Osama bin Laden



Sheikh Osama bin Laden became a household name following the Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and President George W. Bush "pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice 'dead or alive'," Mark Mazzetti wrote in the July 4, 2006, New York Times.

The August 2, 1990, Iraqi invasion of Kuwait during the George H.W. Bush administration "apparently turned" bin Laden from "a de-facto U.S. ally against the Soviet Union into one of its most active adversaries. ... He relocated to Sudan in 1991, buying property there which he used to host and train Al Qaeda militants — this time, for use against the United States and its interests, as well as for jihad operations in the Balkans, Chechnya, Kashmir, and the Philippines," Kenneth Katzman wrote in the February 10, 2005, CRS Report for Congress.

In August 1998, when President Bill Clinton ordered anti-terrorist bombings in Afghanistan and Sudan in an attempt to get bin Laden, who was "suspected of bankrolling the installations that were bombed", some lawmakers "criticized him harshly as a leader critically weakened by poor judgment and reckless behavior in the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal." 

Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), "one of Clinton's severest critics", said "There's an obvious issue that will be raised internationally as to whether there is any diversionary motivation". Then-Senator John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) "noted 'there is a cloud over this presidency.'" Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said "The president has been consumed with matters regarding his personal life. It raises questions about whether or not he had the time to devote to this issue, or give the kind of judgment that needed to be given to this issue to call for military action." 

Also see the "Text: US Grand Jury Indictment Against Usama bin Laden," United States District Court, Southern District of New York, November 6, 1998. (Posted by Federation of American Scientists (FAS).)

In late 2005, the Central Intelligence Agency unit known as Alec Station, "which had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants", was disbanded and "its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center," Mazzetti reported officials said.

Background
Bin Laden "was socialized by the CIA and trained by the Americans to believe deeply that when a foreigner comes into your land, you become violent. Bin Laden is merely carrying out the mission to which he committed with America earlier. Now he is carrying it out against America because now America, from his point of view, is occupying his land. That's all. He grew up seeing Saudi Arabia being robbed by Western corporations and Western powers. He watched these Saudi princes, this one-family state, handing over the oil resources of the Arab people to the West. Up until 1991, he had only one satisfaction: that his country was not occupied. There were no American or French or British troops in Saudi Arabia. Then even that small pleasure was taken away from him during the Gulf War and its aftermath. ...

"Osama bin Laden is a sign of things to come."&mdash;November 1998, Eqbal Ahmad, Pakistani scholar-activist. 

Regional Financier
"Before shifting against the West, Osama Bin Laden was one of the financiers who played the 'great game' in that region. Along with Abdullah Azzam, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader he founded in the mid- 1980s the Services Office (Maktab al Khadamat: MAK), which established recruitment centers around the world. Azzam was killed by a car bomb in late 1989; the MAK split, with the extremist factions joining Bin Laden.

"Bin Laden ran the Jihad Committee which includes the Egyptian Islamic group, and the Jihad Organization in Yemen, the Pakistani al-Hadith group, the Lebanese Partisans League, the Libyan Islamic group, Bayt-el-Imam group in Jordan, and the Islamic group in Algeria. According to some sources, this committee has a bureau in London." 

"Why don't President Bush and Osama bin Laden just get a room? Judging from events over the weekend, they need each other as much as they despise each other. The latest crackly tape issued by bin Laden (if it's him) confirms that al-Qaeda has no independent programme or war aims, but merely feeds off Western fears. And Bush's response - 'the bin Laden tape [shows] this is still a dangerous world' - suggests that his administration will leap on any squeak from the man on the mountain to justify the war on terror. B&B are more and more like a parasitical double act. ...

