Post 9/11

After September 11, 2001 — when terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed three into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, causing more than 3,000 deaths — President George Bush declared war in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling it the “War on Terror.” Many believed the attacks were not the true cause for the war, and journalists investigated.

Washington Post reporter Dana Priest reported on CIA secret prisons during this time. ABC News and CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was the first journalist to interview several world leaders immediately after the attacks.

Videos

Enablers of War

The ABC News and CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour talks about how the American media failed to question President George W. Bush's justifications for going to war with Iraq.

“Stress and Duress”

Washington Post reporter Dana Priest talks about the painstaking reporting efforts after 9/11 to learn the smallest details about how the U.S. military waged the war on terror.

John Walker Lindh

Seymour Hersh talks about how American John Walker Lindh, who was captured in 2001 by the U.S. military in Afghanistan while fighting with the Taliban, signaled the way detainees in the war on terror would be mistreated.

Brokers of Truth

Helen Thomas talks about how the role of White House press secretary has changed over the decades.

National Security Concerns

Dana Priest talks about the challenges of reporting on suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the controversial process called “rendition,” in which they are taken to CIA prisons in foreign countries for interrogation.

Uncovering CIA Secret Prisons

Dana Priest explains how difficult it was reporting on secret CIA prisons.

Reporting Torture

Dana Priest wrote stories about post-Sept. 11 detainee abuse that raised questions about whether or not the Bush administration was in fact torturing those they held.

A Consequential Presidency

Bob Woodward talks about George W. Bush’s 2003 decision to go to war in Iraq, which he says was the most consequential decision a president can make.

The Art of Manipulation

Bob Woodward talks about the White House manipulation of the press.

Historical Timeline

Click on individual events to expand items one by one, or click the expand all button to view the entire contents of the timeline.

2001

Bush Inauguration: January 20, 2001
George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States after the closest election in American history, which was eventually decided by the Supreme Court.¹Bush wins the presidency after a controversial recount and despite losing the popular vote to Democratic nominee Al Gore.²

9/11: September 11, 2001
Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijack four airplanes and purposely crash two into the World Trade Center in New York and one into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. After the final plane turns toward Washington, some of the crew members and passengers attempt to retake control; the plane crashes near Shanksville, Pa. Almost 3,000 people die in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.³

Afghan War Begins: October 7, 2001
In retaliation for the September 11 attacks, the United States and a coalition force launch Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, which, under Taliban control, had provided a safe haven for Osama bin Laden while he and other al-Qaeda leaders plotted attacks against the Western world. President Bush declares a war on terrorism and vows to hold states responsible for harboring terrorist organizations.⁴

DHS Established: October 8, 2001
The Office of Homeland Security, later to become the Department of Homeland Security, is established.

Patriot Act: October 26, 2001
President Bush signs into law the USA Patriot Act, which greatly expands domestic law enforcement capacity to conduct surveillance and wiretaps, increases presidential powers during a terrorist attack and tightens federal oversight of financial activities. Concerns soon arise over restriction of civil liberties.

Iraqi Links: November 8, 2001
The New York Times and the PBS program “Frontline” report that an Iraqi defector, an army general, claims that the Iraqi military trained Arab fighters to hijack airplanes. These claims could not be substantiated and one of the defectors is later exposed by Mother Jones to be using a false identity.

John Walker Lindh

November 25, 2001

American citizen-turned-Taliban-soldier John Walker Lindh is captured in Afghanistan.⁵

John Walker Lindh

Saddam is ‘Evil’: December 3, 2001
Bush states in an interview with Newsweek that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is “evil.”

New Afghan Government: December 5, 2001
An interim government is put in place in Afghanistan.

Kandahar Falls: December 9, 2001
The Taliban surrender the city of Kandahar and effectively collapse. Al-Qaeda leaders continue to hide out in the mountains, however, and bin Laden is tracked to the Tora Bora caves.

Bin Laden Escapes: December 16, 2001
After a two-week assault on the caves led by Afghan soldiers, bin Laden escapes.

