Free How to Break a Terrorist by Matthew Alexander Page A

efforts toward civilization. And for some five thousand years, since the rise of Sumer, Babylon, and the great Assyrian kings, it has been a dark heart riddled with violence and anguish.
    Whump-whump-whump , helicopter rotor blades pound out a drumbeat that resonates across the countryside like a tribal warning.
    The Americans are coming.
    The helicopters streak toward their target. The soldiers sit just above each skid, legs dangling in the wind, with only a D-ring and a belt to keep them from free-falling onto some Iraqi’s farm. While such a method of travel would scare most civilians into a catatonic state, these men are veterans. They hold their weapons steady, even as their bodies are buffeted by the hundred-mile-an-hour slipstream.
    The target, the farmhouse that Abu Ali gave up and Zaydan confirmed, swings into sight. For weeks, our part-time surveillance has uncovered nothing. But today, our asset spotted a blue truck and a white sedan parked out front. The soldiers launched within minutes.
    The helicopters alight in precise positions around the farmhouse. The Special Forces spring into action, charging across open ground for the house.
    Two men wearing bulky black vests try to escape from a back door. When the soldiers move to intercept them, they realize these men are human bombs. The vests bristle with explosives. The Americans have closed the gap; it is too late for the bombers to back off. The lead human bomb intuits this and with a sudden rush sprints toward the nearest American soldier, hoping to kill as many Americans as possible as he ignites. He doesn’t get that chance. An M4 carbine barks. The suicide bomber spins violently, a bullet hole in his forehead. He manages to detonate himself as he falls, but theblast is focused into the ground and away from the soldiers who stand just ten meters away. The bomber’s body is torn in half. Part of him lands in a ditch, his head scooped out, his eyes wide and horrified. Nobody who lives through such an attack can forget the sight of what C-4 explosive does to human flesh. It slices torsos, dismembers limbs, and extracts organs.
    The other bomber goes down with another head shot before he can blow himself up. The two external threats are neutralized. Now the strike team must force its way into the house.
    Every room must be cleared. Even the most benign farmhouse can become a death trap for American soldiers. Is there another bomber in the house? Are there insurgents lying in ambush, AK rifles shouldered, fingers on the triggers? Clearing a house is one of the most dangerous tasks a soldier can perform in Iraq. Al Qaida operatives sometimes wire their own safe houses with explosives. The entire house could be one big IED, ready to kill anyone who sets foot inside. It takes unique courage to go through a door not knowing what waits on the other side.
    The entry team hits the front door, using violence and speed to overwhelm anyone who might resist, and catches a trio of suicide bombers in the front room. They hesitate; the Americans do not.
    Shots ring out. Three more suicide bombers die before they can detonate.
    The soldiers work from room to room in the one-story house, covering the hallways as they move. A swift kick on a door, and they push into a room, M4s at the ready. The first room is empty. The men move down the hall and kick in thedoor to the next room. Also empty. One more to go. They stack up and inch to the door. A gentle rock backward tells the other soldiers that the lead man is ready. The others push forward in response: everyone’s ready to go. They kick in the door and pour inside.
    This room is not empty. Not by a long shot.

Nine
THE GROUP OF FIVE
    APRIL 10, 2006
    W E HAVE SOMETHING significant today,” announces Captain Randy as he plants a boot on his chair. The whole interrogation team is here, gathered for the 11 A.M. meeting in the conference room just off the ’gator pit.
    “Earlier this morning, one of the teams caught five Iraqi