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“The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, told CNN Saturday [October 30, 2010] the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan has ‘broadly been arrested’ in some locations. ‘My assessment is that the momentum the Taliban enjoyed until probably late summer has broadly been arrested in the country,’ Petraeus said. ‘It doesn’t mean it’s been arrested in every location in the country, but it means by and large that is the case, and moreover, more importantly, the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and Afghan forces have achieved momentum in some very important areas.’ ”

 – Barbara Starr, “Petraeus: Progress Being Made in Afghanistan,” CNN, Oct. 30, 2010

“Iraq’s high tribunal has passed a death sentence on Tariq Aziz, one of deposed leader Saddam Hussein’s most prominent deputies. The death sentence, announced on Tuesday [October 26, 2010], was the first to be handed to Aziz, who had previously been convicted for his role in the execution of dozens of merchants for profiteering. ‘The court today issued the death sentence on Tariq Aziz and four others for committing crimes against humanity. The charge of elimination of religious parties was classified as crimes against humanity,’ Judge Mohammed Abdul-Sahib, a spokesman of the Iraqi High Tribunal, said. ‘The nature of the crimes is wilful killing, torture and the enforced disappearance of persons.’ Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from Baghdad, said that the charges against Aziz are related to the persecution of Shia Muslim parties in the 1980s.”

 – “Tariq Aziz Sentenced to Death,” Al Jazeera, Oct. 26, 2010

“Tariq Aziz, a former top aide to Saddam Hussein and his urbane public relations representative to the world, was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Tuesday [October 26, 2010], convicted of crimes against members of rival Shiite political parties.  …Mr. Aziz’s death sentence followed convictions on charges of persecution against members of the religious Shiite Dawa Party, whose members include Iraq’s current prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.”

 – Jack Healy, “Top Aide to Saddam Hussein is Sentenced to Death,” The New York Times, Oct. 26, 2010

Afghan “President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday [October 25, 2010] that he regularly receives bags of cash from the Iranian government in payments amounting to millions of dollars, as evidence mounted of a worsening rift between his government and its American and NATO supporters. …’They do give us bags of money–yes, yes, it is done,’ Mr. Karzai said, responding to questions about a report in The New York Times on Sunday that Iran sends regular cash payments to his chief of staff, Umar Daudzai. ‘We are grateful to the Iranians for this.’ ‘Patriotism has a price,’ he said. Afghan and Western officials said the Iranian payments were intended to drive a wedge between Mr. Karzai and the United States and NATO.”

 – Dexter Filkins and Alissa J. Rubin, “Afghan Leader Admits His Office Gets Cash from Iran,” The New York Times, Oct. 25, 2010

“Although US generals have claimed their army does not carry out body counts and British ministers still say no official statistics exist, the war logs [exposed by WikiLeaks on October 22, 2010] show these claims are untrue. The field reports purport to identify all civilian and insurgent casualties, as well as numbers of coalition forces wounded and killed in action. They give a total of more than 109,000 violent deaths from all causes between 2004 and the end of 2009. This includes 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as ‘enemy’ and 15,196 members of the Iraqi security forces. Another 3,771 dead US and allied soldiers complete the body count.”

 – Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele, and David Leigh, “Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture,” The Guardian, Oct 22, 2010

“A grim picture of the US and Britain’s legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes. Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks [on October 22, 2010]. The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war. …WikiLeaks says it is posting online the entire set of 400,000 Iraq field reports–in defiance of the Pentagon.”

 – Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele, and David Leigh, “Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture,” The Guardian, Oct. 22, 2010

“Leaked Pentagon files obtained by the Guardian contain details of more than 100,000 people killed in Iraq following the US-led invasion, including more than 15,000 deaths that were previously unrecorded. British ministers have repeatedly refused to concede the existence of any official statistics on Iraqi deaths. US General Tommy Franks claimed in 2002: ‘We don’t do body counts.’ The mass of leaked documents provides the first detailed tally by the US military of Iraqi fatalities. Troops on the ground filed secret field reports over six years of the occupation, purporting to tot up every casualty, military and civilian. …The logs record a total of 109,032 violent deaths between 2004 and 2009. It is claimed that 66,081 of these were civilians. A further 23,984 deaths are classed as ‘enemy’ and 15,196 as members of the Iraqi security forces. The logs also include the deaths of 3,771 US and allied soldiers.”

 – David Leigh, “Iraq War Logs Reveal 15,000 Previously Unlisted Civilian Deaths,” The Guardian, Oct. 22, 2010

“Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are believed to be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest Pakistan, but are not together, a senior NATO official said. ‘Nobody in al Qaeda is living in a cave,’ said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the intelligence matters involved. Rather, al Qaeda’s top leadership is believed to be living in relative comfort, protected by locals and some members of the Pakistani intelligence services, the official said.”

 – Barbara Starr, “NATO Official: Bin Laden, Deputy Hiding in Northwest Pakistan,” CNN, Oct. 18, 2010

An anonymous NATO official “pointed to an internal assessment that there are 500,000 to 1 million ‘disaffected’ men between the ages of 15 and 25 in the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Most are Afghan Pashtuns, and they make up some of the 95 percent of the insurgency who carry out attacks just to earn money, rather than to fight for a hard-core Taliban ideology, he said.”

 – Barbara Starr, “NATO Official: Bin Laden, Deputy Hiding in Northwest Pakistan,” CNN, Oct. 18, 2010

In October 2010, the CIA conducted a study of Afghanistan, and its ‘changes in security, government presence, and development.‘ “The assessment was based on statistics–among them the number of insurgent attacks and the number of Afghan security forces in the area–as well as input from the CIA’s network of Afghan informants. White House officials regarded it as ‘the report card on the surge.’ The CIA’s conclusion was that Afghanistan was ‘trending to stalemate.’ The report…showed that gains in the south resulting from additional troops were offset by losses to the Taliban in the eastern and northern parts of the country. ‘There has been no net progress,’ I [journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran] was told by a senior White House official who had read the assessment. In asking for the surge, military commanders had asserted that security improvements in the districts where the new troops were initially concentrated would be like inkblots that would expand across the map of Afghanistan. That hadn’t occurred. ‘Where we went, we made a difference. But not next door,’ the official said. ‘The surge worked locally, but it did not have the nation-wide effect that was advertised.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Little America, Pages 326-327

Former CIA station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan, Bob Grenier, said: ” ‘I don’t think anybody can reasonably argue that the level of military and intelligence resources and reconstruction resources that were devoted to Iraq did not diminish our ability to seal the deal in Afghanistan, in Pakistan.’ Grenier did not think it was so much an issue of resources but rather a lack of what he called command attention. He said, ‘As far as Washington was concerned, it [Afghanistan] was very much a side show. All of the real effort and thought was being put into Iraq.’ ”

 – Pam Benson, “9 years in Afghanistan: Experts see Worldwide War with no End in Sight,” CNN, Oct. 7, 2010

“A judge in Manhattan sentenced Faisal Shahzad to life in prison for the botched [May 1, 2010] Times Square car bombing as the 31-year-old Pakistani-American defiantly warned in court to ‘brace yourself, the war with Muslims has just begun.’ ‘The defeat of the U.S. is imminent, inshallah,’ Shahzad said on Tuesday [October 5, 2010] during the sentencing. Speaking in a 14th-floor courtroom where a clear view of the World Trade Center site can be seen through a window, Shahzad said Muslims have been defending their people and their lands. If that makes us terrorists, ‘then we will terrorize you,’ he said, imploring people who embrace Islam.”

