Chapter 17: Building a Network

1 It was still … “Grenade!” Hollenbaugh; “Fort Bragg Soldier Recalls Battle That Won Him Higher Honor,” by Kevin Maurer, The Fayetteville Observer, syndicated by the Associated Press, June 23, 2005, and accessed at: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1429115/posts; “Battle for Fallujah Forged Many Heroes,” by Oren Dorell and Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, November 9, 2006, accessed at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-09-medals-fallujah_x.htm; “Heroism Earns Soldier High Award,” by Carrie Chicken, The Walla-Walla Union-Bulletin, June 14, 2005, accessed at: http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7150; No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, by Bing West (New York: Bantam, 2005), pp. 194–207; My Share of the Task, p. 136; a Delta source.

2 With Saddam … Alexander. My Share of the Task, pp. 116–18; a special operations source familiar with JIATF-East; a senior JSOC officer.

3 The JIATF’s … the tape. Three sources familiar with JIATF-East.

4 As JIATF-East … said an officer. A senior JSOC officer; a Team 6 officer; a special operations source familiar with the mission.… Aristide told CNN … “Aristide Says U.S. Deposed Him in ‘Coup d’Etat,’” CNN, March 2, 2004, accessed at: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/03/01/aristide.claim/.

5 (Two years … news outlets.) A SEAL Team 6 officer.

6 In January … U.S. forces. My Share of the Task, pp. 120, 126, 128.

7 Residents threw … the pilots. Little Bird pilots.

8 The task force … gained traction. My Share of the Task, pp. 89–92.

9 As it was … withdraw. The Endgame, p. 59; My Share of the Task, p. 129. McChrystal was largely correct in his assumption that accompanying his troops on missions would bolster their confidence in him. “One of the reasons why I speak with such endearment of General McChrystal is it would not be uncommon for me to hear, ‘You have to keep two seats open on vehicle three,’ and that would be the extent of what I would be told, and then I would see him and his RTO [radio-telephone operator] come in in kit and go on the op with us,” said a junior Ranger officer from that period.

10 The episode’s … of insurgents. My Share of the Task, pp. 122–26.

11 (Major General … to attack.) The Endgame, pp. 59–60; My Share of the Task, p. 130.

12 At the urging … “the war.” My Share of the Task, p. 130; No True Glory, p. 155.

13 Four Marine … April 9. The Endgame, pp. 61–62.

14 Surprised by … mantra. My Share of the Task, p. 131; a JSOC staff officer; “It Takes a Network—The New Front Line of Modern Warfare,” by Stanley A. McChrystal, in ForeignPolicy.com, accessed at: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/22it_takes_a_network; Top Secret America, p. 242.

15 It was on … the Silver Star. Hollenbaugh; “Fort Bragg Soldier Recalls Battle That Won Him Higher Honor”; “Battle for Fallujah Forged Many Heroes”; “Heroism Earns Soldier High Award”; My Share of the Task, p. 136; a Delta source. Major Doug Zembiec was killed in Baghdad in May 2007. Boivin was killed November 15, 2012, when a train crashed into a veterans’ float he was on during a parade in Midland, Texas.

16 The Marines’ … the “Unblinking Eye.” My Share of the Task, pp. 136–39; a Delta operator.… Mark Erwin’s A Squadron … McChrystal gives Erwin the pseudonym “Lieutenant Colonel Steve.” … team leaders … A Delta operator who was there gave the team leaders credit for this innovation, whereas McChrystal credited Erwin and Wayne Barefoot, the task force’s acting intelligence chief, with the idea.

17 The new technique … interrogated them. A Delta operator; My Share of the Task, p. 139.

18 The boy … operators where. A Delta operator.

19 Meanwhile … among them. My Share of the Task, pp. 139–43; a Delta operator.

20 Another upshot … with a Taser. My Share of the Task, pp. 202–3; a Delta operator. Taser is the brand name of a handheld nonlethal weapon widely used by police that delivers electric shocks.

21 The task force … as of 2013. A Delta operator.

22 In his … those who did. My Share of the Task, p. 201.

23 … the operators punished were “scapegoats.” Two Delta sources.

24 A March 2006 … from Nama. “In Secret Unit’s ‘Black Room,’ a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse,” by Eric Schmitt and Carolyn Marshall, The New York Times, March 19, 2006, accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/international/middleeast/19abuse.html?pagewanted=all.

25 In December … “about it.” “U.S. Generals in Iraq Were Told of Abuse Early, Inquiry Finds,” by Josh White, The Washington Post, December 1, 2004, accessed at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23372-2004Nov30.html.… Task Force 121 … TF 121 was so named because 121 is 11 squared, a Delta source said.

26 Part of … from them. A congressional staffer familiar with the issue.

27 This was … in Arabic. My Share of the Task, p. 199.

28 JSOC used … facilities. “In Secret Unit’s ‘Black Room,’ a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse”; a Delta operator.

29 But at McChrystal’s … at the time. Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry, by Marc Ambinder and D. B. Grady (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2013), p. 76; a JSOC staff officer.

30 Fernandez functioned … one bedroom. A Delta operator.

31 But documents … occupation of Iraq. In addition to the articles and books cited above, see “No Blood, No Foul: Soldiers’ Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq,” by Human Rights Watch, accessed at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0706/2.htm; “Camp Nama: British Personnel Reveal Horrors of Secret US Base in Baghdad,” by Ian Cobain, The Guardian, April 1, 2013, accessed at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/01/camp-nama-iraq-human-rights-abuses; “Former Interrogator Presses for McChrystal’s Stance on Abuse,” by Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent, June 1, 2009; “Special Ops Task Force Threatened Government Agents Who Saw Detainee Abuse in Iraq, Documents Obtained by ACLU Reveal,” accessed at: https://www.aclu.org/national-security/special-ops-task-force-threatened-government-agents-who-saw-detainee-abuse-iraq-do; The Report of the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment, pp. 118–21, accessed at: http://detaineetaskforce.org/read/files/assets/basic-html/page118.html; Task Force Black, pp. 54–55.

32 In midsummer … allied representatives. My Share of the Task, pp. 201–2; a Delta source.

33 Whether it … moved north. A Delta source.

34 There were … into reality. My Share of the Task, p. 150.