Bowegate was a major political scandal during the Iraq War, in which classified documents were leaked that referred to a secret task force under the command of General Willis Bowe.
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BLACK OPS IN IRAQ?
Anonymous source leaks highly classified information of the war in Iraq.
Jason Barnes filled his cup of coffee a third time this night. He sat down on his desk, and rubbed his eyes. He grabbed the lamp that was above his computer, and brought it back down so he could see better. He snapped his neck, then his fingers. He took a deep breath.
Jason realized that this could be the story that either makes or breaks him — literally, if he was right. Despite his confidence in the veracity of it, he still didn't know what he was even writing about. When he reviewed his sources the first time in his mail, Jason almost sent them to spam.
However, they were too real to be fabricated, and the people involved weren't nobodies. They were the people who pushed for the recent invasion in Iraq, those who wanted to tople Saddam Hussein under suspicious charges of weapons of mass destruction. The same names: Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, General Richard Myers, and even President Bush — just like the father, the son wanted to settle unfinished business that was started a decade ago. But there was one name neither he nor most Americans had paid much attention to.
General Willis Bowe, current Commander of Central Command. Jason searched his history: member of a family composed mostly of military officers, public officials, and scientists, that went back to the American Revolution. He had graduated at top of his class in West Point, joined the United States Army and quickly rose through the ranks — with various accusations of nepotism —, and was involved in a series of undisclosed operations in Afghanistan all the way to Kosovo. He wasn't a nobody, but certainly played the part of a nobody.
Jason rubbed his hands — this could be the story to make or break him, but he needed to understand the story. So, he looked at his sources again, one by one…
Gen. Richard Myers
We are T minus 48 hours to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Rumsfeld wants to know your status.
Task Force is ready to go on your authorization. And you can tell Rumsfeld we're deploying the Asset. The leash is secure.
You can tell Rumsfeld yourself. He's decided to authorize you personally.
It's an honor.
It's a reminder, General. Rumsfeld's expecting results, or its your ass in the sling.
Sec. Donald Rumsfeld
General Bowe?
Yes, sir.
O-7 is authorized to enter Iraq.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
The results today are the difference between this ending with a handshake or a grand jury. Failure is not an option, Willis.
Understood.
Good luck and Godspeed.
Jason Barnes figured out three things: first, a task force was deployed 48 hours before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, commanded by General Bowe. Second, the task force deployed an "asset" to Iraq. Third, that this task force was acknowledged and approved by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff. That led to the question: just how high did this operation go, and what were the exact details?
Then, a news article popped in his email. Jason opened the article…
Fox News
"Ask General Bowe," says General Myers
Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers distance themselves from General Bowe about the deployment of a secret task force in Operation Iraqi Freedom, while more documents are leaked to the public.
…They're washing their hands, Jason told himself, if it was fake, why wouldn't they try to claim it is?
They're shifting the blame, he continued, and saving their images, by showing Bowe as the only one responsible. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but the fact that they're passive about it means there might be a hint of truth in it.
He bit his pen, that still doesn't answer my questions: what is the task force? What does O-7 mean? And what is the "asset"?
OPERATION "FIRST STRIKE" BRIEFING
DATE: 17/03/2003; 06:00 AM
PRESENT PARTIES
- General Willis Bowe
- Operatives
FOREWORD: General Willis Bowe explains a small excerpt of the briefing of Operation "First Strike" to an unknown number of present operatives, without the presence of the Subject.
<BEGIN LOG>
General Bowe: …Once again, deployment of ███████'█ ███ should not be treated as regular unit deployment. Do not attempt to communicate with Subject ████ unless necessary. ████ has already received its briefing and been given clear instructions. I will oversee its actions in particular, while the rest is under Commission's Command watch. Besides that, all operations of this unit are going to be under close supervision of Task Force Green, which will deal with any 'undesirables'.
General Bowe: In case of Subject ████ going rogue and failsafe protocol being ineffective, all efforts are to be put to terminate it as soon as possible.
General Bowe: Remember, this is our chance to show the effectiveness of O████-7. Go out there, and give them hell, because our necks are on the line. Don't disappoint me.
<END LOG>
Jason Barnes scratched his hair.
What does this even mean? He asked himself, the subject I assume is the asset previously mentioned, but it wasn't in the same room as the rest of the operatives.
Jason grabbed his notebook, and wrote down any idea that he could come up before he scratched the paper violently with his pen. The notebook ended up becoming a page of scribbles and messy lines written down on it.
It's not meant to be a regular unit deployment, Jason thought, that goes in line with General Bowe's specialty: unconventional warfare. But even he's worried about the deployment of the asset.
Jason remembered those articles he read from the 90s, about the Armed Forces attempts to create super soldiers. Jason thought this could be the case, but he scratched that idea: that program went nowhere, and if it was being deployed here, General Bowe wouldn't be worried about it. They could be super soldiers, but the only super part is the advanced equipment, not the men themselves.