 – Deborah Feyerick, “Times Square Bomb Plotter Sentenced to Life in Prison,” CNN, Oct. 5, 2010

“Faisal Shahzad, who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a sport utility vehicle carrying a homemade bomb in May [1, 2010] in Times Square, thick with Saturday visitors, was sentenced on Tuesday morning [October 5, 2010] to spend the rest of his life in prison. Remaining defiant, and smirking as the sentence was read, he told the court: ‘Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun.’ He later continued: ‘The defeat of the U.S. is imminent and will happen in the near future.’ ”

 – Michael Wilson, “Shahzad Gets Life Term for Times Square Bombing Attempt,” The New York Times, Oct. 5, 2010

Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus told journalist Bob Woodward: ” ‘You have to recognize also that I don’t think you win this war. …This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.’ ”

 – Eugene Robinson, “Afghanistan: A War Without End, or Rationale,” The Washington Post, Oct. 1, 2010

“U.S. counterterrorism officials say they believe that senior al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are involved in the latest terror plot against European cities. The multi-pronged scope of the emerging plan–which aimed to launch coordinated shooting sprees or attacks in Britain, France and Germany–is an al-Qaida hallmark. One U.S. intelligence official added, however, that the details of how the plan was directed or coordinated by the group’s core leaders is not yet clear. …A Pakistani intelligence official said Thursday [September 30, 2010] that eight Germans and two British brothers are at the heart of the terror plot, which is still in its early stages.”

 – Lolita C. Baldor, “Officials Think bin Laden Involved in Europe Plot,” Associated Press, Oct. 1, 2010

Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan “Gen. David H. Petraeus, in a meeting with reporters after a tour of the Detention Facility in Parwan, where American forces detain Afghans they suspect of supporting the insurgency, said there were efforts by Taliban to establish contact with senior members of the Afghan government. ‘There are very high-level Taliban leaders who have sought to reach out to the highest levels of the Afghan government, and they have done that,’ General Petraeus said. ‘Now President [Hamid] Karzai’s conditions are very clear, very established, and, certainly, we support them as we did in Iraq, as the British did in Northern Ireland,’ he said. ‘This is the way you end insurgencies.’ A spokesman for President Karzai confirmed that there had been contacts at every level, but he cautioned that they still could not be characterized as even the beginning of negotiations.”

 – Alissa J. Rubin, “Petraeus Says Taliban Have Reached Out to Karzai,” The New York Times, Sep. 27, 2010

Journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, Obama’s Wars, “unveils a CIA initiative called the Counterterrorist Pursuit Teams, a posse of anti-Taliban and al-Qaeda locals who don’t respect the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The teams are practically brigade-sized: a ‘paramilitary army’ of 3000 Afghans, said to be ‘elite, well-trained’ and capable of quietly crossing over in the Pakistani extremist safe havens where U.S. troops aren’t allowed to operate. The CIA directs and funds the teams. [Obama] Administration officials didn’t just confirm the existence of the teams–they bragged about them. ‘This is one of the best Afghan fighting forces and it’s made major contributions to stability and security,’ says one U.S. official who would only talk on condition of anonymity–and who wouldn’t elaborate.”

 – Spencer Ackerman, “CIA’s Afghan Kill Teams Expand U.S. War in Pakistan,” Wired, Sep. 22, 2010

“The terrorism threat against the United States has evolved, with homegrown terrorists and a greater diversity in the scope and methods of attack making it more difficult to prevent them, top security officials told a Senate committee Wednesday [September 22, 2010]. ‘It is diversifying in terms of sources; it is diversifying in terms of tactics,’ Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. ‘The results of these changing tactics are fewer opportunities to detect and disrupt plots.’ …Napolitano, along with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Michael Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the number of terrorist attacks against the United States increased in the past 15 months. In particular, they cited the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings; the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner; and the failed car bomb attempt in New York City’s Times Square as examples of the increasing attacks. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the panel’s ranking Republican, called the increased attacks ‘alarming and significant.’ ‘The past two years have taught us through harsh lessons that we simply must increase our efforts,’ Collins said. Napolitano said the nature of terrorist attacks continues to evolve, with recent attacks coming faster and with ‘less extensive pre-operational planning than previous attempts and with fewer linkages to international terrorist organizations.’ ‘There is a rising threat from attacks that use improvised explosives devices, other explosives, and small arms,’ she said in a written statement presented to the committee. ‘This type of attack has been common in hot spots around the world for some time, but we have now experienced such attempted attacks in the United States.’ Unlike the highly planned large-scale September 11, attacks, the smaller-scale attacks seen now require ‘less planning and fewer pre-operational steps,’ Napolitano’s statement said.”

 – “Terror Threat Against America Diversifying, Security Officials Say,” CNN.com, Sep. 22, 2010

“A counterterrorism official said the [Obama] administration recognizes that ‘not enough is being done in Yemen’ to meet the growing challenge posed by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. ‘We need to scale up efforts to disrupt the group,’ said the official, who spoke about sensitive issues on the condition of anonymity. The official said that conditions in Yemen have allowed al Qaeda to regroup there and that all options to fight the Arabian Peninsula group are under review at the White House.”

 – Mohammed Jamjoom, “Official: Yemen Launches Fierce Offensive Against al Qaeda,” CNN, Sep. 21, 2010

“According to an investigative series in The Washington Post [on September 10, 2010], ‘After nearly nine years of nation-building in Afghanistan, experts said, the U.S. government faces mounting evidence that it has helped to assemble one of the most corrupt governments in the world.’ ”

 – Bing West, The Wrong War, Pages 183-184

“A September 10 [2010] report by U.S. terrorism experts Bruce Hoffman and Peter Bergen for the Bipartisan Policy Center said the threat from al Qaeda had grown more complex, and U.S. citizens and residents were playing an increasing role in the leadership of al Qaeda planning and operations.”

