https://911myths.com/index.php?title=Suspect_-_bin_Laden&feed=atom&action=historySuspect - bin Laden - Revision history2024-03-29T12:29:20ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.22.7https://911myths.com/index.php?title=Suspect_-_bin_Laden&diff=8818&oldid=prevMike: /* Conclusion */2009-09-12T08:34:47Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Conclusion</span></span></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{TOCnestright}}<br />
We've often heard the suggestion that bin Laden was named as a 9/11 subject "too quickly", that there's no reason for the news media and others to have been talking about him almost immediately. But if you look at the context of what was happening in 2001 then it was really no surprise at all.<br />
<br />
==July 12, 2001==<br />
<br />
Americans have been hearing the name "bin Laden" for months, in connection with the embassy bombings. Today the story is about the sentencing of one of the guilty men:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||The New York Post<br />
<br />
July 12, 2001, Thursday<br />
<br />
'''A JURY BLINKS'''<br />
<br />
For the second time in a month, a Manhattan jury could not bring itself to sentence an anti-American terrorist to death. So Khalfan Mohamed will serve life in prison for bombing the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, in which 11 people were killed...<br />
<br />
Without thousands of willing footsoldiers like Mohamed, the diabolical plans of terrorist ringleaders like Osama bin Laden would never come to fruition.}}<br />
<br />
==August 7, 2001==<br />
<br />
The third anniversary of the US embassy bombings sees the US vowing to track down others involved, including bin Laden:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||Agence France Presse -- English<br />
<br />
August 7, 2001 Tuesday<br />
<br />
'''US vows to bring Africa embassy bombers to justice'''<br />
<br />
The United States vowed Tuesday it would hunt down all those who plotted "cowardly" bombings at two of its embassies in East Africa, on the third anniversary of the blasts which killed 224 people.<br />
<br />
As US foreign service staff in Washington and around the world remembered the Americans, Tanzanians and Kenyans killed in the twin blasts, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher delivered a message to the bombers.<br />
<br />
"The families of the victims have suffered tremendously. We will not forget the sacrifices their loved ones made, and we remain fully committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice."<br />
<br />
The US government would work to track down and bring to justice all those guilty of the bombings still at large, Boucher said.<br />
<br />
"We owe it to the victims, to their friends and families and those in the international community who stand with us against terror to do no less."<br />
<br />
The United States has blamed the blasts in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born cleric believed to be living in Afghanistan.<br />
<br />
A court in New York in May found four people said to be bin Laden's associates guilty in the bombings case.}}<br />
<br />
==August 21, 2001==<br />
<br />
The media has carried regular stories about the FBI's investigation into the Cole bombing, and how bin Laden is believed to have been responsible:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||The New York Times<br />
<br />
August 21, 2001 Tuesday<br />
<br />
'''F.B.I.'s Inquiry In Cole Attack Is Nearing Halt'''<br />
<br />
More than 10 months after two Arabic-speaking suicide bombers attacked the destroyer Cole in Aden, killing 17 American sailors, an F.B.I. investigation has virtually ground to a halt because Yemen has refused repeated American requests to widen the inquiry to include Islamic militant groups in Yemen.<br />
<br />
The effect of the Yemeni decision has been to frustrate efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to link the bombing conclusively to Osama bin Laden, the fugitive Saudi, who has declared a worldwide "holy war" on the United States.<br />
<br />
After the Cole bombing on Oct. 12, F.B.I. investigators immediately suspected that Mr. bin Laden, from a sanctuary in Afghanistan, had inspired the attack, if not actively directed it. But appeals from senior American officials, several of whom have flown to Yemen to appeal directly to President Ali Abdallah Salih, have been unavailing.<br />
<br />
Senior bureau investigators say Yemen has denied them access to prominent Yemenis whom the Americans want to interview in their bid to link the attack to elements of Mr. bin Laden's network in Yemen, which became a key base for him in the early 1990's.<br />
<br />
Now, senior Yemeni officials have indicated that they plan to close the case by trying six men who were arrested soon after the bombing.<br />
