User:Aude/Sandbox15

Background

Osama bin Laden (aliases included Osama Muhammad al Wahad, Abu Abdallah, and Al Qaqa) was born in 1957 to Hamida al-Attas and Muhammed Awad bin Laden, a wealthy businessman in Saudi Arabia. The Bin Laden family traces back to the Hadhramaut region of Yemen, while his mother is from Syria. Osama was the 17th of 52 children. Osama grew up in Medina and the Hijaz, in Saudi Arabia and attended school in Jeddah.

Osama studied economics and management at King Abdulaziz University, but also took Islamic studies. He was taught by Abdullah Azzam and Muhammad Qutb, the brother of Sayyid Qutb who was the ideologue of Muslim Brotherhood. Both Azzam and Qutb had significant influence on Osama. Contrary to media reports, Osama did not study engineering, and he did not complete his degree.

Mujahidin

On December 26, 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. During the 1980s, Osama bin Laden went to Afghanistan, joining the mujahadeen that were fighting against the Soviets. In 1984, Osama used family contacts and money to support a plan developed by Abdullah Azzam to create an international jihad organization. The organization was called the "Office of Services", with a support network in Pakistan to provide weapons and training to those coming to fight in Afghanistan. By the end of the 1980s, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. With many young Arabs having come to Afghanistan, Osama organized a new militant group to carry on with a radical form of jihad which included a goal of overthrowing Arab governments. Bin Laden was influenced by Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian-Jordanian, and his ideology.

Towards the end of the 1980s, bin Laden and the mujahidin took part in some key battles. The Lion's Den Operation (Battle of Jiji), in the Afghan province of Paktia, in May 1987 was a critical battle that Osama participated in. The mujahadeen were well-equipped with Stinger missiles, which they used to shoot down Soviet helicopters. After a week, the Soviets retreated and the mujahadeen victory was widely reported in the Arab press. In an interview with CNN journalist Peter Arnett, Osama said he was exposed to poison gas attacks and suffered minor injuries during the 1987 operation. Osama also provided financial support for MAK, though not so much out of his personal fortune as through fundraising and other means.

As the Soviets were retreating in defeat, bin Laden and Azzam had discussions about the future of MAK and what to do with the mujahidin force that had built up. Osama and Azzam both wanted to use the force as a "rapid reaction force" to defend oppressed Muslims around the world. He wanted to train the Egyptian mujahidin in terrorist tactics; Azzam strongly disagreed with this approach, issuing a fatwa saying that it would violate Islamic law. Azzam reiterated the hadith that orders Muslims not to kill any women or children.

Al Qaeda formed

In November 1989, soon after bin Laden and Azzam split, Azzam was killed in Peshawar, Pakistan. Azzam and his two sons were travelling to Jummah (Friday prayer) when a remote-control activated bomb detonated and killed them. It is not known for certain if Osama was behind this, but thought unlikely. Nonetheless, Osama was free to take full control of MAK, laying groundwork for Al Qaeda.

In 1991, Bin Laden moved to the Sudan, where he led operations in East Africa, including the 1993 assault on American troops at Mogadishu in Somalia. Under international pressure, the Sudanese forced Bin Laden out of Sudan in 1996, and he returned to Afghanistan.

Ideology

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 marked a point where bin Laden turned his attention toward the United States. He strongly urged the Saudi regime not to host the 500,000 American troops, instead advocating the use of a mujahidin force to oust the Iraqis. Bin Laden strongly opposed the continued presence of American troops (infidels) in Saudi Arabia. He interpreted the Prophet Muhammad as banning the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia". This is why Bin Laden attacked American military targets in Saudi Arabia. Also, the date chosen for the 1998 African embassy bombings (August 7), was eight years to the day that American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia.

In the early 1990s, Bin Laden openly "criticized the Saudi royal family publicly and alleged that their invitation of foreign troops to the Arabian peninsula constituted an affront to the sanctity of the birthplace of Islam and a betrayal of the global Islamic community." Bin Laden has viewed the House of Saud (royal family) as apostates. In Islam, apostasy refers to Muslims that have become non-believers and reject Islam. Apostasy is a very serious charge, which may result in capital punishment in many Muslim countries (especially for males). He also objects to American alliances with the governments of Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt.

