Page 99 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

B-Kushner.qxd 29-10-02 3:18 PM Page 73

Bin Laden, Osama (1957– )———73

1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York a suspected Al Qaeda attack at the Khobar Towers
City, which killed six people and wounded more than military complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19
1,000. The architect of that bombing, Ramzi Ahmed Americans. By then, the U.S. State Department was
Yousef, was a guest in a Pakistani guest house owned calling bin Laden “the most significant financial spon-
by bin Laden. sor of Islamic extremist activities in the world today”
By early 1994, bin Laden was using the Internet due to his bankrolling of training camps in both
and other high-tech means to plan and execute his Afghanistan in Sudan.
operations, along with a complicated network of front In 1998, bin Laden issued a fatwa, or religious
companies and bank accounts to launder funds for proclamation, calling for the death of all Americans,
continued operations. both military and civilians. Later that year, bin
In late 1995, five Americans and two Indians were Laden’s group was conclusively linked to the bomb-
killed by a truck bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While ing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, where
they were never conclusively linked to Al Qaeda, bin hundreds were killed and thousands were injured. The
Laden praised the four men who were executed by U.S. responded by attacking several of bin Laden’s
the Saudis for the attacks as “martyrs,” who paved the training camps in Afghanistan and a factory thought
way for other true believers. at the time to be producing chemical weapons for
Other attacks on non-American targets continued Al Qaeda in Sudan. The attacks brought notoriety to
around the world. In December 1994, bin Laden was bin Laden, who became something of a celebrity
linked to an attempt to destroy an airplane en route outlaw in the Muslim world.
to Tokyo. The attack was carried out by Abu Sayyaf, In November 1998, the U.S. government indicted
a Philippine group under the aegis of Al Qaeda. The bin Laden with several charges, including the embassy
following year, an assassination attempt on Egyptian bombings. Concurrently, the U.S. State Department
president Hosni Mubarak was linked to Al Qaeda. offered a reward of $5 million for information leading
Similarly, Al Qaeda/Abu Sayyaf was tied to an aborted to bin Laden’s arrest.
plot to assassinate the pope. Finally, in November In 1999, the FBI placed bin Laden on its “most
1995, a car bomb planted by Al Qaeda operatives wanted terrorists” list. Meanwhile, rumors circulated
rocked the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan. that the Taliban was growing weary of their guest,
who brought with him the consternation of the inter-
national community and the wrath of the United
BIN LADEN IN AFGHANISTAN
States. They requested that bin Laden suspend his
But it was the attack in Riyadh, in all probability, military and political activities, and even assigned
that prompted Washington to pressure Sudan to several soldiers to keep him under watch.
revoke its protection of bin Laden. A year later, One year later, however, bin Laden was tied to a
Khartoum yielded. In May 1996, bin Laden moved thwarted plot to bomb targets around the globe dur-
his family and hundreds of Al Qaeda members to ing the millennium celebrations on New Year’s Eve
lawless Afghanistan, where years of civil war paved 1999. On October 27, 2000, bin Laden was again
the way for the repressive fundamentalist Taliban suspected of masterminding the bombing of an
regime, under Mullah Mohammed Omar, to rise American target; the U.S.S. Cole battleship was
to power. attacked by suicide bombers in Yemen, killing more
In Afghanistan, bin Laden curried favor among than a dozen sailors.
the Taliban by providing financial support for their What bin Laden is most known for, however, is the
radical Islamic regime, rebuilding infrastructure that terrorist attacks on American soil on September 11,
was largely destroyed after years of war against the 2001. On that day, two hijacked commercial jets
Soviets, and the subsequent internecine fighting that heading from Boston to Los Angeles flew into the
followed. As a sign of respect, he was known as twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York
“Sheikh.” City. Another plane hit the Pentagon just outside of
Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda operations flourished in his Washington, D.C. A fourth hijacked airliner was com-
new headquarters. On August 23, 1996, he issued a mandeered by the passengers and crashed in western
decree declaring jihad against Americans and Jews, Pennsylvania. The death toll of the attacks, carried out
calling Muslims to expel them from Islamic holy lands by 19 suspected Al Qaeda hijackers, is estimated at
(Saudi Arabia and Israel). Accordingly, that same year about 3,000 people.