 – William Maclean, “Analysis: Terrorism Alerts Reflect Evolving Threat,” Reuters, Oct. 4, 2010

“A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday [September 9, 2010] reveals that 36 percent think the country is safer from terrorism than it was before the 2001 attacks. Nearly two-thirds of Americans, however, are not personally worried about becoming a victim of terrorism. And most said they are prepared to deal with an attack if the worst should happen.”

 – Alan Silverleib, “Poll: Bin Laden Will Never be Caught, Most Americans Say,” CNN, Sep. 1, 2010

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released on September 9, 2010: “30 percent of Americans now believe it is likely the U.S. government will ever capture or kill bin Laden. Sixty-seven percent believe it is unlikely.”

 – Alan Silverleib, “Poll: Bin Laden Will Never be Caught, Most Americans Say,” CNN, Sep. 1, 2010

Professors Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes “followed up their 2008 book [titled, The Three Trillion Dollar War: the True Cost of the Iraq Conflict] with a September [5] 2010 Washington Post column, published as the United States ended what it dubbed its ‘combat operations’ in Iraq, arguing that their $3 trillion calculation was in fact too low–a notable claim, since the $3 trillion estimate had been markedly higher than previous projections.”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 113

“The Taliban is confronting a serious ‘cash flow’ problem after losing some half of its annual drug trade money to a farming blight and government eradication efforts, a Marine two-star general [Maj. Gen. Richard Mills] said Thursday [September 2, 2010]. …Mills said the insurgency in Marjah [Afghanistan] is a shadow of what it once was and that the Taliban’s loss in revenue has made it difficult to resupply fighters. But, he added, the Taliban is continuing to terrorize the locals at night and hide explosive devices that are killing U.S. forces and civilians.”

 – Anne Flaherty, “Marine General Says Taliban Drug Trade Faltering,” Associated Press, Sep. 2, 2010

“As of September [2] 2010, a Congressional Research Service report placed the Iraq War’s price tag at $751 billion, when taking into account the cost of military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, and embassies.”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 113

“Iraq’s prime minister today [August 31, 2010] said the end of the US combat role in the country restored Iraq’s independence and made it a sovereign power on an equal footing with America. ‘Iraq today is sovereign and independent,’ Nouri al-Maliki said in a televised address. ‘With the execution of the troop pullout, our relations with the United States have entered a new stage between two equal, sovereign countries.’ The comments came as US forces met president Barack Obama’s deadline for ending his country’s lead role in the war launched by his predecessor George W Bush. …The country will still have just under 50,000 troops in Iraq, down from a peak of 170,000 in 2007 during Bush’s ‘surge,’ which was aimed at helping to stabilise the country. Maliki said Iraqi forces were capable of handling security and protecting people, saying continuing attacks were a ‘desperate attempt by al-Qaida and remnants of the former [Saddam Hussein] regime to prove their presence.’ He added: ‘I assure you that the Iraqi security troops are capable and qualified to shoulder the responsibility.’ ”

 – James Meikle, “Iraqi Prime Minister Says US Pullout Restores Independence,” The Guardian, Aug. 31, 2010

According to a CNN.com article on August 31, 2010: “At 5 p.m. ET [on August 31, 2010]–at a cost of more than 4,400 U.S. military personnel killed and 30,000 wounded–America’s combat mission in Iraq officially drew to a close.”

 – Alan Silverleib, “U.S. Combat Mission in Iraq Ends,” CNN, Sep. 1, 2010

As American troops planned to pull out of Iraq on August 31, 2010, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki “marked the occasion…with a national address proclaiming his country ‘sovereign and independent.’ …’If these security achievements were not real, we would not have been able to move to executing the bigger and more important step, which is the withdrawal of American forces that is happening today,’ he said. ‘We do not view the withdrawal as an accomplishment of one person, or one party or one sect or one ethnicity; it is an achievement for all Iraqis. … And it represents a golden opportunity to strengthen national unity and a starting point to build Iraq after decades of destruction and suffering.’ ”

 – Alan Silverleib, “U.S. Combat Mission in Iraq Ends,” CNN, Sep. 1, 2010

Speaking from the White House on August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama said: ” ‘The Americans who have served in Iraq completed every mission they were given. They defeated a regime that had terrorized its people. Together with Iraqis and coalition partners who made huge sacrifices of their own, our troops fought block by block to help Iraq seize the chance for a better future. They shifted tactics to protect the Iraqi people, trained Iraqi Security Forces, and took out terrorist leaders. Because of our troops and civilians–and because of the resilience of the Iraqi people–Iraq has the opportunity to embrace a new destiny, even though many challenges remain. So tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.’ ”

 – Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq,” The White House Office of the Press Secretary, Aug. 31, 2010

After announcing the end of Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq on August 31, 2010, President Barack Obama said: ” ‘Going forward, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq with a different mission: advising and assisting Iraq’s Security Forces, supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counterterrorism missions, and protecting our civilians. Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all U.S. troops will leave by the end of next year. As our military draws down, our dedicated civilians–diplomats, aid workers, and advisors–are moving into the lead to support Iraq as it strengthens its government, resolves political disputes, resettles those displaced by war, and builds ties with the region and the world.’ ”

 – Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq,” The White House Office of the Press Secretary, Aug. 31, 2010

Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “self-penned volume ‘A Journey’ was published on [August 31, 2010] the day the United States formally ended combat operations in Iraq after a conflict that claimed more than 100,000 deaths, most of them civilians. Blair, 57, said he felt ‘desperately sorry’ for the lives cut short, but said the mistaken belief that Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction was an ‘understandable error.’ ‘I can’t regret the decision to go to war… I can say that never did I guess the nightmare that unfolded,’ said Blair, referring to the years of political and sectarian bloodshed in Iraq that followed the invasion.”

 – Karolina Tagaris, “UK’s Blair Says did not Foresee Iraq ‘Nightmare,'” Reuters, Sep. 1, 2010

“Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, has criticised the US military’s plans to begin withdrawing troops from the country in July 2011. Mr Karzai said that announcing a date for the withdrawal had given the Taliban insurgency ‘a morale boost.’ He also said the war could not be won as long as the Taliban were able to take refuge in neighbouring Pakistan.”

 – “Afghanistan’s Karzai Criticises US Troop Pullout,” BBC News, Aug. 27, 2010

“In an interview with the BBC, [Afghan President] Mr [Hamid] Karzai’s national security adviser, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, said fighting the war on Afghan soil was not enough. ‘Even if we defeat the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups within Afghanistan, [if] we don’t destroy the recruitment centre and we don’t destroy the causes, it is not possible to win the war,’ he said. Mr Spanta has repeatedly accused Pakistan of nurturing militants by providing sanctuary and support to the Taliban and other militant networks. He said Islamabad still regarded Afghanistan as its sphere of influence.”

