Notes

1 Jim Michaels, “19,000 insurgents killed in Iraq since ’03,” USA Today, September 27, 2007.

2 Lt. General (ret.) William G. Boykin, author interview, February 11, 2008.

3 “Mission Backgrounder: Somalia - UNOSOM I,” United Nations Office of Public Information, March 21, 1997.

4 “Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, February 20, 2007, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dirty-bombs.html, accessed July 31, 2008.

5 E-mail from General Boykin to the author on August 2, 2008.

6 Kamal Saleem, author interview, February 12, 2008.

7 Walid Shoebat, interview for Epicenter documentary film, March 10, 2008.

8 Porter Goss, author interview, February 12, 2008.

9 Alireza Jafarzadeh, spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, author interview, March 24, 2008.

10 Alireza Jafarzadeh, see remarks at the National Press Club, August 14, 2002, http://www.iranwatch.org/privateviews/NCRI/perspex-ncri-topsecretprojects-081402.htm, accessed August 21, 2008.

11 See transcript, NBC’s Meet the Press, April 2, 2006.

12 General Moshe Ya’alon, author interview, March 9, 2007.

13 Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, author interview, March 2007.

14 Sen. Barack Obama was speaking at a town hall in Oregon on May 18, 2008. See “Obama Flip-Flop on Iran,” The Weekly Standard, “The Blog,” May 19, 2008; see also “McCain Criticizes Obama Over Iran Comments,” Associated Press, May 19, 2008.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 “Russia Warns over U.S. Missile Defense, Says Iran Is Not a Threat,” Associated Press, October 23, 2007.

18 Scott Ritter, “The Big Lie: ‘Iran Is a Threat,’” CommonDreams.org, October 8, 2007, http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/08/4404, accessed July 26, 2008.

19 Nikki R. Keddie, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, p. 346.

20 Ted Koppel, “Let ’Em Have Nukes. But . . .” New York Times/International Herald Tribune, October 3, 2006.

21 Daniel Trotta, “Ted Turner Says Iraq War among History’s ‘Dumbest,’” Reuters, September 19, 2006.

22 Cited by V. S. Naipaul, Among the Believers, pp. 81–82; and by Robin Wright, Sacred Rage, p. 21.

23 Cited by Hamid Algar, translator, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941-1980), p. 286. Dr. Algar’s compilation of Khomeini’s writings was extraordinarily helpful to me in understanding the ayatollah. The book also begins with an excellent summary of Khomeini’s biography and basic religious philosophy.

24 Cited by Alireza Jafarzadeh, The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis, p. 208.

25 See bin Laden’s “Declaration of War Against the Americans,” cited by Randall Hamud, Osama bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words, pp. 32–58

26 Broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV, May 13, 2005. See transcript of translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/669.htm, accessed July 6, 2008.

27 The publication was called Risalat al-Ikhwan. The slogan was removed from future printings after September 11, 2001. Cited by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, November 1, 2007, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&TMID=111&LNGID=1&FID=379&PID=0&IID=1920, accessed on June 23, 2008.

28 Cited by Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 144.

29 Cited by Naji, p. 143.

30 “Rafsanjani says Muslims Should Use Nuclear Weapon against Israel,” Iran Press Service, December 14, 2001.

31 Cited by Naji, p. 139.

32 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 31.

33 “Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear,” Agence France-Presse, June 2, 2008.

34 Beirut Daily Star, October 23, 2002; cited by Deborah Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words,” research paper produced by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, July 26, 2006, http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1158, accessed July 6, 2006.

35 Cited by Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words.”

36 Cited by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “Palestinian Authority Sermons 2000–2003,” MEMRI, Special Report - No. 24, December 26, 2003.

37 Ibid.

38 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 25.

39 “Ahmadinejad Says Israel Will Soon Disappear,” Agence France-Presse, June 2, 2008.

40 “Ahmadinejad: Iran, Japan Should Be Prepared for a World without U.S.,” Islamic Republic News Agency, June 4, 2008.

41 Osama bin Laden, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” World Islamic Front statement, February 2, 1998; cited by Wright, p. 256.

42 Cited by Wright, p. 257

43 Cited by Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 339.

44 BBC Monitoring: Al-Manar TV, September 27, 2002; cited by Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words.”

45 Cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1791, December 21, 2007.

46 Cited by Stalinsky, “Incitement Official,” FrontPageMagazine.com, May 26, 2005.

47 Cited by Stalinsky, “Palestinian Authority Sermons.”

48 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 200–201.

49 Cited by Bergen, p. 347.

50 Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, and The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.

51 See “Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis,” event transcript, Pew Forum, April 27, 2006, Washington, D.C.

52 Pervez Hoodbhoy, “Islamic Failure,” Prospect magazine, February 2002.

53 From a series of essays Mr. al-Akhdar posted in June 2003; cited by Barry Rubin, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA), in “What’s Wrong: The Arab Liberal Critique of Arab Society,” MERIA, Vol. 9, N. 4, Article 5, December 2005.

54 Jamal Bittar, “What’s Wrong With The Arab World?” The Arab American News, January 19, 2008.

55 Zaffar Abbas, “Musharraf Berates Muslim World,” BBC News, February 16, 2002.

56 Ehsan Ahrari, “Musharraf’s Clarion Call to the World of Islam,” Asia Times, March 5, 2002.

57 Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, p. 149.

58 Cited by Bergen, pp. 6–7.

59 Sheik Yussef Al-Qaradhawi, interview on Al-Jazeera Television, “The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model,” June 19, 2001, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 246, July 24, 2001.

60 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 50, 51, 54.

61 Cited by Wright, p. 44.

62 Cited by Naji, p. 98.

63 Yossef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America (Roseville, Calif.: Prima Publishing, 2001), 110.

64 Cited by Sadanand Dhume, “Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within: Radical Islamic Party Threatens Indonesia with Ballots more than Bullets,” column for Yale Global Online, December 1, 2005.

65 Cited by Mansfield, p. 205.

66 Cited by Mansfield, pp. 346–347.

67 George W. Bush, remarks at Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., transcript made available by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, September 17, 2001, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

68 See “Backgrounder: The President’s Quotes on Islam—In the President’s Words, Respecting Islam,” White House Office of the Press Secretary, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

69 Transcript, “Bush, Blair News Conference,” Associated Press, November 20, 2003.

70 “Tony Blair: ‘Wake Up’ to Iran’s Extremism,” Associated Press, December 21, 2006.

71 “‘Islam Is also France,’ Sarkozy Says at Iftar,” Al Arabiya TV, October 2, 2007, http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2007/10/02/39829.html, accessed August 4, 2008.

72 For more information on specific citations, see Sh. G. F. Haddad, “Documentation of ‘Greater Jihad’ Hadith,” www.livingislam.org, February 28, 2005, http://www.livingislam.org/n/dgjh_e.html, accessed August 16, 2008. See also “Religion & Ethics—Islam,” BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/jihad_2.shtml, accessed August 16, 2008.

73 Douglas E. Streusand, “What Does Jihad Mean?” Middle East Quarterly, September 1997, http://www.meforum.org/article/357, accessed August 16, 2008.

74 Cited by Yossef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, p. xiii.

75 Abdullah Azzam, Join The Caravan, a tract originally published on www.al-haqq.org in December 2001, retrieved from http://www.religioscope.com/info/doc/jihad/azzam_caravan_6_conclusion.htm, accessed August 16, 2008.

76 Cited by Hamid Algar, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941-1980), pp. 387–388.

77 Jihad magazine, Issue 1, December 28, 1984, published by Osama bin Laden and his mentor, Sheikh Azzam; cited by Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 33.

78 Cited by Randall Hamud, Osama bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words, pp. 50–51.

79 Ibid, p. 54.

80 Cited by Steven Stalinsky, “Palestinian Authority Sermons 2000–2003,” MEMRI, Special Report - No. 24, December 26, 2003.

81 Ibid.

82 Sheik Yussef Al-Qaradhawi, interview on Al-Jazeera Television, “The Prophet Muhammad as a Jihad Model,” June 19, 2001, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 246, July 24, 2001.

83 Cited by Baqer Moin, Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah, p. 186

84 Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, p. 437; see also Dr. Hamid Algar, translator, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (1941-1980), p. 23, citing the New York Times, January 2, 1978.

85 Cited in “American Experience: Jimmy Carter,” transcript from the PBS documentary film, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/pt_2.html, accessed August 13, 2008.

86 See Michael Ledeen, The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots’ Quest for Destruction, p. 4.

87 See Algar, p. 16.

88 Cited by Moin, p. 75.

89 Moin, p. 174.

90 Moin, p. 175.

91 Algar, pp. 217–218.

92 See Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar, The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran, p. 79.

93 Ibid, p. 79.

94 Cited by Algar, p. 120.

95 Cited by Algar, pp. 18, 182, 187.

96 See full speech in Algar, pp. 181–188.

97 See Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 115.

98 Cited by Moin, p. 122.

99 Cited by Algar, pp. 228–230.

100 Cited by Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America, p. 129.

101 Cited by Algar, p. 231.

102 See Amir Arjomand, The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran, p. 190.

103 Admiral Stansfield Turner, Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors and Secret Intelligence, p. 180.

104 Cited by Carter, p. 438.

105 Cited by Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American President from Washington to Bush, p. 440.

106 Pollack, p. 131.

107 Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, p. 428.

108 Mark Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, p. 120.

109 Pollack, p. 130.

110 Pollack, p. 134.

111 Cited in “Man of the Year: 1979,” Time magazine, January 7, 1980.

112 See Moin, pp. 200–201.

113 “Declaration upon Arrival at Tehran,” full text of Khomeini’s speech, cited by Algar, pp. 252–243.

114 See “On This Day: February 1, 1979. Exiled Ayatollah Khomeini Returns to Iran,” BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_2521000/2521003.stm, accessed August 9, 2008.

115 Cited in “Man of the Year: 1979,” Time magazine, January 7, 1980.

116 Cited by William Daugherty, In The Shadow of the Ayatollah: A CIA Hostage in Iran, p. 4.

117 “The First Day of God’s Government,” full text of Khomeini’s statement, cited by Algar, pp. 265–267.

