Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda (62 page)

released and deported:
Stewart and Chulov, ‘Yemen ties terror’s loose ends’; Taher, ‘UK Preacher in Secret Web Call for Jihad’; ‘Dansker Tortureret i Yemen’, TV2 (Denmark), 27 December 2006; Janet Fife-Yeomans, ‘Australians Placed on US Terror No-Fly List’,
Daily Telegraph
(Australia), 31 August 2011.

‘Allah is … due measurements’:
Koran, Az-Zumar, 39:62, and al-Furqan, 25:2.

11. Switching Sides

Egyptian al-Qaeda operative:
The senior Egyptian operative was Abu Ubaidah al-Masri. See Mitchell D. Silber,
The Al Qaeda Factor: Plots against the West
, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, pp. 142–52.

discovered in his luggage:
Morten Skjoldager,
Truslen Indefra: De Danske Terrorista
, Lindardt og Ringhof, 2009, chaps. 15–16.

used a front company:
A Western intelligence source provided the information on the Khurshid investigation to Paul Cruickshank in 2013.

A short while later … in prison:
Silber,
Al Qaeda Factor
; Morten Skjoldager, ‘Portræt: Trænet til terror mod sit fødeland: Portræt, Hammad Khürshid’,
Politiken
(Denmark), 10 November 2009; Paul Cruickshank, personal communication with Elisabeth Haslund (a Danish reporter who covered the trial), New York, September 2009.

12. London Calling

‘Send him Bak!’:
Sun
, 20 July 2005.

‘… make it a long one’:
Alan Travis and Duncan Campbell, ‘Bakri to be banned from the UK’,
Guardian
, 9 August 2005.

terror dynasty:
For more on the al-Hajdib brothers, see Hassan M. Fatah, ‘German Suspects from Opposite Sides of a Lebanese Town’,
The New York Times
, 29 August 2006.

Youssef, had been arrested:
‘A Terrorist Gets the Judicial Middle Finger’,
Der Spiegel
, 10 December 2008; ‘9 arrested by Denmark in reported terror plot’,
International Herald Tribune
, 5 September 2006.

Not long after … were killed:
‘Slain Lebanese Militant was Suspect in Failed German Bombing’,
The New York Times
, 21 May 2007, and Hassan M. Fattah, ‘Lebanese Army and Islamists Battle for Second Day’,
The New York Times
, 22 May 2007; ‘Dozens killed in Lebanon gunbattle between Islamic militants, security forces’, Associated Press, 20 May 2007; ‘Nowhere to put us’, BBC, 23 May 2007. For more on Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Barid camp, see Muhammad Ali Khalidi and Diane Riskedahl, ‘The Road to Nahr al Barid’, Middle East Research and Information Project, no. 244.

Hamid Elasmar:
James Orr, ‘Guilty pleas over soldier beheading plot’,
Guardian
, 28 January 2008.

Tabbakh was arrested:
Duncan Gardham, ‘Terrorist bomb maker Hassan Tabbakh jailed for seven years’,
Daily Telegraph
, 30 July 2008; for more on Tabbakh’s case, see Judgment:
Regina v. Hassan Tabbakh
, Court of Appeal, Royal Courts of Justice, 3 March 2009 [2009] EWCA Crim 464; Decision: Hassan Tabbakh against the United Kingdom, The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 21 February 2012; Judgment: On the Application of Hassan Tabbakh, High Court of Justice, Royal Courts of Justice, 9 August 2013 [2013] EWHC 2492 (Admin).

13. From Langley with Love

arresting more than twenty men:
For more details on the arrests, see Michael Mugwang’a, Gitonga Marete and Tim Querengesser, ‘Kenya: Scores Arrested in Terror Hunt’,
The Nation
(Kenya), 15 December 2007; David Ochami and Mwangi Muiruri, ‘Face to Face with Dangerous Terrorists’,
East Africa Standard
, 6 August 2008.

real name was Elizabeth Hanson:
For more on Hanson, see Joby Warrick,
The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA
, Vintage, 2012.

‘Because of the flowing style … me directly’:
Moazzem Begg, interview with Imam Anwar al-Awlaki,
Cageprisoners.com
, 31 December 2007.

Wuhayshi … upper echelons of al-Qaeda:
‘False Foundation? AQAP, Tribes and Ungoverned Spaces in Yemen’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, October 2011.

sixty email accounts:
Catherine Herridge, ‘American cleric used more than 60 email accounts to reach followers, including Hasan’, Fox News, 15 June 2012.

14. Cocaine and Allah

acquitted in a terrorism case:
See ‘Danish teenager sentenced to 7 years in Bosnia-linked plot’, Associated Press, 16 February 2007.

15. Clerical Terror

‘… Hearts and Minds’:
Anwar al-Awlaki, ‘Battle of the Hearts and Minds’, May 2008.

The Dust Will Never Settle Down’:
The lecture was released on 26 May 2008 and can be found in full on several Islamist websites, such as
Kalamullah.com
, which includes a wide range of Awlaki’s lectures and sermons. Many of them have been removed from YouTube.

as a dog:
‘Muslims protest Swedish newspaper’s cartoon of Prophet Muhammad’, Associated Press, 31 August 2007.