<br />
"Yemen is as committed to combating terrorism as the United States," the foreign minister, Dr. Abu Bakr al-Qurbi, said in an interview, "because the damage caused in the Cole attack was not only to the American ship and its crew, but to Yemen's security, too. It is therefore in our interests to trace the attack to its ultimate source, and I don't think that any wise person can say that Yemen is withholding information.<br />
<br />
"But as things stand now, we believe that the investigation is complete, and that it is time to hand over the file in the case to the prosecutor."...}}<br />
<br />
==August 25, 2001==<br />
<br />
Bin Laden and others are charged with planning to bomb the US embassy in New Delhi:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||Los Angeles Times<br />
<br />
August 25, 2001 Saturday<br />
<br />
'''Bin Laden, Five Others Charged in Bomb Plot'''<br />
<br />
Indian investigators have charged suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and five others with planning to bomb the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, police said.<br />
<br />
The charges--filed in a New Delhi court Aug. 14 and reported Friday in the Times of India newspaper--are based on statements by two men arrested June 14 on charges of possessing explosives, police official Rajbir Singh said.<br />
<br />
Four of the five suspected conspirators were being held in the capital's Tihar jail.<br />
<br />
The fifth man, Abdul Rehman Al Safani of Yemen, has fled India, police said. Bin Laden lives in Afghanistan. U.S. Embassy officials declined to comment.}}<br />
<br />
==August 29, 2001==<br />
<br />
An Algerian, said to be allied to bin Laden, is indicted for planning to bomb Los Angeles International Airport:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||San Jose Mercury News (California)<br />
<br />
'''ALGERIAN INDICTED IN L.A. BOMB PLOT'''<br />
<br />
A federal grand jury has indicted a London-based Algerian, accusing him of masterminding a plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport and of forging an alliance with global terrorist Osama bin Laden in a holy war against the United States.<br />
<br />
The indictment returned late Monday by a grand jury in New York accused Dr. Haydar Abu Doha, 37, of being the leader of the Algerian terrorist group behind the plan to bomb the airport just before New Year's Day 2000. It charged Doha with eight criminal counts, including conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.}}<br />
<br />
==August 30, 2001==<br />
<br />
Bin Laden's name is linked to threats that temporarily closed the US embassies in Romania and Bulgaria:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||August 30, 2001 Thursday<br />
<br />
'''Threats cause temporary closings of U.S. embassies in Romania and Bulgaria'''<br />
<br />
The U.S. embassies in Bulgaria and Romania were closed indefinitely Thursday after undisclosed threats.<br />
<br />
Security checks will be made, a State Department official said. No details were provided.<br />
<br />
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said he could not provide any details. "There is information about possible threats" the embassies wanted to review, as well as their security arrangements, Boucher said.<br />
<br />
In Bucharest, public affairs officer Kiki Munchi said the embassy "is closed temporarily from Aug. 30 to review our security posture." She could not say when it would reopen.<br />
<br />
Another U.S. diplomat in Bucharest, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the closure "was not routine," but refused to elaborate.<br />
<br />
Romanian state television TV Romania and private channel Tele Sevenabc both reported Thursday that the security problems at the U.S. embassy were related to terrorist Osama bin Laden. None of the reports cited any sources, and none gave details...}}<br />
<br />
==September 4, 2001==<br />
<br />
Concerns are raised that bin Laden is expanding his operations into Indonesia.<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||The Australian<br />
<br />
September 4, 2001, Tuesday<br />
<br />
'''Bin Laden code red in Jakarta'''<br />
<br />
INDONESIAN and foreign military and government officials are concerned the organisation of notorious international terrorist Osama bin Laden is looking to Indonesia as a potential springboard for terrorist operations.<br />
<br />
This could include foreign targets in Indonesia, particularly US interests, or using Indonesia as a launching pad for terrorist operations elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Concerns over terrorism and the activities of the Bin Laden organisation were raised with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri during an August 11 visit to Jakarta by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Indonesian officials said.<br />