118 Cited by Bowden, p. 14.

119 See Robert Gates, From the Shadows: The Ulimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, pp. 129–130.

120 See Zbigniew Brzezinski, Power and Principle, pp. 475–476.

121 Cited by Gates, p. 130.

122 See President Jimmy Carter, “Daily Diary,” November 3, 1979, document archived on Carter Presidential Library Web site, http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1979/d110379t.pdf, accessed June 21, 2008.

123 Cited by Bowden, p. 52.

124 Initially, sixty-six U.S. Embassy staffers were taken hostage. Thirteen women and African-Americans were released in late November. One hostage was released in July 1980 for seriously declining health. The remaining fifty-two hostages spent a total of 444 days in captivity.

125 Cited by Bowden, pp. 69–70. See also Massoumeh Ebtekar, Takeover in Tehran: The Inside Story of the 1979 U.S. Embassy Capture, p. 70.

126 See Amir Taheri, “America Can’t Do a Thing,” New York Post, November 2, 2004.

127 Turner, p. 180.

128 Unless otherwise noted, most of this chapter relies on the author’s interview with General Jerry Boykin and on Boykin’s book, Never Surrender, written with the help of World magazine journalist Lynn Vincent.

129 Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah, p. 230.

130 See Boykin, pp. 122–123.

131 See Bowden, p. 468.

132 It is important to note that the U.S. military in general and Delta Force in particular learned a great deal from the tragedy at Desert One and the mistakes that were made there. In time, they corrected those mistakes and have had tremendous successes in counterterrorism operations and in full-blown combat operations in the Middle East and around the world, including the liberation of Grenada from Soviet-backed Communists, the liberation of Panama from the drug-running dictatorship of Manuel Noriega, the liberation of Kuwait from the Iraqis, the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror, and the liberation of Afghanistan from Taliban and al Qaeda control. I highly recommend Boykin’s book Never Surrender, as he was intimately involved in a number of those missions.

133 See Hon. Royce C. Lamberth, United States District Judge, District of Columbia, “Memoradum Opinion” in the case of Plaintiffs v. The Islamic Republic of Iran, May 30, 2003, p. 16.

134 Ibid, p. 16.

135 Ibid, pp. 7–19.

136 Ibid, pp. 18–19.

137 Ibid, p. 10.

138 Ibid, pp. 24–25.

139 Ibid, p. 29.

140 See “Iran Must Pay $2.6 Billion for Attack on U.S. Marines, Judge Rules,” CNN, September 7, 2007.

141 Cited by Daniel Byman, “Should Hezbollah Be Next?” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2003, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20031101faessay82606/daniel-byman/should-hezbollah-be-next.html?mode=print, accessed August 24, 2008.

142 Cited by BBC Monitoring: al-Manar TV, September 27, 2002; see Deborah Passner, “Hassan Nasrallah: In His Own Words,” research paper produced by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, July 26, 2006, http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1158, accessed July 6, 2006.

143 Cited by Nicholas Noe, editor, Voice of Hezbollah: The Statements of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, p. 32.

144 Ibid, p. 50.

145 Ibid, p. 54.

146 Ibid, p. 54.

147 Cited by Mohamad Shmaysani, “Al-Sayyed Nasrallah: Drill Shows Resistance Full Readiness,” al-Manar, August 11, 2007.

148 Nasrallah has stated publicly that Hezbollah was founded upon the orders of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He has said on the record that in 1982, “the faithful were of the opinion that a revolutionary and Islamist current should be established to adequately confront the new challenge facing Lebanon. This current was to have a clear Islamist political vision, and operate through a consistent ideology based on the principles and political line of Imam Khomeini. . . . This is how Hezbollah came to be” (cited by Noe, p. 26). In an interview on Iranian television on April 16, 2007, Sheikh Naim Qassem, the number two leader of Hezbollah, admitted that “when Hezbollah commenced activities in 1982, it did so according to the opinion and religious ruling of Imam Khomeini.” He went on to explain that Hezbollah follows the religious directives and tactical military orders from the religious and political leadership in Iran, specifically the current ayatollah, Khamenei. The leaders of Hezbollah can, he explained, ask Khamenei for direction on what is acceptable and what is forbidden in carrying out jihadist operations against Israel, to make sure they do not sin or commit a crime (cited and translated from Arabic into English by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on April 29, 2007, based on excerpts from the interview as cited by MEMRI and Israeli TV Channel 2. See www.terrorism-info.org.il).

149 See Noe, pp. 95, 128.

150 See “Analysis: Hezbollah a Force to be Reckoned With,” Agence France-Presse, July 18, 2006.

151 See Patterns of Global Terrorism, “State Sponsors of Terrorism Overview,” Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State, April 30, 2008.

152 Ibid.

153 See “U.S. Official Says Hezbollah Aiding Iraqi Shiites,” Associated Press, November 28, 2006; Michael R. Gordon and Dexter Filkins, “Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq,” New York Times, November 28, 2006; “Iraqis: Hezbollah Trained Shiite Militants,” Associated Press, July 2, 2008.

154 Cited by Nizar Latif and Phil Sands, “Mehdi Fighters ‘Trained by Hizbollah in Lebanon,’” The (U.K.) Independent, August 20, 2007.

155 See “Hezbollah’s Shi’ite Youth Movement, ‘The Imam al-Mahdi Scouts,’ Has Tens of Thousands of Members,” fact sheet produced by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, September 11, 2006, http://www.intelligence.org.il/eng/eng_n/html/hezbollah_scouts_e.htm, accessed July 6, 2006.

156 See MacNeil/Lehrer Report, PBS, August 14, 1979, cited by James A. Phillips, “The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan,” Backgrounder No. 108, The Heritage Foundation, January 9, 1980, http://www.heritage.org/Research/RussiaandEurasia/upload/86944_1.pdf, accessed August 16, 2008.

157 Cited by Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, p. 423.

158 Cited by Weiner, p. 423.

159 See Robert Gates, From the Shadows: The Ulimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, pp. 146–147.

160 Ibid, p. 132.

161 Ibid, pp. 132–133.

162 Weiner, p. 424.

163 Ibid.

164 Text of President Carter’s State of the Union address, January 23, 1980, http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/speeches/su80jec.phtml, accessed August 19, 2008.

165 Weiner, p. 425.

166 See Gates, p. 134.

167 There is a dispute over just how many children Mohammed bin Laden really had. The 9/11 Commission Report, Section 2.3, says fifty-seven. But Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower, an absolutely exceptional book that was indispensable in drafting this chapter, says fifty-four (see note on p. 444 of Wright’s book). CNN’s Peter Bergen, meanwhile, cites an interview with a childhood friend of bin Laden’s, confirming fifty-four. See Bergen’s The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda’s Leader, another excellent and vitally helpful book, p. 17.

168 See Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 85.

169 See Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p.71.

170 See Gary M. Sevold, “The Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Radicalism,” in Know Thy Enemy: Profiles of Adversary Leaders and Their Strategic Cultures, ed. Barry R. Schneider and Jerrold M. Post (U.S. Air Force Counterproliferation Center, 2003), pp. 45–48.

171 See Wright, p. 87.

172 Intelligence analysts believe bin Laden is currently married to four wives, including one who is a descendant of the founder of Islam. He has also divorced one wife along the way. He is believed to be the father of at least fifteen children. Bin Laden once described his view of the benefits of polygamy, which was, of course, practiced by the founder of Islam and encouraged in the Qur’an. “One [wife] is okay, like walking,” bin Laden told a friend. “Two [wives] is like riding a bike: it’s fast but a little unstable. Three is a tricycle, stable but slow. And when we come to four, ah! This is the ideal. Now you can pass everyone!” (cited by Lawrence Wright in The Looming Tower, p. 94.)

173 Ibid, p. 110.

174 Cited by Yossef Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, p. 20.

175 Cited by Bergen, p. 27.

176 Cited by Wright, p. 110.

177 Ibid, p. 111.

178 See Bodansky, p. 14.

179 See Wright, p. 116.

180 Ibid, pp. 116–117.

181 Cited by Bodansky, p. 19.

182 Cited by Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 151.

183 See Wright, pp. 152–153, and Bodansky, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, p. 12.

184 See Wright, p. 157.

185 Ibid, p. 162.

186 Bin Laden conveniently left out two major elements of the story of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan: President Ronald Reagan and Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-Texas). Together, Reagan and Wilson persuaded Congress to increase funding to provide massive amounts of arms to the mujahadeen, including shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles capable of destroying Soviet fighter jets and helicopters. Without U.S. funding and equipment, the mujahadeen never would have been able to defeat the Soviets. Some have questioned whether these funds ended up going directly to Osama bin Laden. The answer is no. Bin Laden used the mujahadeen victories to his advantage, but he himself was never a recipient of U.S. funding. After years of investigative reporting, CNN correspondent Peter Bergen concluded, “The Agency [CIA] directed around three billion dollars to the Afghan mujahadeen during the war against the Soviets, but there is no evidence that any of that money went to the Afghan Arabs, nor is there any evidence of CIA personnel meeting with bin Laden or anyone in his circle.” For more on covert CIA efforts to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan, see Robert Gates, From the Shadows, pp. 319–321; Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 60–61. Some would also point to George Crile’s book, Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times, upon which the movie with Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman was based. While it is an extraordinary story told by key participants in these covert operations, readers and viewers should be warned that both the book and the film are filled with obscenities and debauchery. I cannot in good conscience, therefore, recommend them.

187 See Bodansky, p. 28.

188 John Miller, interview with ABC News, May 1998, cited on PBS Frontline Web site, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html, accessed June 21, 2008.

189 By December 1991, 157 members of the Iranian parliament, as well as then Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, visited Khartoum in a show of the new Iranian-Sudanese alliance. Soon, Iranian weapons and advisors began flowing into Sudan, a trend that has continued right up through the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

190 See James Phillips, “Somalia and al-Qaeda: Implications for the War on Terrorism,” Backgrounder No. 1526, Heritage Foundation, April 5, 2002.

