“The unsuccessful [U.S.] cruise missile strike against bin Laden raised the profile of al Qaeda’s leader. Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of Al Quds al Arabi newspaper, recalls this [in a June 2005 interview with Peter Bergen]: ‘It was [20] August 1998. …On my way from the airport to my office, Mohammed Atef [al Qaeda’s military commander] called me on my mobile [phone]. And he said, *Osama bin Laden is alive and kicking and nothing happened to him. We have a message to President [Bill] Clinton. We will take revenge and we will hit them where it hurts. We will teach the Americans a lesson they will never forget.* ‘ ”
– Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know, Pages 226-227