216 AMERICAN SPY
borders were drawn and long before the dawn of Saddam Hussein’s reign
of terror. The Dulaimi would be there long after Saddam as well. Imad and
his extended Sunni family had close ties to Saddam, but in order to survive
under Saddam, one had to play Saddam’s game. Imad’s family was heavily
invested in a number of industries in Iraq and would likely welcome the
opportunity to introduce a much-needed and previously outlawed American
business into post-Saddam Iraq.
Imad agreed to meet me in Amman, the beautiful and ancient capital
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Once we were both satisfied with
the partnership agreement, Imad would personally ensure that both my
team and our equipment made it across the lawless Jordan-Iraq border and
into Baghdad. He would also house and feed us and assist with other start-
up preliminaries. Handling security and logistics had long been a routine
and necessary part of Imad’s life in Iraq. If there were complications
entering Iraq through official border crossings, we’d detour via traditional
smuggling routes across the desert that his tribe had been using for centu-
ries. As Dan put it, “Imad could move an aircraft carrier from Amman to
Baghdad without anyone knowing about it.”
Before traveling to the Middle East, I offered to discuss my Iraq busi-
ness plans with relevant US government authorities, as I had done prior
to traveling to Kosovo. I thought they might find some benefit in at least
knowing what I was doing. Once again, they expressed zero interest in my
plan, and they also tried to talk me out of it. One US official even told me
it was illegal for me to enter Iraq. In the Balkans, after trying to prevent me
from traveling to Pristina, the US government eventually became my cus-
tomer. I planned to make my move into Iraq, with or without their official
blessing, and I suspected the same sequence of events would play out as it
had in Kosovo. I wasn’t wrong.
After arriving at Amman’s Queen Alia Airport late one night in May
2003, two American volunteers and I took a taxi into the city and checked
into the modern Sheraton Amman al-Nabil Hotel. The Sheraton Amman
would become a welcome layover spot during my many future trips into
and out of Iraq. Because of the war in neighboring Iraq and the very real
possibility of terror spilling over into Jordan, security was tight in Amman.
Gaining access to the hotel was not unlike entering any major airport.
After driving through a maze of heavy concrete barriers, guests and