191 Ibid.

192 See Miller, interview with ABC News.

193 I describe the Taliban in more detail in Part 2, during the chapters on Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

194 This refers to the June 25, 1996, attack on the Khobar Towers housing complex near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, by members of the Saudi Hezbollah. Terrorists detonated a tanker truck filled with plastic explosives, all but destroying the nearest building. The attack killed 19 U.S. servicemen and one Saudi citizen and wounded 372 others.

195 Excerpts from full text of bin Laden’s 1996 fatwa, multiple sources based on multiple translations; see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html as an example.

196 Excerpts from bin Laden’s 1998 fatwa.

197 See The 9/11 Commission Report, Section 2.5.

198 Ibid.

199 Ibid.

200 See “Al Qaeda’s Global Context,” Frontline Web site, PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/etc/cron2.html, accessed August 19, 2008. See also George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm, p. 125.

201 See The 9/11 Commission Report, Section 6.3.

202 These notes are available in an official document entitled “Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” which contains detailed information gleaned from previously classified U.S. intelligence interrogations of the senior al Qaeda terrorist. The document was made available to federal prosecutors for legal proceedings against Zacarias Moussaoui, an al Qaeda sleeper agent arrested inside the United States. Moussaoui was recruited and trained by KSM to conduct “second wave” attacks in the aftermath of 9/11. To read the full document online, go to http://www.rcfp.org/moussaoui/pdf/DX-0941.pdf, accessed July 18, 2008.

203 See “Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10024,” March 10, 2007, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/transcript_ISN10024.pdf, accessed August 20, 2008.

204 Cited by Warren Richey, “The Self-Portrait of an Al Qaeda Leader,” Christian Science Monitor, March 16, 2007.

205 See The 9/11 Commission Report, Section 5.1.

206 Ramzi Yousef was captured by Pakistani security forces in 1995 during a raid of a suspected al Qaeda safe house. He was later handed over to U.S. authorities, then tried in a federal court, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

207 See The 9/11 Commission Report, Section 5.1.

208 See “Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”

209 The Secret History of 9/11, Canadian Broadcasting Company, aired September 10, 2006. The documentary drew on material from previously classified interrogation notes.

210 Cited by Walter Pincus, “New Bin Laden Tape Transcript Offers More Details,” Washington Post, December 21, 2001.

211 See “Bin Laden Claims Responsibility for 9/11,” Canadian Broadcasting Company, October 29, 2004.

212 See “Substitution for the Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”

213 Cited by George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm, p. 260, citing a Time article from December 24, 1998.

214 Ibid, p. 269.

215 See Sheikh Nasir bin Hamd al-Fahd, “A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against the Infidels,” May 1, 2003; cited by Tenet, p. 274. Also cited by Michael Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam after Iraq, p. 74.

216 See Robert S. Mueller, III, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Global Initiative Nuclear Terrorism Conference,” Miami, Florida, June 11, 2007.

217 See Tenet, pp. 259–260.

218 Ibid, p. 279.

219 See Josh Meyer, “Student Allegedly Talked of Assassination Plots,” Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2005.

220 See David Stout, “Arab American Convicted of Plot to Kill Bush: Virginia Student Linked to Operatives of al Qaeda Network,” New York Times, November 23, 2005.

221 See Department of Justice press release, September 8, 2005, http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae/Pressreleases/09-SeptemberPDFArchive/05/20050909alinr.pdf, accessed July 16, 2008.

222 See FBI press release, March 29, 2006, http://washingtondc.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/wfo032906.htm, accessed August 13, 2008.

223 See “Court Upholds Conviction in Bush al Qaeda Plot,” Reuters, June 6, 2008.

224 See Stout, “Arab American Convicted of Plot.”

225 See Jerry Markon and Dana Priest, “Terrorist Plot to Kill Bush Alleged,” Washington Post, February 23, 2005.

226 Pronounced “Shween.”

227 Fred Schwien, interview with the author.

228 See Jerry Markon and Ben Hubbard, “Review Finds Slurs in ’06 Saudi Texts,” Washington Post, July 15, 2008.

229 See transcript of report on Al Jazeera, June 17, 2008; see “Al-Jazeera TV Report on the Controversy over the Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia,” MEMRI, clip 1799, June 17, 2008, http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1799.htm, accessed July 16, 2008; see also “Critics Dubs Saudi Islamic School ‘Terror High,’” Associated Press, November 24, 2007.

230 See Markon and Hubbard, “Review Finds Slurs in ’06 Saudi Texts.”

231 See R. James Woolsey, testimony delivered before the U.S. House Committee on International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, May 22, 2002.

232 Ibid.

233 Wahhabi Islam is also often referred to as Salafi Islam. Salafi in Arabic means “a pious or righteous ancestor.” Salafists, therefore, follow the fundamental, Radical version of Islam taught by their devout forefathers, such as Mohammad Ibn ’Abd al-Wahhab.

234 See Stephen Schwartz, Director of the Islam and Democracy Program of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, “Wahhabism and Islam in the U.S.,” testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, June 26, 2003.

235 See findings from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/quick_question20.html, accessed July 7, 2008. The data are drawn from “Mosque in America: A National Portrait,” a survey released in April 2001. This was part of a larger study of American congregations called “Faith Communities Today,” coordinated by Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religious Research in Connecticut. Muslim organizations cosponsoring the survey are the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, the Ministry of Imam W. Deen Muhammed, and the Islamic Circle of North America. See http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/muslimlife/demograp.htm, accessed July 7, 2008.

236 See “New Dearborn Mosque to Be the Nation’s Largest,” Associated Press, January 7, 2004. See also Joanne Viviano, “Muslim Worshippers Say Dearborn Mosque Was Overdue,” Detroit News, October 22, 2005.

237 See “Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques,” Special Report released by the Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House, 2006, p. 2, http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/45.pdf, accessed July 7, 2008.

238 Ibid, p. 38.

239 Ibid, p. 48.

240 Ibid, p. 57.

241 Ibid, pp. 19–20.

242 See Andrew Kohut, “Muslims in America: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream,” Pew Research Center, May 22, 2007, http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf, accessed June 24, 2008.

243 For an excellent and more detailed analysis of the Islamist threat to Great Britain and the British society’s state of denial of the problem, see Melanie Phillips’s Londonistan.

244 See Jason Bennetto, “MI5 Conducts Secret Inquiry into 8,000 al-Qa’ida ‘Sympathisers,’ The (UK) Independent, July 3, 2006.

245 Ibid.

246 See Robert Winnett and David Leppard, “Leaked No. 10 Dossier Reveals al-Qaeda’s British Recruits,” The Sunday Times of London, July 10, 2005.

247 See “Young Muslims and Extremism,” U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Home Office, April 2004, presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

248 See “Sharia Law in UK is ‘Unavoidable,’” BBC, February 7, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm, accessed July 6, 2008.

249 See David Machlis and Tovah Lazaroff, “Muslims ‘About to Take Over Europe,’” Jerusalem Post, January 29, 2007.

250 Simon Kuper, “Europe Can Feel at Home with 16m Muslims,” Financial Times, September 16, 2007.

251 Cited in Kohut, “Muslims in America.”

252 “Muslims in Europe: Economic Worries Top Concerns about Religious and Cultural Identity,” Pew Global Attitudes Project, July 6, 2006, http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=254, accessed August 14, 2008.

253 See John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, pp. x–xi.

254 Ibid, pp. 47–51.

255 Ibid, pp. 69–70.

256 Other research suggests the 7 percent Radical figure may actually be too low. According to a 2007 Pew Research Center poll, 28 percent of Egyptian Muslims say they believe suicide bombings against civilian targets are sometimes or often justified; 17 percent of Turkish Muslims agree, along with 10 percent of Indonesian Muslims, 14 percent of Pakistani Muslims, 29 percent of Jordanian Muslims, and 46 percent of Nigerian Muslims. See Andrew Kohut, “Muslims in America: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream,” Pew Research Center, May 22, 2007, http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf, accessed June 24, 2008.

257 Ibid, pp. 70–71.

258 Cited by Karim Sadjadpour, Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader, p. 7.

259 Cited by Steve Stalinsky, “The Iranian Threat: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” New York Sun, February 9, 2005

260 Cited by Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 259.

261 Cited by Sadjadpour, p. 15.

262 Cited by Nasser Karimi, “Iran Leader: Bush Will Be Tried,” Associated Press, February 14, 2007.

263 See Fars news, August 2, 2006, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1230, August 4, 2006.

264 Ibid.

265 Cited by Stalinsky.

266 Ibid.

267 Cited by Naji, p. 144.

268 Cited by Kenneth R. Timmerman, Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown With Iran, p. 42.

269 Cited by Sadjadpour, pp. 21–22.

270 In writing this chapter, I am deeply indebted to Kasra Naji, author of Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader; Yossi Melman and Meir Javedanfar, authors of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran; and Alireza Jafarzadeh, author of The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis. They provided a treasure trove of biographical information, historical background, and geopolitical and cultural context.

271 See Naji, pp. 61–62.

272 Ibid, p. 62.

273 Cited by Melman and Javedanfar, p. 23.

274 See “Iran Hardliner To Contest Run-off,” BBC News, June 18, 2005, cited by Melman and Javedanfar, p. 35.

275 See “Hardline Win in Iran Sparks Fears on Nukes and Extremism,” Agence France-Presse, June 25, 2005.

276 Cited by Naji, p. 85.

277 Cited by Naji, p. 86.

278 See “Iran Official Alleges Election Fraud,” CNN, June 25, 2005; Michael Slackman, “Iran Moderate Says Hard-Liners Rigged Election,” New York Times, June 19, 2005; “Iranian Reformer Alleges Election ‘Rigged,’” Agence France-Presse, June 18, 2005; “Iran’s Rafsanjani Renews Firestorm Over Election Fraud,” Iran Focus, July 18, 2005

279 See Iran News, October 15, 2006, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1328, October 19, 2006, http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD132806, accessed on August 24, 2008.