Jason hoped it was a man, at least.
Whatever the asset was, it must be dangerous.
What is the asset, he couldn't answer. He came up with an idea for the task's force name, at least: he remembered the phonetic alphabet used in NATO, as well as that Task Force Green was another name for Delta Force. If he continued with the pattern for each letter: A for Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charlie…
For O, it would end as Oscar. Task Force Oscar-7.
Jason snored, the only time this night that he let humor calm his nerves. "Well, General, if you came up with that name, you seriously need to rebrand…"
RECOVERED PRIVATE PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT
DATE: 20/03/2003; 02:30 AM
CORRESPONDANTS:
- President George W. Bush
- Unidentified
FOREWORD: The phone call was recovered from the private records of the White House. The call was between President Bush and an unknown female. The two discussed the deployment of General Bowe's task force and the risk of using the "subject".
<BEGIN LOG>
President George W. Bush: Hello?
[UNIDENTIFIED]: What the hell, Mr. President?
President George W. Bush: ██ ████? Excuse me?
[UNIDENTIFIED]: You know what I'm talking about. ███-████-█████, Subject ████. I've got reports on the escalation in Iraq, how did [UNTELLIGIBLE] hands on him?
President George W. Bush: Ms. Under Secretary, ████ is not under your jurisdiction. We are taking care of it.
[UNIDENTIFIED]: By using it as a weapon?
President George W. Bush: It likes to kill, doesn’t it? We’ll simply give it what it wants. That’ll both satisfy the subject for the time being, and achieve what we want. Seems like a win-win situation to me.
[UNIDENTIFIED]: You do realize the risks of utilizing such a thing? What if it simply gets bored with what you give it and [UNTELLIGIBLE]. What if Iraqi intelligence just releases everything? What if journalists find out? What if this happens all at once? We already are barely keeping journalists and whistleblowers at bay. Neither us, nor they, nor you have enough mind-drugs to gaslight the entire nation if things go south.
President George W. Bush: Ms. ██ ████, things won't "go south". From what I’ve seen they are rather "going north" along with O████-7. The faster we’re done with this campaign, the faster we're pulling them out. Simple as.
[UNIDENTIFIED]: With all due respect, Mr. President, this thing is a walking weapon of mass destruction, and you know how they can go off at any second.
President George W. Bush: I know, and I’m making sure that it goes off on Hussein.
<END LOG>
…Jason Barnes realized he reached the point of no return. The Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the free world, knew about O-7 and approved of its deployment.
This alone could make the news, but new questions arose: who was this Under-Secretary? Who was them, and who were they? Jason had never heard of the position of Under-Secretary, he searched for all the high-ranking, female secretaries related to national security in Bush's government. At most, Condolezza Rice, but she was the National Security Advisor and that didn't sound like her in the call.
Then, he thought about the United Nations. Jason thought it might have been Louise Fréchette, but the voice didn't add up, and she was the Deputy Secretary. Not Under-Secretary.
"Fuck," Jason muttered. "Why couldn't they have sent me more sources? Better yet, sources without redacted information."
He dug a hole, but Jason couldn't see where he was digging into. He thought of throwing away the shovel, and climbing back up. It seemed his story was going nowhere. But it was too weird, and the development of the Bowegate seemed to give more strength for his story.
This story could make or break you, Jason, he thought, are you really willing to reach the end?
It was a hard question, and a valid one. Maybe, his story would be forgotten by next week, and it would've been a small chapter in the bigger story of the war in Iraq.
Jason looked at two books over his desk that were covered his papers: All the President's Men and Bush at War, written by Bob Woodward. He remembered when he watched the movie with his dad, in one their many movie nights when he was younger. It was that movie that pushed him to read Woodward's work, and what made Jason obsessed with Woodward's career. That movie that he saw with his father that night all those years ago, was the reason he decided to become a journalist. His work was tiring, and often times scared him, but he was always thankful for his dad, more than for Woodward, for pushing him towards his career.
Yes, Jason Barnes was willing to reach the end, just like Bob Woodward did all the way back with Watergate. Jason had a hunch, and he was willing to keep digging.
TRANSCRIPT OF OPERATION "FIRST STRIKE"
DATE: 18/03/2003
END OF THE OPERATION: 25/03/2003
ENGAGED PARTY(S): Iraqi Armed Forces
DISPATCHED FORCE(S): ███████ Task Force O████-7 ("███████'█ ███"), Team ████
TEAM MEMBERS: Subject ████ (Team Lead), Maj. B███████████ (O7-001), Agent R██████ (O7-008), Agent █████ (O7-006), Agent ██████ (O7-007), Agent ██████ (O7-005)
COMMAND: General Willis Bowe
FOREWORD: Operation "First Strike" has three goals: first, to deploy █TF O████-7 and Subject ████ in Iraqi soil to evaluate the effectiveness of the task force and the asset. Second, to neutralize important military targets in the planned route of the coalition forces, in order to open a pathway to the main forces of the operation for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Third, to identify, isolate, and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, as well as the identification of unconventional collaborators, mostly terrorists and insurgents.
