The Eleventh Day

24 “patience”: DOD press conference, 1/9/02, www.defenselink.mil;

25 Black briefed: Tenet, 177;

26 Shelton: DeYoung, 351–;

27 “When we’re through”: Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004, 185;

28 “comfort food”/“Amazing Grace”/O’Neill: ibid., 189–;

29 CIA proposing/Memorandum: New Yorker, 8/17/07, 8/4/03, NYT, 9/10/06, 12/15/02, Joseph Margulies, Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006, 189, CR, 333, “Who Authorized the Torture of Abu Zubaydah,” www.huffingtonpost.com, 4/28/09;

30 “war on terrorism”: NY Daily News, 9/17/01, BBC News, 9/16/01;

31 “war on terror”: Bush address, CNN, 9/20/01.

32 joint session: The joint session was on September 30. On the 14th, the Congress had passed a resolution authorizing the use of “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he [the President] determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the 9/11 attacks “or harbored such organizations or persons.” The resolution passed in the Senate by 98 votes to 0, in the House by 420 votes to 1 (Richard Grimmett, “Authorization for Use of Military Force in Response to the 9/11 Attacks,” Congressional Research Service);

33 “I want”: CNN, 9/17/01, int. Dan Bartlett by Scott Pelley, 8/12/02, “Press Interviews of Staff,” B1, T3, CF;

34 “platter”: Meet the Press, www.cbsnews.com, 9/16/01;

35 “Gentlemen”: Gary C. Schroen, First In, NY: Ballantine, 2005, 40;

36 “The mission”: Ron Suskind, The One Percent Doctrine, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006, 21.

37 British commandos: The British contingent was from the Special Boat Service, or SBS, similar to the better known SAS—Special Air Service—but drawn largely from the ranks of the Royal Marines. Though specializing in amphibious operations, the unit also operates overland. British and American special units have long collaborated. As for the overall number of operatives initially sent into Afghanistan, the authors have used the figure given by the commander of the Delta Force unit on the ground. Perhaps referring to a total at a somewhat later stage of the operation, Bob Woodward referred in his book Bush at War to a larger figure: “about 110 CIA officers and 316 Special Forces personnel” (SBS: “The Special Boat Service,” www.hmforces.co.uk, “British Special Forces Member Killed in Afghanistan,” Guardian [U.K.], 7/2/10, Alastair Finlan, “The [Arrested] Development of UK Special Forces and the Global War on Terror,” Review of International Studies, Vol. 35, 2009; overall number: Dalton Fury, Kill bin Laden, NY: St. Martin’s, 2008, xix, Woodward, Bush at War, 314).

38 “This is why”: Schroen, 33;

39 “Tell them”: Gary Berntsen & Ralph Pezzullo, Jawbreaker, NY: Three Rivers, 2005, 289.

40 Dalton Fury: “Dalton Fury” is the pen name the major used as author of a 2008 book on the operation against bin Laden. While protecting his identity, the media have accepted his authenticity (Fury, 200; major media: e.g., 60 Minutes, CBS, 10/5/08);

41 “A cloudy”: Fury, xx;

42 $100 bills/“Money”: Schroen, 29,38, 88, 93–;

43 duffel bags: Fury, 105;

44 defeat: Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell, American Soldier, NY: Regan, 2004, 322;

45 “God has”: ed. Lawrence, 104;

46 “great, long-term”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 316;

47 “safe and sound”: ibid., 322;

48 poor intelligence: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 156, 108;

49 Atef: Hamid Mir, “How Osama Has Survived,” www.rediff.com, 9/11/07, bin Ladens & Sasson, 271;

50 OBL Jalalabad: Christian Science Monitor, 3/4/02, Berntsen & Pezzullo, 239, Sunday Times (London), 1/15/09, John Miller & Michael Stone with Chris Mitchell, The Cell, NY: Hyperion, 2002, 319, Corbin, 262–;

51 “Black Widow”: Newsweek, 12/10/01, BBC News, 9/27/08;

52 Towr Ghar: Fury, 107, “The Caves & Graves of Tora Bora,” www.legionmagazine.com, 9/1/03;

53 “purpose-built”: The Independent (U.K.), 11/27/01 & see “The Lair of Bin Laden,” www.edwardjepstein.com;

54 no electricity/water: bin Ladens & Sasson, 185–;

55 schoolhouse: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 253, Fury, 108;

56 Afghan generals: e.g., Berntsen & Pezzullo, 272, 275, 280–, Fury, 114–, 124, 129–, 257;

57 negotiating: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 289–, NYT, 9/11/05, Fury, 216–, 234, 244;

58 OBL largesse/sons: Fury, 209, 108;

59 “flawed”: Fury, 99, Berntsen & Pezzullo, 213–;

60 reluctance: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 277–, 290, 295, 305–, 309, 314, “In the Footsteps of Bin Laden,” CNN, 8/23/06;

61 airpower: e.g., Berntsen & Pezzullo, 270, 274–, Fury, 170–, 192;

62 Marine: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 34–, 283–;

63 “tall”: ibid., 291;

64 6?4?: “Most Wanted Terrorists,” www.fbi.gov;

65 BLU-82: description at www.globalsecurity.org, Berntsen & Pezzullo, 291, Fury, 127;

66 Used on plains: Berntsen & Pezzullo, 137–;

67 delivered: ibid., 295–, Fury, 149–;

68 BLU-82: described at www.fas.org, Michael O’Hanlon, “A Flawed Masterpiece,” Foreign Affairs, 3/02;

69 “too hot”/“hideous”: “Tora Bora Revisited: How We Failed to Get Bin Laden and Why It Matters Today,” Report, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009, 7;

70 movement orders: Fury, 230.

71 “victory or death”/“Father”: According to Delta Force leader Fury, bin Laden was overheard saying in desperation, “arm your women and children against the infidel!” His lead bodyguard Abu Jandal has recalled that “all bin Laden’s wives knew how to handle weapons. They had taken a military course while al Qaeda was in the Sudan.” It seems unlikely, though, that the terrorist leader would have expected young children to take part in the battle (Fury, 233, Nasser al-Bahri [Abu Jandal] with Georges Malbrunot, Dans l’Ombre de Ben Laden, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: Michel Lafon, 2010, 199).

72 Dec. 13/listened to a voice: The CIA’s Gary Berntsen dated this last intercept as having occurred not on December 13 but the 15th. Fury suggested that bin Laden was overheard once more, a day or so later. What he said, Fury wrote, came over as “more of a sermon than issuing orders” (Fury, 233–, 236–, Berntsen & Pezzullo, 307).