WMD Links: December 20, 2001
Judith Miller reports in The New York Times that an Iraqi defector claimed that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. “An Iraqi defector who described himself as a civil engineer said he personally worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in underground wells, private villas and under the Saddam Hussein Hospital in Baghdad as recently as a year ago.”⁶ The defector, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al Haideri, was considered unreliable by the CIA and had failed a CIA polygraph test.

2002

Guantanamo Prisoners: January 18, 2002
President Bush refuses to give prisoner of war protection to terror detainees being held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Daniel Pearl Kidnapped: January 23, 2002
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. Nine days later, he is decapitated.

‘Axis of Evil’: January 29, 2002
In his State of the Union address, President Bush describes Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the “axis of evil.”⁷

Niger Report: March 1, 2002
The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research publishes a report entitled, “Niger: Sale of Uranium to Iraq Is Unlikely.” This agrees with the findings of former ambassador Joe Wilson that a supposed memorandum of understanding between Niger and Iraq, showing a sale of yellowcake uranium to Iraq, does not exist.

Dick Cheney Speech: August 26, 2002
In a speech in Nashville, Tennessee, Vice President Dick Cheney declares “there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”⁸

Aluminum Tubes: September 8, 2002
Judith Miller and Michael Gordon report in The New York Times that “Iraq has sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium. … The diameter, thickness and other technical specifications of the aluminum tubes had persuaded American intelligence experts that they were meant for Iraq's nuclear program. …”⁹ This information was seriously doubted by experts inside the federal government; many believed it was inaccurate, and that the tubes were more likely intended for small artillery rockets.

Saddam and bin Laden: September 25, 2002
President Bush declares, “You can’t distinguish between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein when you talk about the war on terror.” This link is questioned by many experts, who point out that as a secularist, Saddam Hussein would be hated, and considered an infidel, by bin Laden and al-Qaida.¹⁰

War Doubts

October 4, 2002

Citing senior Bush administration officials, Jonathan Landay reports that many intelligence experts have doubts about the administration’s justifications for war with Iraq. “The White House and the Pentagon, these officials said, are pressuring intelligence analysts to highlight information that supports Bush’s Iraq policy and suppress information and analysis that might undercut congressional, public or international support for war.” The article is written for Knight-Ridder newspapers and is not widely publicized.¹¹

The Art of Manipulation

9/11 Commision: November 27, 2002
The 9/11 Commission is established by Congress. The mandate of the bipartisan panel is to prepare an account of the Sept. 11 attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks, and to make recommendations to prevent future attacks.

Extraordinary Rendition

December 26, 2002

Dana Priest and Barton Gellman report in The Washington Post on the abuse of prisoners suspected of being al-Qaida operatives or Taliban commanders. The article quotes Cofer Black, then-head of the CIA Counterterrorist Center, “There was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11. … After 9/11 the gloves come off.” The article also describes the practice of “extraordinary rendition,” in which terrorism suspects are handed over to foreign intelligence services where they have no access to the legal process. An official states to the newspaper, “We don’t kick the [expletive] out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them.”¹²

National Security Concerns

2003

Uranium from Africa: January 28, 2003
In his State of the Union address, President Bush states, “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”¹³ This claim had already been proved false or, at the least, exaggerated by both intelligence agencies and former ambassador Joe Wilson, who had personally investigated it.

UN Speech: February 5, 2003
In an attempt to garner international support, Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a passionate speech to the United Nations, in which he declares that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and desires to produce nuclear weapons. Powell states that al-Qaida “continues to have a deep interest in acquiring weapons of mass destruction. As with the story of Zarqawi [Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist leader later killed in a U.S. bombing attack] and his network, I can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons” to al-Qaida.¹⁴ Many of Powell’s claims rely heavily on statements made by Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, an al-Qaida operative captured by American forces. A year earlier, however, a Defense Intelligence Agency report declared that it was probable that al-Libi “was intentionally misleading the debriefers.”¹⁵ Powell also described mobile chemical weapons labs, basing his description on accounts from a CIA informant, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, known until recently only by the code name “Curveball.” Eight years later, al-Janabi admits to the Guardian and in a “60 Minutes” interview that he fabricated his story.¹⁶