OPERATION RESULTS OVERVIEW:
- ███████ Task Force O████-7 incapacitated the Iraqi Armed Forces in its planned routes, resulting in heavy losses of infrastructure, military equipment and personnel. No Iraqi soldiers were taken as prisoners of war.
- ███████ Task Force O████-7 encountered the presence of █████ ██████████ operatives, aiding the Iraqi Armed Forces in their fight against O████-7. Despite the offensive actions of Subject ████, Team ████ recovered some prisoners of war.
- It should also be mentioned that O████-7 found interconnected, underground tunnels that worked as the base of operations of the █████ ██████████ in the area.
- ███████ Task Force O████-7 encountered agents of the ████████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████, who were transporting an unknown ████████, presumed to be a weapon at the time of capture. After being ambushed by Subject ████, the surviving agents surrendered. An agent calling himself "B█████" (full name confirmed to be: ███ ███-██████) has agreed to work with United States Armed Forces, showed interest in cooperating with █.█.█. ██████████ and provided information on the recovered ████████.
- ███████ Task Force O████-7 located and safeguarded Iraqi oil deposits on their way.
- ███████ Task Force O████-7 recovered intelligence about the existence and possible locations of weapons of mass destruction.
- Finally, ███████ Task Force O████-7 opened and secured an open pathway with minimum resistance for the arrival of coalition forces into Iraq.
CONCLUSION:
Operation "First Strike" has been deemed as overwhelming success, with ██████ Task Force O████-7 showing exceptional results. Further deployments have been approved by General A█████ D. M████████ and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
TESTIMONIES:
Operation "First Strike" was a success, but I did not expect it to be so… efficient. I don't even want to take credit for this operation, because ████ was the one who pushed us — partly because those were our orders, but also because we couldn't really say no to it. We knew what would happen if we did. We had a week to finish this, but we did it in three days. Three. Those three days were a nightmare, it was a goddamn massacre. ████ is the definition of a killing machine. We slept like three to five hours when we couldn't take it anymore, and while we were asleep, we heard it walk away from us, to who knows where. Then, it arrived to wake us up, and continue. We didn't even realize it, but at the third day, I could see Baghdad.
I was glad to see the city, because it meant we were done with the operation. I did not show it, but I was relieved to not have to fight with it anymore.
— Major E███ B███████████, Overseer of Team ████
Subject ████ is brutal, I knew that from the start. However, it is controllable. I do not have any doubts that it'll be more controllable as time moves on, as it begins to adapt to our orders and our chain of command. We cannot ignore how efficient ████ is, just look at what it did. Imagine what it can do with the appropriate team, equipment, and orders.
We were given a week to finish the operation. I did it in three. Now, the gates of Baghdad at are our reach. Do I really need to state my case even further?
— General Willis Bowe, Commander of ███████ Task Force O████-7
It was dawn, and Jason was brewing coffee. He stared tiredly at the coffee machine, as he saw the coffee fill the container. Jason shook his head.
Videos, images, clear audios, Jason thought, anything, just anything, that will give me enough information to publish a complete story.
The coffee stopped brewing, and he filled his cup. He walked back to his room, and covered his nose. It smelled awful, of unclean clothes and fast food mixed together. He walked through the trash in the floor, and went to his desk.
Jason looked up from his computer, and saw the corkboard. Over the past few days, what started as a mostly empty board became a mess of post-its, papers, pictures, and rubber bands connected to each other, with one picture in the middle that connected all of the mess.
The portrait of General Bowe. Jason didn't even know him when he started his story, but for the past days he had grown to hate him. His face never disappeared from his mind, and every time he looked at him, he saw the general's goofy smile. Jason felt that he was taunting him, mocking him every time Jason seemed to make a breakthrough only to end where he started.
Jason exasperated. Despite his hatred, he also feared him. He feared because of what he could do with him, and Jason wondered if after all this time, was it really worth it to let the story out. Maybe his safety was more important than a story. After all, he wasn't a man living in an island, he had co-workers, friends, family that would miss him and wonder where the hell he would go if one day they never heard from him again.
Family, Jason thought, and walked to his bedside. He picked up the photo frame, and looked it at longingly. It was the day he graduated, with his father hugging while they both held Jason's diploma. That day, Jason remembered, was the day he had seen the most proud of him. Jason's diploma, and his future career, was something Jason didn't only build by himself but with him.