‘I have gifts’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this email.

gun and car attack:
Robert Worth, ‘10 are Killed in Bombings at Embassy in Yemen’,
The New York Times
, 17 September 2008.

16. Killing Mr John

In another email … deliver it:
I do not have a saved copy of this email. I have the invoice for the chemical gloves from Aspli Safety Limited dated 13 October 2008.

moustache:
Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, ‘U.S. target in Somalia: An inside story on an Al-Shabaab commander’, CNN, 7 October 2013.

now in command of hundreds:
Government Affirmation:
USA v. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame
, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, filed 26 March 2013.

most dangerous operative:
‘Profile: Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan’, BBC, 15 September 2008.

‘Bad news …’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this email.

‘Mr John says thanks’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this email.

On 14 September … at sea:
Jeffrey Gettleman and Eric Schmitt, ‘U.S. Kills Top Qaeda Militant in Southern Somalia’,
The New York Times
, 14 September 2009; Nicholas Schmidle, ‘Getting bin Laden’,
New Yorker
, 8 August 2011.

‘Mr John was killed …’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this email.

17. Mujahideen Secrets

‘Fucking good’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this text.

Hasan was armed … the wounded:
Eric M. Johnson and Lisa Maria Garza, ‘ “Hell Broke Loose,” Witness Says of Fort Hood Massacre’, Reuters, 12 August 2013.

Hasan had written … in 2001:
David Johnston and Scott Shane, ‘US Knew of Suspect’s Ties to Radical Cleric’,
The New York Times
, 9 November 2009; Carol Craty, ‘FBI official: Hasan should have been asked about emails with radical cleric’, CNN, 2 August 2012; ‘Anwar al Awlaki Email Exchange with Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan’, Intelwire, 19 July 2012.

In one email … and research:
Ibid.; ‘Fort Hood report shows FBI ignored warning signs on Hasan, lawmaker says’, Associated Press, 19 July 2012.

‘Nidal Hisan is a hero …’:
Awlaki’s comments were posted on his now defunct blog. A summary of the posting can be found on the website of the Anti-Defamation League.

thirty-four al-Qaeda fighters:
‘Yemen foils “al-Qaeda plot” killing 34’, BBC, 17 December 2009.

But the intelligence … one strike:
Amnesty International, ‘Images of missile and cluster munitions point to US role in fatal attack in Yemen’, 7 June 2010.

destroyed a Bedouin hamlet:
Gregory D. Johnsen,
The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia
, W. W. Norton & Co., 2013, p. 253; Chris Woods, ‘The civilian massacre the US neither confirms nor denies’, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 29 March 2012; Michael Isikoff, ‘Yemen cable gives al-Qaida new “recruiting” tool’, NBC News, 30 November 2010.

‘… scored a big own goal’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this email.

statement from the Yemeni embassy:
See Nasser Atta, Brian Ross and Matthew Cole, ‘ “I’m Alive,” Says Yemeni Radical Anwar al-Awlaki Despite US Attack’, ABC News, 31 December 2009.

First reports … been killed:
Ibid.

‘The tall guy is fine’:
This is my recollection. I do not have a saved copy of this text.

several passengers:
On passengers’ role in thwarting Abdulmutallab, see Peter Slevin, ‘Fear and Heroism aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 after Attempted Bombing’,
Washington Post
, 17 December 2009.

collected and driven:
Details of Abdulmutallab’s movements in Yemen are included in the US Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, filed 10 February 2012. On the timing of Abdulmutallab’s trip, see Steven Erlanger, ‘Nigerian May Have Used Course in Yemen as Cover’,
The New York Times
, 1 January 2010.

Abdulmutallab told the preacher … to record:
Ibid.

then bring it down:
Ibid.

hospital bedside:
Trial transcript:
USA v. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
, United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, filed 11 October 2011.

More disturbing still … Saudi royal family:
Paul Cruickshank, Nic Robertson and Tim Lister, ‘Al Qaeda’s biggest threat’, CNN, 16 February 2012.

commandos descended:
‘Yemen forces kill al-Qaeda chief’, BBC, 13 January 2010;
[al-Mehdar was emir of Shabwa], Asharq-al-Awsat, 14 January 2010.

Awlaki declared war:
Anwar al-Awlaki, ‘A Call to Jihad’, 17 March 2010, transcribed by Al Ansar Mujahideen English Forum.

18. Anwar’s Blonde

As a teenager Irena …:
Details on Irena Horak’s life in Croatia were provided by Sandra Veljkovic, a journalist who broke exclusive details on Irena Horak’s story for the Croatian newspaper
Večeřnji List
. See also Renata Rašović and Darko Marčinković, ‘Teroristica: Irena Horak (35) iz Bjelovara je Al-Qa’idina Amina’,
Večeřnji List
(Croatia), 24 October 2012; ‘Ekskluzivno: Kako je Hrvatica postala Al-Qaidina nevjesta?’, RTL, 25 October 2012.