 – “Afghanistan’s Karzai Criticises US Troop Pullout,” BBC News, Aug. 27, 2010

On August 19, 2010, after embedding with troops in Afghanistan, journalist Bing West wrote a list of observations in a memo to General James Mattis, the head of Central Command. One note read: ” ‘Defeating an insurgency requires three tasks: 1) destroy the insurgent forces; 2) win over the people to the side of a decent government; 3) train an indigenous force. Re #1, we cannot defeat the Taliban. They are too elusive and have a vast sanctuary. Re #2, we don’t have the time to build a nation when its top leaders are feckless. Re #3–training and instilling confidence in the Afghan forces should be the first priority at this juncture. This war turns on whether the Afghan forces show they can beat the Taliban. Only then will the Pashtun khans begin to cooperate.’ ”

 – Bing West, The Wrong War, Page 280

“[A]s long ago as last August [2010], President Obama was told in an intelligence briefing that there was a possible lead that Bin Laden was hiding in plain sight in Abbottabad [Pakistan]. It took eight months for U.S. and Pakistani agents to confirm for certain that the information was accurate.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – David Gardner, “Shot in the Left Eye After he Refused to Surrender: Dramatic Reconstruction of How U.S. Hit Squad Took out Bin Laden,” Daily Mail, May 2, 2011

Following Osama bin Laden’s assassination on May 2, 2011, “President Obama said he was first briefed that bin Laden had been traced last August [2010]. The crucial information was gleaned from a detainee who had been tortured at Guantanamo Bay.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – “Incredible Pictures Show President and Inner Circle Watching live TV Feed as Special Forces Shoot Dead the World’s Most Wanted Man,” Daily Mail, May 3, 2011

“In August 2010, the courier [for bin Laden] unknowingly led authorities to a compound in the northeast Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where [senior al Qaeda member Abu Faraj] al-Libi had once lived. The walls surrounding the property were as high as 18 feet and topped with barbed wire. Intelligence officials had known about the house for years, but they always suspected that bin Laden would be surrounded by heavily armed security guards. Nobody patrolled the compound in Abbottabad. In fact, nobody came or went. And no telephone or Internet lines ran from the compound. The CIA soon believed that bin Laden was hiding in plain sight, in a hideout especially built to go unnoticed. But since bin Laden never traveled and nobody could get onto the compound without passing through two security gates, there was no way to be sure.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, “Phone Call by Kuwaiti Courier Led to Bin Laden,” Associated Press, May 2, 2011

“A U.S. audit has found that the Pentagon cannot account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraq reconstruction money, spotlighting Iraqi complaints that there is little to show for the massive funds pumped into their cash-strapped, war-ravaged nation. The $8.7 billion in question was Iraqi money managed by the Pentagon, not part of the $53 billion that Congress has allocated for rebuilding. …The $9.1 billion in question came from the Development Fund for Iraq, which was set up by the U.N. Security Council in 2003. …Iraq had given the U.S. authorization to tap into the fund, which is held in New York, for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, withdrawing that approval in December 2007.”

 – Tarek El-Tablawy, “Audit: US Can’t Account for $8.7B in Iraqi Funds,” Associated Press, July 27, 2010

Following WikiLeaks’ publication of 77,000 classified military documents on the war in Afghanistan, National Security Advisor General James Jones made a statement from the White House on July 25, 2010. ” ‘The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents–the United States government learned from news organizations that these documents would be posted. These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people.’ ”

 – General James Jones, “Statement of National Security Advisor General James Jones on WikiLeaks,” The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, July 25, 2010

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael “Mullen warned in July [25, 2010], on a trip to Islamabad [Pakistan], that LT [terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba] had become ‘a very dangerous organization and a significant regional and global threat.’ He said it was expanding into Afghanistan, adding that ‘the Haqqani [insurgent] group is the most lethal network faced by the US…in Afghanistan.’ ”

 – Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan on the Brink, Page 156

According to information in a Washington Post article on July 23, 2010, former head of Afghan intelligence, Amarullah “Salih says the top Taliban leadership is hiding out in Karachi [Pakistan] and is being financed, armed, and protected by the ISI [Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence], with its inner circle ‘totally under Pakistani control.’ “

 – Bruce Riedel, Deadly Embrace, Page 130

“The man who served as [Afghan] President Hamid Karzai’s top intelligence official for six years has launched an urgent campaign to warn Afghans that their leader has lost conviction in the fight against the Taliban and is recklessly pursuing a political deal with insurgents. In speeches to small groups in Kabul and across northern Afghanistan over the past month, Amarullah Saleh has repeated his belief that Karzai’s push for negotiation with insurgents is a fatal mistake and a recipe for civil war. He says Karzai’s chosen policy endangers the fitful progress of the past nine years in areas such as democracy and women’s rights. ‘If I don’t raise my voice we are headed towards a crisis,’ he told a gathering of college students in Kabul.”

 – Joshua Partlow, “Minority Leaders Leaving Karzai’s Side over Leader’s Overtures to Insurgents,” The Washington Post, July 23, 2010

“Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the 2003 invasion of Iraq as illegal on Wednesday [July 21, 2010], putting the new coalition government under pressure to clarify its position on the war. …’I am happy to account for everything that we are doing in this coalition government, a coalition government which has brought together two parties working in the national interest to sort out the mess that he [foreign secretary Jack Straw] left behind,’ Clegg said during an unusually tetchy exchange [in Parliament]. ‘Maybe one day, and perhaps we’ll have to wait for his (Straw’s) memoirs, he could account for his role in the most disastrous decision of all, which is the illegal invasion of Iraq,’ he added.”

 – “Britain’s Clegg Says Iraq Invasion was ‘Illegal,'” Reuters, July 21, 2010

"The former director general of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency said Tuesday [July 20, 2010] that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had greatly increased the terrorist threat to Britain and that intelligence available before the Iraq war had not been sufficient to justify the invasion of that country. 'Our involvement in Iraq, for want of a better word, radicalized a whole generation of young people–not a whole generation, a few among a generation–who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam,' said the former official, Baroness [Eliza] Manningham-Buller. Lady Manningham-Buller, who led MI5, roughly the British equivalent of the F.B.I., from 2002 to 2007, made her remarks in testimony to a panel investigating the events leading to the invasion of Iraq in 2003."