Jason gripped the frame, and then he walked to his computer. He sat down, and typed on his keyboard. He was afraid, deeply, but he had gone all this way thanks to his dad, and in that moment, Jason felt couldn't let him down now.
Maybe he didn't have enough evidence, but he did have enough to make a story. And with stories, most of the times it matters most to know how to tell them.
Maybe Jason's story wouldn't have the full truth, but it could be the final domino piece in the scandal to bring the truth to light.
CNN
What is Task Force O-7?
General Bowe's secret project to deploy special operations forces in Iraq.
Anti-Bowe protests continue as they demand clarification of the leaked documents of the Bowegate.
"It's bullshit," Jason said to the phone, while he packed his clothes into a backpack and walked around his apartment collecting every important thing he needed, with his television playing in the background. "You told me you'd tell me truth."
The voice on the other side of his phone heard, but somebody on the 33rd Thomas Street heard Jason too. "Listen, we don't have much time. Yes, I told you we would tell you the truth, but right now we need to bring you to safety."
"Good luck," Jason said. "All of this country's national intelligence agencies are on our asses. Where do you expect to hide me?"
"Somewhere they can't reach us." The voice on the other side of the phone said.
Jason picked up the scattered papers he had on his desk, and shoved them inside a folder. "Yeah, that calms my nerves."
"Look, we'll be right there. Have you picked up everything related to the story?"
"I just finished packing my clothes—"
"We'll give you clothes here," The voice said. "What matters is the story—"
"Wait, shut up for a moment," Jason walked in front of his screen. "General Bowe is talking."
The voice in the phone called Jason, but he ignored it.
General Bowe stood to the press in the morning brief of the White House. "That'd be my latest report of our armed forces' operations in Iraq, now that the battle in Baghdad is over. However, I know that you're mostly interested in the scandal that has come out in the past weeks. I'm also here to talk about it, so raise your hands if you have any questions."
Jason sat down.
"General Bowe, why did you decide to talk about the leaks until now?" The female journalist at the front row asked.
"At the time that the news broke out, I didn't see the point in addressing the situation," General Bowe said. "Clearly, it was unfounded, and, in my honest opinion, childish. At the moment, I was busy with Operation Iraqi Freedom that I couldn't allow myself to be this distracted by such a small inconvenience."
A black reporter in the left spoke up. "But Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers spoke of the situation! Wouldn't that be enough reason to address the scandal?"
"General Myers is the Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, and I was not asked to speak of the scandal, he was. At the time, it was his responsibility to clarify the situation," General Bowe smiled. "However, he did talk to me privately, and apologized for the inconvenience. He admitted his wording made the situation worse than he expected."
A reporter in the back rose his hand, and General Bowe let him speak. "What about the voice logs, General? That type of manipulation is hard to make, and the voice sounded perfectly like yours."
"It was a fabrication," General Bowe said, and the briefing room erupted as the reporters asked more questions to the general.
Jason yelled at him. "You fucking liar!"
"So you're saying the documents are false?!" One of the reports asked; General Bowe raised his hands, and slowly the reporters calmed down.
"Another reason why it took so long to respond to the scandal is this," General Bowe said. "While the scandal was happening, the FBI conducted an investigation, and we were waiting for their report on the matter."
Jason gulped.
General Bowe picked up a thick folder from the desk, and showed it to the press. "This report, which will soon be released to the public, explains the entirety of the situation and the supposed leaked documents."
He slammed the folder into the desk, causing the reporters to flinch. "And as we speak, the people who were involved are currently located, and will soon be detained for their involvement in the creation of false documents that compromised the national security of our country, and the defamation of the armed forces."
Jason's eyes opened, and his hands shook.
"So are you saying that the black ops task force never existed?" One of the reports asked.
Then, Jason heard a car park in front of his home.
"The super soldier task force?" General Bowe smirked and shook his head. "I've read Starship Troopers, and let me tell you this: if that task force existed, Iraq would've fallen in the course of days. No, the only special operations forces that were deployed to Iraq were under the command of the JSOC and the SAC. This information will be available soon."
The doors of the car opened and closed, and people began to walk to his house.
The female journalist at the front row spoke again. "So, what can you say to the American public about your accusations in those documents?"
Bowegate was the story that made him, and General Willis Bowe was the man who broke Jason Barnes.
"I can assure the American public of this," General Bowe struck his pen to the desk as he emphasized each word. "Only conventional means were used."
Someone knocked on his door. "Jason Barnes, I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us."
APR. 10. 2003. The Washington Post Vol. 1111
PENTAGON ADDRESSES THE IRAQ "LEAKS"
CENTCOM Commander, General Willis Bowe, states: "Only conventional means were used."
Gen. Willis Bowe talked to reporters about the current military situation in Iraq and dismissed the leaked documents as a fabrication.
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