Toby Harnden
@tobyharnden
Followers
25,927
Following
12,555
Media
2,854
Statuses
50,722
Author First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11 @littlebrown
McLean, VA
Joined January 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Arsenal
• 673171 Tweets
ميلان
• 406486 Tweets
#اليوم_الوطني_السعودي_94
• 389942 Tweets
#Alikocistifa
• 149005 Tweets
Eagles
• 131386 Tweets
Giants
• 115526 Tweets
Bears
• 97716 Tweets
Saints
• 93841 Tweets
Steelers
• 92703 Tweets
Fields
• 77315 Tweets
Cowboys
• 76399 Tweets
Ravens
• 68542 Tweets
Lions
• 64820 Tweets
Browns
• 54858 Tweets
Panthers
• 50953 Tweets
#GHDBT3
• 47365 Tweets
Raiders
• 45112 Tweets
49ers
• 44703 Tweets
連休最終日
• 42784 Tweets
Jerry
• 41177 Tweets
ドジャース
• 34832 Tweets
Lamar
• 32165 Tweets
Dolphins
• 29775 Tweets
Rams
• 27462 Tweets
Seahawks
• 25825 Tweets
Andy Dalton
• 21788 Tweets
Jennings
• 21053 Tweets
Bryce Young
• 19051 Tweets
Moody
• 17802 Tweets
McCarthy
• 16447 Tweets
Purdy
• 15141 Tweets
Cardinals
• 14737 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
First Casualty signed by 20+ CIA, Green Berets & special operators; Afghan rug from Sheberghan depicting 9/11 attacks; Four Branches engraved Badger Six bourbon; signed Horse Soldiers bourbon; Team Alpha challenge coin; J.R.Seeger’s Leatherman from Afghanistan 2001; TR-660 watch
3
8
84
It’s been 13 years since I came up with this photo caption to celebrate a big wedding in London. Good times.
32
1K
32K
French police who died storming
#Bataclan
tonight cut from same cloth as NYPD & FDNY who headed to burning towers on 9/11. God rest them.
57
3K
4K
I am receiving reports of the Taliban burning down Khalid Ibn-al Walid Park (where there were fairground rides) in Mazar-i Sharif and Football Park in Sheberghan, both in northern Afghanistan. This is the fire in Mazar
217
2K
4K
Now no bars over eyes in this iconic photo from First Casualty. 22 years ago today was
@CIA
Team Alpha’s 1st full day in Darya Suf Valley, n.Afghanistan, 1st Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11. The 5 surviving CIA officers in team reached SIS rank, now retired, cover lifted
76
517
3K
RIP my friend Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, KIA in Helmand, Afghanistan on this day 14 years ago by an IED during Operation Panther’s Claw. I first met him in 1996 when he was a Captain serving an an intelligence officer in South Armagh.
102
264
3K
THREAD. My Afghan translator R has been trapped outside
#KabulAirport
for a week. I have applied for an SIV for him. I am a US citizen. No reply. Pending cases are not being allowed through the gates. Every day R gambles with his life to try to get in 1/10
94
772
2K
THREAD: Remembering Mike Spann today, the 21st anniversary of his death during Al-Qaeda prisoner uprising at Qala-i Jangi near Mazar-i Sharif. CIA officer, Marine, husband, father. He went down fighting, engaging the enemy at close quarters with his Kalashnikov & Glock 17. 1/14
32
345
2K
21 years ago today, 8 men took off from K2 base in Uzbekistan & were flown into Afghanistan, the unknown & history. They were
@CIA
’s Team Alpha - the 1st Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11. One would not return. Their story is told in my book First Casualty (link in bio).
64
213
2K
THREAD - 20 years ago today 8 men became first Americans behind enemy lines after 9/11 -
@CIA
’s Team Alpha. Landed in Darya Suf Valley 2 a.m. local after flight in 2 Black Hawks from K2 base. Only 7 returned. Their story is told in my book “First Casualty” by
@littlebrown
- 1
46
317
1K
Remember Mike Spann, killed in action 22 years ago today during an Al-Qaeda prisoner revolt at Qala-i Jangi. Mike went down fighting, engaging the enemy at close quarters with his AKMS & Glock 17. He is represented by the 79th star on
@CIA
memorial wall, which now bears 140 stars
62
183
1K
12 years since possibly the best newspaper front page ever and my favorite byline in almost 25 years on newspapers. The only improvement would have been to make the strapline: “A day filled with romance, pageantry and playfulness is SEALed with a bullet to the face.”