He also views Israelis as infidels, not welcome in "Muslim land". And, he objects to U.S. foreign policy, in regards to Israel. Madeline Albright, Sandy Berger, and William Cohen (all Jewish) "drove Washington's undoubtedly pro-Israel policy" during the Clinton administration.

In some messages following his 1996 fatwa, Bin Laden echoed many themes outlined in Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations.

Fatwas

In 1996, Bin Laden issued a fatwa, calling for American troops to get out of Saudi Arabia.

Bin Laden issued another fatwa in February 1998, together with Ayman al Zawahiri, declaring war against Americans. Abu Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha (leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group), Mir Hamzah (secretary of the Jamiat ul Ulema e Pakistan), and Fazlul Rah-man (head of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh) also signed the 1998 fatwa.

Bin Laden cited grievances including:

• Presence of American infidels (troops) in the Saudi holy land
• Suffering of Iraqi people due to sanctions imposed after the Gulf War
• U.S. support of Israel

Bin Laden also stated in the fatwa:

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God."

During a 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller, Bin Laden reiterated, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they [Americans] are all targets."

In a December 1999 interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, bin Laden reiterated his ideology and objecting to America's military presence in Saudi Arabia and that Americans were "too near to Mecca. That was a provocation to the entire Muslim world." He also believed Israel "was killing and punishing Palestinians with American money and American arms."

Motives

The 9/11 Commission Report, citing Bin Laden's "Letter to America", explains:

...they say that America had attacked Islam; America is responsible for all conflicts involving Muslims. Thus Americans are blamed when Israelis fight with Palestinians, when Russians fight with Chechens, when Indians fight with Kashmiri Muslims, and when the Philippine government fights ethnic Muslims in its southern islands. America is also held responsible for the governments of Muslim countries, derided by al Qaeda as "your agents." Bin Ladin has stated flatly, "Our fight against these governments is not separate from our fight against you." These charges found a ready audience among millions of Arabs and Muslims angry at the United States because of issues ranging from Iraq to Palestine to America's support for their countries' repressive rulers. Bin Ladin's grievance with the United States may have started in reaction to specific U.S. policies but it quickly became far deeper.

• Bin Laden's 'letter to America', printed in The Observer, November 24, 2002.

The 9/11 Commission Report, again citing Bin Laden's "Letter to America", explains:

"America should abandon the Middle East, convert to Islam, and end the immorality and godlessness of its society and culture: "It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind." If the United States did not comply, it would be at war with the Islamic nation, a nation that al Qaeda's leaders said "desires death more than you desire life."

Osama bin Laden's fortune

Osama bin Laden's fortune has been said to be $250 million-$300 million, inherited from his father who owned a major construction company in Saudi Arabia. While Bin Laden is not poor, this figure is likely by far over-estimating his wealth. From 1970 to 1994, bin Laden instead received $1 million a year, but was cut off in 1994 after a Saudi crackdown and his citizenship revoked. Though, Bin Laden's sister-in-law, Carmen, thinks he may still be getting some support from the family.

Bin Laden may have owned some businesses (possibly 35 companies) while he was in Sudan, from 1992 to 1996. His investments may have been to gain influence with the Sudan government, rather than as a revenue source for Al Qaeda. When he was forced to leave Sudan in 1996, the Sudanese government "apparently expropriated his assets and seized his accounts." Thus, he had little when he left Sudan, and it took months for him to get back on his feet when he arrived in Afghanistan in 1996. From that point on, Bin Laden turned to fundraising to support Al Qaeda.

Interviews with Bin Laden

Pre 9/11

During the late 1990s, several journalists interviewed Bin Laden in Afghanistan including:

• 1997 - Interview with CNN reporter, Peter Bergen, Peter Arnett, and cameraman Peter Jouvenal.
• May 1998 - Interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, journalist with The News in Peshawar.
• December 1998 - Second interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai

Post 9/11

Al Jazeera correspondent, Tayseer Alouni interviewed Bin Laden in October 2001.

