“Osama bin Laden’s first declaration that he was at war with the United States was issued in August 23, 1996, three months after his return to Afghanistan. …’The presence of the USA Crusader military forces on land, sea and air in the states of the Islamic Gulf is the greatest danger threatening the largest oil reserve in the world. …More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable [UN sanctions during the 1990s] imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the USA, are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children.’ ”
– Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know, Pages 164-166