13
271
1K
Months before 9/11, soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 5th Group, U.S. Army Special Forces, visited New York & posed for this eerie photo with a backdrop of the twin towers. In Nov 2001, they carried a piece of steel from the fallen towers into Afghanistan & buried it in Mazar-e Sharif
26
181
1K
THREAD: 20 years ago 9/26, the first Americans to infiltrate Afghanistan after 9/11 flew fm Tashkent via Dushanbe in an
@CIA
Mi-17 & landed in Panjshir Valley, which was controlled by Northern Alliance. Their codename was JAWBREAKER (First Casualty p. 53). Who were these men? - 1
46
312
918
Sign in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC
12
409
886
I'm 50, spent 10 years in Navy, been in jail with rapists, embedded with troops, lived in inner cities - I've never heard talk like this
Trump surrogate on CNN insisting "a lot of men" talk/act like Trump, much like Giuliani said "everybody" has infidelities. Weird strategy.
11
46
65
93
549
819
Needless to say, this is franed and hangs in pride of place (eye level, above the cistern) in my downstairs loo.
1
2
730
Remember Nate Delemarre (left), 47, & Brian Hoke, 42, CIA Ground Branch, Special Activities Center officers who fought alongside each other during an assault on Isis compound in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 7 years ago today, Hoke was KIA, Delemarre died of wounds 3 days later
29
112
689
Delighted to pick up my Afghan translator Rohullah Sadat from Fort Dix yesterday and to welcome him to Virginia and the start of a new life in the United States.
24
80
650
He obv meant "kill her" in sense of "let's band together & exercise our constitutional right to vote against her"
One guy just yelled “Kill her! Kill her!” at the Trump rally in NC.
122
610
392
18
366
638
@sturgios
“A day filled with romance, pageantry and playfulness is sealed with a bullet to the tace”
2
3
640
A Douglas Adams story that captures the essence of Englishness
http://t.co/QI77aWreXV
(via
@chrisdeerin
&
@JustineTunney
)
47
686
551
“Black Rod I respect and Black Rod is doing her duty”
"This is not a normal prorogation" - Commons Speaker John Bercow makes his views clear as Parliament is prorogued until the middle of October
81
895
2K
19
123
449
This is completely barking. Nick Timothy isn’t a journalist - he was the current prime minister’s chief of staff until last June and a major player in the Brexit campaign. The Telegraph is printing propaganda as its main front-page story.
16
237
442
If anyone from the US govt. can help expedite the SIV for R, please contact me. Or anyone from UK govt. who can help - I am a UK citizen too. Any advice on how he can get to the airport, a password, a point of contact. Please, anything for R 10/10
38
121
428
21 years ago today, Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by Al-Qaeda. Here is Massoud meeting w
@CIA
’s Rich Blee & David Tyson during a Jawbreaker/NALT mission to Panjshir in Oct. 1999 ( First Casualty p 41) - 2 years before Tyson returned with Team Alpha
65
110
410
No shit, Sherlock
NEWS: Socom Commander Says Taliban Aren't Counterterrorism Partners in Afghanistan
123
65
231
9
55
415
My translator Rohullah’s journey from Afghanistan to the United States is now complete. Thank you to all who have helped him, both known (including several former members of
@CIA
Team Alpha) and unknown.
39
36
389
He should be fired, charged with assault & sentenced to anger management classes + full-time community service as a nurse's assistant
The Latest: Prosecutor wants criminal probe into police officer who dragged a nurse from hospital and arrested her.
389
2K
4K
20
91
349
Astonishing courage. They must have known chances of death very high.
27
329
337
Unbelievable.
@CNN
talking head reckons that
#SanBernadino
motive may have been that "holiday party" was offensive to Syed Farook.
