Frank Gregory Ford - Midnight in Samarra: The True Story of WMD, Greed, and High Crimes in Iraq

Copyright 2019 by Frank Gregory Ford and Eleanor Cooney

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Paul Qualcom

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4020-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4021-1

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

A forced abduction, strong-arm tactics, and a moment of truth.

Petty tyrants, sandstorms, the wrath of Allah, and a farewell to a four-legged friend.

Murder at Camp Virginia, the making of an intel agent, and traveling the Highway of Death.

Ancient grievances, satanic weaponry, the taking of Jessica Lynch, and giant desert lizards.

Foul infernos, scorched lungs, cowards in high places, and the malignant El Salvador connection.

An angel-boy, a touch of the Twilight Zone , an inter-species encounter, and a wounded child.

A celestial apocalypse, ferocious Iranian expats, and sweet vindication.

Down the rabbit hole: enough killing power to end all life on earth, made in the USA.

Dissembling, lying, diverting, and concealing, a lethal snare, and the heat of hell.

A legendary city, wonders of the world, an extraordinary gentleman, and lost souls.

An intruder in our midst, a wedding tragedy, a master manipulator, fury, and vengeance.

Inside Abu Ghraib, Gitmo-ization, the death squads come to town, and blood atonement.

Al Qaeda rising, an uneasy recognition, and unholy alliances.

A home invasion, a terrifying journey, revelations, obscene opulence, and a brave old man.

Our friend the Sheik, air-conditioned warriors, and a hard and lonely death.

A fearless gaze, fiery faith, and a dreadful sense of reckoning.

American barbarians unbound, fragile lives, and a dire warning from the Sheik.

The Sheik, his old friend Saddam, a falcons-eye view, and the laughter of fools.

Dodging the Reaper by a breath, a warning to the Sheik, and leaving Samarra forever.

The machinery of lies engages its gears: murderous looks, charges filed, a false diagnosis.

Drugs, delirium, and interrogation at 35,000 feet, memory rises, and the sweet air of Germany.

Bad doctors, good doctors, an invitation to paradise, and a sad ceremony.

Back in the USA, building a case, and the beginnings of backlash.

The fight gets dirty, rest and rehab, snakes in the grass, and bad news from Samarra.

Dishonor in high places, empty threats and desperate measures, and Saddam extracted.

Abu Ghraib breaks, the Ice Man speaks, high crimes and misdemeanors, and rewards for the wicked.

Big public lies, big public truths, fall guys on trial, stonewalling, and knocking on SCOTUS door.

The devil gets a name, a rebuilt heart, mind-blowing synchronicity, and stainless steel determination.

Follow the money

FOREWORD

By David Talbot

T he world is burning, and yet the firelight illuminates the way out. The times are dire, even catastrophic. Nonetheless we can sense a grand awakening, a growing realization all around the globe that people have the power, to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools in the prophetic words of Patti Smith.

But in order to rouse ourselves from the nightmares that hold us in their grip, we need to know more about the forces that bedevil us, the structures of power that profit from humanitys exploitation and from that of the earth. Thats the impetus behind Hot Books, a series that seeks to expose the dark operations of power and to light the way forward.

Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons and I started Hot Books in 2015 because we believe that books can make a difference. Since then the Hot Books series has shined a light on the cruel reign of racism and police violence in Baltimore (D. Watkins The Beast Side ); the urgent need to hold US officials accountable for their criminal actions during the war on terror (Rachel Gordons American Nuremberg ); the poisoning of US soldiers by their own environmentally reckless commanding officers (Joseph Hickmans The Burn Pits ); the covert manipulation of the media by intelligence agencies (Nicholas Schous Spooked ); the rise of a rape culture on campus (Kirby Dick and Amy Zierings The Hunting Ground ); the insidious demonizing of Muslims in the media and in Washington (Arsalan Iftikhars Scapegoats ); the crackdown on whistleblowers who know the governments dirty secrets (Mark Hertsgaards Bravehearts ); the disastrous policies of the liberal elite that led to the triumph of Trump (Chris Hedges Unspeakable ); the American wastelands that gave rise to this dark reign (Alexander Zaitchiks The Gilded Rage ); the energy titans and their political servants who are threatening human survival (Dick Russells Horsemen of the Apocalypse ); the utilization of authoritarian tactics by Donald Trump that threaten to erode American democracy (Brian Klaass The Despots Apprentice ); the capture, torture, and detention of the first high-value target captured by the CIA after 9/11 (Joseph Hickman and John Kiriakous The Convenient Terrorist ); the deportation of American veterans (J. Malcolm Garcias Without a Country ); the ways in which our elections have failed, and continue to fail, their billing as model democracy (Steven Rosenfelds Democracy Betrayed ); the unexplored failures of government officials to use available intelligence to stop the events of September 11th (John Duffy and Ray Nowosielskis The Watchdogs Didnt Bark ); the dirty tricks that undermined democracy during the Nixon years and destroyed public trust in politics during the seventies (Shane OSullivans Dirty Tricks ); and the war crimes and atrocities committed against not one, but countless soldiers (Frank Gregory Ford and Eleanor Cooneys Midnight in Samarra ). And the series continues, going where few publishers dare.

Hot Books are more condensed than standard-length books. Theyre packed with provocative information and points of view that mainstream publishers usually shy from. Hot Books are meant not just to stir readers thinking, but to stir trouble.

Hot Books authors follow the blazing path of such legendary muckrakers and troublemakers as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jessica Mitford, I.F. Stone and Seymour Hersh. The magazines and newspapers that once provided a forum for this deep and dangerous journalism have shrunk in number and available resources. Hot Books aims to fill this crucial gap.

American journalism has become increasingly digitized and commodified. If the news isnt fake, its usually shallow. But theres a growing hunger for information that is both credible and undiluted by corporate filters.