On December 30, 2004, Chief of the Office of Legal Counsel Dan Levin issued a “legal memo replacing the notorious torture guidance that had been written by [former Deputy Chief of the Office of Legal Counsel John] Yoo. Its opening line declared unequivocally: ‘Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international […]
12/30/2004
“On December 30, 2004…the [Bush] administration posted a document on the Justice Department’s Web site that sounded like a ringing denunciation of torture. …Bush and other top administration officials had expressed outrage at the lawlessness exhibited by low-level U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib [prison in Iraq] and had vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable. …Despite […]
12/28/2004
“…in an audiotape broadcast by Al Jazeera satellite television [on December 28, 2004], bin Laden personally endorsed [militant Jordanian Abu Musab Al-] Zarqawi as his deputy and anointed him the emir of Al Qaeda in Iraq; he praised Zarqawi’s ‘gallant operations’ against the Americans and said that Zarqawi and those with him are fighting for […]
12/28/2004
Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab “al-Zarqawi had been in negotiations with the al Qaeda leadership for nearly a year when they finally announced their alliance on 28 December 2004. Already established as a formidable leader of his own group in Iraq, al-Zarqawi had obviously waited to negotiate from a position of strength.” – […]
12/28/2004
“Al-Qaeda had come to realize that Iraq was the central front in the war on terror. ‘The most important and serious issue today for the whole world is this Third World War, which the Crusader-Zionist coalition began against the Islamic nation,’ Osama bin Laden declared in an audio message [on December 28, 2004] to Muslims […]
12/27/2004
“On December 27th [2004], the Iraqi Islamic Party, the main Iraqi Sunni political party, pulled out of the [upcoming January 30, 2005] elections, citing security concerns…” – Jon Lee Anderson, “A Man of the Shadows,” The New Yorker, Jan. 24, 2005 […]
12/27/2004
In an audiotape aired by Al Jazeera on December 27, 2004, Osama bin Laden said: ” ‘It should be known that the Mujahid brother Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the Amir [prince] of the al-Qaeda organisation in the Land of the Two Rivers [Iraq].’ ” – Peter Bergen, The Longest War, Page 166 […]
12/17/2004
“On December 17 [2004], he [President Bush] signed legislation restructuring the nation’s spy agencies, a response to two intelligence breakdowns of epic proportions. …The final bill centralized the sixteen intelligence agencies under a single director of national intelligence, but with billions of dollars and bureaucratic control at stake the measure emerged only after the new […]
12/16/2004
“In a taped message broadcast on an Islamic website posted on 16 December 2004, bin Laden proclaimed that ‘oil prices should be at least $100 per barrel.’ Almost immediately, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement urging jihadis there to focus on oil targets. These announcements alone caused that month’s crude oil to […]
12/16/2004
“On December 16, 2004, bin Laden drew attention to al-Qaeda’s operations in Saudi Arabia and the need to target oil interests, saying in an audio recording, ‘One of the most important reasons that led our enemies to control our land is the theft of our oil. …Be active and prevent them from reaching the oil, […]