Patriot II Act: February 7, 2003
The Center for Public Integrity obtains and posts online a secret, draft copy of legislation being quietly developed within the Justice Department, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, also known as the Patriot II Act, and some Americans worry that the government is using the guise of antiterrorism to infringe on personal freedoms.¹⁷

No-Bid Contract: March 1, 2003
The defense contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), then a subsidiary of Halliburton, which had been formerly led by Dick Cheney, is awarded a no-bid contract to fight oil-well fires and make emergency repairs. It is later revealed that Halliburton’s role was much broader and that the contract could yield close to a billion dollars. The contract is apparently awarded in March but may have been agreed to as early as October 2002.²²

No Resolution: March 17, 2003
The U.S., the U.K. and Spain announce that they will not try to take a resolution authorizing the use of force on Iraq to a vote in the U.N. Security Council. Instead, the countries reserve the right to act on their own.¹⁸

‘Dubious Allegations’

March 18, 2003

The day before the U.S. invades Iraq, an article titled, “Bush Clings to Dubious Allegations about Iraq,” by Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank, runs in The Washington Post on page A13.¹⁹

Enablers of War

Iraq War Begins

March 19, 2003

In an undertaking named Operation Iraqi Freedom, the United States invades Iraq. Its stated purposes are to disarm Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD), end Saddam Hussein’s regime and free the Iraqi people from a disreputable totalitarian.²⁰Roughly five years after the initial invasion, the Center for Public Integrity reports that senior Bush administration officials made “935 false statements” in the two years after Sept. 11, 2001, about the extent of the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. In retrospect, the center found, the Iraqi regime never possessed WMD, and until 2003 did not have any viable ties to al-Qaida.²¹

A Consequential Presidency

‘Mission Accomplished’: May 1, 2003
President Bush delivers a speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln prematurely declaring the end to major combat operations in Iraq. In the background, a triumphant banner declares “Mission Accomplished.”²³

Ambassador Wilson Op-Ed: July 6, 2003
An op-ed by former ambassador Joseph Wilson in The New York Times, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa,” rebuffs President Bush’s claim in his State of the Union address that Iraq had sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.²⁴

Valerie Plame Outed: July 14, 2003
One week after Wilson’s op-ed is published, conservative columnist Robert Novak reveals in a syndicated column that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA operative.²⁵The revelation effectively ends Plame’s career as a covert operative and risks her security and that of those who worked with her. The Justice Department launches an investigation, which ultimately determines that the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was one of the most senior members of the Bush administration responsible for leaking the information.²⁶

‘Windfalls of War’: October 30, 2003
The Center for Public Integrity releases a major report, “Windfalls of War,” revealing which American companies have received the most taxpayer money from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Vice President Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, and its subsidiary, KBR, received by far the most lucrative federal contracts.²⁷

2004

Abu Ghraib Abuse: January 13, 2004
Sgt. Joseph M. Darby, an Army reservist, gives photos documenting abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command.

Clarke Criticism: March 21, 2004
In an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke accuses the Bush administration of ignoring the growing threat of terrorism before 9/11 and focusing too much on Iraq instead of al-Qaida after the attacks.²⁸

Abu Ghraib Stories: April 28, 2004
CBS’ “60 Minutes II” airs a story about U.S. soldiers abusing and torturing Iraqi inmates housed at Abu Ghraib.²⁹ Two days later, The New Yorker publishes an article by Seymour Hersh about sadistic and criminal abuses at Abu Ghraib.³⁰

Guantanamo Ruling: June 28, 2004
The Supreme Court rules that detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in federal court.³¹

Commission Report: July 22, 2004
The 9/11 Commission issues its final report. Much of the blame for the attacks is placed on the CIA and FBI for failing to anticipate or prevent them. The commission confirms a 2002 CBS report that the title of the president’s Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence briefing was “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” ³² Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had testified before the commission that the briefing did not warn of attacks in the U.S., adding, “It was historical information based on old reporting.”

Bush Reelected: November 2, 2004
President Bush is re-elected, defeating the Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

2005

Second Bush Inauguration: January 20, 2005
Bush is sworn in for a second term.

Iraqi Elections: January 30, 2005
Elections are held in Iraq.