280 Ibid.

281 Some biographers spell it “Saborjhian.”

282 See Naji, pp. 4–5; Melman and Javedanfar, pp. 1–2.

283 See Naji, p. 15.

284 See official biography on the president’s Web site, http://www.president.ir/en/, accessed August 24, 2008.

285 See Jafarzadeh, p. 16; also see biography on GlobalSecurity.org’s Web site, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ahmadinejad-bio.htm, accessed August 24, 2008; see Dan Diker, “President Bush and the Qods Controversy: Lessons Learned,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, March 6, 2007, http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1516&TTL=President_Bush_and_the_Qods_Force_Controversy:_Lessons_Learned, accessed August 24, 2008.

286 See Colin Freeman, “The Rise of Prof ‘Crocodile’—A Hardliner to Terrify Hardliners,” London Telegraph, November 19, 2005; Colin Freeman and Kay Biouki, “Ayatollah who backs suicide bombs aims to be Iran’s next spiritual leader,” London Telegraph, November 19, 2006.

287 Cited by Naji, p. 99.

288 Ibid, p. 98.

289 Cited by Colin Freeman and Philip Sherwell, “Iranian Fatwa Approves Use of Nuclear Weapons,” London Telegraph, February 18, 2006. See also “New Iranian Fatwa: Religious Law Does Not Forbid Use of Nuclear Weapons,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1096, February 17, 2006.

290 Cited by Naji, p. 102.

291 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 25.

292 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 22.

293 See Jafarzadeh, pp. 22–23.

294 Cited by Naji, p. 47.

295 Cited by Jafarzadeh, p. 22.

296 See Naji, p. 49.

297 Cited by Naji, p. 98.

298 See Melman and Javedanfar, p. 50.

299 Cited by Naji, p. 92.

300 See Jafarzadeh, p. 31; see also Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, p. 134.

301 Cited by Melman and Javedanfar, p. 51.

302 Cited by Melman and Javedanfar, p. 46 and Naji, p. 93.

303 See Melman and Javedanfar, pp. 46–47.

304 See Naji, p. 96.

305 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, address to the United Nations General Assembly, New York City, September 17, 2005, translated and distributed by the Islamic Republic News Agency, posted on www.globalsecurity.org.

306 See accounts by Amir Taheri, “The Frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants a Bomb,” Sunday Telegraph, April 16, 2006; see also “Claims of Communication with Imam Mahdi,” Emrouz, December 12, 2005; Arash Motamed, “The Appearance of Imam Mahdi in 2 Years,” Rooz online, a popular Iranian dissident Web site, October 18, 2005; Hossein Bostani, “Ahmadinejad in Touch with 12th Imam,” Rooz online, November 5, 2005; Melman and Javedanfar, pp. 55–57.

307 See Hossein Bostani, “Ahmadinejad in Touch with 12th Imam,” Rooz online, November 5, 2005; and Amir Taheri, “The Frightening Truth of Why Iran Wants A Bomb,” Sunday Telegraph, April 16, 2006.

308 Cited by Melman and Javedanfar, p. 41.

309 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, text of address to “A World Without Zionism” conference, Tehran, reported by the Iranian Students News Agency, October 26, 2005, cited by MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1013, October 28, 2005.

310 See Y. Carmon, “The Role of Holocaust Denial in the Ideology and Strategy of the Iranian Regime,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 307, December 15, 2006.

311 “Iran’s Ahmadinejad Declares Holocaust Is a Myth,” Reuters, December 14, 2005.

312 See “Russia Agrees to Sell Missiles to Iran,” Associated Press, December 2, 2005; Lyuba Pronina, “Moscow Inks Arms Deal with Tehran,” Moscow Times, December 5, 2005.

313 “Iran Received 12 Cruise Missiles with a 3,000-Km Range from Ukraine, Capable of Carrying Nuclear Warheads,” Ha’aretz, December 21, 2005.

314 Ali Akbar Dareini, “Iran Votes to Block Nuclear Inspections,” Associated Press, November 20, 2005.

315 “Iran’s Army Takes Control of Nukes,” Pakistani Daily Times, October 6, 2005.

316 For this quote, as well as an excellent and detailed analyis of the behind-the-scenes political tensions created by Ahmadinejad’s rise to power and devotion to the Mahdi, see the paper by A. Savyon, “The ‘Second Islamic Revolution’ in Iran: Power Struggle at the Top,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 253, November 17, 2005.

317 Ibid.

318 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “Iranian Leader Opens Up ,” interview with Mike Wallace, CBS News, August 13, 2006, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml, accessed August 25, 2008; Scott MacLeod, “A Date with a Dangerous Mind,” Time magazine cover story, September 17, 2005 issue, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1535827,00.html, accessed August 25, 2008; Ahmadinejad, “NBC Exclusive: Ahmadinejad on the Record,” interview with Brian Williams, NBC News, September 20, 2006, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14911753/, accessed August 25, 2008; Ahmadinejad, “Interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” interview with Anderson Cooper, CNN, September 20, 2006, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/20/acd.01.html, accessed August 25, 2008.

319 Ahmadinejad sent his letters to President Bush and Chancellor Merkel in May 2006. In both letters, he urged the leaders to convert to Islam and accept his vision of world events. “Ahmadinejad hoped to follow in the footsteps of many great men in history who urged world leaders and opponents to submit to the will of Allah and convert to Islam,” wrote one biographer. “These attempts had begun 1,400 years earlier when the Prophet Mohammed sent emissaries to kings and emperors far and wide to invite them to embrace Islam. More recently, Ayatollah Khomeini had written to President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989 to suggest, ‘Islam could fill the intellectual gap that the demise of Communism has created for the Soviet Union.’” (Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 197.)

320 See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Mesmerized Media: When Will Ahmadinejad’s Radical Religious Beliefs Get Covered?” National Review Online, September 20, 2006, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Zjg2MjgxZmVkNDkxOGZiN2RiMWNiZjUwYjhjOTMxZWU, accessed August 25, 2008. See also Joel C. Rosenberg, “60 Minutes’s Missed Opportunity: What Mike Wallace Should Have Asked Ahmadinejad,” National Review Online, August 14, 2006, http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MjZmMWFkNTE2YTRiZGQ4YTliZTllMzg2MTM3NzIyOWQ, accessed August 25, 2008.

321 Ibid, August 14, 2006 story.

322 See Mehdi Khalaji, Apocalyptic Politics: On the Rationality of Iranian Policy, p. 35; Melman and Javedanfar, The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran, p. 43; Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran’s Radical Leader, p. 92; Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, p. 67.

323 See Khalaji, p. 34.

324 Cited by Khalaji, p. 4.

325 See Khalaji, p. 4; Melman and Javedanfar, p. 44.

326 See the Institute’s Web site, http://www.intizar.org/en/.

327 Interviews with teachers at the Bright Future Institute; see Melman and Javedanfar, pp. 43–44.

328 Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, Al-Imam al-Mahdi, the Just Leader of Humanity, trans. Dr. Abulaziz Sachedina (Qum, Iran: Ahul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, electronic online version), http://www.al-islam.org/mahdi/nontl/Toc.htm, accessed April 15, 2006.

329 The World Towards Illumination, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, http://english.irib.ir/IRAN/Leader/Illumination.htm, accessed January 2, 2007 (as of June 2008, the Web posting had been removed); see posting on Joel C. Rosenberg’s blog: “Iran Says 2007 Could Bring Islamic Messiah, Possibly This Spring,” January 2, 2007; see also, “Waiting for the Mahdi: Official Iranian Eschatology Outlined in Public Broadcasting Program in Iran,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1436, January 25, 2007.

330 The series did not specify whether this person was President Ahmadinejad or someone to come.

331 See Yaakov Lappin, “Iran: Mahdi Will Defeat Archenemy in Jerusalem,” YnetNews.com, December 31, 2006.

332 The World Towards Illumination, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

333 Cited by A. Savyon and Y. Mansharof, “The Doctrine of Mahdism: In the Ideological and Political Philosophy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Mesbah-e Yazdi,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 357, May 31, 2007.

334 Cited by Y. Mansharof and A. Savyon, “Escalation in the Positions of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—A Special Report,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 389, September 17, 2007.

335 Ibid.

336 Ibid.

337 See transcripts of President Ahmadinejad’s speeches to the U.N. and Columbia University as reported in the Washington Post, September 24, 2007.

338 See The Iraq Study Group Report, p. 32.

339 See Kathleen Ridolfo, “Analysis: Iraqi Defense Minister Continues Accusations against Iran, Syria,” RFE/RL, January 19, 2005.

340 See “Most Foreign Insurgents Come from Iran,” Al-Taji, May 8, 2006, cited by IranFocus.com, May 9, 2006.

341 Cited by Jafarzadeh, The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis, p. 85.

342 See “Report: 70 Percent of Insurgents in Iraq Come from Gulf States via Syria,” Associated Press, May 23, 2007.

343 Cited by Ali Akbar Dareini, “Iran Ready to Fill Any Vacuum in Iraq,” Associated Press, August 28, 2007.

344 See “Iraqi Forces Discover ‘Largest’ Iranian EFP Cache,” IranFocus.com, April 9, 2008.

345 Cited by Peter Spiegel, “Petraeus Calls Iran-Backed Groups Biggest Threat in Iraq,” Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2008.

346 “Hayden: Killing Americans Is Iran’s Policy,” Associated Press, May 1, 2008.

347 In March 2008, Ahmadinejad actually told a Spanish newspaper that he would have no problem seeing Barack Obama elected president of the United States instead of John McCain. After it became clear that he had gone too far and might actually damage Obama’s chances, Ahmadinejad had to publicly state that he had not intended to endorse the junior senator from Illinois. (See “Ahmadinejad: I Never Endorsed Obama,” Press TV, March 5, 2008. See also “Iran Avoids Support for US Presidential Hopefuls,” Fars News Agency, March 11, 2008.)

