National Security Advisor Sandy Berger answered the charge that there had been ambiguity about the CIA’s authorization to kill bin Laden: ” ‘We gave the CIA every inch of authorization it asked for. …There could not have been any doubt about what President [Bill] Clinton’s intent was after he fired 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at […]
8/20/1998
The August 20, 1998, retaliatory attacks by the U.S. on bin Laden’s camp at Khost, Afghanistan and his chemical plant in Sudan “turned bin Laden from a marginal figure in the Muslim world into a global celebrity. …Maulana Sami ul-Haq, a corpulent cleric who runs what is probably Pakistan’s largest religious academy, explained that the […]
8/20/1998
“The August 20 [1998] meeting [of terrorist leaders at which the U.S. planned a cruise missile attack to kill bin Laden] was not much of a secret: It was known to Pakistani intelligence. Former ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] chief Hamid Gul later said that he provided the Taliban with advance warning of the American attack, according […]
8/20/1998
On August 20, 1998, “President [Bill] Clinton and all his principal advisers had agreed to strike Bin Ladin camps in Afghanistan near Khowst, as well as hitting al Shifa [a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan, which, according to reports, was being financially backed by Bin Ladin to manufacture a precursor ingredient for nerve gas]…Later on […]
8/20/1998
“On the same day that we sent cruise missiles into Afghanistan [August 20, 1998], President [Bill] Clinton signed Executive Order 13099, imposing sanctions against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.” – Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, Page 190 […]
8/20/1998
Regarding U.S. retaliation on August 20, 1998, for the bombing of the East African embassies: ” ‘I think that raid really helped elevate bin Laden’s reputation in a big way, building him up in the Muslim world,’ said Harlan Ullman, a defense analyst. …’My sense is that because the attack was so limited and incompetent, […]
8/20/1998
Retaliation for the August 7, 1998, African embassy bombings took place on August 20, 1998. “When the smoke cleared following the hit by sixty-five U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, costing about $750,000 each… Bin Laden and top members of Al Qaeda were not among them [the casualties]. …In the end, the only winner was Osama bin […]
8/20/1998
On August 20, 1998, “U.S. submarines stationed in the Arabian Sea off Pakistan’s coastline launched 75 or so Tomahawk cruise missiles at two bin Laden-linked targets. The primary target was a complex of training camps in eastern Afghanistan, near Khost, where, according to CIA intelligence, bin Laden was meeting with his top aides. The second […]
8/19/1998
On August 19, 1998, “the eve of the American missile strikes [that were a response to the August 7, 1998, African embassy bombings], [Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad] Omar made an irrevocable pledge: ‘We will never hand Osama over to anyone and will protect him with our blood at all cost.’ He repeated this commitment the day […]
8/19/1998
On August 19, 1998, “an Islamic front created by the bin Laden network, and calling itself the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders, praised the bombings of our [American] embassies and warned that, ‘America will face a black fate… strikes will continue from everywhere, and Islamic groups will appear one after […]