104
293
308
Missouri woman finds Donald Trump's face in tub of butter
http://t.co/KK8QdcNyI4
http://t.co/hAbyf1aY2A
39
415
350
The Mugabe whose regime killed & starved its people + jailed me for two weeks & deported me for “practising journalism w/out accreditation”
16
31
26
17
141
328
A now-retired
@CIA
officer who was at Khost on December 30, 2009, and was one of first on scene after suicide bomber detonated - killing 7 of his comrades - is marking al-Zawahiri’s demise in drone strike with a cold one this evening…
13
28
315
Learning about death in August of Ali Sarwar, longtime Dostum commander. I interviewed him 2020. Hazara, father of six. Killed by Taliban leading successful breakout from Sheberghan to Mazar & credited w saving 00s. Survived Battle of Qala-i Jangi 2001. Luck finally ran out. RIP.
27
64
298
Taliban leaders Norullah Noori (L) & Mohammad Fazl (with prosthetic left leg) detained by Green Berets, Sheberghan, Dec 2001. Then flown to USS Bataan en route to Guantanamo, where they remained until 2014 Bergdahl swap. Both now back in govt. Read their story in First Casualty.
37
58
271
The lede on this
@washingtonpost
story is a crime against journalism
http://t.co/CnTHHf4Lmp
61
299
286
.
@rickygervais
on celebrity virtue signaling during coronavirus: “‘I could weep at what a good person I am.’ Oh dear.” (
@nytimes
)
12
43
276
This is East German AKMS rifle & chest rig CIA’s Mike Spann took into Afghanistan. Now in
@CIA
Museum. In last moments of his life he used rifle to shoot 2-3 Al-Qaeda prisoners rushing him. Rest of 30-round magazine was expended by comrade David Tyson (First Casualty p 191-97)
13
44
267
R.I.P. Sergeant 1st Class Joe Jung, 58, who died Nov 2, 2021 - 20 years to the day after he was inserted into Darya Suf Valley, northern Afghanistan, as an 18D SF medic in ODC 53. Jung carried out battlefield surgery on wounded Northern Alliance troops & captured Taliban fighters
18
40
255
There'll be delight at
@CIA
at killing of al-Zawahiri. Payback of sorts for 7 killed at Khost, 2009: Jennifer Matthews, Harold Brown, Elizabeth Hanson, Darren LaBonte, Jeremy Wise, Scott Roberson, Dane Paresi. Triple agent suicide bomber that day had promised access to Zawahiri.
6
68
244
THREAD on 20th anniversary of the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks about the experience that day of the Americans who were to fight back against Al-Qaeda. Page numbers from my book “First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11” - 1
5
73
234
Never turn your back on a cowboy who has just taken his glasses off
12
59
216
When R gets close to the gate, he calls me on WhatsApp, hoping a US soldier will talk to me, so I can vouch for him. He carries the application I sent, and photos of us working together, including this one of us beside the memorial to CIA officer Mike Spann. 2/10
4
51
225
20 years ago, Oct 20, 2001, ODA 595 joined
@CIA
Team Alpha & warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum in Darya Suf Valley. Here they planning campaign to recapture Mazar-i Sharif. L-R Alex Hernandez, David Tyson, Dostum, JR Seeger, Capt Mark Nutsch, WO Bob Pennington (First Casualty p. 87-88)
13
30
216
@Folly_and_Glory
@CIA
Back:Alex Hernandez (dep, PM officer), Scott Spellmeyer (PM Ops Officer), JR Seeger (chief, case officer NE Div), Mark Rausenberger (medic, later PM, died 2016), David Tyson, case officer CE Div), Mike Spann (PMOO KIA 2001). Front: Andy Hartsog (PMOO), Justin Sapp (capt, 5th SFG)
7
20
237
Imagine the bravery of the teams going into the
#Bataclan
theatre now, not knowing what they'll face but realising they can't delay
5
149
214
But President Biden has promised to get people like R out, to do "everything that we can, to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies, partners and Afghans who might be targeted because of their association with the United States" 8/10
4
27
193
Is there a way to have Ukip parliamentary candidate Peter Bucklitsch deported to Syria?
