al-Qaeda: Iraq & Iran

The personal papers of journalist and documentarian Peter Bergen relating to his work covering Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and global terrorism.

It comprises extensive subject and research files containing correspondence, reporting and analysis, manuscripts and drafts, delassified government records, court records and evidence, and documentary scripts. Central to the collection are numerous interviews with individuals involved with al-Qaeda or jihadism, counter-terrorism, and journalism associated with these. The files have not been physically re-ordered, but have been described and arranged in this finding aid in a semi-chronological manner, with the first two series breaking down into research before and after 9/11/2001; two additional series contain files related to (1) books and monographs by other authors (often with Bergen's annotations) and research files for Bergen's 2011 book "The Longest War" and 2016 book "United States of Jihad", and (2) Photographs and audio visual materials including recordings of Bergen's reporting and documentaries for CNN, National Geographic, etc., and numerous interviews. Recorded or transcribed interviews which are unedited and/or unpublished remain restricted for the life of the interviewee, or until 2075.

Some effort has been made to regularize the spelling of names in this finding aid, avoiding the frequent variants in transcription of Arabic in favor of forms as they appear on Wikipedia.org.