Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

335 Pages·2016·13.33 MB·English

by  Joby Warrick

Also by Joby Warrick
The Triple Agent:
The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA

To Maryanne
With love and gratitude
I bring the men who desire death as ardently as you desire life.
—Khalid ibn a-Walid (seventh-century Islamic warrior, companion
of Muhammad)
CONTENTS
Cover
Also by Joby Warrick
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Author’s Note
List of Principal Characters
Map of Key Locations
Prologue
BOOK I: THE RISE OF ZARQAWI
1. “What kind of person can command with only his eyes?”
2. “Here was a real leader”
3. “A problem like that always comes back”
4. “The time for training is over”
5. “I did it for al-Qaeda and for Zarqawi”
6. “This war is going to happen”
7. “Now his fame would extend throughout the Arab world”
BOOK II: IRAQ
8. “No longer a victory”
9. “So you guys think this is an insurgency?”
10. “Revolting is exactly what we want”
11. “It would surpass anything al-Qaeda did”
12. “The sheikh of the slaughterers”
13. “It’s hopeless there”
14. “Are you going to get him?”
15. “This is our 9/11”
16. “Your end is close”
BOOK III: ISIS
17. “The people want to topple the regime!”
18. “Where is this Islamic State of Iraq that you’re talking about?”
19. “This is the state for which Zarqawi paved the way”
20. “The mood music started to change”
21. “There was no more hope after that”
22. “This is a tribal revolution”
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
A Note About the Author
Illustrations
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The names of several current and former Jordanian intelligence officers
interviewed for this book have been altered by mutual agreement due to
concerns about threats to their safety. They are referred to in these pages by their
informal Arab kunya titles, rather than by traditional family names.
LIST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
Zarqawi and His Generation
Abu Muhmmad al-Maqdisi (given name Aasim Muhammad Tahir al-Barqawi),
Jordanian-Palestinian cleric and author, former cellmate and mentor to Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (given name Ahmad Fadil al-Khalayleh), Jordanian
terrorist, founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu al-Ghadiya, Syrian dentist, senior
Zarqawi associate, and supply master Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaeda’s
“core” branch, former deputy to Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden, founder of
al-Qaeda
The Islamic State of Iraq and Its Successors
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (given name Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al-Zawi),
former member of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist Party and leader of the Islamic
State of Iraq from 2006 to 2010
Abu Ayyub al-Masri (given name Abu Hamza al-Muhajir), Egyptian explosives
expert and Zarqawi associate who became the number two commander of the
Islamic State of Iraq in 2006; killed in an air strike in 2010
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (given name Ibrahim Awad al-Badri), Islamic cleric and ISI
spiritual adviser who rose to leadership in 2010; declared himself “caliph” of the
Islamic State of Iraq in 2014
Abu Wahib (given name Shaker Wahib al-Dulaimi), brutal, media-obsessed ISIS
commander in Anbar Province notorious for killing Shiite truck drivers and
other civilians Haji Bakr (given name Samir al-Khlifawi), deputy to Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi and leader of ISIS’s military council; killed in 2014
In Jordan
King Abdullah II, fourth sovereign of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Abu
Haytham, senior counterterrorism official, General Intelligence Directorate
Haytham, senior counterterrorism official, General Intelligence Directorate
(GID), Jordan Abu Mutaz, GID case officer and later manager; expert in
“flipping” Islamists into informants Ali Bourzak, GID official and legendary
interrogator known as the “Red Devil”
Laurence Foley, midlevel official at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan Salem
Ben Suweid, Zarqawi disciple who plotted Foley’s assassination Azmi al-
Jayousi, Palestinian-Jordanian, trained at Zarqawi’s camp in Herat, Afghanistan;
plotted to explode chemical “dirty” bomb in Amman Sajida al-Rishawi, would-
be suicide bomber in 2005 terrorist attack on hotels in Amman, Jordan
In Iraq
Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, 1979 to 2003
Charles “Sam” Faddis, CIA operative inside Iraq prior to 2003 invasion; urged
preemptive strike on Zarqawi’s camp Nada Bakos, CIA officer and chief
“targeter” responsible for tracking Zarqawi Zaydan al-Jibiri, Sunni tribal leader
from Ramadi, Iraq
General Stanley McChrystal, head of Joint Special Forces Command that led the
hunt for Zarqawi in Iraq Zaid al-Karbouly, Iraqi customs officer in the pay of al-
Qaeda in Iraq Nouri al-Maliki, Shiite prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014
In Syria
Bashir al-Assad, president of Syria
Robert Ford, U.S. ambassador to Syria, 2010 to 2014
Mouaz Moustafa, director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit that
offered a window into deteriorating conditions in Syria Abu Mohammad al-
Julani, leader of Jabhat al-Nusra (“al-Nusra Front”), the Syrian branch
established by the Islamic State of Iraq in late 2011
Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary-general, 1997 to 2006, who sought to broker Syrian
peace accord
In Washington
Dick Cheney, U.S. vice president, sought the CIA’s support in connecting al-Qaeda
to Iraqi regime Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, 2009 to 2013
Michael V. Hayden, NSA director and director of National Intelligence during anti-
Zarqawi campaign; CIA director, 2006 to 2009
Frederic C. Hof, special State Department adviser on the Middle East and Syria,
2009 to 2012