the country’s fifteen-year civil war: BBC News, Lebanon profile timeline, August 10, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14649284.
One of the September 11 hijackers came from Lebanon: “Born on May 11, 1975, in Mazraa, Lebanon, Ziad Jarrah came from an affluent family and attended private, Christian schools.” Kean and Hamilton, 9/11 Commission Report, p. 163.
planting bombs on German trains: “Lebanese Jailed for 12 Years for Germany Attack Plot,” Agence France-Presse, December 18, 2007.
plotting to blow up the train tunnels connecting New York City and New Jersey: “Lebanon: 2-Year Sentence in Plot to Blow Up Hudson River Tunnels,” Associated Press, February 17, 2012.
Lebanese authorities had limited access to this camp: From http://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/lebanon: “The Nahr al-Bared camp was set up by the Red Cross in 1949 to care for refugees from northern Palestine. UNRWA has been taking care of the camp and its inhabitants since 1950. According to a 38-year-old agreement, the Palestinians in the Lebanese camps control their own affairs, and the Lebanese Army is forbidden from entering the camps.” “Background: Palestinian Refugee Camp Nahr al-Bared,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, May 21, 2007.
semiautonomous ministates within Lebanon: “The Cairo Agreement of 1969 put the camps under control of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and banned Lebanese security forces from entering. Although the Lebanese government withdrew from the Cairo Agreement in the late 1980s and theoretically reclaimed its rule over the camps, the state has refrained from exercising its authority. Politically, the camps have been ruled by popular committees, while security committees have been serving as an internal police force. When in 2006 Fatah al-Islam trickled into Nahr al-Bared, however, the camp only had a weak popular committee and no functioning security committee. The Palestinian parties were divided, and consequently failed to push the well-armed Islamist group out of the camp, effectively allowing it to take over,” https://electronicintifada.net/content/lebanon-tightens-control-over-palestinian-refugee-camps/8632.
two commuter buses had been bombed in Lebanon: Iman Azzi, “Routine Commute Turns Deadly as Bombers Target Civilians,” Daily Star (Lebanon), February 14, 2007.
6: THE LOST BOYS OF ZARQA
In Zarqa, Jordan: Much of the account of Zarqa draws on reporting done by the author in collaboration with Michael Moss for the following articles: Souad Mekhennet and Michael Moss, “In Jihadist Haven, a Goal: To Kill and Die in Iraq,” New York Times, May 4, 2007; Michael Moss and Souad Mekhennet, “The Guidebook for Taking a Life,” New York Times, June 10, 2007.
7: THE VALUE OF A LIFE
cost as many as three hundred thousand Algerian lives: Helen Chapin Metz, Algeria: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1994), p. 34.
formed the Armed Islamic Group: Ibid., pp. 37–38.
kidnapping, smuggling, and human trafficking: Christopher S. Chivvis and Andrew Liepman, “North Africa’s Menace: AQIM’s Evolution and the U.S. Policy Response,” RAND Corporation, 2013.
an Al Qaeda franchise: Souad Mekhennet, Michael Moss, Eric Schmitt, Elaine Sciolino, and Margot Williams, “Ragtag Insurgency Gains a Lifeline from Al Qaeda,” New York Times, July 1, 2008; Camille Tawil, “New Strategies in al-Qaeda’s Battle for Algeria,” Terrorism Monitor, Jamestown Foundation, July 27, 2009, https://jamestown.org/program/new-strategies-in-al-qaedas-battle-for-algeria/.
changing its name to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: “In a statement dated 13 September 2006, Droukdel announced the official alliance of GSPC with AlQaida (QDe.004) and pledged allegiance to Usama bin Laden (deceased). In a statement dated 24 January 2007, he announced that as a consequence of its merging with AlQaida, and after consulting Usama bin Laden, GSPC changed its name to the Organization of AlQaida in the Islamic Maghreb. In a July 2008 interview with the New York Times, Droukdel again claimed responsibility for having GSPC officially join AlQaida and acknowledged the role played by Ahmad Fadil Nazal al-Khalayleh a.k.a. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (deceased) in the first phases of the merging process,” United Nations Security Council Subsidiary Organs, “Narrative Summaries of Reasons for Listing: Abdelmalek Droukdel,” https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/1267.
the area around Naciria: Naciria is a town and commune in Boumerdès Province, east of Algiers.
decided to publish the interview transcript as well: “An Interview with Abdelmalek Droukdal,” New York Times, July 1, 2008.
8: GUNS AND ROSES
the first part of Rohde’s account: David Rohde, “Held by the Taliban: Part One: 7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity,” New York Times, October 17, 2009. See also “Times Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months,” New York Times, June 21, 2009, and David Rohde and Kristen Mulvihill, A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides (New York: Viking, 2010).
said he was a journalist: “Among them was Kareem Khan, a 50-year-old from Machikhel, North Waziristan, who works as a journalist with an Arab TV channel.” Andrew Buncombe and Issam Ahmed, “Protests Grow as Civilian Toll of Obama’s Drone War on Terrorism Is Laid Bare,” Independent, March 3, 2012. See also “Kareem Khan,” Reprieve, http://www.reprieve.org.uk/case-study/kareem-khan.
he had lost his son and his brother in a drone strike: “Pakistani Tribesman to Sue CIA Over Drone Strike Deaths,” Agence France-Presse, November 29, 2010.
attacking the Pakistani border region with drones since 2004: “The Bush Years: Pakistan Strikes 2004–2009.” Bureau of Investigative Journalism, August 10, 2011, https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/10/the-bush-years-2004-2009/#B1.
the name of the CIA station chief in Pakistan: Declan Walsh, “CIA Chief in Pakistan Leaves after Drone Trial Blows His Cover,” Guardian, December 17, 2010.
U.S. officials were blaming Pakistan’s military intelligence agency: Alex Rodriguez, “CIA Identity Breach Stirs Mistrust with Pakistan,” Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2010; see also Sabrina Toppa, “Pakistan Edges Closer to Charging CIA Over Drone Strikes,” Time, April 16, 2015.
9: MUKHABARAT
As the car entered the parking lot: Much of the account of the author’s experiences in Egypt draws on recollections from the author and her colleague Nicholas Kulish, and the following article: Souad Mekhennet and Nicholas Kulish, “2 Detained Reporters Saw Police’s Methods,” New York Times, February 4, 2011.
would come to be known as the “Arab Spring”: Joshua Keating, “Who First Used the Term Arab Spring?” Foreign Policy, November 4, 2011, http://foreignpolicy.com/2011/11/04/who-first-used-the-term-arab-spring/.
“These people are spies!”: Souad Mekhennet and Nicholas Kulish, “Blood on the Nile: An Encounter with Egypt’s Secret Police at the Height of the Crisis,” New York Times, February 6, 2011.
10: THIS IS NOT AN ARAB SPRING