<br />
It expected the issue will also be on the agenda during talks in Washington between Ms Megawati and US President George W. Bush later this month...}}<br />
<br />
==September 7, 2001==<br />
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The State Department warns of potential attacks by bin Laden against US interests in Japan or South Korea:<br />
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{{divbox|amber||United Press International<br />
<br />
September 7, 2001, Friday<br />
<br />
'''Terror threat to Americans in Japan, S. Korea'''<br />
<br />
The U.S. embassy Friday warned U.S. citizens and residents on the island of the potential for terrorist attacks on U.S. military bases and against military personnel.<br />
<br />
A similar warning was sent to Americans in South Korea Friday as well.<br />
<br />
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Friday, "We in the U.S. government, we received information about a possible threat to U.S. military facilities or to establishments that are frequented by U.S. military personnel in Japan and Korea."<br />
<br />
A senior State Department official later told reporters that the threat was "Middle East related" but would not elaborate in more detail on the source of the threat. "We understand that there may be groups that are targeting the military, not just facilities but on the outside -- nightclubs, bars, restaurants, shopping districts whatever. Because of that we feel that we have an obligation to tell the general public if they find themselves in the same places."<br />
<br />
Boucher said Friday that the United States was revising its June 22 world-wide caution to Americans to reflect these recent threats. The current caution for U.S. citizens makes specific references to Ossama bin Laden's network, the group alleged to have masterminded the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.<br />
<br />
Boucher also said that he did not expect the U.S. embassies in Seoul and Tokyo would close at the start of business on Monday.}}<br />
<br />
==September 9, 2001==<br />
<br />
The New York Times refers to a June tape where bin Laden promises more attacks.<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||September 9, 2001 - New York Times <br />
<br />
'''On Videotape, Bin Laden Charts a Violent Future'''<br />
<br />
By JOHN F. BURNS<br />
<br />
The image on the grainy videotape is mesmerizing: a tall, slim, middle- aged Arab man, with the bushy beard, white robes and draped white headcloth of a devout Muslim, standing before a gathering somewhere in Afghanistan. He is reading an Arabic poem, apparently his own, on papers that riffle in a breeze.<br />
<br />
The speaker's style is that of the fire-and-brimstone preachers common at Friday Prayers across the Middle East. But he is no imam, nor even, by calling, a poet. He is Osama bin Laden, the 46-year-old Saudi-born fugitive millionaire who has declared a "holy war" against the United States, directing suicide bombings that have made him the F.B.I.'s most-wanted terrorist.<br />
<br />
In the verses, read at the wedding in Afghanistan of his oldest son earlier this year, Mr. bin Laden declares his purpose -killing Americans and Jews -more starkly than ever. Proudly, he salutes the suicide bombing of the American destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden last October in which 17 American sailors died, and promises more attacks. <br />
<br />
"The victory of Yemen will continue," he says.<br />
<br />
Shots of the Cole listing in Aden harbor after the attack, and of the Americans being carried in flag-covered coffins - and a simulation of the bombing, complete with a blinding flash - are played in the tape's opening and closing sequences.<br />
<br />
The shots are taken from American television coverage, and accompanied by what seems like a gloating brutality. "Their limbs were scattered everywhere," Mr. bin Laden says. <br />
<br />
The verses also celebrate what Mr. bin Laden describes as the futility of American military might. "In Aden, our brothers rose and destroyed the mighty destroyer, a ship so powerful it spreads fear wherever it sails," Mr. bin Laden says, over images of the Cole. <br />
<br />
"But as it moves through the water, toward the small boat bobbing in the water, it is sailing to its own destruction, drawn by the illusion of its own power."<br />
<br />
In the Cole attack, two Arab- speaking suicide bombers blew a gaping hole in the destroyer at the waterline with an explosives-laden skiff, causing $250 million damage. While Mr. bin Laden, on the tape, stops short of saying he ordered the strike, he effectively confirms what the F.B.I. suspected from the outset: that it was a bin Laden operation.<br />
