” ‘The British and the American people loudly declared their support for their leaders’ decision to attack Iraq,’ bin Laden announced in December 1998 in the Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat. According to his logic, this made it imperative that all Muslims ‘confront, fight and kill’ Britons and Americans.” [The 15th of the month used […]
Category: quotes
12/15/1998
” ‘The terrorists will grow deep and wide, right and left, up and down to terrorize and entangle the West, and especially the United States,’ he [Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud] told a close aide in December 1998. So far, the Taliban, Osama and the Pakistani fanatics who volunteered to support the Taliban did […]
12/15/1998
Regarding a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, “One of the most persistent assertions, again arising from information provided by [Ahmed] Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress, is that [Iraq’s ambassador to Turkey] Mr. [Faruk al-] Hijazi was dispatched by Hussein in [December] 1998 to meet with Osama bin Laden and offer him and his supporters in […]
12/8/1998
In a speech on December 8, 1998, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger said: ” ‘Through constant confrontation, our policy of containing Iraq has been successful. But that does not mean that by itself it is sustainable over the long run.’ Noting the many costs of containing Saddam and the concern that with time international support […]
12/8/1998
On December 8, 1998, “the toughest UN Security Council Resolution on Afghanistan to date [Resolution 1214]… threatened unspecified sanctions against the Taliban for harboring international terrorists, violating human rights, promoting drugs trafficking and refusing to accept a cease-fire. ‘Afghanistan-based terrorism has become a plague,’ said US envoy Nancy Soderberg. Pakistan was the only country that […]
12/7/1998
“In a [December 7] 1998 article for the New Republic, [former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul] Wolfowitz wrote, ‘Toppling Saddam is the only outcome that can satisfy the vital U.S. interest in a stable and secure Gulf region, because, to a degree unique among contemporary tyrannies, the Iraqi regime is Saddam Hussein. …The vast […]
12/4/1998
The 9/11 Commission Report said a Presidential Daily Brief for President Bill Clinton, dated December 4, 1998, suggested ” ‘Bin Ladin and his allies are preparing for attacks in the US, including an aircraft hijacking to obtain the release of Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman, Ramzi Yousef, and Muhammad Sadiq ‘Awda. …Some members of the Bin […]
12/4/1998
According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “Bin Ladin associates last month discussed picking up a package in Malaysia. One told his colleague in Malaysia that ‘they’ were in the ‘ninth month [of pregnancy].’ An alleged Bin Ladin supporter in Yemen late last month remarked to his mother that he planned […]
12/4/1998
Demonstrating a lack of communication amongst U.S. intelligence agencies, the 9/11 Commission quoted from a December 4, 1998, directive by Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet: ” ‘We are at war [with al Qaeda]. I want no resources or people spared in this effort, either inside the CIA or the [Intelligence] Community.’ …But the [9/11 […]
12/4/1998
George Tenet described threats against the U.S. from December 1998 to September 11, 2001: “A PDB [President’s Daily Brief] briefing prepared for President Clinton on December 4, 1998, was titled, ‘Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks.’ ” – George Tenet with Bill Harlow, At the Center of the Storm, Page 105 […]