 – Sarah Lyall, “Ex-Official Says Afghan and Iraq Wars Increased Threats to Britain,” The New York Times, July 20, 2010,

In testimony to the U.K. panel investigating the 2003 invasion of Iraq, former head of MI5 (U.K.’s counter-intelligence and security agency) Eliza Manningham-Buller “said that Iraq had presented little threat to Britain before the invasion, and that there had been no reliable evidence linking the government of Saddam Hussein to the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. ‘There was no credible intelligence to suggest that connection, and that was the judgment, I might say, of the C.I.A.,’ she said. ‘Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11,’ she added, ‘and I have never seen anything to make me change my mind.’ But, she said, ‘it was not a judgment that found favor with some parts of the American machine’ namely Donald H. Rumsfeld, the United States secretary of defense at the time. That ‘is why Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment,’ she said.”

 – Sarah Lyall, “Ex-Official Says Afghan and Iraq Wars Increased Threats to Britain,” The New York Times, July 20, 2010

In testimony to the U.K. panel investigating the 2003 invasion of Iraq, former head of MI5 (U.K.’s counter-intelligence and security agency) Eliza Manningham-Buller “said that Britain relied on ‘fragmentary’ intelligence before invading Iraq, and that MI5 had not believed that Mr. Hussein was amassing unconventional weapons in Iraq, as the government contended. The belief that Iraq might use such weapons ‘wasn’t a concern in either the short term or the medium term to my colleagues and myself,’ she said. Not only was the invasion unnecessary based on what was known about Iraq, Lady Manningham-Buller said, but it diverted attention from the real threat, Al Qaeda. ‘By focusing on Iraq, we ceased to focus on the Al Qaeda threat or we reduced the focus on the Al Qaeda threat in Afghanistan,’ she said. ‘I think that was a long-term, major and strategic problem.’ ”

 – Sarah Lyall, “Ex-Official Says Afghan and Iraq Wars Increased Threats to Britain,” The New York Times, July 20, 2010

Washington Post journalists Dana Priest and William Arkin conducted a two-year investigation of the wasteful spending of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It was published with the title Top Secret America on July 19, 2010. “Their investigation concludes that the security bureaucracy erected after the 9/11 attacks ‘has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.’ This investigation of Top Secret America was quite literal: the newspaper examined only the top-secret part of this massive infrastructure, because the work ‘classified at the secret level is too large to accurately track.’ ”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 75

“Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that the U.S. is a ‘dictatorship’ as it tries to control world affairs. Ahmadinejad made the comments Wednesday night [July 7, 2010] during a speech at the Iranian Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital… In full, Ahmadinejad says the U.S. is ‘the self-proclaimed leader, and everybody should know that a self-proclaimed leadership is [a] dictatorship. I am going to say, on behalf of you, that the years of dictatorship are over.’ ”

 – “Iran’s President: U.S. a global ‘dictatorship,'” Associated Press, July 7, 2010

“The chairwoman of the House subcommittee responsible for foreign aid said she was stripping from pending legislation $3.9 billion in funding for Afghanistan following revelations that billions of dollars, including large amounts of U.S. aid funds, were flowing out of the country through Kabul’s main airport. Rep. Nita Lowey (D., N.Y.) called the revelations ‘outrageous,’ and Capitol Hill aides said she had the backing of Rep. David Obey (D., Wis.), the chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee. ‘I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that U.S. taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords, and terrorists,’ Ms. Lowey said. At least $3.18 billion in cash has been flown out of Afghanistan since 2007 after being legally declared to customs officers, according to documents reported Monday [June 28, 2010] in The Wall Street Journal.”

 – Peter Spiegel and Matthew Rosenberg, “Afghan Aid on Hold as Corruption Is Probed,” The Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2010

CIA Director “Mr. [Leon] Panetta admitted that despite the C.I.A.’s aggressive campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas–primarily using missiles fired from drone aircraft–the hunt for Osama bin Laden had made little progress. He said the last precise information on the Qaeda leader’s whereabouts came in ‘the early 2000s.’ ”

 – Scott Shane, “Pakistan’s Push on Afghan Peace Leaves U.S. Wary,” The New York Times, June 27, 2010

“CIA director Leon Panetta said Sunday [June 27, 2010] that it’s been almost a decade since the agency had ‘precise information’ on Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts. In an interview with ABC’s This Week, Panetta admitted the last time the CIA had good intelligence on bin Laden’s location was ‘the early 2000s.’ ‘He is, as is obvious, in very deep hiding,’ said Panetta. ‘He’s in an area of the tribal areas of Pakistan that is very difficult… All I can tell you is it’s in the tribal areas. We know that he’s located in that vicinity.’ ”

 – Meena Hartenstein, “CIA Director Leon Panetta: Last ‘precise’ Intel on Osama bin Laden’s Location was in ‘early 2000s,'” Daily News, June 27, 2010

“Though [CIA Director Leon] Panetta believes terrorists continue to plot attacks on the U.S., he also estimates that the number of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is actually very small–’50 to 100, maybe less.’ ‘We’ve taken down more than half of their Taliban leadership, of their Al Qaeda leadership,’ he said. ‘We just took down number three in their leadership a few weeks ago. We continue to disrupt them. We continue to impact on their command and control. We continue to impact on their ability to plan attacks in this country.’ ”

 – Meena Hartenstein, “CIA Director Leon Panetta: Last ‘precise’ Intel on Osama bin Laden’s Location was in ‘early 2000s,'” Daily News, June 27, 2010

In late June [23] 2010, after accepting [top U.S. and NATO Commander in Afghanistan] General [Stanley] McChrystal’s resignation in the wake of the controversial Rolling Stone article, [President Barack] Obama appointed General David Petraeus as commander of the Afghan war; the second American president to pick the cerebral strategist to turn around a war that the United States wasn’t winning.”

 – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Pages 333-334

“…in late June of 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ran an article entitled ‘The Runaway General’ that featured behind-the-scenes remarks by [top U.S. and NATO Commander in Afghanistan General Stanley] McChrystal and his staff. The NSC [National Security Council] adviser, retired Gen. Jim Jones, was depicted as a ‘clown,’ [Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard] Holbrooke as overbearing, [Vice President Joe] Biden as foolish, and [U.S. Ambassador Karl] Eikenberry as cunning and self-centered.” On June 23, 2010, “After meeting with his political advisers, [President Barack] Obama surprised Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates and the Pentagon by firing McChrystal for not showing the proper respect for civilian control.”

 – Bing West, The Wrong War, Page 225

“In June [2010], Afghanistan officially outpaced Vietnam as the longest war in American history…” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General,” Rolling Stone, July 8-22, 2010

“UN figures showed that in the spring of 2010, there were on average seven assassinations of public officials every week across the country [Afghanistan], but between June and September 2010, the number jumped to twenty-one a week.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan on the Brink, Page 105

“Pakistan’s main intelligence agency continues to provide financing, training and sanctuary to Afghan Taliban insurgents and exerts a far greater influence on Taliban strategy than previously thought, according to a report prepared by the London School of Economics. Drawing on interviews with Afghan Taliban commanders and former Taliban ministers and officials, the report suggests that Pakistan’s premier intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, supports the Taliban insurgency as a matter of official policy to contain the influence in Afghanistan of its rival India. Both serving and retired officials from the Pakistani intelligence agency are carrying out that policy, the report says.”