348 Mark Mazzetti, “U.S. Report Says Iran Halted Nuclear Weapons Program in 2003,” International Herald Tribune, December 3, 2007.

349 Sen. Richard Shelby, interview with PBS NewsHour, June 3, 1998. See also “CIA Caught Off Guard on India Nuclear Test,” CNNInterctive.com, http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9805/12/india.cia/index.html, accessed March 24, 2008; and “U.S. Intelligence and the Indian Bomb: Documents Show U.S. Intelligence Failed to Warn of India’s Nuclear Tests Despite Tracking Nuclear Weapons Potential Since 1950s,” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 187, George Washington University, available online at: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB187/index.htm, accessed March 24, 2008.

350 For examples, see Amb. John Bolton, “The Flaws in the Iran Report,” Washington Post, December 6, 2007; and Gerald M. Steinberg, “Decoding the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, www.jcpa.org, December 5, 2007.

351 “Good and Bad News about Iran,” New York Times editorial, December 5, 2007.

352 “‘High Confidence’ Games: The CIA’s Flip-Flop on Iran Is Hardly Reassuring,” Wall Street Journal editorial, December 5, 2007.

353 “Intelligence on Iran,” Washington Post editorial, December 5, 2007.

354 “Iran Hands IAEA Nuclear Blueprints,” Associated Press, November 14, 2007.

355 See Patricia McNerney, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Security and Nonproliferation, “Testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security,” April 24, 2008.

356 “IAEA ‘Alarmed’ by Iran’s Alleged Nuclear Weapons Work: Diplomat,” Agence France-Presse, May 29, 2008.

357 “Report: Iran Says It Now Has 6,000 Centrifuges,” Associated Press, July 27, 2008.

358 See David Morgan, “U.S. Says Iran Has Missile That Could Hit Europe,” Reuters, July 15, 2008.

359 “Iran Launches Satellite Carrier into Space,” Press TV, August 17, 2008.

360 “Abizaid: We Can Live with a Nuclear Iran,” ABC News.com, September 17, 2007, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/abizaid-we-can-.html, accessed June 26, 2008.

361 Cited by Tom Curry, “Would Deterrence Work against Nuclear Iran?” MSNBC, July 6, 2007.

362 Hillary Clinton, interview on Good Morning America, ABC, April 22, 2008.

363 Joe Biden, speech delivered at the Iowa City Public Library, December 3, 2007, http://www.cfr.org/publication/14976/joe_bidens_speech_on_iran.html, accessed August 26, 2008.

364 See Paul McGeough, “Down Syndrome Youth Used as Suicide Bomber,” The Age (Sydney, Australia), February 2, 2005.

365 “Minister: Suicide Bomber a Handicapped Child,” Associated Press, January 31, 2005.

366 Kim Gamel, “Female Bombers Strike Markets in Baghdad,” Associated Press, February 1, 2008.

367 Female suicide bombers are becoming more common in Radical operations. Between 1985 and 2006, more than 220 women were suicide bombers worldwide, about 15 percent of the total, according to Mia Bloom, author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror.

368 “U.S.: ‘Demonic’ Militants Sent Women to Bomb Markets in Iraq,” CNN, February 2, 2008.

369 Goss was referring to William Buckley, the CIA’s Beirut station chief, who was kidnapped by Hezbollah on March 16, 1984, and later died in captivity due to illness and torture in June of 1985.

370 Porter Goss, interviews with the author. I submitted twenty-five written questions to Goss by e-mail. He sent written answers to those questions—cleared by the CIA—on February 11, 2008. I then conducted a videotaped interview with Goss on February 12, 2008, for use in this book, at our Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem in April 2008, and for a documentary film based on this book.

371 See Michael Ledeen, “Iran Is at War with Us,” National Review Online, March 28, 2006, http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200603280728.asp, accessed August 23, 2008; see “Iran’s Supreme Ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 68, Appeared on State TV Monday Looking Pale and Feeble, after Suffering a Cerebral Stroke Last Wednesday Jan. 3,” Debka File report, January 13, 2007, http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3708, accessed August 23, 2008; see “Iran Denies Reports on Khamenei Death,” Al Bawaba, January 7, 2007, http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Iran/208173, accessed August 23, 2008.

372 Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. In 2004, he confessed to selling blueprints, equipment, and technical advice to Iran, Libya, and North Korea to develop their nuclear weapons programs.

373 For a detailed and excellent analysis of the Saudi threat, see Dore Gold’s book Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism.

374 See J. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, “Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community,” testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, February 27, 2008.

375 Cited by James Pethokoukis, “So How Goes Bin Laden’s War on the U.S. Economy?” U.S. News & World Report, September 11, 2007.

376 Ibid.

377 Cited by Randall Hamud, Osama bin Laden: America’s Enemy in His Own Words, pp. 163–164.

378 Cited in “Ahmadinejad: Doom Will Befall US Economy,” Press TV, April 23, 2008.

379 Cited in “Iran Threatens to Close Strait of Hormuz if Attacked,” MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 2029, August 19, 2008.

380 For historic oil prices, see Lawrence Kumins, “Oil Prices: Overview of Current World Market Dynamics,” CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service, October 26, 2001. For historic gas prices, see “Crude Oil Production and Crude Oil Well Productivity: 1954–2006,” Annual Energy Review, Table 5.2, U.S. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec5_7.pdf.

381 See “Iran Threatens to Stop Oil Flow via Hormuz Strait,” Jerusalem Post, January 8, 2007; “Iran Threatens to Close Straits of Hormuz with Missile Launch,” Oil and Gas Journal, August 4, 2008; “Iran Threatens US Ships in Hormuz,” Al Arabiya, January 7, 2008, http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/07/43906.html, accessed August 23, 2008.

382 See “Crude Oil Production and Crude Oil Well Productivity: 1954–2006.”

383 See Charles Krauthammer, “McCain’s Oil Epiphany,” Washington Post, June 20, 2008.

384 See Dr. Suzanne Weedman, energy program coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, testimony before the Energy Subcommitte of the House Science Committee, May 3, 2001.

385 See “It’s Domestic Energy, Stupid” editorial, Investor’s Business Daily, June 11, 2008.

386 See text of President Jefferson’s first inaugural address, March 4, 1801, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/jefinau1.htm, accessed August 31, 2008.

387 Ibid.

388 See John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam? pp. x–xi.

389 Ibid, p. 47.

390 See “Iraqi Vote Mirrors Desire for Democracy in the Muslim World,” press release, Pew Global Attitudes Project, February 3, 2005.

391 Ibid.

392 7. Robert F. Worth, “Relations With Turkey Kindle Hopes in Syria,” New York Times, December 14, 2009.

393 8. “Arms from Turkey, Syria, Iran to Hezbollah,” UPI, August 12, 2010.

394 See Benazir Bhutto, Reconciliation, p. 270.

395 It should be noted that Benazir Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto—educated at Berkley and Oxford—was a Sunni Muslim who married a Shia Muslim (his second wife). Benazir was born to Zulfikar’s second wife. While Benazir was studying at Harvard in 1971, Zulfikar was elected president of Pakistan and served until 1973. His was an enormously controversial tenure, filled with charges of corruption and human-rights abuses. He was eventually arrested, convicted, and executed on charges of murder. During his time in office, however, he authored Pakistan’s current constitution and made efforts to move his country bit by bit toward a Turkish-style democracy, Islamic-friendly but secular in nature.

396 Ibid, pp. 269–270.

397 Ibid, p. 2.

398 Ibid, pp. 31, 37–38.

399 Ibid, pp. 79–80.

400 Ibid, pp. 132, 134, 142.

401 Ibid, pp. 26–27.

402 Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam, p. 153.

403 See David Horovitz, “Reformed al-Zawahiri Disciple in Israel,” Jerusalem Post, January 8, 2008.

404 See Eli Lake, “Senior al Qaeda Theologian Urges His Followers to End Their Jihad,” New York Sun, December 20, 2007.

405 See “Major Jihadi Cleric and Author of Al-Qaeda’s Shari’a Guide to Jihad: 9/11 Was a Sin,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 1785, December 14, 2007; http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP178507, accessed July 9, 2008.

406 See Abdul Hameed Bakier, “Imprisoned Leader of Egypt’s Islamic Jihad Challenges al-Qaeda,” Terrorism Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation, December 10, 2007.

407 Hossein Khomeini, event hosted by Michael A. Ledeen, American Enterprise Institute, September 26, 2003, http://www.aei.org/events/filter.,eventID.630/transcript.asp, accessed July 25, 2008.

408 Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), August 4, 2003; cited in MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 548, August 6, 2003.

409 See Khomeini transcript.

410 See Khomeini transcript.

411 Michael Ledeen, interview with author, September 2, 2008.

412 See “Bush: U.S., Europeans Speaking with ‘One Voice’ on Iran,” CNN, March 11, 2005; Anne Gearan, “Rice Praises European Plan on Iran,” Associated Press, May 10, 2006; “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Backs European Nuclear Talks on Iran,” Associated Press, September 27, 2006.

413 Interview on Al Arabiyah, cited in “Ayatollah Khomeini’s Grandson: Grandfather’s Revolution Devoured its Children, Strayed from Original Course,” Iran Press News, June 15, 2006; see also, Philip Sherwell, “Ayatollah’s Grandson Calls for U.S. Overthrow of Iran,” London Telegraph, June 19, 2006.

414 See interview on Al Arabiyah, cited in “Ayatollah Khomeini’s Grandson: Grandfather’s Revolution Devoured its Children”; see also Eli Lake, “Unlikely Pair Emerges as Foe of Iran Regime,” New York Sun, June 13, 2006.

415 See Dafna Linzer, “Ex-Iranian Official Talks to Western Intelligence: Deputy Defense Minister Instrumental in Founding of Hezbollah, Officials Say,” Washington Post, March 8, 2007; “Defector Spied on Iran for Years,” Ynet News, March 11, 2007; “Iranian Defector Enabled IAF Syria Strike,” Al Jerida (Kuwait), cited by Arutz Sheva, September 28, 2007; “Report: Defecting Iranian Official Gave Info before Alleged Syrian Foray,” Jerusalem Post, September 28, 2007; “Israel: Asghari Gave Syrian Intelligence,” Stratfor, September 28, 2007.