<br />
Mr. bin Laden uses the tape to spell out a continuing nightmare for his principal enemies, the United States and Israel. He promises an intensified holy war that includes aid to Palestinians fighting Israel - an important shift in emphasis, according to intelligence analysts. In recent years, through a series of violent attacks, Mr. bin Laden's main focus has been on driving American forces from the Arabian peninsula. <br />
<br />
He also outlines plans for an expansion of his terrorist training operations in Afghanistan, saying that the Taliban, the Islamic militant movement that has sheltered him since 1996, have built an ideal, purified Islamic state that provides the perfect base for a worldwide holy war against "infidels." <br />
<br />
When the two-hour videotape surfaced last June, it attracted little attention, partly because much of it was spliced from previous bin Laden interviews and tapes. But since then the tape has proliferated on Islamic Web sites and in mosques and bazaars across the Muslim world. <br />
<br />
Intelligence officials who have analyzed the tape now say it features the fullest exposition yet of Mr. bin Laden's views, as well as his terrorist strategy, and thus provides a rough road map of where his organization, Al-Qaeda, is headed. <br />
<br />
With his mockery of American power, Mr. bin Laden seems to be almost taunting the United States. Although F.B.I. investigators believe he was behind the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 that killed six people, two bombings in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996 in which 24 American servicemen died, and the bombings of two American embassies in east Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, as well as the Cole attack, the United States has found no way, so far, of containing him. <br />
<br />
After nearly a year, American investigators have been unable to trace the Cole plot beyond six men arrested in Aden for assisting the bombers. The man thought to have directed the attack for Al-Qaeda, Muhammad al-Harazi, is believed to have fled to Afghanistan. Last month, the Indian police indicted Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Harazi for an abortive plot in June to bomb the American Embassy in Delhi, and alleged that Mr. Harazi visited New Delhi in February, using a pseudonym, when he was already named as a Cole suspect. <br />
<br />
Now, despite a $5 million American reward for his capture, multiple indictments in American courts, and a cruise missile strike on his camps in Afghanistan in 1998 that he narrowly escaped, Mr. bin Laden is threatening still more attacks. He tells followers that there is nothing to fear from the United States and that their Islamic faith - and their willingness to die - is enough to neutralize America's military might. <br />
<br />
To those who have studied Mr. bin Laden, this confidence is one of the tape's strongest features. "A year or two ago, after the missile attacks on Afghanistan, there were people in Washington saying bin Laden was in a box," said Peter Bergen, a Washington-based writer who interviewed Mr. bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1997 and who is now writing a book on him, to be titled "Holy War Inc." "But if he's in a box, he's a jack-in-a- box. He as much of a threat as he ever was." <br />
<br />
Part of Mr. bin Laden's defiance seems to stem from his increasingly close ties with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. Eager for American diplomatic recognition and aid, the Islamic clerics who lead the Taliban have suggested that they might expel Mr. bin Laden from Afghanistan, where he fled after being forced from Sudan under American pressure. But American officials suspect the Taliban's hints at estrangement from Mr. bin Laden were a ploy, and the tape seems to confirm this.<br />
<br />
At one point, Mr. bin Laden declares the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, the rightful spiritual leader of the Muslim world, and says Afghanistan has become the equivalent of the purified Islamic state established in Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest cities, by the Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century. He urges Muslims everywhere to migrate to Afghanistan to support the Taliban and Al- Qaeda, saying it is their duty to God.<br />
<br />
"There is now a Muslim state that enforces God's laws, which destroys falsehoods, and which does not succomb to the American infidels - and it is led by a true believer, Mullah Muhammad Omar, the commander of the faithful," he says.<br />
<br />
