Osama bin Laden released a videotaped statement on December 26, 2001. In it, “he wants to destroy the American economy in order to make it impossible for the United States to influence the world. ‘If their economy ends, they will busy themselves away from the enslavement of oppressed people,’ he said… ‘It is important to concentrate on the destruction of the American economy.’ ”
– James Risen, “In Its Express Delivery and Its Details, Bin Laden’s Latest Tape Differs From Past Ones,” The New York Times, Dec. 28, 2001