They [the hijackers] did this, as we understand it, and this is something we have agitated for before, as a matter of self-defense, in defense of our brothers and sons in Palestine, and to liberate our sacred religious sites/things. If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists.

Al Qaeda video and audiotapes

December 2001

A video recovered from a home in Jalalabad, in November, and made public on December 13, 2001, shows Bin Laden talking to a group of supporters. Al Qaeda likely did not intend for this tape to be disseminated.

In the tape, he explains:

"We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all. (...Inaudible...) Due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for."

The videotape indicates that five days before the attacks, which occurred on a Tuesday, bin Laden knew the date and time they would occur:

"We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on. It was 5:30 p.m. our time [8:00 am in New York and Washington]. ... Immediately, we heard the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned the radio station to the news from Washington. The news continued and no mention of the attack until the end. At the end of the newscast, they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center. ... After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center. The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it. ..."

Bin Laden knew there would be multiple attacks:

"They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be patient. The difference between the first and the second plane hitting the towers was twenty minutes. And the difference between the first plane and the plane that hit the Pentagon was one hour."

The video indicates that bin Laden was very familiar with the operational planning for the attacks:

"Mohammad Atta from the Egyptian family (meaning the Al Qaeda Egyptian group), was in charge of the group. ... The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes. ... Those who were trained to fly didn't know the others. One group of people did not know the other group."

Expert analysis

Peter Bergen, who has interviewed Bin Laden and authored several books about him, commented about the video:

You know, and simple explanations are the best ones. There will always be conspiracy theories about these kinds of things. But they're just conspiracy theories. This was obviously a kind of casual moment. I have seen tapes similar to this during the Afghan war against the Soviet Union, Bin Laden sort of sitting around kibbitzing with his friends. It has all of the hallmarks of authenticity to me.

2002

• April 2002 - Flight 93 hijacker Ahmed al-Haznawi was shown in a video reciting a prepared statement, which al-Jazeera described as a last will and testament.

• September 2002 - Al Jazeera aired excerpts from a videotape in which a voice said to be bin Laden's is heard naming the leaders of the 19 9/11 hijackers.

• October 6, 2002 - Al Jazeera broadcasts audiotape message from Osama bin Laden.

Message to the US people. Greetings to those who follow the just path. I advise you in all sincerity and call upon you to follow Islam which stands up for justice and opposes injustice and crime. I also call upon you to seize the messages of the conquests of New York and Washington, which was the response to a part of your past crimes. However, the criminal gang in the White House, those agents of the Jews, are preparing to attack the Muslim world and carve it up, without you dissuading them, meaning that you have not learnt anything. I tell you, as God is my witness, that if America does not cease or reduce the scope of this tension, we will respond in kind, God willing. The youth of Islam are preparing something to strike fear in your hearts and will target the vital sectors of your economy until you renounce your injustice and hostility. We pray for God to help you in this.

• October 8, 2002 - Al Jazeera broadcasts audiotape message from Ayman al-Zawahiri.

October 2004

October 30, 2004 - Bin Laden unequivocally admitted that he and al Qaeda had planned and directed the September 11 attacks. He stated, "I shall talk to you about the story behind those events (the September 11 attacks) and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken ...." He confirmed his direction of the details of operational planning, stating, "for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Atta ... that all operations should be carried out within twenty minutes, before Bush and his administration notice."

The entire video was 18 minutes long, with Bin Laden appearing for 14 minutes. Al Jazeera edited it down to a five-minute version, which is what they aired.

• Full Transcript - (in English) from Al Jazeera
• Video - (in Arabic) Broadcast On Al-Jazeera On October 29, 2004

2006

• May 23, 2006 - Osama bin Laden said "I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers - Allah have mercy upon them - with those raids ...." Bin Laden added, "the participants in September 11th were two groups: pilots and support teams for each pilot in order to control the aircraft."

Bin Laden's whereabouts?