"Bush and bin Laden may be after each other's blood, but they'd miss each other in the long run."&mdash;Brendan O'Neill, "Sleeping with the enemy," October 21, 2003.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * bin Laden Group
 * civil war in Iraq
 * Clinton administration anti-terrorism law
 * George W. Bush
 * James R. Bath (go between for the Bush and bin Laden families)
 * September 11, 2001: Evacuation of Saudi Nationals
 * The alleged linkage of Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction
 * "The Path to 9/11" (2006 Docudrama)
 * war in Iran
 * war in Iraq

Video clips

 * Osama "Crusades" Speech (eng sub)
 * Sheikh Osama Bin Laden on 9/11 at YouTube
 * Audio Mesage from Sheikh Osama Bin Laden
 * Former Bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden: I Love Him More Than I Love My Own Father May 2007

Profiles

 * Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda in the Wikipedia.
 * "Hunting Bin Laden," PBS Frontline.
 * "Who is Osama Bin Laden?" BBC, September 18, 2001.

Websites

 * Understanding Terrorism. Explains why Islamic terrorists hate Western nations. Contains numerious articles, reports and reseearch.

External articles

 * Osama bin Laden's "letter to the American people"

1995

 * An Open Letter to King Fahd

1996

 * BIN LADEN'S 1996 fatwa, entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."

1998

 * Guy Gugliotta and Juliet Eilperin, "Tough Response Appeals to Clinton Critics," Washington Post, August 21, 1998.


 * Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa--Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders

2003

 * "Hunt For Osama Heats Up," CBS News, December 14, 2003: "Allied officials in Afghanistan hailed the capture of Saddam Hussein, saying Sunday the blockbuster arrest might make it easier to catch the world's other top fugitive: al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden."
 * "SEARCH FOR OSAMA: Albright thinks Bush hiding bin Laden. Tells Fox News' Kondracke she suspects political dirty tricks," WorldNetDaily, November 17, 2003: "Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright told Fox News Channel analyst Morton Kondracke yesterday she suspects President Bush knows the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and is simply waiting for the most politically expedient moment to announce his capture."
 * Stephen Graham, "Gen. Myers Says Bin Laden Probably Alive," Associated Press, December 18, 2003. (inactive link)
 * "Bin Laden to suffer same fate as Saddam: General Myers," Agence France Presse, December 18, 2003. (inactive link)
 * "Osama Will Be Caught Like Saddam, U.S. General Says," Reuters, December 18, 2003. (inactive link)
 * Victoria Burnett, "Bin Laden 'is certain to be caught, just like Saddam'," Financial Times, December 19, 2003.

2004

 * Transcription of April 2004 audiotape message purported to be from Osama bin Laden, BBC.
 * Henry A. Waxman, Letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, April 12, 2004: "... regarding the departure of members of Osama bin Laden's family and the Saudi royal family following the September 11, 2001, attacks."

2005

 * Recently Declassified Documents: "Terrorism/Usama bin Ladin: Who's Chasing Whom?" (July 18, 1996) and "Sudan: Bin Ladin's Deal" (August 19, 1996), Judicial Watch; accessed August 18, 2005.
 * Jack Shafer, "Don't Blame the Washington Times For the Osama Bin Laden satellite phone 'leak'," Slate, December 21, 2005.

2006

 * Mark Mazzetti, "C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden," New York Times, July 4, 2006.
 * "Bush compares Bin Laden to Hitler" (and Lenin) "in a speech to US military officers," BBC, September 5, 2006.
 * Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson, "Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'. U.S. Steps Up Efforts, But Good Intelligence On Ground is Lacking," Washington Post, September 10, 2006.
 * Gretchen Peters, "Where Is Osama Bin Laden? Five Years After the 9/11 Attacks, There Are Few Explanations About Why He Has Not Been Caught," ABC News, September 11, 2006.
 * "The Path to 9/11- FBI 'was told to back off bin Laden family'," BellaCiao.org, September 11, 2006. Includes link to Greg Palast video report.
 * Faiz Shakir, "Bush Tells Barnes Capturing Bin Laden Is 'Not A Top Priority Use of American Resources'," Think Progress, September 14, 2006.

2007

 * "Native American trackers to hunt bin Laden," The Australian, March 12, 2007.
 * Brian Ross and Maddy Sauer, "Exclusive: Terror Commander: New Attack Will Dwarf Failed Bomb Plot," The Blotter Blog/ABC News, July 14, 2007.
 * Transcript of September 2007 speech
 * New OBL Tape: Iraq, Democratic Control, ABC News, September 2007