New Attorney General: February 3, 2005
Alberto Gonzalez is sworn in as the new U.S. attorney general.

Al Qahtani Abuse: June 12, 2005
Time magazine reports that Mohammed al-Qahtani, the so-called 20th Sept. 11 hijacker, was tortured during his time at Guantanamo Bay.³⁴ Four years later, a top Bush administration official confirms that Qahtani was abused,³⁵ adding further doubts over the incarceration and interrogation methods being used by the United States.

Greenhouse Fired: August 29, 2005
The Washington Post reports that a high-level contracting official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, who had publicly criticized the Pentagon’s decision to award Halliburton a no-bid contract, was removed from her job. She subsequently sues, and on July 25, 2011, a U.S. District Court judge awards her $970,000 for lost wages, compensatory damages and attorney fees.³⁶

Secret Prisons

November 2, 2005

Dana Priest reports in The Washington Post that the CIA is hiding and interrogating al-Qaida terror suspects in a secret prison system in as many as eight countries.³³Considering the abuses at Abu Ghraib, many are concerned about possible torture and abuse that could be occurring at these secret prisons.

Uncovering CIA Secret Prisons

NSA Surveillance: December 15, 2005
James Risen and Eric Lichtblau report in The New York Times that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance on U.S. citizens. The newspaper was asked repeatedly by the White House not to publish the story, and, in fact, the article’s publication was delayed by the Times for approximately a year.

2006

No Torture

September 6, 2006

President Bush acknowledges the existence of secret CIA prisons outside the United States. He also states, “I want to be absolutely clear with our people and the world: The United States does not torture. It’s against our laws, and it’s against our values. I have not authorized it, and I will not authorize it.”³⁷

“Stress and Duress”

Saddam Executed: December 30, 2006
Saddam Hussein is executed. He had been convicted of crimes against humanity by an Iraqi tribunal in the deaths of 148 Iraqi Shiite in 1982, in retaliation for an assassination attempt against him.

2007

The Surge: January 10, 2007
President Bush announces a “troop surge” in Iraq, and the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops.³⁸

CIA Black Sites: August 6, 2007
Jane Mayer reports in The New Yorker on the CIA’s “black sites” and the abuse and psychological torture suffered by terror suspects. While the methods often get suspects to talk, the article cites CIA officials as doubtful of the reliability of the information obtained. The article quotes an expert on the CIA’s practices in coercing suspects to talk as saying, “After the Cold War we put away those tools. There was bipartisan reform. We backed away from those dark days. Then, under the pressure of the war on terror, they didn’t just bring back the old psychological techniques — they perfected them.”³⁹

‘Enhanced Techniques’

October 4, 2007

The New York Times reports that despite the criticism and dubious legality of the methods being used to question terror suspects, President Bush had signed an executive order in July 2006 authorizing the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques.”⁴⁰

Reporting Torture

Blackwater: November 14, 2007
An FBI investigation of the military contractor Blackwater and the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians finds that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and “violated deadly force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq.”⁴¹

CIA Tapes: December 6, 2007
The CIA admits that in 2005 it destroyed two tapes documenting the interrogation of prisoners, including suspected al-Qaida leader Abu Zubaydah. The New York Times reports that part of the reason they were destroyed was that “officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy.”⁴²

2008

Pentagon ‘Independent’ Analysts: April 20, 2008
David Barstow of The New York Times reports that the Pentagon had quietly recruited and was paying 75 retired military officers to be “independent” radio and television analysts. They were secretly coached about how to make the public case for war in Iraq on the air, and many of them also had significant, undisclosed financial ties to defense companies that were benefiting from the policies they were “analyzing.” The story is based on 8,000 pages of Department of Defense records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.⁴³

Obama Elected: November 4, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is elected president, garnering 365 electoral votes to 173 for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Obama wins several states – including Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana – once thought to be Republican strongholds.