It was confirmed that Bin Laden was at Tora Bora, a cave complex south of Jalalabad, in Afghanistan in December 2001. In 2002, Bin Laden was suspected to be in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, perhaps in and around the Afghan province of Paktia or the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan. In September 2002, U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted satellite phone communications between Mullah Omar and a senior aide, which also included some words from Osama bin Laden. In December 2004, bin Laden was thought to be in Pakistan. As of 2006, Bin Laden is thought to still be in Pakistan.

Osama, a fabrication of the CIA?

This claim is far fetched, but, there also is confusion regarding whether or not the CIA financed and aided bin Laden during the 1980s in Afghanistan, in resisting the Soviets. It was suggested in a 1998 article in Jane's Intelligence Review, that the CIA provided funding to bin Laden during the Afghan war. Peter Bergen says this is a "fundamental misunderstanding of the Agency's operations in Afghanistan." Ayman al Zawahiri also rejects claims that Bin Laden and the Arab mujahideen were supported financially or trained by the CIA in his December 2001 book, Knights Under the Prophet's Banner.

Links with Saddam Hussein?

In the run-up to the Iraq War, suggestions that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda abounded. Laurie Mylroie was among those that suggested this, in her book Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America, published in 2000 by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In the book, she argued that Iraq likely sponsored the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, as well as makes suggestions that the 1998 African Embassy bombings were a joint operation between Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Mylroie suggests that Ramzi Yousef, who was behind the 1993 attack, was an Iraqi intelligence agent. The claims are emphatically denied by Peter Bergen, who describes Mylroie, "She is, in short, a crackpot". And no evidence has turned up that links Saddam in any way to the 9/11 attacks. Each year, the State Department's counterterrorism office issues a survey of global terrorism. The 2000 report stated "[Iraq] has not attempted an anti-western attack since its failed attempt to assassinate former President Bush in 1993 in Kuwait."

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list

In order to be listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list, the suspect must have been indicted for the crime. To indict Bin Laden formally for the 9/11 attacks would require presenting evidence in a court of law; such evidence linking Bin Laden to 9/11 would include intelligence sources, and Al-Qaeda detainees. Making such sources (and methods) publicly known, perhaps isn't advised. In the Zacarias Moussaoui case, a big deal was made over access to detainee witnesses and about handling evidence from other intelligence sources.

In all, the 9/11 attacks were viewed as an "act of war", and the U.S. government is responding accordingly. During the Clinton administration, terrorism was handled more as a matter of law enforcement. This change in how terrorism is handled may be yet another reason why the U.S. government has not bothered to formally indict Bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks.

Regarding this matter, FBI officials told the Washington Post:

"There's no mystery here," said FBI spokesman Rex Tomb. "They could add 9/11 on there, but they have not because they don't need to at this point. . . . There is a logic to it." [1]

The FBI also maintains a list of "Most Wanted Terrorists". This list is accompanied by a note:

The alleged terrorists on this list have been indicted by sitting Federal Grand Juries in various jurisdictions in the United States for the crimes reflected on their wanted posters. Evidence was gathered and presented to the Grand Juries, which led to their being charged. The indictments currently listed on the posters allow them to be arrested and brought to justice. Future indictments may be handed down as various investigations proceed in connection to other terrorist incidents, for example, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. [2]

A document released by the U.K. government, Responsibility for the terrorist atrocities in the United States, 11 September 2001 presents facts that link Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to the 9/11 attacks.

The U.K. document further notes:

This document does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Usama Bin Laden in a court of law. Intelligence often cannot be used evidentially, due both to the strict rules of admissibility and to the need to protect the safety of sources. But on the basis of all the information available HMG is confident of its conclusions as expressed in this document.

Options for prosecuting Bin Laden

Indicting Bin Laden and prosecuting him for his role in the 9/11 attacks, through the usual criminal justice process in the U.S. is not the only and possibly not the best option.

