Bill Roggio | |
|---|---|
 Roggio testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 2016 | |
| Occupation | Journalist, blogger |
Bill Roggio is an American commentator on military affairs, [1] and the managing editor of The Long War Journal . [2] Prior to leading a team of online commentators, Roggio published the online weblog The Fourth Rail. [1] Roggio was an active duty soldier in the United States Army in the 1990s. [1]
Roggio and the Long War Journal's staff use reports from media organizations, including publications in countries where terrorists or Islamic insurgencies are active, such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan, then amplify and add historical context to what they find with information from their own network of US intelligence sources. In some cases, PMI has funded trips by its own media-credentialed journalists to report on war zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines.
Roggio served in the United States Army and the New Jersey National Guard as a signalman and infantryman. He uses his military experience to add strategic, operational, and tactical level context to the journal's reports. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, "Roggio's greatest service, then, may be the way he picks up where the mainstream press leaves off, giving readers a simultaneously more specific and holistic understanding of the battlefield." [3]
The Columbia Journalism Review reports that the Long War Journal for the most part avoids political bias in its stories. The Review, however, noted that Roggio has at times aligned himself with conservative bloggers on issues such as the "Easongate" controversy. [3] The journal states that it is a publication of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which describes itself as non-partisan but has been called "neoconservative" by various resources. [4] [5] [6] [7]
The Long War Journal has been used as a source by media organizations or quoted in press publications including The New York Times (two of which were on the newspaper's front page), [8] [9] [10] Reuters , [11] Associated Press , [12] United Press International , [13] [14] [15] Sunday Times , [16] The Hindu , [17] Cable News Network , [18] the Times of India , [19] The Australian , [20] CTC Sentinel , [21] Time , [22] The Nation , [4] Washington Times , [23] and The Atlantic . [24] Marc Thiessen used the journal as a source in a 15 March 2011 opinion piece for the Washington Post . [25] Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Thomas E. Ricks cited Long War Journal reporter Nathan Webster in Ricks' Iraq-related book, The Gamble. [26]
In 2006, before the establishment of the Journal, Huffington Post commentator Stephen Kaus criticized Roggio after Roggio complained about The Washington Post's negative coverage of his 2005 trip to Iraq as an embedded reporter with the United States Marine Corps. Kaus criticized Roggio as a sensationalist who likes to get people to read his articles by distorting the news. [27]
After Baitullah Mehsud was killed in August 2009, Roggio claimed on August 6, 2009, that a US intelligence official told him US officials thought Mehsud was still alive. [28] This claim about Mehsud's fate was not accurate, as Pentagon spokesman Jeff Morrell and National Security Advisor James Jones claimed that US officials were 90% certain he was killed and they had yet to see any evidence to assume otherwise, [29] [30] which was later confirmed by the Pakistan Taliban. [31]
In April 2009, Roggio claimed Rashid Rauf, an Al Qaeda operative who was reported to have been killed in a US drone strike which took place in North Waziristan on November 22, 2008, [32] was still alive. [33] This claim about Rauf's fate was never proven to be true and in July 2010, a U.S. counterterrorism official told the New York Daily News that Rauf was killed in the drone strike. [34] In October 2012, Rauf's family confirmed he was killed in the drone strike. [35]
After Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011, Roggio claimed that his son Sa'ad, who was believed to have killed in a drone strike in 2009, [36] was one of his possible successors. [37] [38] At this time, Roggio gave no mention to the earlier report about Sa'ad's death and stated that Sa'ad "is considered a senior leader and an operational commander in al Qaeda" and that "he is known to shelter in Iran and to move back and forth across the Iranian border with Pakistan." A letter captured from the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama was killed also discussed Sa'ad's death. [39] In September 2012, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri confirmed in a video message that Saad was killed in the drone strike. [40]
In March 2012, Roggio echoed claims by the Daily Times that Ilyas Kashmiri was still alive and was spotted in a meeting with Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in North Waziristan. [41] However, the accuracy of this report was disputed because journalists were unable to access the region where Kashmiri was allegedly spotted. [42] A few days later, the report of Kashmiri's survival was further contradicted when an Al Qaeda spokesman eulogized him along with other Pakistani militants who had been killed in various drone strikes. [43]
Al-Qaeda, officially known as Qaedat al-Jihad, is a multinational militant Sunni Islamic extremist network composed of Salafist jihadists. It was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and other Arab volunteers during the Soviet–Afghan War.