Another sign of the freedoms Mr. bin Laden appears to enjoy are the tape passages showing his followers engaging in combat training, including firing heavy weapons and storming buildings, at a location identified as the "al-Farooq camp." Some recruits appear little more than 11 or 12. In one scene, Mr. bin Laden himself is seen crouching to fire a Kalashnikov rifle. <br />
<br />
Much of the tape focuses on the current upheaval in Israel and the Palestinian territories. What is not clear, say intelligence experts, is whether Mr. bin Laden plans to mount direct attacks on Israeli targets, or whether he is firing followers' passions for attacks elsewhere. "Our brothers in Palestine are waiting for you anxiously, and expect you to strike at America and Israel," Mr. bin Laden says. "God's earth is wide and their interests are everywhere."<br />
<br />
Since the Jordanian police foiled a bin Laden operation to mount bombing attacks on pilgrims during millennium celebrations 20 months ago, Israel has been on alert for fresh bin Laden terror plots. Israeli intelligence officials say they have evidence that bin Laden agents have already linked up with radical Islamic groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.<br />
<br />
Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorist operations for the Central Intelligence Agency, who reviewed the tape, said Mr. bin Laden's warnings of new attacks should be taken seriously. "The intifada has clearly focused his attention on the Palestinian problem, which he sees in holy war terms - the Palestinians being oppressed by the Israelis, in ways that are only possible because of the support they get from the United States," he said.<br />
<br />
"This has reinforced his opinion about the United States and its policies in the whole of the Middle East. It sharpens his instincts for attack."<br>[http://web.archive.org/web/20030322140135/http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/transcrime/articles/On+Videotape,+Bin+Laden+Charts+a+Violent+Future.htm Web Archive source]}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==September 10, 2001==<br />
<br />
The New York Times story of September 9th is referenced elsewhere:<br />
<br />
{{divbox|amber||The Statesman (India)<br />
<br />
September 10, 2001<br />
<br />
'''OSAMA PLEDGES TO WAGE WORLDWIDE HOLY WAR'''<br />
<br />
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW YORK, Sept. 9. Osama bin Laden had outlined his plans for expanding terrorist training operations in Afghanistan in a video which surfaced last June, media reports said today.<br />
<br />
When the two-hour videotape surfaced in June, it attracted little attention, the New York Times said, partly because much of it was spliced from previous bin Laden interviews and tapes. But since then the tape has proliferated on Islamic websites and in mosques and bazaars across the Muslim world.<br />
<br />
Taliban, bin Laden says, has built in an ideal, purified Islamic state that provides the perfect base for a worldwide holy war against infidels. Bin Laden has used the tape to spell out a continuing nightmare for USA and Israel. The video has him reading out verses at his eldest sons wedding in which he promises an intensified holy war against the two countries, the newspaper said.<br />
<br />
It also shows him proudly saluting the suicide bombing of the American destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden last October in which 17 American sailors were killed. The victory of Yemen will continue, he says, promising more attacks.<br />
<br />
Shots of the Cole in Aden harbour after the attack, and of Americans being carried in flag-covered coffins plus a simulation of the bombing, complete with a blinding flash, are played in the tapes opening and closing sequences. The shots were taken from American TV coverage, the Times said, quoting bin Laden describing the scene as their limbs were scattered everywhere.<br />
<br />
The paper also quotes him as telling his followers that there is nothing to fear from USA and that their Islamic faith and willingness to die is enough to neutralise USAs military might.<br />
<br />
Much of the tape, the Times reports, focusses on the current upheaval in West Asia, which analysts say is an important shift in emphasis, given the earlier preoccupation with USA.}}<br />
<br />
==Conclusion==<br />
<br />
On September 10 2001 the US knew that bin Laden was behind the 1998 embassy bombings, was most likely responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole, had connections with other plots involving attempted attacks on US interests around the world, and was threatening new attacks in the future. Given that he was also believed to be involved in the 1993 bombing of the WTC, bin Laden was an entirely obvious suspect for the second, more devastating attack: we see nothing suspicious whatsoever about the media immediately putting his name at the top of the list.</div>Mike