Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (83 page)
114
“Halliburton/KBR the Lex Column,”
Financial Times
(London), November 16, 2006.
115
KBR amicus curiae, filed September 22, 2006.
117
Joseph Neff, “Blackwater Suit Can Go Forward; A Wake Judge Rules in Favor of Families of Four Killed in Iraq,”
News & Observer
(Raleigh, North Carolina), November 28, 2006.
119
Jeremy Scahill and Garrett Ordower, “From Whitewater to Blackwater,”
TheNation.com
, posted October 26, 2006.
120
Blackwater petition to U.S. Supreme Court, October 18, 2006.
122
Joseph Neff, “Blackwater Suit Can Go Forward; A Wake Judge Rules in Favor of Families of Four Killed in Iraq,”
News & Observer
(Raleigh, North Carolina), November 28, 2006.
123
Author copy, Blackwater’s “Petition for a Writ of Certiorari,” filed December 20, 2006.
124
Author copy, Blackwater’s “Petition for Order Directing Arbitration,” December 20, 2006; Author copy, Blackwater’s “Demand for Arbitration,” signed December 14, 2006.
125
Bill Sizemore, “Suit Against Blackwater Over Contractor Deaths Moves to Arbitration,”
Virginian-Pilot
, May 20, 2007.
127
Author copy of statement.
128
Attila Berry and Joe Palazzolo, “Blackwater Sues Wiley Rein for Malpractice; Former Client Claims Firm Botched Fallujah Case,”
Legal Times
, January 28, 2008.
CHAPTER 15
1
Many of the descriptive details on the crash of Blackwater 61 and its aftermath are drawn from the author’s copy of the National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
2
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
3
Amended Complaint, filed October 4, 2005.
4
Presidential Airways’ Emergency Motion to Quash Subpoena, February 24, 2006.
5
Flight records from
flightaware.com
accessed in October and November 2006; Federal Aviation Administration airplane registration records.
6
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
11
Blackwater Tactical Weekly,
October 18, 2004.
12
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
24
Suzanne Goldenberg, “CIA Accused of Torture at Bagram Base; Some Captives Handed to Brutal Foreign Agencies,”
Guardian,
December 27, 2002.
25
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
27
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket; “Coalition Forces in Afghanistan as of Oct. 4, 2004,
www.defenselink.mil/home/
features/1082004d.html.
28
Rafael A. Almeda, “A Soldier Until the End,”
Sun-Sentinel,
December 3, 2004.
29
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
31
All in-flight dialogue from cockpit voice recorder transcript contained in “Specialist’s Factual Report of Investigation,” National Transportation Safety Board Vehicle Recorders Division, October 18, 2005.
32
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
36
Jennifer Feehan, “Plane Crash Kills a Weston Man in Afghanistan,”
Toledo Blade,
December 2, 2004.
37
Amended Complaint, filed October 4, 2005.
38
Griff Witte, “Blackwater Broke Rules, Report Says,”
Washington Post,
October 5, 2005.
39
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
41
Griff Witte, “Blackwater Broke Rules, Report Says,”
Washington Post,
October 5, 2005.
42
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Brief.
44
Jay Price and Joseph Neff, “Inquiry Pins Blackwater Crash on Pilot,”
News & Observer,
December 6, 2006.
45
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Brief.
46
Presidential Airways’ Emergency Motion to Quash Subpoena, February 24, 2006.
47
Judge John Antoon, Order denying Blackwater motions, September 27, 2006.
48
Presidential Airways’ Emergency Motion to Quash Subpoena, February 24, 2006.
49
Judge John Antoon, Order denying Blackwater motions, September 27, 2006.
53
Presidential Airways’ Emergency Motion to Quash Subpoena, February 24, 2006.
56
Judge John Antoon, Order denying Blackwater motions, September 27, 2006.
61
Jane Mayer, “Outsourcing Torture,”
The New Yorker,
February 14, 2005.
63
“United States Policy with Respect to the Involuntary Return of Persons in Danger of Subjection to Torture,” Public Law 105-277.
64
Jane Mayer, “Outsourcing Torture,”
The New Yorker,
February 14, 2005.
66
Jim Landers, “CIA Official Says War on Terrorism Will Be Won With Great Force,”
Dallas Morning News,
October 19, 2001.
67
William M. Leary, “Supporting the ‘Secret War’: CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974,” CIA
Studies in Intelligence
, Winter 1999-2000.
68
Stephen Grey,
Ghost Plane: the True Story of The CIA Torture Program,
St. Martin’s New York, 1996, p. 108.
69
Press release, “Blackwater USA Completes Acquisition of Aviation Worldwide Services,” PRWEB, May 3, 2003.