416 See “Top Iranian Defector on Iran’s Collaboration with Iraq, North Korea, Al-Qa’ida, and Hizbullah,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 473, February 20, 2003.

417 See “Son of Iranian General Defects to US,” BBC News, July 3, 1998. See also Voice of America interview, February 24, 1999, available at http://www.fas.org/news/iran/1999/990224-iran.htm, accessed June 26, 2008

418 Ibid, VOA interview.

419 The danger to Iranian dissidents and defectors is real. Iran has been known to assassinate, kidnap, and torture such critics. A report by the Foundation for Democracy in Iran found that between 1979 and 1996 alone, “some 70 Iranian exiles and political activists [were] killed by Iranian government agents overseas.” The group also noted that a U.N. subcommittee on human rights officially condemned Iran’s extraterritorial killings in a resolution passed on April 24, 1996. The resolution stated that the international community “deplores the continuing violence against Iranians outside the Islamic Republic of Iran” and affirmed that governments “are accountable for assassinations and attacks by their agents.” (See “FDI releases report on assassinations,” Action Memorandum 011, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, May 6, 1996.) In 2007, Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal reported that “Ahmad Rezai has . . . reportedly returned to Iran, though whether he did so voluntarily or under duress isn’t clear.” I e-mailed Stephens in September 2008. At that point, he said the trail on Rezai was still cold. I can only hope and pray that he is safe. (See Bret Stephens, “Iran’s al Qaeda,” Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2007.)

420 See World Fact Book, Central Intelligence Agency, updated July 24, 2008, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html, accessed July 26, 2008; and “Population and Growth,” Iran Daily, March 15, 2006.

421 “Unemployment Ffalls to 10.3 —Minister,” Reuters, March 31, 2008.

422 “Khamenei Urges Ahmadinejad to Rein In Soaring Inflation,” Agence France-Presse, August 25, 2008.

423 See World Fact Book, Central Intelligence Agency; Human Development Reports: 2007–2008, U.N. Development Program, http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_IRN.html, accessed June 26, 2008.

424 See “90 Percent of Population Under Poverty Line: MP,” Iran Focus, January 21, 2005.

425 What is particularly offensive about the shambles of Iran’s socialist and woefully mismanaged economy is that it squanders the value of Iran’s greatest national asset—human capital. When free to develop their skills and reach their God-given potential, Iranian workers are some of the brightest and most resourceful in the world. In the free market environment of the United States, for example, American families of Iranian ancestry, on average, earn 20 percent more money than the average American family. Nearly one-third of Iranian-Americans earn $100,000 a year or more. No fewer than ten Iranian-Americans have been founders of or senior executives in U.S.-based businesses worth a combined $1 trillion, including Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, who had a net worth of $7.7 billion in 2008. (See Ali Mostashari, “Fact Sheet on the Iranian-American Community,” Iranian Research Studies Group Series, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, April 2003, http://isg-mit.org/projects-storage/census/Factsheet.pdf)

426 Hamid Sarami, Iranian Office to Combat Drugs, Education and Prevention Unit; quoted in “In Iran, One New Person Gains Drug Addiction Every 3 Minutes,” Iran Focus, July 7, 2005; see also “Iran Tops World Drug Addiction Rate,” Iran Focus, September 24, 2005; see also Karl Vick, “Opiates of the Iranian People: Despair Drives World’s Highest Addiction Rate,” Washington Post, September 23, 2005.

427 See 2007 World Drug Report, U.N. Office on Drug and Crime, p. 241, http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf, accessed June 26, 2008.

428 See Vick, “Opiates of the Iranian People.”

429 Ibid.

430 See “Nine Million Drug Addicts Nationwide by 20 Years,” Agence France-Presse, October 31, 2002.

431 Interview with a senior Western intelligence official, on the condition of anonymity, fall of 2005.

432 See Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival, p. 213.

433 All cited from a wonderful book by an Iranian dissident whose pseudonym is Nasrin Alavi. The book is entitled We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs.

434 Cited by Peter Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 400.

435 See “Poll: Bin Laden Tops Musharraf in Pakistan,” CNN, September 11, 2007.

436 Ibid.

437 “Pakistani Support for al Qaeda, bin Laden Plunges,” polling report conducted for Terror Free Tomorrow, January 2008, http://www.terrorfreetomorrow.org/upimagestft/TFT%20Pakistan%20Poll%20Report.pdf, accessed August 4, 2008; see also Griff Witte and Robin Wright, “Musharraf’s Approval Rating Plummets,” Washington Post, February 11, 2008.

438 Author interview with a Christian relief worker on the condition of anonymity, summer 2008.

439 Cited by Nick B. Mills, Karzai, pp. 50–51. Mills’s biography, based on extensive interviews with the Afghan president and a personal relationship between the two men dating back to 1987, was an enormously helpful resource in drafting this chapter. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding Karzai’s thinking and the tremendously challenging geopolitical environment in which he is operating.

440 Ibid, p. 64.

441 Ibid, p. 91.

442 Ibid, p. 98.

443 Ibid, p. 99.

444 Ibid, p. 105.

445 Hamid Karzai, interview, PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, January 28, 2002.

446 See Mills, p. 112.

447 Hamid Karzai, “Home Free,” Time magazine, August 18-25, 2003 issue.

448 Ibid.

449 See Mills, pp. 154–155.

450 See Karzai essay in Time magazine.

451 Cited by Carlotta Gall, “At the Polls in a Southern Village, Afghans Vote with Confidence and Yearn for Security,” New York Times, October 10, 2004

452 Ibid.

453 Cited by Mills, Karzai, p. 201.

454 Ibid.

455 Cited by Eric Quiñones, “Karzai Lauds International Cooperation in Rebuilding Afghanistan,” Princeton University news Web site, September 26, 2003, http://www.princeton.edu/pr/home/03/0926_karzai/hmcap.html, accessed July 6, 2008.

456 See John Fischer, “Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan to Receive Award,” About.com, http://philadelphia.about.com/od/history/a/liberty_medal_b.htm?p=1, accessed July 6, 2008.

457 Ibid.

458 See address by His Excellency President Hamid Karzai, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 4, 2004, http://www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/recipient_2004_speech.html, accessed August 30, 2008.

459 See transcript of keynote address by President Karzai at the U.S.-Islamic Forum, Doha, Qatar, February 16, 2008.

460 See “Hamid Karzai: Shrewd Statesman,” BBC, June 14, 2002.

461 See Arshad Mohammed, “U.S. Expected to Pledge Some $10 Billion for Afghans,” June 10, 2008; “Donors to Give Billions in Afghan Aid,” Agence France-Presse, June 12, 2008.

462 For more, see NATO report.

463 See Laura Bush, “What I Saw in Afghanistan,” Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2008.

464 “Hamid Karzai Becomes Father at 49,” BBC, January 26, 2007.

465 See transcript of open forum discussion with President Karzai, Council on Foreign Relations, September 21, 2006, http://www.cfr.org/publication/11507/, accessed June 27, 2008.

466 From 2007–2009, women held 94 of 535 total seats in the U.S. House and Senate. See http://womenincongress.house.gov/data/wic-by-congress.html?cong=110.

467 See Council on Foreign Relations transcript.

468 See transcript from an interview with Hamid Karzai, Council on Foreign Relations, September 26, 2006.

469 See Council on Foreign Relations transcript.

470 See transcript from an interview with Hamid Karzai, Council on Foreign Relations, September 26, 2006.

471 “Massive Prison Break in Afghanistan,” Reuters, June 13, 2008.

472 See Weblog posting by Joel C. Rosenberg, “U.S. to Launch New ‘Surge’—This Time in Afghanistan,’” June 18, 2008, http://joelrosenberg.blogspot.com/2008/06/us-to-launch-new-surge-this-time-in.html; Steven Lee Myers and Thom Shanker, “Pentagon Considers Adding Forces in Afghanistan,” New York Times, May 3 2008; “Progress in Afghanistan,” NATO report, April 2008, http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/progress_afghanistan.pdf; “U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Number More Than 32,000,” Associated Press, April 10, 2008; “Canada to Boost Troops in Afghanistan,” Xinhua news agency, July 26, 2008; “UK to Send More Troops to Afghanistan,” Afghanistan News Network, August 8, 2008; “Pentagon Plans to Send More Than 12,000 Additional Troops to Afghanistan,” U.S. News & World Report, August 19, 2008.

473 See NATO report, p. 9.

474 Information based on author interviews with U.S. and Afghan officials on the condition of anonymity, conducted in October of 2008.

475 25. “Karzai Takes Over Afghan Vote-Fraud Panel,” Washington Times, February 23, 2010.

476 26. Thomas L. Friedman, “This Time We Really Mean It,” New York Times, March 30, 2010.

477 “Purported al-Zarqawi Tape Vows to Fight [Iraqi] Election,” MSNBC, January 24, 2005, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6855496/, accessed August 2, 2008.

478 Cited by Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer, “Insurgent Leader al-Zarqawi Killed in Iraq,” Washington Post, June 8, 2006.

479 “Statement by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on the Killing of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi,” U.S. Embassy in Iraq, June 8, 2006.

480 See “Insurgent Leader al-Zarqawi Killed in Iraq,” Washington Post, June 8, 2006.

481 See Cesar Soriano, “Iraqi Leaders: Memo Details al-Qaeda Plans,” USA Today, June 15, 2006; see also “Officials Give Details on al-Zarqawi Strike,” U.S. Multi-National Force Iraq news service, June 18, 2006.

482 “Iraq Announces Info from al-Zarqawi Raid,” Associated Press, June 15, 2006.