http://t.co/IGDrljFPU3
34
272
182
Remember Molly Huckaby Hardy & Tom Shah,
@CIA
officers killed 24 years ago this week by Al-Qaeda bomb in Nairobi. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, taken out by Hellfire launched from CIA drone, was wanted by FBI for planning the attack. Stars on Memorial Wall commemorate Hardy, 51, & Shah, 38
1
33
195
THREAD 20 years ago - 10:10 a.m. (GMT +4.5), November 10, 2001 (Day 25 for
@CIA
Team Alpha); Mazar-i Sharif, Balkh province, Afghanistan. Americans (CIA, Green Berets) enter Mazar - first city to fall from Taliban to Northern Alliance. Scenes akin to liberation of Europe 1945 - 1
10
47
176
22 years ago today, Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated by Al-Qaeda. Here Massoud meets with
@CIA
Alec Station chief Rich Blee & David Tyson with Jawbreaker/NALT Panjshir Valley, Oct 1999 ( First Casualty p. 41) - 2 years b4 Tyson returned with Team Alpha
12
60
189
I’m delighted that a new edition of “Bandit Country” will hit the streets next Thursday. Hard to believe it was written 25 years ago. The dead can’t sue, so this edition names a few more names…
Bandit Country by
@tobyharnden
is one of the most celebrated books on the Troubles.
Get your copy of the new edition today, updated with a new foreword and preface:
1
0
3
33
50
194
R was with me in Mazar-i Sharif last November. Wise & resourceful, he helped me research the first days of the war (just after 9/11) for my book First Casualty. He tracked down two doctors who witnessed the last seconds of Mike Spann’s life as the CIA man died fighting. 3/10
3
33
184
Observer shld work on its facts - John Kelly was a marine not army & has political experience as congressional liaison & top aide to DoD Sec
Scintillating, scathing editorial that savages Trump
The Observer view on Donald Trump’s unfitness for office
8
85
133
22
49
180
Here is R after treatment. He went straight back to
#KabulAirport
. R understands that he is a lower priority, behind US citizens and those who worked for US govt. I have no big media company backing me. R was working for an independent author & journalist, a freelancer 7/10
3
33
180
R is desperate. If he can't get into the airport, he might try to head to Iran or Uzbekistan. But to do that he would have to cross Taliban checkpoints everywhere. It would be a huge risk. But so is staying in Kabul, waiting for the knock on the door & the bullet to the head 9/10
6
34
177
Merry Christmas from the Special Boat Service! SBS Xmas Party, Turkish School, Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan, Dec 25, 2001. On right is SBS corporal Tony; first SBS man from left is Captain Jess - both awarded Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for actions at Qala-i Jangi, Nov 25, 2001
14
5
178
THREAD: 20 years ago today - Nov 9, 2001 - wasmonumental one, marking the fall of Mazar-i Sharif to Uzbek-led forces of Abdul Rashid Dostum +
@CIA
& Green Berets. Was 1st Afghan city to be abandoned by Taliban. Here are Dostum’s men on way to front (First Casualty p. 126-30) - 1
9
41
168
.
@CIA
Team Alpha’s David Tyson, Tashkent-based case officer, wakes up in Dostum’s compound near village of Dehi in the Darya Suf Valley, northern Afghanistan, 20 years ago.
6
18
173
Sold 50 copies of First Casualty over lunch today - plus one more to the restaurateur, who approached me afterward
9
6
182
Lying to the FBI is what led to criminal convictions for Scooter Libby and Gen James Cartwright
14
130
169
My book “First Casualty” on Evasion Chart carried in Afghanistan by
@CIA
Team Alpha 2001. Tip of CIA Veterans dagger is on Dehi, site of initial CIA base. Top of Camp Mike Spann coin is Qala-i Jangi, where I recovered rusted PPSh-41 barrel. Also, CIA SOG & Tertia Optio SAD coins.