Barstow Report: November 30, 2008
David Barstow reports in The New York Times that retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey may have used his job as a military analyst for NBC News to promote a view of the Iraq war that was advantageous both to the defense contractors he consulted for and the Pentagon. This and his related articles win Barstow the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2009.⁴⁴

Shoe-Throwing: December 15, 2008
An Iraqi journalist hurls his shoe, considered an act of extreme disrespect, at President Bush during a news conference.⁴⁵

2009

Obama Inauguration: January 20, 2009
Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president and as the first African-American president in American history. He strives to stabilize the economy and pass a comprehensive health care package while simultaneously de-escalating the war in Iraq and boosting troop levels in Afghanistan by 30,000 service members.⁴⁶

Executive Orders: January 22, 2009
President Obama issues three executive orders. The first is an order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year; the second bans torture and requires the Army Field Manual be used for all interrogations; and the third orders creation of an interagency task force to review all detention and interrogation procedures.⁴⁷ The president later signs an order barring the use of funds to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo to the United States or other foreign countries.⁴⁸ As of the publication of this timeline, terror suspects are still being held there.

Halliburton Settlement: January 27, 2009
Halliburton agrees to pay a $559 million settlement to the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement stems from charges filed against the company alleging that its former subsidiary KBR violated anti-bribery laws by paying kickbacks to Nigerian officials.⁴⁹

Iraqi Handover: June 30, 2009
The U.S. officially hands over to Iraqi forces formal control of security in urban areas of the country.⁵⁰

Afghan Surge: December 2, 2009
President Obama announces that he has approved a surge of 30,000 troops to be sent to Afghanistan, adding to the 17,000 additional troops sent nine months earlier.⁵¹

2010

Casualty Count

March 16, 2010

The count of deceased U.S. servicemen and women in Iraq stands at 4,369; in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom claims 1,009 American lives.⁵²

Brokers of Truth

WikiLeaks Video: April 5, 2010
WikiLeaks, an online organization devoted to publishing secret government and corporate information, posts a video that appears to show the U.S. Army bombing unarmed Iraqi civilians.⁵³ The footage sparks outrage in the U.S., although some viewers question whether it was edited in a manipulative way.⁵⁴

Another No-Bid Contract: May 5, 2010
Bloomberg News reports that contractor KBR has again been awarded a no-bid contract by the Army, this one worth as much as $568 million. The news comes on the same day that the Justice Department announces it intends to pursue another lawsuit against the company accusing it of taking kickbacks.⁵⁵

Manning Arrest: May 26, 2010
Federal officials arrest Pfc. Bradley Manning.⁵⁶ He is charged with giving WikiLeaks hundreds of classified documents. It is later revealed that military jailers in Quantico, Virginia, force Manning to sleep naked, a move his lawyer describes as “punitive.”⁵⁷

‘Top Secret America’: July 19, 2010
The Washington Post begins publishing “Top Secret America,” a four-part series by Dana Priest and William Arkin that reveals that nearly a decade after 9/11, roughly 854,000 people hold top-secret clearances, and that 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies “work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.” The series is expanded into a book and PBS “Frontline” documentary.⁵⁹

WikiLeaks Documents: July 25, 2010
WikiLeaks releases 77,000 classified documents concerning the war in Afghanistan; some of the documents include accounts of civilian casualties.^{60 61} WikiLeaks collaborates with The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel to publish the documents.

Iraq Pullout: August 19, 2010
The last U.S. combat troops withdraw from Iraq, leaving around 50,000 troops to serve in advisory roles.⁵⁸

More Documents: October 22, 2010
WikiLeaks releases nearly 400,000 more classified documents, this time documenting the war in Iraq. According to the BBC, “The ‘war logs’ suggest evidence of torture was ignored and detail the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians.”⁶²

WikiLeaks’ Assange Arrested: December 7, 2010
Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, is jailed in London on charges that he committed “rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion” while in Sweden, which requests his extradition.⁶³ Assange is released on $315,000 bail nine days later.⁶⁴

Guantanamo Vote: December 22, 2010
Congress votes to impose strict restrictions on how and where detainees are transferred out of Guantanamo Bay.⁶⁵

2011

Guantanamo Stays Open: January 20, 2011
After Congress blocks plans to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S. to be tried, the Obama administration abandons its plans to close the detention center and approves plans to resume military tribunals.⁶⁶