The terrorist crimes of September 11 violate a host of U.S. criminal laws, including laws that criminalize acts of international terrorism (specifically when such acts include homicide); destruction of aircraft, incapacitating any individual on an aircraft, performing an act of violence against any individual on an aircraft, or conspiring to do so; and forgery of passports or other immigration documents. The terrorist crimes also probably constitute crimes against humanity, namely, multiple acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack knowingly directed against any civilian population in furtherance of a state or organizational policy. The latter would be a novel charge to prosecute in a U.S. federal court, as it derives from customary international law and is not codified as such in the U.S. federal criminal code. But as a matter of international law, the attacks of September 11 could be characterized as crimes against humanity and could be charged against the perpetrators, if not in U.S. federal court then in a foreign jurisdiction or international tribunal that exercises personal jurisdiction over one or more suspects or recognizes such crimes as crimes of universal jurisdiction.

Foreign courts

Prosecution in foreign national courts may prove to be the more likely alternative to U.S. prosecution in a number of cases. British prosecution of the Lockerbie (Pan Am 103) defendants (albeit in a special courtroom established in The Netherlands and adjudicated under Scottish law by Scottish judges) proved in the long run to be a much more attractive option than U.S. prosecution for that particular terrorist crime. Foreign prosecutions may also have important political advantages. In terms of constructing a robust international legal architecture for dealing with terrorism, the optics and the practical consequences of having prosecutions in both U.S. and foreign courts is significant. This may prove crucial to the long-term campaign, and American victims should take comfort from a scenario in which the United States does not have to go it alone; rather a variety of countries, through rigorous prosecutions, would treat the September 11 attacks and their fallout as attacks against all civilized nations. Foreign trials may also prove essential in dealing with persons in the al Qaeda network who cannot be prosecuted for U.S. crimes but are still important parts of the overall terrorist threat to us.

Terrorist suspects may be investigated and prosecuted in one or more foreign courts regardless of U.S. interests or desires, and this is already happening. A foreign government may refuse a U.S. extradition request, for example. This could well be the case if the United States declines to waive the death penalty with respect to a terrorist suspect held in an anti-death penalty jurisdiction. Also, foreign officials may consider it their own responsibility to bring to justice individuals who engaged within their jurisdiction in the planning or commission of terrorist attacks either on their own soil or elsewhere. And the United States may find it preferable for certain low- or mid-level terrorist suspects to be prosecuted before foreign courts, particularly in highly developed jurisdictions where we have confidence in the judicial system.

Spain

In 2003, Investigative magistrate Baltasar Garzon of Spain issued an indictment against Osama bin Laden for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Along with bin Laden, Ramzi Binalshibh and others affiliated with Al Qaeda were also indicted. The indictment included evidence that Spain was used as a staging ground for the attacks. Spain does not allow trials for suspects in absentia.

See also

• Bin Laden family

References

More references

• Usama Bin Laden - FBI poster
• Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings? - Washington Post (August 28, 2006)
• Responsibility for the terrorist atrocities in the United States, 11 September 2001 - U.K. government, 10 Downing Street
• U.S. Intelligence Points to Bin Laden Network - Washington Post, September 12, 2001
• Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11 - CBC News (October 29, 2004)
• Responsibility for the terrorist atrocities in the United States, 11 September 2001 - Government of the U.K.
• Coll, Steve (December 12, 2005) "Young Osama", The New Yorker.
• Hunting Bin Laden, PBS Frontline
• 1996 Fatwa by Osama bin Laden - published in the London-based newspaper, Al Quds Al Arabi, in August, 1996, calling for attacks in the Arab region.
• 1998 Fatwa - published in Al Qude Al Arabi on February 23, 1998.
• Bin Laden's 'letter to America', printed in The Observer, November 24, 2002.
• Burke, Jason (October 28, 2001) "The making of the world's most wanted man", The Observer.
• Translation of April 24, 2002 al-Qaeda document - Statement from qaidat al-jihad regarding the mandates of the heroes and the legality of the operations in New York and Washington.
• U.S. Case Against bin Laden in Embassy Blasts Seems to Rest on Ideas, April 13, 1999, New York Times.
• Bin Laden finally claims 9/11 attacks: Al-Jazeera, Arab News, September 9, 2002.