“Amnesty International (AI) issued the first statement on September 3 [1998] that the Taliban had killed ‘thousands of civilians’ following the takeover of Mazar-i-Sharif [Afghanistan]. ‘The victims were killed deliberately and arbitrarily in their homes, in the streets where their bodies were left for several days, or in locations between Mazar-i-Sharif and Hairatan. Many of […]
9/3/1998
Regarding the search for weapons in Iraq, “American weapons inspector Scott Ritter, summarized his findings in [testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on September 3] 1998: ‘Iraq has not disarmed, and they’ve lied across the board.’ ” – Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Page 32 […]
9/2/1998
CIA Director George “Tenet told the Senate intelligence committee in a closed session on September 2 [1998] that ‘key elements’ of the CIA’s emerging secret strategy would include hitting bin Laden’s infrastructure, working with liaison intelligence services to ‘break up cells and carry out arrests,’ a plan to ‘recruit or expose his operatives,’ as well […]
8/30/1998
In an appearance on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer on August 30, 1998, then-Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson discussed the August 20 missile attack on a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that was linked to Iraq and bin Laden. “He called the targeting ‘one of the finest hours of our intelligence people.’ Richardson said, […]
8/30/1998
According to an article in The Nation on August 30, 1998, “Maulvi Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, a member of the Taliban’s ruling council, publicly announced that the Taliban would turn over bin Laden if it received ‘conclusive proof’ that bin Laden was a terrorist.” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 176 […]
8/27/1998
” ‘To counter these atheist Russians, the Saudis chose me as their representative in Afghanistan,’ Bin Laden said later [in an interview with Agence France-Presse on August 27, 1998]. ‘I settled in Pakistan in the Afghan border region. There I received volunteers who came from the Saudi Kingdom and from all over the Arab and […]
8/27/1998
“Even as Iraq denied helping Sudan and al Qaeda with weapons of mass destruction, the regime lauded Osama bin Laden. On August 27, 1998, twenty days after al Qaeda attacked the U.S. embassies in Africa, Babel, Uday Hussein’s newspaper, published a startling editorial proclaiming bin Laden ‘an Arab and Islamic hero.’ ” – Stephen F. […]
8/26/1998
“…on August 26, 1998, [UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission on Iraq) inspector] Scott Ritter resigned in frustration with the reaction of Washington and the Security Council to Iraq’s defiance of UNSCOM. Ritter’s resignation letter declared that Iraq was not disarmed and the recent actions of the Security Council to downplay the significance of the Iraqi […]
8/26/1998
While bin Laden was in Sudan, Saudi Arabia made several unsuccessful attempts to dissuade him from targeting Saudi interests. According to the August 26, 1998, issue of Newsday, “The al-Qaeda defector Jamal al-Fadl discussed with Saudi officials the possibility of assassinating bin Laden. In 1994, a group of men armed with AK-47s opened fire at […]
8/24/1998
“The Taliban leader [Mullah Mohammad Omar] told Time magazine on August 24, 1998, that [Saudi intelligence chief Prince] Turki [al Faisal] had told him to keep bin Laden quiet. Omar made no reference to a Saudi request to hand bin Laden over for trial. Instead, after hearing from Turki, Omar said he told bin Laden […]