Tohir Yo'ldosh , born Tohir Abdulhalilovich Yuldashev , was an Uzbek Islamist militant who cofounded the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an Islamist organization active in Central Asia, with Juma Namangani in August 1998. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency he was a key leader opposing US forces during Operation Anaconda. The United Nations considers the IMU an Islamic terrorist organization.
The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two separate groups: SAC/SOG for tactical paramilitary operations and SAC/PAG for covert political action.
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading member of TTP in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S. military analysts to have commanded up to 5,000 fighters and to have been behind numerous attacks in Pakistan including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto which he and others have denied.
The Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is the counterterrorism rewards program of the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service. The Secretary of State is currently offering rewards for information that prevents or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. persons or property worldwide. Rewards also may be paid for information leading to the arrest or conviction of terrorists attempting, committing, conspiring to commit, or aiding and abetting in the commission of such acts. The Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than $145 million for information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped bring to justice those involved in prior acts.
Qari Ziaur Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan who is reported to be a leader of the Taliban's and al-Qaeda's leadership. He was believed to have been killed in March 2011 during an attack on militants by the Pakistani military, however Ziaur Rahman later phoned media reporters to confirm that he survived the airstrike.
Qari Hussain Ahmad Mehsud was a top lieutenant in the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the organizer of the group's suicide bombing squads. He was a cousin of Hakimullah Mehsud.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
FDD's Long War Journal (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI is run by Paul Hanusz and Bill Roggio. Roggio is the managing editor of the journal and Thomas Joscelyn is senior editor. The site is a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where both Roggio and Joscelyn are senior fellows.
Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu-al-Khayr, also known as Abu Abdallah al-Halabi, was a citizen of Saudi Arabia notable for being named on its 2009 list of most wanted suspected terrorists. He was alleged to be one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards, and one of his sons-in-law.
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in Northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Most of these attacks were on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Northwest Pakistan. These strikes began during the administration of United States President George W. Bush, and increased substantially under his successor Barack Obama. Some in the media referred to the attacks as a "drone war". The George W. Bush administration officially denied the extent of its policy; in May 2013, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time that four US citizens had been killed in the strikes. In December 2013, the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against US drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of "the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms."
Hakimullah Mehsud, born Jamshed Mehsud and also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud, was a Pakistani militant who was the second emir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was deputy to commander Baitullah Mehsud and one of the leaders of the militant group Fedayeen al-Islam prior to the elder Mehsud's death in a CIA drone missile strike.
Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to as Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri and Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, was a Pakistani ex-Special Forces Islamist guerrilla insurgent who fought against India in Kashmir.
Abdul Haq al-Turkistani is an Uyghur Islamic militant who leads the Turkistan Islamic Party. The United States Treasury reported he took over leadership of the organization in 2003, following the death of its previous leader, and took a seat on al-Qaeda's shura in 2005.
The Camp Chapman attack was a suicide attack by Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi against the Central Intelligence Agency facility inside Forward Operating Base Chapman on December 30, 2009. One of the main tasks of the CIA personnel stationed at the base was to provide intelligence supporting drone attacks in Pakistan. Seven American CIA officers and contractors, an officer of Jordan's intelligence service, and an Afghan working for the CIA were killed when al-Balawi detonated a bomb sewn into a vest he was wearing. Six other American CIA officers were wounded. The bombing was the most lethal attack against the CIA in more than 25 years.
Abdullah Said al-Libi is described as being an al Qaeda operational leader in Pakistan. He is reported to have previously served in the Libyan military. He led an al-Qaeda paramilitary force. Said al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on 17 December 2009 in North Waziristan. In April 2009 he had released a statement where he identified himself as the leader of al Qaeda's efforts to take control of Khorasan - an ancient Islamic province that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some neighboring areas.
Abdul Rauf is an Pakistani Deobandi fundamentalist Islamist terrorist commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM),a Deobandi Islamist terrorist organization which has carried out Islamist terrorist activities in India & Afghanistan under the support of Pakistan's main intelligence agency.
United States drone strikes in Yemen started after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when the US military attacked Islamist militant presence in Yemen, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula using drone warfare.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the Salafi jihadist group al-Qaeda, was killed by a United States drone strike on 31 July 2022 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was the successor of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan on 2 May 2011. Al-Zawahiri, who had helped to plan the September 11 attacks against the U.S., had gone into hiding following the attacks, and was located by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) months before his death. After receiving authorization from U.S. president Joe Biden to initiate the strike, the CIA fired two Hellfire missiles at the balcony of al-Zawahiri's house, killing him.
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