In October 1996, “bin Laden revamped an organization he established during the war called al Qaeda (‘The Base’), with the help of Muhammad Atef, the militant earlier ‘loaned’ to bin Laden by Ayman al-Zaawahiri, the head of Islamic Jihad. Although for many years al Qaeda was little more than an umbrella organization for various bin Laden projects, by the end of the 1990s the FBI and CIA had publicly identified it as bin Laden’s main vehicle for international terrorist operations during the 1990s.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Simon Reeve, The New Jackals, Page 170