Bin Laden Killed: May 1, 2011
In a late-night speech, President Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attacks on 9/11, was killed by Navy SEALs during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.⁶⁷

Recommended References

BOOKS

Bamford, James. A Pretext for War: 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies. New York: Doubleday, 2004.
Blix, Hans. Disarming Iraq: The former director of the U.N. Inspection Commission gives his account of the search for weapons of mass destruction and the events leading up to America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. New York: Pantheon, 2004.
Bonin, Richard. Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi’s Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq. New York: Doubleday, 2011.
Borjesson, Kristina, ed. Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11: Top Journalists Speak Out. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005.
Bremer III, L. Paul. My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Bush, George W. Decision Points. New York: Crown, 2010.
Carroll, James. Crusade: Chronicles of an Unjust War. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004.
Cheney, Dick. In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir. New York: Threshold Editions, 2011.
Clarke, Richard A. Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror. New York: Free Press, 2004.
Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2011. New York: Penguin Press HC, 2004. ^
Coll, Steve. The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. New York: Penguin Press HC, 2008.
Draper, Robert. Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush. New York: Free Press, 2007.
Drogin, Bob. Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War. New York: Random House, 2007.
Drumheller, Tyler. On The Brink: An Insider's Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006.
Galbraith, Peter. The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Gellman, Barton. Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency. New York: Penguin Press HC, 2008.
Graham, Bob. Intelligence Matters: The CIA, the FBI, Saudi Arabia, and the Failure of America’s War on Terror. New York: Random House, 2004.
Gordon, Michael R., and Bernard E. Trainor. Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. New York: Pantheon, 2006.
Hersh, Seymour. Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib. HarperCollins, 2004.
Isikoff, Michael, and David Corn. Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2007.
Kean, Thomas H., and Lee H. Hamilton. Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Kessler, Ronald. The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack. New York: Crown Forum, 2007.
Mayer, Jane. The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. New York: Doubleday, 2008.
McKelvey, Tara. Monstering: Inside America’s Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War. New York: Basic Books, 2007.
Meyer, Christopher. DC Confidential: The Controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the U.S. at the Time of 9/11 and the Run-up to the Iraq War. London: Phoenix/Orion, 2006.
Packer, George. The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.#
Priest, Dana, and William Arkin. Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011.
Rice, Condoleezza. No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years In Washington. New York: Crown, 2011.
Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Ricks, Thomas E. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin, 2006.#
Risen, James. State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. New York: Free Press, 2006.
Rove, Karl. Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight. New York: Threshold Editions, 2010.
Rumsfeld, Donald. Known and Unknown: A Memoir. New York: Sentinel HC, 2011.
Suskind, Ron. The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Tenet, George. At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.
Weiner, Tim. Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Whitney, Craig R. The WMD Mirage: Iraq’s Decade of Deception and America’s False Premise for War. New York: PublicAffairs, 2005.
Woodward, Bob. Bush at War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Woodward, Bob. Plan of Attack. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Woodward, Bob. State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Wright, Lawrence. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ^
Yoo, John. Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush. New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2010.

ONLINE

“The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.” New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
“Iraq: The War Card.” Center for Public Integrity.
“Lie by Lie: The Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline (8/1/90–2/14/08).”
“The War Logs.” The New York Times.
“Windfalls of War.” Center for Public Integrity.

DOCUMENTARIES

9/11. Dir. James Hanlon and Rob Klug. CBS, 2002. * **
To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports. Prod. Keith Summa and Gabrielle Tenenbaum. ABC, 2007.**
Beneath the Veil. Prod. Cassian Harrison. CNN, Channel 4, 2001.**
Bush’s War. Prod. Michael Kirk. PBS, “Frontline,” 2008.*
Buying the War. Prod. Kathleen Hughes. PBS, “Bill Moyers Journal,” 2007.
Top Secret America. Prod. Michael Kirk. PBS, “Frontline,” 2011.
Torturing Democracy. Prod. Sherry Jones. PBS, “Bill Moyers Journal,” 2009.

