Americans on the plane. In an earlier hijacking to Tehran, in 1984, he murdered two American diplomats rather than the other Americans on the plane. Was it a message that his war was against the American government rather than the American people? I expect so, but the point is that these two hijackings, added to the attacks on the Marines and two of our embassies in Beirut, came with such disciplined and focused violence that it left Washington in a state of dumb dread: Who was this fucking barbarian so meticulous in the application of violence?
When, twenty years later, he came to the aid of his fellow Shiites inthe 2003 Iraq war, it was evident Hajj Radwan was only getting better. One of his people was caught with a laptop oscilloscope capable of reading jammer frequencies. (Jammers counter radio-detonated roadside bombs.) It demonstrated he could beat us at our own game, steal our technological fire. But it wasnât as if heâd let his tactics go.
At a little before six on the evening of January 20, 2007, up to a dozen sport-utility vehicles came racing up to the joint American-Iraqi provincial headquarters in Karbala. They contained about a dozen men, all dressed in American combat fatigues and armed with American weapons. They had American badges around their necks. At least one of them spoke English. One had blond hair.
As soon as they pulled up in front, they jumped out and began their assault on the compound. Their intelligence impeccable, they knew exactly where to find the two top American officers. They also knew where to put up a blocking force to keep anyone from coming to the officersâ rescue. One American soldier was killed in the attack, and another four, including the two officers, were captured and taken out into the desert and executed. But was murdering five men symbolic of something or just a coincidence?
Nine days before Karbala, American forces had arrested five Iranian intelligence officers in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil. No one officially drew the connection between the Karbala murders and their arrests, but my hunch is that the attackers murdered five American soldiers in response to the five Iranians taken in Irbil. A gruesome warning from Iran not to touch its people. (The Iranians were released in 2009.)
When I heard that one of Hajj Radwanâs lieutenants had been involved, I remembered another time when Hajj Radwan matched numbers. In the eighties, there was a small college on the Muslim side of Beirut that was anxious about the safety of its foreign staff, its American professors in particular. The Americans werenât let off campus without an armed escort. Things went fine until one morning acontingent of police officers showed up announcing they needed to brief the Americans on a new security threat. As soon as the Americans were assembled, the faux policemen spirited them off for a long and unpleasant captivity.
The stolen uniforms, faultless intelligence, and lightning speed were Hajj Radwanâs hallmark, as was the application of proportional violence. The kidnappers had taken the four American professors because a Christian militia allied with the United States had kidnapped (and murdered) four of Hajj Radwanâs allies, three Iranian diplomats and a fellow Lebanese Shiite. Five for five at Karbala, four for four in Beirut.
I realize that when your life amounts to waiting around for a very talented and successful assassin to come cut your throat, you tend to assign him godlike powers. Did Chuck and I overestimate Hajj Radwan? Maybe. But again, it does help explain why Chuck and I came to the decision we did.
THROWING THE DOGS OFF YOUR SCENT
Finding Hajj Radwan wasnât our only problem. For a start, the full and weighty canon of American law didnât exactly stand foursquare behind us. In fact, assassination had been declared outright illegal in 1981 by President Reagan when he issued Executive Order 12333 banning the act.
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When, twenty years later, he came to the aid of his fellow Shiites inthe 2003 Iraq war, it was evident Hajj Radwan was only getting better. One of his people was caught with a laptop oscilloscope capable of reading jammer frequencies. (Jammers counter radio-detonated roadside bombs.) It demonstrated he could beat us at our own game, steal our technological fire. But it wasnât as if heâd let his tactics go.
At a little before six on the evening of January 20, 2007, up to a dozen sport-utility vehicles came racing up to the joint American-Iraqi provincial headquarters in Karbala. They contained about a dozen men, all dressed in American combat fatigues and armed with American weapons. They had American badges around their necks. At least one of them spoke English. One had blond hair.
As soon as they pulled up in front, they jumped out and began their assault on the compound. Their intelligence impeccable, they knew exactly where to find the two top American officers. They also knew where to put up a blocking force to keep anyone from coming to the officersâ rescue. One American soldier was killed in the attack, and another four, including the two officers, were captured and taken out into the desert and executed. But was murdering five men symbolic of something or just a coincidence?
Nine days before Karbala, American forces had arrested five Iranian intelligence officers in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil. No one officially drew the connection between the Karbala murders and their arrests, but my hunch is that the attackers murdered five American soldiers in response to the five Iranians taken in Irbil. A gruesome warning from Iran not to touch its people. (The Iranians were released in 2009.)
When I heard that one of Hajj Radwanâs lieutenants had been involved, I remembered another time when Hajj Radwan matched numbers. In the eighties, there was a small college on the Muslim side of Beirut that was anxious about the safety of its foreign staff, its American professors in particular. The Americans werenât let off campus without an armed escort. Things went fine until one morning acontingent of police officers showed up announcing they needed to brief the Americans on a new security threat. As soon as the Americans were assembled, the faux policemen spirited them off for a long and unpleasant captivity.
The stolen uniforms, faultless intelligence, and lightning speed were Hajj Radwanâs hallmark, as was the application of proportional violence. The kidnappers had taken the four American professors because a Christian militia allied with the United States had kidnapped (and murdered) four of Hajj Radwanâs allies, three Iranian diplomats and a fellow Lebanese Shiite. Five for five at Karbala, four for four in Beirut.
I realize that when your life amounts to waiting around for a very talented and successful assassin to come cut your throat, you tend to assign him godlike powers. Did Chuck and I overestimate Hajj Radwan? Maybe. But again, it does help explain why Chuck and I came to the decision we did.
THROWING THE DOGS OFF YOUR SCENT
Finding Hajj Radwan wasnât our only problem. For a start, the full and weighty canon of American law didnât exactly stand foursquare behind us. In fact, assassination had been declared outright illegal in 1981 by President Reagan when he issued Executive Order 12333 banning the act.
No person employed by
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