Hunting Down Terrorist Bombers
Retired FBI Agent Greg Snider has a spent the last year and half hunting for one of the most dangerous predators on earth—men who use bombs to kill others. Greg, imbedded with our military units in Iraq, sifted through the debris of the latest bombing sites, searching for elusive clues. He and his teammates searched for evidence that might lead military and law enforcement to identify these bomb makers and track the manufactures who provided the parts of these deadly weapons.
In this last of a three-part interview, Greg will tell us about his experiences in this search for these killers. Key to the success of this mission—to bring terrorists into Iraqi court as criminals—is the collection and presentation of evidence. This sound simple, but in Iraq the journey through that country’s judicial system is politically and culturally challenging. Who are these terrorists and how do we stop them? Greg Snider will tell us about the last eighteen months he and others worked to find an answer.
MARK: During our last interview, Greg, you told us about arriving in Iraq and some experiences and challenges in investigating these cases. Many of our readers are mystery readers and writers, looking for unique characters that seem to bring the story alive. Those that create a special place in our minds. Tell us more about some of the interesting people you met while overseas.
GREG: I believe that I mentioned several individuals who contributed greatly to our success in Iraq during our earlier interview. I’ll recap a few of them as follows:
First there is Captain, now Major, Perez-Rivera, aka; “Captain PR.” His individual efforts and self-sacrifices went far beyond the call of duty. As I said before, he received his higher education at the seminary. Quite a dichotomy from being a war fighter wouldn’t you say? He slept about four hours every other night. He read hundreds of e-mails every day and the amazing part was his ability to sort out those that pertained to our Area of Operation (AO) and the names of those who posed the greatest threat to our unit. He briefed our colonel daily advising him on who posed the greatest threat for that day and week. He is the person responsible for establishing the targeting of bad Iraqis in our AO.
My job was to establish a working relationship with him in order to prove what I could bring to the fight. Upon my arrival it was obvious that he was the busiest soldier in the army. His time was valuable. I had my work cut out getting him to listen and accept my value to the unit. This proved to be a daunting task and a test of my patience. As Mark knows, I don’t like sitting around.
My job was to establish a working relationship with him in order to prove what I could bring to the fight. Upon my arrival it was obvious that he was the busiest soldier in the army. His time was valuable. I had my work cut out getting him to listen and accept my value to the unit. This proved to be a daunting task and a test of my patience. As Mark knows, I don’t like sitting around.
I found that I could pose small bits of information to PR because he had only small bits of time to listen. I would sit and watch him, trying to determine when his brain might be in neutral so that he would hear what little bits of information I could pass on. I got his attention after the colonel assigned me to review all the “release packets”—detainees on the list to be released. This task did not sit well with the soldiers. I searched computer data bases to find “evidence” that could be used to dissuade the attorneys from releasing certain individuals. This was absolutely one of the most frustrating tasks.
Almost all the detainees were gathered up with “army intelligence,” information not releasable to the Iraqis due to its sensitive nature or the techniques used to gather it. I quickly learned that the colonel did not want anyone released. Within the first couple days, I learned that one of the individuals was linked to a Jordan bombing. That set the tone for getting Captain PR’s ear when the timing was right. He had a reason to believe I could be of value. This suspect was detained further. However, over the coming months, many detainees were released due to “lack of evidence.” Evidence was my mission, a brand new concept to the army.
Almost all the detainees were gathered up with “army intelligence,” information not releasable to the Iraqis due to its sensitive nature or the techniques used to gather it. I quickly learned that the colonel did not want anyone released. Within the first couple days, I learned that one of the individuals was linked to a Jordan bombing. That set the tone for getting Captain PR’s ear when the timing was right. He had a reason to believe I could be of value. This suspect was detained further. However, over the coming months, many detainees were released due to “lack of evidence.” Evidence was my mission, a brand new concept to the army.
It should be noted that Captain PR was almost singlehandedly responsible for the 101st Airborne’s distinction of capturing the greatest number of bad Iraqis in this conflict—175 enemy combatants during a twelve month period.
He also holds another distinction. Together we were the first unit in the army to acquire Iraqi Warrants for Arrest, nine in our first attempt. We had evidence. I was able to train a team of our soldiers to gather evidence at capture sites and attack sites. These soldiers became enthused with their new tasking. We formed a good team.
(L-R) Bill King, Leon Schenck, Major Kelby Brake, and Greg
Another individual I mentioned was LEP Leon Schenck. Along with being a very funny man and a retired FBI agent, he earned distinction through his work at the detention facility in Baghdad. It became apparent to him that releasing thousands of bad Iraqis due to lack of evidence was not a good idea. However, due to “bleeding hearts” around the world and the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA), this became routine based upon directives from above. LEP Schenck discovered that many of the detainees did not have fingerprints, DNA or photographs on file, contrary to what the army believed.
I must take this opportunity to point out that the army has attorneys and—as all law enforcement comes to know—attorneys are not always on our side. To clarify, the overwhelming majority of army lawyers are fresh out of law school and owes their time to the army to pay for their education. That being said, here is LEP Schenck’s story:
LEP Schenk, being a forward thinker, contacted the FBI and requested supplies to fingerprint some 30,000 Iraqi detainees. He learned the FBI not only offered to provide these materials, but the bureau sent some 20 agents to help collect this data. Supplies arrived shortly and about six weeks later agents come to take fingerprints, DNA and photographs.
I need to digress a bit to make what happens next make sense. When LEP Schenck first arrived at his new assignment at the Baghdad Detention Facility, he continued to refer to those incarcerated individuals as “prisoners.” He was corrected by the JAG Officers on many occasions and directed to call these prisoners “detainees.” A “prisoner” is a person captured during war, and since this conflict is not a “war” they are “detainees”. LEP Schenck questioned this because he pointed out that many “detainees” had been in custody of the army for over five years. He subsequently learned to refer to those in custody as “detainees.”
Returning to my story about fingerprinting the “detainees”, about a day and a half into the project of FBI agents taking fingerprints, photographs and DNA, a JAG officer showed up and said the FBI could not continue taking photographs of the “detainees” because the Geneva Convention precluded pictures taken of “prisoners.” The FBI insisted that “we are the FBI and we’ll do what we want.” LEP Schenck walks into the dispute and tries to reason that those in custody were “detainees”, not “prisoners,” as JAG officers repeatedly make clear on numerous occasions. As such, these “detainees” are not subject to the Geneva Convention.
The FBI halted their efforts when they were not able to resolve this issue. It was referred to the Pentagon. A week and a half later, the FBI agents got the green light to continue with their photo recognition pictures. (More on this practice later as it pertains to soldiers’ morale.)
Two other individuals I briefly spoke about earlier were Officer in Charge Major Kelby Brake and our interpreter, Sammy Wassim. I believe I detailed their contribution and my appreciation for their friendship, knowledge and professionalism in my previous interview.