358a/index.htm#19
.

  
13
Officials working for Rumsfeld:
Bradley Graham,
By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld
(New York: PublicAffairs, 2009), p. 369.

  
14
“Somalia-ized”:
Smith,
Killer Elite
, p. 233.

  
15
“showstoppers” … “actionable intelligence”:
Ibid.

  
16
“brand-new Ferrari”:
Richard Shultz Jr., “How Clinton Let al Qaeda Go,”
Weekly Standard
, January 19, 2004,
archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=14524
.

  
17
asking General Schoomaker:
Smith,
Killer Elite
, p. 258.

  
18
executive order:
Dana Priest and William M. Arkin,
Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State
(New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2011), p. 236.

  
19
didn’t even acknowledge that JSOC existed:
Dexter Filkins, “Stanley McChrystal’s Long War,”
New York Times Magazine
, October 14, 2009,
www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Afghanistan-t.html?pagewanted=all
.

  
20
from a force of eighteen hundred:
Priest and Arkin,
Top Secret America
, p. 227; see generally Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady,
The Command: Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army
(John Wiley & Sons, ebook).

  
21
Confederate Air Force:
U.S. intelligence official, interview by author, Washington, DC, December 2011.

  
22
if it was going to defeat al-Qaeda:
Spencer Ackerman, “How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill It,” Danger Room,
Wired
, September 9, 2011,
www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/mcchrystal-network/all/1
.

  
23
Mohamed taught courses:
See Bergen,
Holy War, Inc.
, p. 132.

  
24
During his leave from the army:
On Mohamed taking leave time to travel to Afghanistan, see ibid., pp. 132–33.

  
25
manuals he had pilfered from Ft. Bragg:
Wright,
The Looming Tower
, p. 181.

  
26
“flat and fast”:
Author interview with former Special Operations officers.

  
27
In the summer of 2004:
Ibid.

  
28
to work at the CIA station in Baghdad:
Ibid.

  
29
One of the senior leaders in the Pentagon:
Author interview with senior Department of Defense official.

  
30
leased a couple of small aircraft:
Author interview with former Special Operations officers.

  
31
“actionable intelligence”:
Ibid.; also see Priest and Arkin,
Top Secret America
, pp. 244–55.

  
32
“fight for intelligence”:
Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker,
Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda
(New York: Times Books, 2011), p. 93.

  
33
“divining rod”:
Priest and Arkin,
Top Secret America
, p. 244.

  
34
netting more leads for JSOC:
Author interview with National Security Council official.

  
35
JSOC was “awesome”:
Bob Woodward, “Why Did Violence Plummet? It Wasn’t Just the Surge,”
Washington Post
, September 8, 2008,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/07/AR2008090701847.html?hpid=topnews
.

  
36
thirty-four task force members were disciplined:
Eric Schmitt and Carolyn Marshall, “In Secret Unit’s ‘Black Room,’ a Grim Portrait of Detainee Abuse,”
New York Times
, March 19, 2006,
www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/international/middleeast/19abuse.html?ei=5088&en=e8755a4b031b64a1&ex=1300424400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
.

  
37
McChrystal himself was one:
Scott Lindlaw and Martha Mendoza, “General Suspected Cause of Tillman Death,” Associated Press, August 4, 2007,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080301868.html
.

  
38
half a dozen operations a month … three hundred a month:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
39
“17-5-2”:
Priest and Arkin,
Top Secret America
, p. 240.

  
40
McChrystal wrote to all his men:
Smith,
Killer Elite
, p.276.

  
41
20 of his men in Afghanistan and 250 in Iraq:
Priest and Arkin,
Top Secret America
, p. 238.

  
42
twenty operations a month:
Author interview with senior U.S. Department of Defense official.

  
43
hardest training in the world:
Eric Greitens,
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL
(New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), pp. 144–63.

  
44
swimming underwater for fifty yards:
Eric Greitens, interview by author, Washington, DC, August 2011.

  
45
“We had some incredible people”:
Ibid.

  
46
“you are going to push people as hard as you possible can”:
Ibid.

  
47
divided into squadrons that are named by color:
Mir Bahmanyar with Chris Osman,
SEALs: The US Navy’s Elite Fighting Force
(Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2008), p. 22.

  
48
DevGru’s base at Dam Neck:
Author observations of the base from a 2010 visit.

  
49
potential to be Operation Eagle Claw all over again:
Schmitt and Shanker,
Counterstrike
, pp. 31–32.

  
50
distinctive red motorcycle:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
51
A plan was developed to drop in thirty SEALs:
Evan Thomas, “Into Thin Air,”
Newsweek
, September 2, 2007.

  
52
Rumsfeld called off the raid:
Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde, “Amid U.S. Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan,”
New York Times
, June 30, 2008,
www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/washington/30tribal.html?pagewanted=all
.

  
53
On August 11, 2006:
See JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment for Harun al-Afghani, ISN US9AF-003148DP, August 2, 2007.