 – Carlotta Gall, “Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Exerts Great Sway on Afghan Taliban,” The New York Times, June 13, 2010

A report by the London School of Economics on June 13, 2010, claimed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) was supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. ” ‘This is not a big surprise. This is consistent with 15 years of history,’ said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ‘Life has not changed. The Taliban and the ISI have a very intimate relationship.’ ”

 – Carlotta Gall, “Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Exerts Great Sway on Afghan Taliban,” The New York Times, June 13, 2010

A report by the London School of Economics on June 13, 2010, claimed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) was supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. “Mr. [Matt] Waldman is a fellow at Harvard University who worked in Afghanistan previously for the humanitarian organization Oxfam. ‘Without a change in Pakistani behavior, it will be difficult if not impossible for international forces and the Afghan government to make progress against the insurgency,’ he wrote.”

 – Carlotta Gall, “Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Exerts Great Sway on Afghan Taliban,” The New York Times, June 13, 2010

A report by the London School of Economics claimed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency was supporting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. “The Afghan intelligence chief, Amrullah Saleh, who resigned last week [June 6, 2010] after an insurgent attack on a peace convention in the capital, Kabul, described Pakistan as his country’s ‘enemy No. 1.’ ”

 – Carlotta Gall, “Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Exerts Great Sway on Afghan Taliban,” The New York Times, June 13, 2010

“Former President George W. Bush says if he had it to do over, he would still waterboard the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks [Khalid Sheik Mohammed]. …Bush acknowledged Wednesday [June 2, 2010] that the U.S. used the harsh interrogation technique on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and said he would ‘do it again to save lives.’ Bush made the comment while speaking to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, Mich.”

 – “Bush Defends Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind,” Associated Press, June 3, 2010

In a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 2, 2010, former President George W. “Bush defended the decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003. He said ousting Saddam Hussein ‘was the right thing to do and the world is a better place without him.’ ”

 – “Bush Defends Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind,” Associated Press, June 3, 2010

“The Justice Department’s inspector general [Glenn A. Fine] has concluded that the department is not fully prepared to respond to a terrorist attack involving a weapon of mass destruction. In a report issued on Tuesday [June 1, 2010], the inspector general said that none of the law enforcement agencies within the department, other than the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had operational response plans in place to deal with such an attack. Other than F.B.I. specialists, the department’s staff receives little training on how to respond to a biological, chemical, nuclear or radiological attack; there is no central oversight plan in place for such a crisis; and the management of the department’s plan is ‘uncoordinated and fragmented,’ the report determined. ‘The Department as a whole does not have policies or plans for responding to a W.M.D. incident,’ the 61-page report concluded.”

 – Eric Schmitt, “Justice Dept. Faults Attack Readiness,” The New York Times, June 1, 2010

“An updated Taliban code of conduct urges fighters to avoid killing civilians and forbids them from seizing weapons and money, a directive aimed at winning hearts and minds of Afghans also being courted by international forces. But the document declares that people working for international forces or the Afghan government are ‘supporters of the infidels’ and can be killed. …[Taliban leader] Mullah [Mohammad] Omar urged fighters to kill anyone working with international forces or the Afghan government, including women, according to NATO. …’The Taliban must treat civilians according to Islamic norms and morality to win over the hearts and minds of the people,’ said the 69-page Taliban booklet, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday [August 3, 2010] from a Taliban fighter in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak. ‘All efforts must be made to avoid harming civilians in attacks,’ said the booklet, which the insurgent said began circulating in Afghanistan 10 days ago [July 24, 2010]. …The new code of conduct, which was published at the end of May [2010], is an update to a similar set of directives released a year earlier that limited the use of suicide bombers and mandated that prisoners cannot be harmed or ransomed without the approval of a Taliban regional commander.” [The 31st of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Matiullah Achakzai, “Taliban Code of Conduct Seeks to Win Hearts, Minds,” Associated Press, Aug. 3, 2010

In the 2010 National Security Strategy, released on May 27, 2010, President Barack Obama wrote: ” ‘the gravest danger to the American people and global security continues to come from weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons.’ But he also dwelled on cyber threats, climate change and America’s dependence on fossil fuels as fundamental national security issues, issues that received relatively little or no attention in [former President] Mr. Bush’s [National Security Strategy] document, although his administration focused on them more in its second term.”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

According to a New York Times article on May 27, 2010: “Although the [Obama] administration has put a renewed focus on the war in Afghanistan and escalated C.I.A. drone strikes against militants in Pakistan, the [National Security] strategy [released on May 27, 2010] rejects [former President] Mr. Bush’s focus on counterterrorism as the organizing principle of national security policy. Those efforts ‘to counter violent extremism’–Mr. Obama avoids the use of the word ‘Islamic’–‘are only one element of our strategic environment and cannot define America’s engagement with the world.’ ”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

In the 2010 National Security Strategy, released on May 27, 2010, President Barack Obama wrote: ” ‘While the use of force is sometimes necessary, we will exhaust other options before war whenever we can, and carefully weigh the costs and risks of action against the costs and risks of inaction,’ he says. When it is necessary, he adds, ‘we will seek broad international support, working with such institutions as NATO and the U.N. Security Council.’ ”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

In the 2010 National Security Strategy, released on May 27, 2010, President Barack Obama wrote: ” ‘the United States must reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend our nation and our interests, yet we will also seek to adhere to standards that govern the use of force.’ ”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

The 2010 National Security Strategy, released on May 27, 2010, “says that if North Korea and Iran abandon their nuclear programs, ‘they will be able to proceed on a path to greater political and economic integration with the international community’ but if not, ‘we will pursue multiple means to increase their isolation.’ ”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

” ‘Our enemy is not terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic,’ he [Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan] said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research organization in Washington [on May 26, 2010]. ‘Our enemy is not terror because terror is a state of mind and, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear.’ He also rejected the terms jihad, holy war or Islamists because ‘there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children.’ Instead, he said, ‘our enemy is Al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates.’ ”

 – David E. Sanger and Peter Baker, “New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats,” The New York Times, May 27, 2010

“The Obama administration’s new national security strategy, in a formal break with the go-it-alone legacy of President George W. Bush, calls for the U.S. to use its massive military power in concert with friends and allies. A summary of the U.S. National Security Strategy, obtained on Wednesday [May 26, 2010] by The Associated Press, also makes the safety of Americans the highest security priority and calls for the U.S. to bolster its power through diplomatic and development efforts. …The new strategy is expected to repudiate, at least implicitly, the 2002 National Security Strategy adopted by former President George W. Bush. That document created a doctrine of U.S. unilateral action and pre-emptive wars.”

