The Black Banners_ 9_11 and the War Against Al-Qaeda - Ali H. Soufan [269]
CIA Psychological Assessment of Zain al-‘Abideen Muhammad Hassan, a.k.a. Abu Zubaydah, http://www.aclu.org/files/torturefoia/released/082409/cia_ig/oig39.pdf.
Government of Singapore White Paper, The Jemaah Islamiyah Arrests and the Threat of Terrorism, January 2003, http://www.mha.gov.sg/publication_details.aspx?pageid=35&cid=354.
Press Briefing on the West Coast Terrorist Plot by Frances Fragos Townsend, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, February 9, 2006, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060209-4.html.
Fact Sheet, “Keeping America Safe from Attack—President Bush Discusses Intelligence Showing the Importance of Defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq,” May 23, 2007, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/05/print/20070523.html.
Testimony of Ali Soufan before the United States Senate Judiciary, May 13, 2009, http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=3842&wit_id=7906.
“My Tortured Decision,” by Ali Soufan, New York Times, April 23, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/opinion/23soufan.html.
**March 2001 is a typographical error; it should be March 2002.
Copyright © 2011 by Ali H. Soufan
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soufan, Ali H.
The black banners : the inside story of 9/11 and the war against Al-Qaeda /
Ali H. Soufan, with Daniel Freedman. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-393-07942-5 (hbk.)
1. Qaida (Organization). 2. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.
3. Terrorism—United States—Prevention. 4. War on Terrorism, 2001–2009.
I. Freedman, Daniel, 1982– II. Title.
HV6432.5.Q2S68 2011
973.931—dc23 2011026938
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Table of Contents
IMPORTANT NOTE CONCERNING THE TEXT
MAP
PROLOGUE
NOTE TO READERS
PART 1 · THE EARLY YEARS
1. The Fatwa and the Bet
2. Osama Air
3. The Northern Group
PART 2 · DECLARATION OF WAR
4. The al-Qaeda Switchboard
5. Operation Challenge and the Manchester Manual
6. “You’ll Be Singing Like a Canary”
7. Millennium Plot
PART 3 · USS COLE
8. A Naval Destroyer in Yemen?
9. The Hall of Death
10. “We’re Stubborn, but We’re Not Crazy”
11. The Human Polygraph Machine
12. “What Is al-Qaeda Doing in Malaysia?”
13. Bin Laden’s Errand Boy
PART 4 · THE ATTACK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
14. The Binalshibh Riddle
15. “What Dots?”
16. The Father of Death
PART 5 · A NEW WORLD ORDER
17. Bin Laden’s Escape
18. DocEx
19. Black Magic
PART 6 · THE FIRST HIGH-VALUE DETAINEE
20. Abu Zubaydah
21. The Contractors Take Over
22. “We Don’t Do That”
PART 7 · SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
23. Guantánamo Bay
24. 45 Minutes
25. The Crystal Ball Memo
PART 8 · FINAL MISSIONS
26. Leaving the FBI
27. Undercover
POSTSCRIPT
CONCLUSION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
KEY DOCUMENTS AND ARTICLES CITED