21
38
176
Highly recommend
@TheOutpostMovie
, from
@jaketapper
book of same name. Powerful, humbling, & sobering. Superlative performances from Scott Eastwood & Caleb Landry Jones as Medal of Honor recipients
@ClintRomesha
&
@tymcartermoh
13
18
167
You'd just have to buy this Croydon newspaper, wouldn't you?
http://t.co/91jNji07FF
(via
@GoodNewsHackney
)
15
219
167
Mike Spann, from Winfield, Alabama, was
@CIA
paramilitary, former
@USMC
ANGLICO officer. Was stationed Okinawa & Camp Lejeune. First casualty in combat for U.S. after 9/11, fought enemy with his AK & Glock in last moments of life, Qala-i Jangi Nov 25, 2001
#SemperFi
#VeteransDay
3
23
165
Oh look,
@CNN
is suddenly changing its tune, hoping everyone will forget the hours of gun control blather yesterday
39
230
130
Cruz is absolutely creaming Trump. With 30% in, he's winning by 22% & has 24 of the 42 delegates to Trump's zero
20
76
148
Remember Master Sergeant (Retd.) William "Chief" Carlson & fmr. Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Mueller,
@CIA
contractors with Ground Branch, Special Activities Division, KIA 20 years ago today during 6-hour battle with Al-Qaeda in the Khand Pass in Paktika province, Afghanistan.
3
24
161
On Saturday, I was woken by R calling. He was breathless. I could hear shouting and wailing as the crowd surged near the gate. "Get off the f---ing wall! I mean it!" shouted a British paratrooper, the fear in his voice apparent as he tried to corral people. R was turned back 4/10
1
27
150
About to sign 202 copies of First Casualty - purchased by a single organization. The dog steered well clear of my tottering pyramid of tomes. If you’d like your own signed copy, hit me up with a DM.
24
17
144
One disposable cup away from chaos and calamity. Oh, wait...
11
19
142
Great to sign and sell copies of “First Casualty” - and help shift some
@HorseSoldierUSA
whiskey at the Coast Guard Exchange in Centerville, VA, along with David Tyson and Team Bravo medic Glenn, who is still serving in
@CIA
. (& apologies to any Arsenal fans out there)
15
13
140
All moderate, peace-loving ex-husbands need to speak out & distance themselves from this heinous act
#EgyptAir
4
141
131
Twitter full of this image of Alan Henning. Very few of him from murder video. Heartening sign amid the bleakness
http://t.co/OF813icUG4
5
223
134
21 years ago today, 12 Green Berets from ODA 595 landed in Chinook in Darya Suf Valley in northern Afghanistan - joining 8 men of CIA’s Team Alpha, who’d arrived 3 days b4. Here, CIA & ODA 595 leaders plan recapture of Mazar-i Sharif with Dostum (full account in First Casualty).
5
17
136
I was jailed by Mugabe's Zimbabwe for "practicing journalism". Is David Gregory saying Obama's America should do the same to
@ggreenwald
?
47
535
128
Love this. How North Londoners view the rest of the UK (via reddit)
http://t.co/kXL2CP69gD
http://t.co/hWxn5HNFd3
30
223
124
Just saw a cop stop by group of black homeless guys at Dupont Circle, get out & give them cold bottles of water
6
64
111
Roy Moore campaign couldn’t have dreamed of a better late boost for their fundraising. A measly $100 for Jones from a GOP establishment figure: priceless.
11
39
82
Problems for Clinton over today magnified 10-fold cos campaign mocked & vilified those questioning her health, reporters mentioning coughing
7
64
92
Journalism used to be about distilling big things down to their essence. Now, much of it is hot air expanding on 140-character utterances.
4
34
107
Petty. You don't think a rival's story is as great as everyone's saying? Go get a better one.
6
29
118
Was great to hang out with so many
@CIA
legends at “First Casualty” signing in Leesburg, Virginia - among them Alex Hernandez, deputy chief of Team Alpha in 2001. Total number of books signed & sold in an afternoon: 98.
2
8
113
THREAD - Nov 25, 2001, with CIA’s Mike Spann KIA & David Tyson was trapped in fort, a 15-man rescue force headed to Qala-i Jangi from Turkish School in Mazar. There were incredible acts of heroism that day. Leading team was Major Mark Mitchell, awarded 1st DSC since Vietnam - 1
2
33
122