 – Anne Gearan, “Obama Breaks with Bush Doctrine in New Security Policy,” Associated Press, May 26, 2010

Former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee stated “before the House Judiciary Committee on May 26, 2010 that the CIA never sought approval of some of the [interrogation] practices they engaged in, such as dousing detainees with cold water to keep them awake, or forcing detainees to wear diapers or to soil themselves. To the amazement of many, he claimed that those techniques were never authorized, according to a transcript released by the Committee. That Bybee would absolve himself by shifting responsibility to the CIA is astounding, but he was probably reassured by President [Barack] Obama’s statements that no prosecutions of CIA operatives would ensue.”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 259

“The perception that post-financial collapse America had now become mortal is shared by jihadi spokesmen as well as the movement’s rank and file. ‘Due to this jihad, the U.S. economy is reeling today,’ radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar al Awlaki said in an interview that was posted on the Internet in May [23] 2010. ‘America cannot withstand this Islamic nation. It is too weak. America’s cunning is weaker than a spider web.’ ”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 170

“One important [al Qaeda] operative eliminated in May [21] 2010 is [operational commander] Mustafa Uthman abu Yazid, most likely killed by a drone. Declared a martyr following his death, Yazid was an Egyptian who had worked with [al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-] Zawahiri since the early 1980s. Both were part of the plot to assassinate Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981. …Yazid was directly involved in the 9/11 plot and helped raise funds for al Qaeda. As Stuart Levey, under secretary of the treasury for intelligence and terrorism, has noted, ‘More than anyone else, Yazid possessed links to the deep-pocketed donors in the Arabian Peninsula who have historically formed the backbone of al Qaeda’s financial support network.’ “

 – Bruce Riedel, Deadly Embrace, Page 98

Al Qaeda’s third-in-command, “Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a 54-year-old Egyptian, perished in a May 21 [2010] missile strike in North Waziristan, the Pakistani tribal area where many al-Qaeda leaders have taken refuge, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials, as well as an Internet statement al-Qaeda released Monday [May 31, 2010]. …’We welcome his demise,’ White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. …According to Gibbs, this particular No. 3 was described by John O. Brennan, the top White House counterterrorism adviser, as ‘the biggest target to be either killed or captured in five years.’ ”

 – Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, “Al-Qaeda is Likely to Replace No. 3 leader with Ease,” The Washington Post, June 2, 2010

“The death of al-Qaeda’s third-ranking leader [Mustafa Abu al-Yazid] in a drone strike [on May 21, 2010] was portrayed by U.S. officials Tuesday [June 1, 2010] as a severe setback to the terrorist organization. But if history is any guide, the network will have no problem replacing him. On at least 10 occasions in the past decade, al-Qaeda has sustained the loss of a senior operative described at some point as the No. 3 figure in its hierarchy. Each time, the group has moved quickly to appoint a successor, demonstrating a resilience that has enabled it to survive a dozen years of open warfare with the United States and defy repeated predictions of its demise.”

 – Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, “Al-Qaeda is Likely to Replace No. 3 leader with Ease,” The Washington Post, June 2, 2010

On May 11, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “infuriated Islamabad [Pakistan] by presciently claiming that officials there knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding: ‘I’m not saying that they’re at the highest levels, but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda is, where [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is, and we expect more co-operation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill those who attacked us on 9/11.’ ”

 – Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan on the Brink, Page 155

“In May [6] 2010, Senator Joseph Lieberman [I-CT] urged the Senate to pass a law stripping a U.S. citizen of his citizenship for merely being a suspected terrorist.”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page xii

“Last week [early May 2010], following the attempted bombing in Times Square, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) proposed that those aiding foreign terrorist activity should be stripped of their citizenship. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly agreed, with a few reservations, that the idea had merits.” [The 5th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Erwin Chemerinsky, “Even Terrorism Suspects Have Rights,” The Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2010

The Government Accountability Office issued a report on May 5, 2010, which showed people on the terrorism watch were able to purchase guns: “The GAO sent a letter to Sen. [Frank] Lautenberg [D-NJ] on Wednesday [April 27, 2011] detailing the results of its review. The letter notes, ‘From February 2004 through February 2010, individuals on the terrorist watch list were involved in firearm and explosives background checks 1,228 times, of which 1,119 (about 91 percent) of the transactions were allowed to proceed while 109 were denied.’ ”

 – Jason Ryan, “247 On U.S. Terror Watch List Bought Guns In 2010,” ABC News, April 28, 2011

“Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, Dean of the Academic Board at West Point, wrote in a letter to the Editor of The New Yorker magazine [on May 3, 2010]: ‘…the pictures from Abu Ghraib [prison in Iraq] and the publicity surrounding Guantanamo, waterboarding, and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ have created far more terrorists than most people understand. For a country that professes to stand for the rule of law and individual rights, we look like the worst kind of hypocrites.’ ”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Pages xix-xx

“Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad… had attempted to set off a makeshift bomb in his SUV, which he had parked by the crowded Midtown Manhattan tourist area on the evening of May 1 [2010]. The bomb smoked but failed to explode.”

 – Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 361

Faisal Shahzad made an unsuccessful attempt to detonate a SUV bomb in Times Square, New York, on May 1, 2010. “…Shahzad, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, had been trained by the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), the Taliban branch fighting against the Pakistani government.”

 – Bob Woodward, Obama’s Wars, Page 363

Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad “traveled to Pakistan where he received bomb-making training from the Taliban. Armed with that training, Shahzad returned to Connecticut, where he purchased an SUV, placed a bomb in it and detonated it in Times Square on May 1, 2010 when the sidewalks were thick with tourists and theatergoers. The bomb, which was designed to act as a fuel-air explosive, luckily was a dud and Shahzad was arrested two days later as he tried to leave JFK airport for Dubai.”

 – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Page 211

On May 1, 2010, “A naturalized American citizen of Pakistani origin, Faisal Shahzad, had constructed a primitive car bomb and left it on a street corner in the middle of New York’s most congested area [Times Square]. Fortunately, an alert hot dog vendor saw smoke coming from the car and contacted the police. Shahzad was arrested two days later as he tried to catch a flight to Dubai. He had pleaded guilty to the attempted attack and said the Pakistani Taliban trained him in building a bomb over a period of five weeks in December and January 2010.”