483 Ibid.

484 See Jonathan Weisman, “Iraqi Prime Minister Presses for More Aid,” Washington Post, July 27, 2006.

485 Ibid; see also David Stout, “Maliki Expresses Thanks in Address to Congress,” New York Times, July 26, 2006.

486 “Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Calling for Political Change in Iraq,” http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=281188&& (accessed October 24, 2008); “Clinton Urges Ouster of Iraq’s al-Maliki,” Associated Press, August 23, 2007.

487 Ibid.

488 “Iraq PM Hits Out at Critics,” Aljazeera TV, August 26, 2007.

489 “Maliki Returns Fire at US critics,” BBC News, August 26, 2007.

490 “Interview: Iraqi Official Mourns Sons, Vows to Fight ‘The Ghosts of Death,’” transcript of interview by Radio Free Iraq, posted on the Web site of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 8, 2005, http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1057351.html, accessed August 1, 2008.

491 Mithal Al-Alusi, member of the Iraqi parliament, interview with author, August 1, 2008.

492 See Kimberly Kagan, “The Anbar Awakening: Displacing Al-Qaeda from Its Stronghold in Western Iraq,” The Weekly Standard, March 30, 2007, http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/IraqReport03.1.pdf, accessed August 2, 2008.

493 Cited by Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival, p. 178. For an excellent analysis of Sistani, see Nasr’s entire chapter “The Tide Turns,” which was very helpful to me in writing this section.

494 Assyrians, Turkomans, and other minorities make up the other 5 percent.

495 Christians, Zoroastrians, and other religious minorities make up the other 5 percent.

496 See “Barak Shakes Hands with Iraqi President,” Ynet News, July 1, 2008; “Iraq: MPs Slam Talabani-Barak Handshake,” Ynet News, July 4, 2008

497 See “Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says Israeli President Peres ‘welcome in Iraqi Kurdistan,’” Yaqen News Agency, November 14, 2007.

498 Data in this section are based on the author’s interviews with senior Iraqi and U.S. government officials throughout 2008.

499 In English, Erbil is also occasionally spelled “Irbil” or “Arbil.” In Arabic, the city is known as “Hawler.”

500 See official biography of President Jalal Talabani, Web site of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, http://www.puk.org/web/htm/about/talab.html, accessed October 29, 2008.

501 “Woman Testifies on Alleged Saddam Attack,” Associated Press, September 11, 2006.

502 Cited by Bushra Juhi and Jamal Halaby, “At Saddam’s Trial, Kurdish Doctor Describes Gas Attack,” Associated Press, December 8, 2006.

503 See Ahmed Rasheed, “Saddam Says Responsible for Any Iran Gas Attacks,” Reuters, December 18, 2006.

504 Ibid.

505 Cited by Ross Colvin, “Iraq Trial Revives Bitter Memories of ‘U.S. Betrayal,’” Reuters, August 21, 2007.

506 Cited by Dian McDonald, “U.S. Won’t Intervene in Iraq’s Civil War,” U.S. Information Agency report, April 4, 1991.

507 Ibid.

508 Mala Bakhtyar, spokesman for President Jalal Talabani, interview with the author, February 25, 2008.

509 See Bob Woodward, State of Denial, pp. 174–176.

510 The seven leaders were Jalal Talabani, Massoud Barzani, Ayad Allawi (a Shia who would later become the first appointed, though not elected, prime minister), Ahmad Chalabi (a Shia), Naseer Chaderchi (a Sunni), Ibrahim al-Jaafari (a Shia), and Abdul Aziz Hakim (a Shia).

511 See Amb. L. Paul Bremer III, My Year in Iraq, pp. 355–356.

512 Ibid, p. 376.

513 See “An Hour with Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar,” Charlie Rose Show, December 6, 2006, http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2004/12/06/1/an-hour-with-iraqi-president-ghazi-al-yawar, accessed July 3, 2008.

514 Cited in “Kurd Leader Talabani New Iraq President,” Dawn News Service (Pakistan), April 7, 2005. See also “Iraq Parliament Elects Jalal Talabani as President,” Bloomberg, April 6, 2006.

515 See transcript, President Talabani’s first White House press conference with President Bush, www.whitehouse.gov, September 13, 2005.

516 Ibid.

517 Cited in “Talabani: U.S. Troops Should Stay 3 More Years: Iraqi President Denies Civil War in Iraq but Asks for Help Defeating Terrorists,” Reuters, November 2, 2006; see also Katrinn Bennhold, “Talabani: U.S. Troops Should Stay 3 More Years,” International Herald Tribune, November 2, 2006.

518 See “McCain: Deploy More Troops to Iraq,” Associated Press, December 14, 2006.

519 See transcript of President Bush’s address to the nation, CNN, January 10, 2007.

520 Ibid.

521 See transcript of interview with Sen. Obama on MSNBC’s “Response to the President’s Speech on Iraq,” January 10, 2007.

522 See transcript of interview with Sen. Obama on CNN’s Larry King Live, January, 10, 2007, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/10/lkl.01.html, accessed July 18, 2008.

523 See “Interview with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,” Dar al-Hayat (Lebanon), January 22, 2007.

524 Cited in “Iraq War is ‘Lost’: US Democrat Leader,” Agence France-Presse, April 19, 2007.

525 Cited by Jeff Mason, “Clinton Says ‘We Cannot Win’ Iraq War,” Reuters, March 17, 2008.

526 Cited by Ivan Moreno, “Albright Visits University of Denver, Slams Bush,” Associated Press, May 28, 2008.

527 Based on author interviews with Iraqi officials. Also see “U.S. Ground Forces End Strength,” fact sheet, GlobalSecurity.org, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_es.htm, accessed July 18, 2008; Jim Michaels, “19,000 Insurgents Killed in Iraq Since ’03,” USA Today, September 27, 2007.

528 See Dexter Filkins, “Exiting Iraq, Petraeus Says Gains Are Fragile,” New York Times, August 21, 2008.

529 Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, interview with author, July 10, 2008.

530 See ABC News and Time magazine transcript of press availability with Sen. Obama, Watertown, South Dakota, May 16, 2008, http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-obama-presser-2/, accessed June 27, 2008.

531 Cited by “Iraq Study Group Chairs Defend Report,” Reuters, December 11, 2007.

532 Cited by James Kitfield, “Democracy Stalled,” National Journal, May 3, 2008.

533 Cited by John Bersia, “Iraq President’s Son: U.S. Role Half-Complete,” Orlando Sentinel, March 29, 2006.

534 Zalmay Khalilzad served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007, after which he became the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. From 2003 to 2005, he served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

535 On April 6, 2005, Iraq’s initial interim president, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, peacefully handed over power to Jalal Talabani, the first democratically elected president of Iraq under the country’s newly ratified constitution. Likewise, the following day—April 7, 2005—Iraq’s initial interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, peacefully handed over the office to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who became prime minister under the Iraqi Transitional Authority. Then, on May 20, 2006, al-Jafaari peacefully handed over power to Nouri al-Maliki, who become the first democratically elected prime minister of Iraq under the country’s newly ratified constitution.

536 Most Moroccan Sunnis, Dr. Abaddi included, are Sufi Muslims, as opposed to Wahhabi Muslims. That is, they practice something called “Sufism.” This is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as a “mystical movement within Islam that seeks to find divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God.” Sufism began probably in Morocco sometime after the death of Muhammad in AD 632 and later migrated to Iraq. Though scholars disagree on the exact nature of the movement’s origins—whether it was a spiritualization of Islam, an evolution toward mysticism, an attempt to escape a stifling religiosity, etc.—and despite heavy resistance over the years both from inside and outside Islam, “the importance of Sufism in the history of Islam is incalculable.” Today Sufism is practiced worldwide in numerous variations. See http://www.answers.com/topic/sufism.

537 “Moroccans recognized the Government of the United States in 1777,” says the U.S. State Department. “Formal U.S. relations with Morocco date from 1787, when the two nations negotiated a Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Renegotiated in 1836, the treaty is still in force, constituting the longest unbroken treaty relationship in U.S. history” (see State Department country profile of Morocco, November 2003).

538 See “CIA Helps Defuse al Qaeda Bomb Plot in Morocco,” CNN, June 16, 2002.

539 See “Morocco Makes More Al Qaeda Arrests,” CBS News, June 25, 2002; “Morocco Dismantles ‘Terrorist Network’: Police,” Agence France-Presse, August 29, 2008; “Morocco Arrests 17 Terror Suspects,” Associated Press, November 20, 2005; “Morocco Arrests Four Female Terrorist Suspects,” Deutsche Presse Agentur, September 1, 2006; “Dozens Held Over Morocco Plot,” Aljazeera, February 21, 2008.

540 See “Morocco Holds 14 over Suspected al Qaeda Links,” Reuters, October 27, 2006.

541 Dr. Ahmed Abaddi, interview with author, May 2006; see also Joel C. Rosenberg, “A Different Sort of Radical Muslim: Ahmed Abaddi Is Helping Muslims to Understand the West,” National Review, May 9, 2006; Joseph Loconte, “The Moroccan Model: A Beacon of Hope in the Islamic World,” The Weekly Standard, May 16, 2006; James Morrison and Julia Duin, “Moroccan Model,” Washington Times, April 27, 2006.

542 Khalid Zerouali, interview with the author, January 16, 2008.

543 “Maghreb” is an Arab and French term generally referring to the Western half of North Africa, including Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.

544 See “Morocco Hails Formation of Interim Government in Afghanistan,” Arab News, December 24, 2001; see also “A List of Foreign Diplomats Attacked in Iraq,” Associated Press, October 3, 2007; “Moroccan Suspect [in Iraq] Named in 60 Shiite Deaths,” Associated Press, November 1, 2005; “Moroccan Charged with Helping al-Qaida,” Associated Press, December 20, 2007.