71
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
73
Press release, “Blackwater USA Completes Acquisition of Aviation Worldwide Services,” PRWEB, March 3, 2003.
74
Jeffrey S. Hampton, “Blackwater Aviation Unit to Relocate,”
Virginian-Pilot,
March 29, 2006.
77
“Hangar Plaque Honors C.I.A.’s Air Operative,”
New York Times,
December 30, 1985.
78
David E. Hendrix, “CIA Got Burned on Airplane Deal, Suit Says Hemet City Councilman James Venable Ended Up with Some of the Planes,”
Press-Enterprise,
January 11, 1996.
79
Press Release, April 12, 2006.
80
Stephen Grey,
Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program,
St. Martin’s, New York, 1996, pp. 142-143.
82
Aaron Sarver, “Tracking the CIA Torture Flights,”
In These Times,
September 27, 2006.
84
“To Catch a Spy,”
Washington Post,
March 26, 2006.
85
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
86
Stephen Grey,
Ghost Plane
, p. 39.
87
Author copy of National Transportation Safety Board accident docket.
89
Glen Owen, “The Picture That Proves ‘Torture Flights’ Are STILL Landing in the UK,”
Daily Mail
, June 10, 2007.
90
Blackwater press release, “British Tabloid Withdraws False Story on Blackwater,” June 14, 2007.
91
Barry Yeoman, “Soldiers of Good Fortune,”
Mother Jones,
May/June 2003.
93
Michael Hirsh, John Barry, and Daniel Klaidman, “Interrogation: A Tortured Debate,”
Newsweek,
June 21, 2006.
CHAPTER 16
1
Bob Woodward,
Bush at War
, pp. 50-52.
2
Biographical information on Cofer Black is largely drawn from Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001,
Penguin, New York, 2004.
3
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 267.
8
Billy Waugh with Tim Keown,
Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Ground Soldier’s Fifty-Year Career Hunting America’s Enemies,
William Morrow, New York, 2004, p. 143.
9
Robert Young Pelton,
Licensed to Kill,
p. 28.
10
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars
, p. 271.
12
Billy Waugh with Tim Keown,
Hunting the Jackal,
p. 151.
18
J. Cofer Black official biography, U.S. Department of State.
20
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 454.
21
Ned Zeman, David Wise, David Rose, and Bryan Burrough, “The Path to 9/11: Lost Warnings and Fatal Errors,”
Vanity Fair,
November 2004.
22
James Bamford,
A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America’s Intelligence Agencies,
Doubleday, New York, 2004
,
p. 221.
23
J. Cofer Black testimony before the 9/11 Commission, April 13, 2004.
24
J. Cofer Black testimony before the Joint House/Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing into September 11, September 26, 2002.
26
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 455.
27
James Bamford,
A Pretext for War,
p. 219; Ned Zeman, David Wise, David Rose and Bryan Burrough, “The Path to 9/11: Lost Warnings and Fatal Errors,”
Vanity Fair,
November 2004.
28
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 492.
32
James Bamford,
A Pretext for War,
p. 219.
33
Nick Paton Walsh, “The Envoy Who Said Too Much: One Minute He Was Our Man in Tashkent, the Next He Was a Major Embarrassment for the Foreign Office,”
Guardian,
July 15, 2004.
34
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 502.
35
James Bamford,
A Pretext for War,
p. 220.
36
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars,
p. 516.
38
Jon Lee Anderson, “A Lion’s Death: The Assassination of the Taliban’s Most Important Afghan opponent,”
The New Yorker,
October 1, 2001.
39
Steve Coll,
Ghost Wars
, p. 543
40
Ned Zeman, David Wise, David Rose, and Bryan Burrough, “The Path to 9/11: Lost Warnings and Fatal Errors,”
Vanity Fair,
November 2004.
42
“Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice,”
Washington Post,
October 1, 2006.
45
Author copy of declassified memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” August 6, 2001.
46
J. Cofer Black testimony before the Joint House/Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing into September 11, September 26, 2002.
47
Gordon Corera, “How Terror Attacks Changed the CIA,” BBC News Online, March 12, 2006.
48
Bob Woodward,
Bush at War
, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002, p. 52.
51
Gary Schroen,
First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan,
Ballantine, New York, 2005, p. 38.
54
Jane Mayer, “The Search for Osama,”
The New Yorker,
August 4, 2003.
55
Bob Woodward,
Bush at War,
p. 103.
56
Robert Young Pelton,
Licensed to Kill,
pp. 30-32.
57
Transcript, Interview with Steve Coll, PBS Frontline,
www.pbs.org/
wgbh/pages/frontline/ darkside/interviews/coll.html, posted June 20, 2006.