  
54
In July 2007, JSOC received intelligence:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
55
summit meeting of militants:
Ibid.; Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, “In Long Pursuit of Bin Laden, the ’07 Raid, and Frustration,”
New York Times
, May 5, 2011,
www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/asia/06binladen.html?pagewanted=1&hp
.

  
56
smaller operation over the course:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

    
1
“I want to hear back from you”:
Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, DC, August 2011.

    
2
“Let’s make sure”:
John Brennan in
Targeting bin Laden
.

    
3
“If we were going to embark”:
Barack Obama in
Targeting bin Laden
.

    
4
someone on the fringes of al-Qaeda:
Chris Brummitt and Adam Goldman, “Indonesia: Terror Suspect Went to Meet bin Laden,” Associated Press, May 4, 2011,
www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/04/indonesia-terror-suspect-went-meet-bin-laden/#ixzz1kCVvHPfP
.

    
5
“We have to act now”:
Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, “AP Enterprise: The Man Who Hunted Osama bin Laden,” Associated Press, July 5, 2011,
news.yahoo.com/ap-enterprise-man-hunted-osama-bin-laden-040627805.html
.

    
6
“options to go against this compound”:
John Brennan in
Targeting bin Laden
.

    
7
CAD file:
Shane Harris, “Bin Laden Death Planned Out in Miniature,”
Washingtonian
, May 5, 2011,
www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/19328.html
.

    
8
two tiny toy cars:
Author observation of parts of the model.

    
9
“That was a good vehicle”:
James Cartwright, interview by author, Washington, DC, September 30, 2011.

  
10
bring another person into the secret:
Michael Vickers, interview by author, Washington, DC, November 15, 2011.

  
11
known each other for three decades:
Ibid.

  
12
Much of the public credit:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
13
well over two thousand a year by 2010:
Author interview with senior Department of Defense official.

  
14
soared from 35 percent to more than 80 percent:
Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden.”

  
15
average age of Taliban commanders in Afghanistan declined:
Con Coughlin, “Karzai Must Tell Us Which Side He’s On in Afghanistan,”
Telegraph
, November 18, 2010,
www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/concoughlin/8144423/Karzai-must-tell-us-which-side-hes-on-in-Afghanistan.html
.

  
16
once a month in Afghanistan:
Craig Whitlock, “Adm. William McRaven: The Terrorist Hunter on Whose Shoulders Osama Bin Laden Raid Rested,”
Washington Post
, May 4, 2011.

  
17
McRaven visited CIA headquarters:
Siobhan Gorman and Julian E. Barnes, “Spy, Military Ties Aided bin Laden Raid,”
Wall Street Journal
, May 23, 2011,
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704083904576334160172068344.html
.

  
18
McRaven could see immediately:
Author interview with Pentagon official.

  
19
“First of all, congratulations”:
Author interview with U.S. intelligence official.

  
20
“He’s an experienced operator”:
Ibid.

  
21
tasked a navy captain:
Gorman and Barnes, “Spy, Military Ties Aided Bin Laden Raid.”

  
22
a covert, “deniable” operation:
Michael Vickers interview; Michael Leiter inverview.

  
23
first floor of the CIA’s printing plant:
Nicholas Schmidle, “Getting bin Laden,”
New Yorker
, August 1, 2011,
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle?currentPage=all
.

  
24
One plan was … nixed that plan:
Ibid.

  
25
helped establish a Special Operations curriculum:
“Biography: Admiral William H. McRaven, United States Special Operations Command,” updated August 8, 2011,
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioid=401
.

  
26
one of the principal authors:
Ibid.

  
27
McRaven’s 1996 book:
William H. McRaven,
Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice
(New York: Random House, 1996).

  
28
the star is Jonathan Netanyahu:
“Of all the men studied so far no one exhibits as much leadership ability as Jonathan Netanyahu,” McRaven writes in ibid., p. 342.

  
29
read Machiavelli to relax:
Ibid., p. 345.

  
30
It was a simple plan:
Author interview with Pentagon official.

  
31
not the only “kinetic” … plan:
Author interview with senior Pentagon official.

  
32
highest-ranking female … mother of three:
Emily Wax, “Michèle Flournoy, Pentagon’s Highest-Ranking Woman, Is Making Her Mark on Foreign Policy,”
Washington Post
, November 6, 2011,
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/Michèle-flournoy-pentagons-highest-ranking-woman-is-making-her-mark-on-foreignpolicy/2011/10/27/gIQAh6nbtM_story.html
. Three of the five key players at the Pentagon deeply involved in the bin Laden operation were raised in the decidedly unmilitary milieu of Hollywood: Michèle Flournoy’s father was a cinematographer there, Michael Mullen’s father was a Hollywood agent, and Michael Vickers’s father was a set designer.

  
33
range of options to consider:
James Cartwright interview.

  
34
“We had a very serious debate”:
Michèle Flournoy interview by author, Washington, DC, November 18, 2011.

