“[I]n August [23] 1996, bin Laden declared war on America from a cave in Afghanistan. The stated cause was the continued presence of United States forces in Saudi Arabia five years after the first Gulf War. …He presumed to speak on behalf of all Muslims, and even directed some of his lengthy fatwa to Secretary of Defense William Perry personally. ‘I say to you, William, that: These youths love death as you love life. …These youths will not ask you for explanations. They will sing out that there is nothing between us and needs to be explained, there is only killing and neck-smiting.’ ”
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Page 4