 – Bruce Riedel, Deadly Embrace, Page 102

On April 18, 2010, “U.S. and Iraqi forces killed [al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) leaders Abu Umar] al-Baghdadi and [Abu Hamza] al-Muhajir near Tikrit, disrupting the recovery of AQI and the ISI [Islamic State of Iraq] of which it is part.”

 – Michael Scheuer, Osama Bin Laden, Page 153

“On April 15, 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution which unequivocally states that the prohibition against torture is non-derogable, that it must be protected under all circumstances, and that no states of emergency or claim relating to a war-like condition can ever be advanced as justification. The Resolution explicitly states in paragraph 1 that it: ‘condemns all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including through intimidation which are and shall remain prohibited in any time and at any place, whatsoever and can thus never be justified, and calls upon all States to implement fully the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.’ ”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 76

On April 12, 2010, President Barack Obama said: ” ‘The single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short-term, medium-term, and long-term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon.’ “

 – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Page 214

“Osama bin Laden threatened al Qaeda would kill any Americans it takes prisoner if accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is put to death, according to an audiotape aired on al Jazeera on Thursday [March 25, 2010]. …’This message is about our prisoners who you are holding,’ bin Laden said in the tape, complaining that U.S. President Barack Obama was still following ‘his predecessor’s steps’ on many issues including on al Qaeda detainees such as Mohammed. ‘The White House has expressed its desire to execute him. When America makes this decision, it will have made a decision to execute whoever of you is held prisoner by us,’ bin Laden said in the tape recording, whose authenticity could not be immediately confirmed.”

 – Rania Oteify and Cynthia Johnston, “Bin Laden threatens Americans with execution,” Reuters, March 25, 2010

“On March 24, 2010, Saudi Arabia announced the arrest of 113 alleged al Qaeda militants who it claimed were planning attacks on oil facilities. Fifty-eight of those arrested came from Saudi Arabia, and fifty-two came from Yemen; the others were from Bangladesh, Eritrea, and Somalia. Saudi security officials said that the suspects were divided into three separate cells, and during the raids the security forces discovered weapons, ammunition, and suicide belts.”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Pages 153-154

In a declaration on March 24, 2010, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, said: " '…it became apparent to me as early as August 2002, and probably earlier to other State Department personnel who were focused on the issues, that many of the prisoners detained at Guantanamo had been taken into custody without regard to whether they were truly enemy combatants, or in fact whether many of them were enemies at all. I soon realized from my conversations with military colleagues as well as foreign service officers in the field that many of the detainees were, in fact, victims of incompetent battlefield vetting. There was no meaningful way to determine whether they were terrorists, Taliban, or simply innocent civilians picked up on a very confused battlefield or in the territory of another state such as Pakistan. The vetting problem, in my opinion, was directly related to the initial decision not to send sufficient regular army troops at the outset of the war in Afghanistan, and instead, to rely on the forces of the Northern Alliance and the extremely few U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) who did not have the necessary training or personnel to deal with battlefield detention questions or even the inclination to want to deal with the issue.' "

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, 272

In a declaration on March 24, 2010, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson claimed many Guantanamo detainees were not enemy combatants. One of the reasons was, ” ‘U.S. forces were not the ones who were taking the prisoners in the first place. Instead, we relied upon Afghans, such as General [Abdul Rashid] Dostum’s forces, and upon Pakistanis, to hand over prisoners whom they had apprehended, or who had been turned over to them for bounties, sometimes as much as $5,000 per head. Such practices meant that the likelihood was high that some of the Guantanamo detainees had been turned in to U.S. forces in order to settle local scores, for tribal reasons, or just as a method of making money.’ ”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Pages 272-273

In a declaration on March 24, 2010, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson claimed many Guantanamo detainees were not enemy combatants. He said: ” ‘…by late August 2002, I found that of the initial 742 detainees that had arrived at Guantanamo, the majority of them had never seen a U.S. soldier in the process of their initial detention and their captivity had not been subjected to any meaningful review. A separate but related problem was that often absolutely no evidence relating to the detainee was turned over, so there was no real method of knowing why the prisoner had been detained in the first place.’ ”

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 273

In a declaration on March 24, 2010, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson claimed many Guantanamo detainees were not enemy combatants. He also reflected on Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, saying: " 'my investigations…revealed that some 50-60% of those imprisoned at Abu Ghraib were probably innocent. They were swept up in combat operations and gotten off the battlefield by imprisoning them–an understandable tactic by military forces operating with too few assets to accomplish the mission, always the case in Iraq. No real records existed of evidence or facts that incriminated them, just as happened at Guantanamo Bay.' "

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, 274

“A suspected al Qaeda organizer [Mohamedou Ould Slahi] once called ‘the highest value detainee’ held at Guantanamo Bay was ordered released by a federal judge Monday [March 22, 2010]. …Judge James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Mr. Slahi’s petition for habeas corpus, effectively finding that the government lacked legal grounds to hold him. …Plans to try him by military commission were derailed after prosecutors learned Mr. Slahi had been subjected to a ‘special interrogation plan’ involving weeks of physical and mental torment, including a death threat and a threat to bring Mr. Slahi’s mother to Guantanamo Bay where she could be gang-raped, officials said. Although the treatment apparently induced Mr. Slahi’s compliance, the military prosecutor, Marine Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, determined that it constituted torture and that evidence it produced couldn’t lawfully be used against Mr. Slahi.”

 – Jess Bravin, “Key Gitmo Detainee Ordered Released,” The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2010

 ” ‘How much more can the U.S. Treasury handle?’ the radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar al Awlaki asked in March [22] 2010. Referring to [Nigerian Umar Farouk] Abdulmutallab’s [attempted bombing] attack on the Detroit-bound plane [on December 25, 2009], he continued, ‘9/11, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then operations such as that of our brother Umar Farouk, which could not have cost more than a few thousand dollars, end up draining the U.S. treasury billions of dollars. …For how long can the U.S. survive this war of attrition?’ ”

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 11

American-born al Qaeda senior operative Adam “Gadahn explained [in a March 2010 video] that even [terrorist] attacks that kill nobody can be considered success because they ‘bring major cities to a halt, cost the enemy billions and send his corporations into bankruptcy.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Bin Laden’s Legacy, Page 176

“In March 2010, it was revealed that under an innocuous sounding ‘information-gathering program’ the DOD [Department of Defense] set up a ‘network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants.’ The DOD official, Michael D. Furlong, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former CIA and Special Forces operatives.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 211

“United States intelligence agencies misled key allies, including Britain, about its mistreatment of suspected terrorists, the former head of the country’s domestic spy agency [Eliza Manningham-Buller], MI5, said Tuesday [March 9, 2010].”

 – David Stringer, “Ex-spy Chief: US Misled Allies Over Detainees,” Associated Press, March 9, 2010