*Emmy Award winner
**Peabody Award winner
^Pulitzer Prize winner
#Pulitzer Prize finalist

ENDNOTES

¹ Library of Congress web archives: United States election 2000
² “Election 2000 Timeline.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
³ “9/11 by the Numbers” New York.
⁴ “Bush Announces Opening of Attacks.” CNN, 7 Oct. 2001.
⁵ “The Case of the American Taliban.” CNN, n/d.
⁶ Judith Miller, “An Iraqi Defector Tells of Work on at Least 20 Hidden Weapons Sites,” New York Times20 Dec. 2001.
⁷ “State of the Union Address.” 29 Jan. 2002.
⁸ “Eyes on Iraq; In Cheney's Words: The Administration Case for Removing Saddam Hussein.” New York Times 27 Aug. 2002.
⁹ Gordon, Michael R., and Judith Miller. “Threats and Responses: The Iraqis; U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts.” New York Times 8 Sept. 2002.
¹⁰ “Experts doubt Iraq, al-Qaeda terror link.” CBC News, 1 Nov. 2002.
¹¹ Landay, Jonathan S. “CIA Report Reveals Analysts’ Split over Extent of Iraqi Nuclear Threat.” Knight- Ridder Newspapers 4 Oct. 2002.
¹² Priest, Dana, and Barton Gellman. “U.S. Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations.” WashingtonPost 26 Dec. 2002.
¹³ “President Bush Delivers State of the Union.” The White House. 28 Jan. 2003.
¹⁴ Powell, Colin. “A Policy of Evasion and Deception.” Text of speech to United Nations. Washington Post 5 Feb. 2003.
¹⁵ Jehl, Douglas. “Report Warned Bush Team About Intelligence Doubts.” New York Times 6 Nov. 2005.
¹⁶ Chulov, Martin, and Helen Pidd. “Curveball: How US was duped by Iraqi fantasist looking to topple Saddam.” Guardian 15 Feb. 2011.
¹⁷ Lewis, Charles, and Mayle, Adam, “Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-terrorism Act.”Center for Public Integrity 7 Feb. 2003.; “NOW with Bill Moyers” 7 Feb. 2003.
¹⁸ “UK, US and Spain won’t seek vote on draft resolution, may take ‘own steps’ to disarm Iraq.” U.N. News Service 17 Mar. 2003.
¹⁹ Pincus, Walter, and Dana Milbank. “Bush Clings to Dubious Allegations About Iraq.” Washington Post 18 Mar. 2003: A13.
²⁰ “President Discusses Beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Radio address. The White House. 22 Mar. 2003.
²¹ Lewis, Charles, and Mark Reading-Smith. “False Pretenses.” Center for Public Integrity 23 Jan. 2008.
²² Renner, Michael. “Iraq’s other looting.” Asia Times 11 July 2003.
²³ Associated Press, “Text of Bush Speech.” CBS 1 May 2003.
²⁴ Wilson, Joseph. “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” New York Times 6 July 2003.
²⁵ Novak, Robert D. “Mission to Niger.” Washington Post 14 July 2003.
²⁶ NBC News, "Jurors convict Libby on four of five charges." MSNBC 6 Mar. 2007.
²⁷ Maud Beelman et. al. “Windfalls of War.” Center for Public Integrity (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) 30 Oct. 2003.
²⁸ Leung, Rebecca. “Clarke’s Take on Terror.” CBS “60 Minutes” 21 Mar. 2004.
²⁹ Leung, Rebecca. “Abuse of Iraqi POWs by GIs Probed.” CBS 28 Apr. 2004.
³⁰ Hersh, Seymour M. “Torture at Abu Ghraib.” New Yorker 10 May 2004.
³¹ Borger, Julian, and Vikram Todd. “Supreme Court Blow for Bush on Guantánamo.” Guardian 29 June 2004.
³² “The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.”
³³ Priest, Dana. “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons.” Washington Post 2 Nov. 2005: A1.
³⁴ Zagorim, Adam, and Michael Duffy. “Inside the Interrogation of Detainee 063.” Time 12 June 2005.
³⁵ Woodward, Bob. “Guantanamo Detainee Was Tortured, Says Official Overseeing Military Trials.”Washington Post 14 Jan. 2009.
