“As recently as this summer [June 2001], in a tape that was widely disseminated, Osama bin Laden…described the cleric [Day of Terror conspirator Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman] as ‘a hostage in an American jail.’ He added, ‘We hear he is sick, and that the Americans are treating him badly.’ Then, addressing his followers, he shifted into an exhortation to martyrdom. ‘You will not die needlessly,’ he said. ‘Your lives are in the hands of God.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Steve Strunsky, “A City Rises to the Occasion,” The New York Times, Sep. 23, 2001