545 Morocco actually applied in 1987 to join the European Communities, the precursor to the E.U., but was turned down.

546 See “Morocco Waits Its Turn Following Turkey’s EU Membership,” Turkish Weekly, March 31, 2005; “Morocco’s Quest to be European,” BBC, April 3, 2000; “Morocco Wants Closer Ties to the E.U.,” EU Business, October 4, 2007; “Morocco ‘to Strongly Adhere to Mr. Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union Initiative,’ Minister,” Maghreb Arab Presse, June 7, 2008; “Paris Summit for the Mediterranean,” fact sheet, July 2008, http://www.ue2008.fr/webdav/site/PFUE/shared/import/07/0713_sommet_mediterranee/Press%20Kit%20Paris%20Summit_EN.pdf.

547 Dr. Ahmed Khamlichi, interview with the author, January 14, 2008.

548 See Scott MacLeod, “An interview with King Mohammed VI of Morocco,” Time magazine, June 26, 2000.

549 Ibid.

550 MP Fatiha Layadi, interview with the author, January 2008.

551 See Ahmed El Amraoui, “Jewish Woman in Morocco Poll Fray,” Aljazeera, September 7, 2007; see also “Jewish Woman Runs for Moroccan Parliament,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 7, 2007.

552 A portion of Sura 4:3 reads, “When you marry the orphan girls (in your custody), you can marry, from among other women (who are permitted to you in marriage and) who seem good to you, two, three, and four.” Muhammad had multiple wives, and this verse is believed to be a justification for it. But those Islamic scholars who oppose polygamy (or who severely discourage its practice) note that the very next portion of the very same verse says, “However, if you fear that (in mutual obligations) you will not be able to observe justice among them, then content yourselves with only one.”

553 See “King of Morocco Calls for Fundamental Reform in Family Law,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 604, November 7, 2003, http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD60403.

554 See MacLeod, Time magazine.

555 See “FACTBOX: Morocco’s Economy: Trade, Tourism Check Poverty,” Reuters, September 7, 2007; CIA World Fact Book; and World Bank data.

556 Serge Berdugo, interview with the author, November 2005.

557 Author interview with senior Moroccan official who requested anonymity, January 2008.

558 See “King Abdullah of Jordan Participates in U.S. ‘National Prayer Breakfast’ Events,” press release, Embassy of Jordan, February 1, 2006, http://www.jordanembassyus.org/new/pr/pr02022006.shtml; see also “Jordan’s king urges moderates to unite,” Washington Times, February 2, 2006.

559 This section is adapted from the foreword I wrote for Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life, written by Saada and Dean Merrill. It is based on my conversations and e-mails with Saada and material drawn from his book.

560 Sura 4:171.

561 Author interview in the spring of 2008. Salim is a pseudonym.

562 Sheikh Salman Al-Odeh, “Christian Missionaries Sweeping the Islamic World,” transcript, Lesson 66, Monday 12th of Safar, 1413 Hijra (1993), from www.islamworld.net/tanseer.htm, accessed February 3, 2006.

563 Al-Odeh was apparently citing the 1982 edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. The updated figures in the 2001 edition found that the number of Christians in Africa had jumped from 9.9 million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000, still an enormous growth and a significant percentage of it from Muslim converts. See David B. Barrett et al, World Christian Encyclopedia (New York: Oxford Press, 2001), p. 5.

564 Interview with Sheikh Ahmad Al Qataani on Aljazeera, December 12, 2000. Transcript available from Ali Sina, Iranian dissident, on his Web site, www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina31103.htm, accessed February 3, 2006.

565 Author interview with a senior Mideast Christian leader, spring 2008. Taheer is a pseudonym.

566 Author interview with an Iranian Christian leader on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

567 Author interview with an Iranian Christian leader on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

568 Author interview with Iranian pastor, name and date withheld.

569 Cited by Julian Lukins, “Behind the Black Veil,” Charisma, June 2004 issue.

570 Patrick Johnstone et al., Operation World (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2001), p. 353.

571 Author interview with Iranian evangelical leader, name and date withheld.

572 Author interview with Iranian political dissident on the condition of anonymity, summer of 2008.

573 Author interview with senior Iranian ministry leader on the condition of anonymity, fall of 2007.

574 Ramin Mostaghim, “Ruling Shiites Influence Eroded by Other Faiths,” Inter Press Service, May 5, 2004.

575 See “Government Officials Admit Christianity ‘Out of Control,’” Compass Direct, October 7, 2004.

576 See “Iran: Convert Stabbed to Death,” Compass Direct, November 28, 2005; see also World Watch List 2006, Open Doors, http://www.opendoorsuk.org/downloads/wwl_downloads/WorldWatchList.pdf, accessed April 3, 2006.

577 See “Iran Convert Stabbed,” Compass Direct. See also Nina Shea, “The Real War on Christmas: Being a Christian Can Be Deadly,” National Review, December 19, 2005. Shea cited Rev. Keith Roderick, an Episcopal priest representing Christian Solidarity International. The Voice of the Martyrs news agency also reported Ahmadinejad’s quote.

578 Author interview with an Iranian pastor on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

579 Author interviews with Egyptian pastors and ministry leaders beginning in 2005 and continuing through the fall of 2008.

580 1 Corinthians 4:13.

581 Author interview with an Arab pastor, name and date of interview withheld.

582 “Algeria Bans Muslims from Learning about Christianity,” www.ArabicNews.com, March 21, 2006.

583 Other Moroccan publications, including Attajdid, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, Le Matin, and La Gazette Du Maroc, have run similar stories.

584 Isa is the Arabic name for Jesus.

585 Author interview with a Sudanese evangelical leader, name and date withheld.

586 Author interviews with numerous Sudanese Christian leaders, 2008.

587 See Stan Guthrie, “Hope amid the Ruins: Anglican Bishop Sees Massive Church Growth,” Christianity Today, January 2004.

588 Interviews with Iraqi and Jordanian Christian leaders, 2008.

589 Author interview with an Iraqi pastor, name and date withheld.

590 Author interview with Iraqi evangelical leader, name and date withheld.

591 Taheer is a pseudonym.

592 Author interview with a Palestinian evangelist, name and date withheld.

593 Author interview with an Arab Christian leader from Syria on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

594 Interviews with several senior Jordanian Christian leaders on the condition of anonymity, 2008.

595 The story was relayed to me by an Arab ministry leader who has interacted with this woman personally, name and date of interview withheld.

596 Author interviews with numerous Afghan ministry leaders on the condition of anonymity, summer and fall of 2008.

597 Author interview with Afghan evangelical Christian leader, name and date withheld.

598 “More Christians Arrested in Wake of ‘Apostasy’ Case,” Open Doors USA Web site, http://www.opendoorsusa.org/Display.asp?Page=AfghanArrests, accessed April 3, 2006. See also www.compassdirect.org.

599 Author interview with an Uzbek Christian leader on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

600 Author interview with a Kazakh Christian leader on the condition of anonymity, 2007.

601 Interview with Dr. T. E. Koshy, June 15, 2008.

602 Cited by Raymond Ibrahim, “Islam’s ‘Public Enemy #1,’” National Review, March 25, 2008.

603 Father Zakaria Botros, interview with the author, September 5, 2008.

604 Steve Little, “Talking Truth to the Muslim World,” Christian World News, CBN, September 29, 2006.

605 See “Coptic TV Show Causes Controversy in Egypt,” MEMRI Special Dispatch Series - No. 943, July 27, 2005.

606 See “Coptic TV Show.”

607 Hormoz Shariat, interview with the author, January 2007.

608 See “Iraq: Once-Outlawed Satellite Dishes Sprouting Like Mushrooms on Baghdad’s Rooftops,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 28, 2003.

609 Christian channels in the epicenter include: Al Hayat; SAT-7 in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and North African dialects; Miracle TV; Three Angels Broadcasting Network; the God Channel; the Spirit Channel; Smile (a Christian channel for children in the Middle East); and five networks run by the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

610 See “Christian Television Succeeding in Middle East: 9 Million Viewers in Middle East Watch SAT-7 Christian TV According to New Research,” press release, SAT-7, May 3, 2005.

611 Hamid is not his real name; it is a pseudonym to protect this Iranian Christian leader. For security reasons, I cannot disclose when or where I interviewed him, but I can say it was within the last two years.

612 Luke 10:2

613 Samir is not his real name. It is a pseudonym to protect this Iraqi Christian leader. These sections are based on an author interview with Samir in February 2008.

614 Author interview with an Iraqi ministry leader from a Sunni Muslim background, February 2008.

615 Kerem is not his real name. It is a pseudonym to protect this Kurdish Christian leader. These sections are based on a series of author interviews with Kerem in February 2008.

616 Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5–7.

617 See Romans 10:13-17.

618 Shakir is not his real name. It is a pseudonym to protect this Iraqi pastor. This chapter is based on a series of author interviews with Shakir in February 2008.

619 “Iraq Minister Says Mosul ‘Worse Than Imagined,’” Agence France-Presse, January 28, 2008.

620 For a more detailed and complete analysis of Ezekiel’s prophecies described by Bible scholars as the “War of Gog and Magog,” please see Joel C. Rosenberg’s book Epicenter: Why the Current Rumblings in the Middle East Will Change Your Future (Tyndale, 2006 hardcover edition, or 2008 softcover updated edition).

621 See Joel C. Rosenberg, “Arabs Building New Tower of Babel,” Weblog posting, May 1, 2008, www.joelrosenberg.com.

622 Nahum is actually buried in the Iraqi town of Elkosh, and my Joshua Fund colleague Jeremy Grafman and I have had the privilege of visiting his tomb and seeing the ancient Hebrew writing on the walls of the ancient facility enclosing the tomb.

623 Cited by Yigal Schleifer, “Turkey’s Christians Face Backlash,” Christian Science Monitor, April 25, 2007. See also Suna Erdem, “Christians at Bible Publishers Have Their Throats Cut,” The Times of London, April 19, 2007.

624 See Ethan Cole, “15,000 Iraqi Christians Driven Out of Mosul,” Christian Post, October 20, 2008.

625 Author interview with Daniel—not his real name—October 2008.

626 See Joseph Abrams and Jonathan Passantino, “Foiled Terror Plots Against America Since 9/11,” Fox News, September 11, 2008, http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,335500,00.html.