“The Sudanese told bin Laden to leave, confiscated his construction equipment, and forced him to sell all his assets at a fraction of their worth. Perhaps fearing that Sudan would turn him over to his enemies if he stayed much longer, bin Laden left Khartoum on May 18, 1996, on his own initiative. He returned […]
Category: quotes
5/18/1996
“Bin Laden, his wives and children, and a large retinue of followers departed Sudan on May 18, 1996, and traveled in two aircraft to Jalalabad [Afghanistan]. Bin Laden flew in on a small private plane. …Sudanese officials chartered a second aircraft from Ariana, the Afghan state airline, for $50,000. [Afghan] President [Burhanuddin] Rabbani denied having […]
5/18/1996
“When an angry Osama, his family and retainers flew out of Khartoum [Sudan] on May 18 [1996] on a chartered Ariana Afghan B-727, for his third and perhaps final stay in Afghanistan, Clinton administration policy-makers exulted. They felt they were solving the immediate problem as best they could. Osama was on his way…to the beleaguered […]
5/18/1996
“Since the United States had advanced knowledge that bin Laden was about to leave [Sudan for Afghanistan on May 18, 1996], it had a second chance to nab him while he was in international airspace. The CTC [Counterterrorism Center] drew up an operations plan for such a seizure and presented it to White House officials. […]
5/15/1996
“In May 1996, Osama bin Laden, the seventeenth son of a Saudi Arabian billionaire, had flown into Afghanistan on his own Ariana Afghan Airlines jet. He brought with him scores of hardened Arab radicals fired by visions of global Islamic war. He arrived initially in Jalalabad, a dust-blown Afghan provincial capital east of Kabul, where […]
5/15/1996
In a June 16, 2004, report on the history of al Qaeda, the 9/11 Commission “detailed Bin Ladin’s return to Afghanistan in [May] 1996 and merger with the terrorist group Egyptian Islamic Jihad, estimating that ‘as many as 20,000’ people trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan between May 1996 and 9/11.” [The 15th of […]
5/15/1996
“In May of 1996, Osama bin Laden, his top commanders, and his son Omar fly out of Khartoum [Sudan], to Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Regardless of other media reports, Omar bin Laden says he is the only son that accompanied his father. He also reports that their plane crossed Saudi Arabia, and that their only stop was […]
5/15/1996
In May 1996, “The Sudan expels bin Laden because of international pressure by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden then moves back to Afghanistan.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – “Hunting Bin Laden; Who is Bin Laden & What Does He Want? A Chronology of His Political […]
5/15/1996
According to Sudan’s former Minister of State for Defense, Fatih Erwa, in mid-May 1996, “bin Laden had been contacted by the Sudanese Mukhabarat [intelligence service]… He was told that Sudan was ‘no longer safe for him’ and that his presence was causing the government immense diplomatic and economic problems…” [The 15th of the month used […]
5/15/1996
“In May 1996 Osama bin Laden flew into the eastern city of Jalalabad [Afghanistan] with his wives and around 150 supporters on a chartered C-130 transport plane. American strategists had made a huge mistake. By increasing pressure on Sudan they had allowed the most dangerous terrorist financier in the world to move to an impenetrable […]