On May 31, 1996, “The four Saudi men accused of bombing the Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh [on November 13, 1995] are beheaded in Riyadh’s main square. Before their execution, they are coerced by the Saudi’s into a public confession. In the confession, they claim to have read bin Laden communiqués.” – “Hunting […]
Category: quotes
5/29/1996
On May 29, 1996, “In the first of two prosecutions, [terrorist Ramzi] Yousef goes on trial in U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan for the Bojinka plot and the murder of the passenger on PAL Flight 434. Judge Kevin T. Duffy allows Yousef to represent himself, with the assistance of attorney Roy Kulcsar. In his opening […]
5/26/1996
In an article in The Casper Star-Tribune on May 26, 1996, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney “defended the decision to leave Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq, saying again that Saddam was not worth the lives of American soldiers. He pushed to lift the sanctions on Iran–‘The good Lord didn’t see fit to put […]
5/19/1996
Sudanese officials were hoping to expel Osama Bin Ladin to Saudi Arabia. “Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Ladin expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. And Bin Ladin may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one […]
5/19/1996
“When Bin Ladin left [Sudan on May 19, 1996], it appears that the Sudanese government expropriated all his assets: he left Sudan with practically nothing. When Bin Ladin arrived in Afghanistan, he relied on the Taliban until he was able to reinvigorate his fund-raising efforts by drawing on ties to wealthy Saudi individuals that he […]
5/19/1996
“On May 19, 1996, UBL [Usama Bin Ladin] left Sudan, apparently of his own accord, and relocated to Afghanistan. In many ways this was the worst-case scenario for us. Afghanistan at the time was in the midst of extraordinarily chaotic fighting…that would soon leave the country in the hands of the Taliban, a brutal, backward […]
5/18/1996
On May 18, 1996, in Sudan, bin Laden “boarded a chartered plane with his wives, children, some 150 mujihideen, and a cache of small arms. His stated final destination was Jalalabad, Afghanistan, by way of Pakistan.” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 124 […]
5/18/1996
“On May 18 [1996], bin Laden left the Sudan and began reconstituting al Qaeda in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban.” – John Miller, Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell, The Cell, Pages 152-153 […]
5/18/1996
“Having shorn bin Laden of most of his net worth [by taking possession of his businesses], the Sudanese government thoughtfully chartered him an antique Soviet Tupolev jet. …Two of bin Laden’s young sons, Saad and Omar, were with him, and a couple of bodyguards. Bin Laden left on May 18, 1996 [for Afghanistan]. His family […]
5/18/1996
“On May 18 [1996], in an Ariana Afghan airliner leased by the Sudanese government, Bin Laden landed in Jalalabad [Afghanistan] with three wives, several children, and scores of aides and assistants. He arrived back in Afghanistan just as a new group was consolidating its hold over much of the country. The Taliban, a previously obscure […]