³⁶ Davidson, Joe. “A bittersweet win for a federal whistleblower.” Washington Post 26 July 2011.
³⁷ Karl, Jonathan. “‘High-Value’ Detainees Transferred to Guantanamo.” ABC News 6 Sept. 2006.
³⁸ “Barack Obama to announce 30,000 US troop surge to Afghanistan.” Telegraph 1 Dec. 2009.
³⁹ Mayer, Jane. “The Black Sites: A Rare Look Inside the C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program.” New Yorker 13 Aug. 2007. < >
⁴⁰ Shane, Scott, David Johnston, and James Risen. “Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations.” New York Times 4 Oct. 2007: A1.
⁴¹ Johnston, David, and John M. Broder. “F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause.” New York Times 14 Nov. 2007.
⁴² Mazzetti, Mark. “C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations.” New York Times 6 Dec. 2007: A1.
⁴³ Barstow, David. “Message Machine: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand.” New York Times20 April 2008: A1.
⁴⁴ Barstow, David. “One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex.,” New York Times 30 Nov.. 2008: A1.
⁴⁵ Raghavan, Sudarsan, and Dan Eggen. “Shoe-Throwing Mars Bush’s Baghdad Trip.” Washington Post 15 Dec. 2008: n.p.
⁴⁶ Associated Press. “Obama Afghanistan Speech Text,” Huffington Post, 18 Mar. 2010.
⁴⁷ “Obama Signs Order to Close Guantanamo Bay Facility.” CNN 22 Jan. 2009.
⁴⁸ “Statement by the President on H.R. 6523.” White House 7 Jan. 2011.
⁴⁹ “Halliburton to Pay $559 Million to Settle Bribery Probe.” Dealbook. New York Times 27 Jan. 2009.
⁵⁰ Associated Press. “Fireworks over Baghdad as U.S. troops leave.” MSNBC 30 June 2009.
⁵¹ “Obama to send 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.” BBC News 2 Dec. 2009.
⁵² “Faces of the Fallen.” Washington Post 16 Mar. 2010.
⁵³ McGreal, Chris. “WikiLeaks Reveals Video Showing U.S. Air Crew Shooting Down Iraqi Civilians.”Guardian 5 Apr. 2010.
⁵⁴ Cohen, Noam and Brian Stelter. “Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Web Site.” New York Times 7 Apr. 2010: A8.
⁵⁵ Capaccio, Tony. “KBR gets no-bid contract to support Army in Iraq.” Bloomberg News 5 May 2010. 
⁵⁶ Poulsen, Kevin, and Kim Zetter. “U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in WikiLeaks Video Probe.” Wired 6 June 2010.
⁵⁷ Nakashima, Ellen. “In Brig, WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning Ordered to Sleep Without Clothing.”Washington Post 3 Mar. 2011.
⁵⁸ “Last full U.S. combat brigade leaves Iraq.” MSNBC 19 Aug. 2010.
⁵⁹ Priest, Dana, and William M. Arkin. “Top Secret America.” Washington Post 19-22 July 2010.
⁶⁰ “The WikiLeaks War Logs.” Time.
⁶¹ Bingham, John. “WikiLeaks Afghanistan: Suggestions US tried to cover up civilian casualties.”Telegraph 27 July 2010.
⁶² “WikiLeaks: Iraq war logs ‘reveal truth about conflict’.” BBC News 23 Oct. 2010.
⁶³ Burns, John F., and Ravi Somaiya. “British Court Denies Bail to Assange.” New York Times 7 Dec. 2010.
⁶⁴ Somaiya, Ravi. “WikiLeaks Founder Is Released on Bail.” New York Times 16 Dec. 2010.
⁶⁵ Savage, Charlie. “Vote Hurts Obama’s Push to Empty Cuba Prison.” New York Times 22 Dec. 2010.
⁶⁶ McGreal, Chris. “Barack Obama Abandons Guantánamo Closure Plan After Congress Veto.”Guardian 20 Jan. 2011.
⁶⁷ Baker, Peter, Helene Cooper, and Mark Mazzetti. “Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says.” New York Times1 May 2011.

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