The Targeter Quotes

“As I lay there clutching the phone to my ear in our bedroom, Roger rolled over to look at me. He could clearly sense my anxiety rising. “I think you oughta dump your other boyfriend,” he said with a sleepy smile. He closed his eyes again. I turned back to the phone. “I’ll be in soon,” I said.”
― Nada Bakos, The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

“In the Jolan district, on the edge of the Euphrates River, in the northwestern corner of the city, Marines found something far more troubling. Inside a metal-sided warehouse, past the insurgent caches of rocket-propelled grenades and artillery rounds, the Marines discovered a crawl space barricaded with a safe. Pushing it aside, the troops saw an Iraqi man chained hand and foot, lying in his own waste. The virtual skeleton proved to be a still-living taxi driver who’d been abducted four months earlier along with a pair of French journalists—thankfully, he would survive. Down the hall, Marines crashed through another door and found themselves in what appeared to be a ramshackle movie studio. On the table was a glass with ice in it; whoever had left had just done so in a hurry. Nearby, Marines found two video cameras, klieg lights, and instructions on how to get footage to the Baghdad offices of some of the regional news networks. On the back wall of the room hung the black-and-green flag of Ansar al-Islam. The floor was caked in dried blood. The moment I read that last detail in the intelligence report I received, I knew it was the room where Nick Berg had been murdered.”
― Nada Bakos, The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

“At home I joked with Roger that I’d found a more philosophical take on my work. “I basically get paid to think big thoughts, gather around whiteboards, and pontificate on my way to get coffee.”
― Nada Bakos, The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

“It’s only recently that I’ve come to appreciate how serious a misnomer the word disorder is: we were all exposed to horrific things in Iraq and in the larger battle against terrorism. If we take into account the millions of refugees and those left behind who have had to experience the trauma of war, it’s a sobering reminder that war should only be a last resort.”
― Nada Bakos, The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House

“Roger walked over to me. “Does this ever end?” I asked him. “Ever?”
― Nada Bakos, The Targeter: My Life in the CIA, Hunting Terrorists and Challenging the White House