58
Dana Priest, “Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake German Citizen Released After Months in ‘Rendition,’”
Washington Post,
December 4, 2005.
60
Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations; ‘Stress and Duress’ Tactics Used on Terrorism Suspects Held in Secret Overseas Facilities,”
Washington Post,
December 26, 2002.
61
Transcript,
Wolf Blitzer Reports,
CNN, April 30, 2004.
62
Dana Priest, “Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake German Citizen Released After Months in ‘Rendition,’”
Washington Post,
December 4, 2005.
64
Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations; ‘Stress and Duress’ Tactics Used on Terrorism Suspects Held in Secret Overseas Facilities,”
Washington Post,
December 26, 2002.
66
Michael Hirsh, John Barry, and Daniel Klaidman, “A Tortured Debate,”
Newsweek,
June 21, 2004.
67
Jane Mayer, “Outsourcing Torture,”
The New Yorker
, February 14, 2005.
69
Jane Mayer, “Outsourcing Torture,”
The New Yorker
, February 14, 2005.
70
Evan Thomas and Michael Hirsh, “Torture and Terror: Interrogators Have Pondered the Uses of Torture for Centuries and in the Wake of 9/11 the US Has Embraced So-called Torture Lite,”
Newsweek,
November 22, 2005.
71
Dana Priest, “Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake German Citizen Released After Months in ‘Rendition,’” the
Washington Post,
December 4, 2005.
72
Richard Sale, “Embarrassed Rumsfeld Fired CIA Official,” United Press International, July 28, 2004.
73
Barton Gellman and Thomas E. Ricks, “U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight; Failure to Send Troops in Pursuit Termed Major Error,” the
Washington Post,
April 17, 2002.
74
Bob Woodward and Dan Eggen, “Aug. Memo Focused on Attacks in U.S. Lack of Fresh Information Frustrated Bush,” the
Washington Post,
May 19, 2002.
75
Richard Sale, “Embarrassed Rumsfeld Fired CIA Official,” United Press International, July 28, 2004.
77
White House press release, October 10, 2002.
78
Transcript, “Counterterrorism Chief Says Terrorist Attacks Fell Sharply in 2002,” U.S. State Department, May 14, 2002.
79
Transcript, 2003 State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003.
80
Kathleen T. Rhem, “State Department: Terrorist Attacks Down 44 Percent in 2002,” American Forces Press Service, April 30, 2003.
81
Transcript, “Release of the 2003 ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism’ Annual Report,” U.S. Department of State, April 29, 2004.
82
Transcript, “Rollout of ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003’ Annual Report,” U.S. Department of State, April 29, 2004.
83
Alan B. Krueger and David Laitin, “Faulty Terror Report Card,” the
Washington Post,
May 17, 2004.
85
“Verbatim,”
Time
(Asia), July 5, 2004.
86
Cam Simpson (
Chicago Tribune
), “Corrected Report Shows 2003 Terror Attacks the Highest in 2 Decades,”
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
, June 23, 2004.
87
Alan B. Krueger and David Laitin, “Faulty Terror Report Card,” the
Washington Post,
May 17, 2004.
88
Transcript, “Ambassador J. Cofer Black, Coordinator, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism Foreign Press Center Briefing,” U.S. Department of State, April 29, 2004.
89
Barry Schweid, “Revised State Department Report Shows Rise in Terror Incidents Worldwide,” Associated Press, June 23, 2004.
91
Paul Krugman, “White House Claims on Terrorism Don’t Add Up,”
International Herald Tribune,
June 26, 2004.
92
Salamander Davoudi, “US Re-Releases Flawed Global Terror Report,”
Financial Times,
June 23, 2004.
93
Paul Krugman, “White House Claims on Terrorism Don’t Add Up,”
International Herald Tribune
, June 26, 2004.
94
Barry Schweid, “Revised State Department Report Shows Rise in Terror Incidents Worldwide,” Associated Press, June 23, 2004.
96
Ann Scott Tyson and Dana Priest, “Pentagon Seeking Leeway Overseas; Operations Could Bypass Envoys,” the
Washington Post,
February 24, 2005.
97
“US Supplies Three Patrol Ships to Boost Olympic Security,” Agence France-Presse, June 26, 2004.
100
“Blackwater’s Top Brass,” the
Virginian-Pilot,
July 24, 2006.
101
Transcript, “Hearing of the International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee,” April 1, 2004.
103
Blackwater Tactical Weekly,
May 17, 2004.
104
Paul Wiseman, “The Hunt for Bin Laden: Dragnet Snares Many of His Men, But Terrorist Kingpin Still at Large,”
USA Today,
September 10, 2004.
105
“US State Department Counter-Terrorism Chief Resigns,”
AFX News,
November 7, 2004.