In bin Laden’s ‘World Islamic Front Statement Urging Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,’ signed on February, 23, 1998, he wrote: ” ‘for over seven years, the United States has been occupying the most sacred of the Islamic lands, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and […]
Category: quotes
2/23/1998
“Bin Laden’s declaration of war [on August 23, 1996] was followed eighteen months later by a fatwa ordering and authorizing ‘jihad against the Crusaders and Jews’ and announcing the creation of the ‘World Islamic Front against Crusaders and Jews,’ an organization composed of al-Qaeda, [Ayman] al-Zawahiri’s EIJ [Egyptian Islamic Jihad], and four other Islamist groups. […]
2/23/1998
According to a CIA memorandum released on February 23, 1998, the day after bin Laden’s fatwa against the U.S.: ” ‘These fatwas are the first from these groups that explicitly justify attacks on American civilians anywhere in the world. Both groups [bin Laden and a coalition of Islamic groups in London] have hinted in the […]
2/23/1998
“In February [23] 1998, the 40-year-old Saudi exile Usama Bin Ladin and a fugitive Egyptian physician [and Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader], Ayman al Zawahiri, arranged from their Afghan headquarters for an Arabic newspaper in London to publish what they termed a fatwa issued in the name of a ‘World Islamic Front.’ ” In it, they […]
2/23/1998
“On February 23, 1998, bin Laden unveiled a coalition that reflected his spreading ambition and rising international charisma. He announced a new enterprise: the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. Bin Laden had worked for hours on the front’s manifesto. Its contents were dictated over his satellite telephone to editors at a […]
2/23/1998
“Since the Gulf War in 1991, bin Laden now declared [in his manifesto of February 23, 1998], the United States ‘has been occupying the most sacred lands of Islam: the Arabian Peninsula. It has been stealing its resources, dictating to its leaders, humiliating its people, and frightening its neighbors. It is using its rule in […]
2/23/1998
Regarding bin Laden’s February 23, 1998, fatwa against the United States: “The bin Laden unit at the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center issued an alert memo within days of this manifesto’s issuance. The unit’s professional analysts, specialists in political Islam–recognized an escalation in the February 23 attack on ‘Crusaders and Jews.’ The statements were ‘the first from […]
2/23/1998
Journalist Peter Bergen pointed out a CIA analysis on February 23, 1998, the day after bin Laden’s Manifesto of the World Islamic Front: ” ‘These fatwas are the first from these groups that explicitly justify attacks on American civilians anywhere in the world.’ ” – Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc., Page 99 […]
2/23/1998
On February 23, 1998, “bin Laden and [Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-] Zawahiri decided to declare war on America unambiguously and publicly. The two were joined by three other prominent jihadists: Rifa’I Ahmed Taha, who led a splinter group of al Gamaa al Islamiyya that had merged with Islamic Jihad; Sheikh Mir Hamza, secretary […]
2/23/1998
On February 23, 1998, Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-Zawahiri “and bin Laden merged their organizations with groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh to form the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders, creating the organization now known as al Qaeda. The new front promised to wage jihad against all Americans–civilians and military alike–until […]