  
35
“fair-weather friend”:
“Pervez Musharraf on U.S.-Pakistan Relations,” Council on Foreign Relations, October 26, 2011,
carnegieendowment.org/files/1026carnegie-musharraf.pdf
.

  
36
Pakistan was a sanctuary for militant groups:
Statement of Admiral Michael Mullen, U.S. Navy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, September 22, 2011, armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2011/09%20September/Mullen%2009-22-11.pdf.

  
37
a CIA contractor:
Greg Miller, “U.S. Officials: Raymond Davis, Accused in Pakistan Shootings, Worked for CIA,”
Washington Post
, February 22, 2011,
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022102801.html
.

  
38
called for the execution of Davis:
“Rallies Demand Public Execution of Davis,”
Dawn
, February 12, 2011,
www.dawn.com/2011/02/12/rallies-demand-public-execution-of-davis.html
.

  
39
about three-quarters of all NATO and U.S. supplies:
Muhammad Tahir, “Central Asia Stands to Gain as NATO Shifts Supply Lines Away from Pakistan,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 22, 2011,
www.rferl.org/content/central_asia_supply_lines_afghanistan/2345994.html
.

  
40
“So there was a big push”:
Michèle Flournoy interview.

  
41
work together to expand:
Remarks by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Kuznetsov Naval Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia, March 21, 2011.

  
42
“I didn’t want to miss the opportunity”:
Hillary Clinton, interview by author, Washington, DC, January 23, 2012.

  
43
“decided that the potential”:
Nick Rasmussen interview.

  
44
On a Friday evening in late February:
Gorman and Barnes, “Spy, Military Ties Aided Bin Laden Raid.”

  
45
U.S. Marine aviator … Tony Blinken:
Yochi J. Dreazen, “Man Most Likely to Take Top Military Job Has Never Seen War,”
The National Journal
, May 2, 2011.

  
46
What was likely to be difficult:
Author interview with Pentagon official.

  
47
“I think our folks”:
Author interview with U.S. intelligence official.

  
48
On March 14, 2011, Obama’s war cabinet gathered:
Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, DC.

  
49
force of the bombs would:
James Cartwright interview.

  
50
“Some people said”:
Tony Blinken, national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden, interview by author, Washington, DC, November 3, 2011.

  
51
bin Laden might shelter in a vault … escape through a tunnel:
James Cartwright interview.

  
52
Using thermal imaging, the NGA concluded:
Author interview with National Security Council official.

  
53
large streams course through the neighborhood:
Author observations during visits to Abbottabad, July 2011 and February 2012.

  
54
Proponents of the raid option, who included Panetta:
Author interview with senior administration official.

  
55
they could just leave and no one would ever know:
Ibid.

  
56
General Cartwright, Obama’s favorite general:
Author interviews with multiple senior administration officials.

  
57
hit the mysterious “pacer”:
Author interview with counterterrorism officials involved in the hunt for bin Laden; also see Woodward, “Death of Osama bin Laden.”

  
58
required a very high degree of precision:
Author interview with senior administration official.

  
59
“chatter” about bin Laden’s “martyrdom”:
Ibid.

  
60
“it was a system that had not been tested”:
Michael Mullen, interview by author, Annapolis, MD, January 20, 2012.

  
61
Michèle Flournoy was also one of the proponents of the raid:
Michèle Flournoy interview.

  
62
“Mister President, we haven’t thoroughly tested this out yet”:
John Brennan in
Targeting bin Laden
.

  
63
Obama observed, “Then you’d better get moving”:
Author interview with U.S. official.

  
64
a helicopter-borne assault team was a risky option:
Author interview with White House official. 177

  
65
his comments didn’t get much traction at the time:
Author interview with U.S. intelligence official; James Cartwright interview.

  
66
many of the participants believed:
Author interview with U.S. intelligence official.

  
67
“Everybody left those meetings”:
Hillary Clinton interview.

  
68
might end up getting killed in his Pakistani prison cell:
Mazzetti, Cooper, and Baker, “Behind the Hunt for bin Laden.”

  
69
it would require dropping thirty-two 2,000-pound bombs:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
70
Bombs might also fall short of the target:
Ibid.

  
71
Obama peppered McRaven with questions:
Jake Tapper, “President Obama to National Security Team: ‘It’s a Go,’ ” ABC News, May 2, 2011,
abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/05/president-obama-to-national-security-team-its-a-go/
.

  
72
one of the most skeptical of the president’s advisers:
Michèle Flournoy interview.

  
73
“We finally left the White House at about 1:30 in the morning”:
Robert M. Gates,
From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), pp. 154–55.

  
74
“What if you have a helicopter crash?” … “Kool-Aid”:
Michèle Flournoy interview.

  
75
any chance that the Pakistanis would be given a heads-up:
Author interview with senior U.S. intelligence official.

  
76
“McRaven, in some of the earliest briefings, was very sensitive”:
Author interview with senior administration official.

  
77
avoiding any kind of firefight:
Ibid.

  
78
defensive perimeter … the intelligence case:
Ibid.