“On December 4, 1998, CIA director [George] Tenet, in a memo to his senior deputies, stated: ‘We must now enter a new phase in our efforts against bin Laden. Our work to date has been remarkable and in some instances heroic; yet each day we all acknowledge that retaliation is inevitable and that its scope […]
Category: quotes
12/4/1998
According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “Reporting [redacted] suggests Bin Ladin and his allies are preparing for attacks in the US, including an aircraft hijacking to obtain the release of [World Trade Center bombing conspirator] Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman, [World Trade Center bomber] Ramzi Yousef, and [U.S. embassy bombing suspect] […]
12/4/1998
According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “IG [terrorist group Gama’at al-Islamiyya] leader Islambuli in late September was planning to hijack a US airliner during the ‘next couple of weeks’ to free [World Trade Center bombing conspirator Shaykh Umar] ‘Abd al-Rahman and the other [co-conspirator] prisoners… The same source late last […]
12/4/1998
According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “Some members of the Bin Ladin network have received hijack training, according to various sources, but no group directly tied to Bin Ladin’s al-Qa’ida organization has ever carried out an aircraft hijacking. Bin Ladin could be weighing other types of operations against US aircraft. […]
12/4/1998
According to a declassified CIA intelligence report from December 4, 1998: “[Redacted] indicate the Bin Ladin organization or its allies are moving closer to implementing anti-US attacks at unspecified locations, but we do not know whether they are related to attacks on aircraft. A Bin Ladin associate in Sudan late last month told a colleague […]
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
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 […]
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 […]
12/3/1998
“Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet finally came to the same conclusion [as President Bill Clinton] and declared war on bin Laden. In an internal memorandum to senior CIA managers [on December 3, 1998], he exclaimed: ‘We must now enter a new phase in our effort against bin Laden…We are at war…I want no resources […]
12/3/1998
“[CIA Director George] Tenet’s ‘declaration of war’ [on Osama bin Laden, on December 3, 1998] was so low-key that not even the assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division had even heard of it. Neither had senior officials in the Pentagon or the U.S. military. And despite his order that ‘I want no resources or […]