“Soon after [Taleban leader] Mullah [Mohammed] Omar’s forces occupied Jalalabad [Afghanistan] in July 1996, [al-Qaeda theorist Abu Musab] al-Suri reported that Taleban officials likewise pledged to protect bin Laden, though they knew him only by reputation and did not invite him to Afghanistan, and so had no obligation to him.” [The 15th of the month […]
Category: quotes
7/10/1996
“The Americans were the ‘main enemy’ of Muslims worldwide, an angry bin Laden told a British journalist [Robert Fisk, for an article published in The Independent on July 10, 1996] who visited him in an eastern Afghan mountain camp weeks after his arrival in Jalalabad. Saudi Arabian authorities were only ‘secondary enemies,’ he declared. As […]
7/5/1996
In early July 1996, “Robert Fisk of London’s Independent newspaper interviewed bin Laden in Afghanistan. Bin Laden said the recent bombings in Saudi Arabia were ‘the beginning of the war between Muslims and the United States. …The Saudis now know their real enemy is America.’ “ [The 5th of the month used for date sorting […]
7/1/1996
” ‘We have no unilateral sources close to bin Laden, nor any reliable way of intercepting his communications,’ CIA analysts stated in a report on July 1, 1996. …’We must rely on foreign intelligence services to confirm his movements and activities.’ ” – Bill Gertz, Breakdown, Page 10 […]
7/1/1996
Following bin Laden’s arrival in Afghanistan, a top secret CIA memo dated July 1, 1996, said: ” ‘We have no unilateral sources close to bin Laden, nor any reliable way of intercepting his communications…We must rely on foreign intelligence services to confirm his movements and activities.’ ” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 104 […]
6/25/1996
“On June 25, 1996, nineteen Americans were killed when a truck bomb ripped open the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia. The perpetrators were later identified by the FBI as Iranian Hezbollah members, but days after the bombing [World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef told [mobster turned FBI informant Greg] Scarpa [Jr.] that ‘BOJINGA’ (that […]
6/25/1996
“The 9/11 Commission concluded that ‘Al Qaeda…may…have played a ‘yet unknown role’ in aiding Hezbollah militants in the [June 25] 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers [in Saudi Arabia].” – Peter Lance, Triple Cross, Page 238 […]
6/25/1996
“Among the evidence that [mobster turned FBI informant Greg] Scarpa [Jr.] had pulled out of [World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef was the presence of four of Yousef’s ‘people’ in New York City; evidence of possible al Qaeda involvement in the June [25] 1996 Khobar Towers bombing [in Saudi Arabia]; and evidence of a bin […]
6/25/1996
On June 25, 1996, “Iran and its ally, the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, had orchestrated the [Khobar Towers] attack [in Saudi Arabia] using local Shia to conduct the actual operation. Tehran [Iran] ordered it, Lebanon’s Hezbollah provided the bombmaker, and Saudi Hezbollah the terrorists.” – Bruce Riedel, The Search for Al Qaeda, Pages 51-52 […]
6/25/1996
“…on the night of June 25 [1996], a tanker truck loaded with the equivalent of 20,000 pounds of TNT was driven into the parking lot in front of the Khobar Towers, a residential complex housing U.S. service personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Though roof sentries spotted the truck and called for an immediate evacuation, they […]