“In a [May 22] 1998 commencement speech at the Naval Academy, President [Bill] Clinton said: ‘First, we will use our new integrated approach to intensify the fight against all forms of terrorism; to capture terrorists, no matter where they hide; to work with other nations to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries; to respond rapidly and effectively to […]
5/22/1998
Counterterrorism czar Richard “Clarke publicly complained that he had too little power to get the job done. He didn’t have the authority to command the various agencies that he had to coordinate and had little control over the more than $7 billion per year that those agencies spent on counterterrorism. His only power was ‘persuasion,’ […]
5/22/1998
Richard “Clarke officially became America’s first ‘counterterrorism czar’ in May 22, 1998. For the first time, the U.S. government’s counterterrorism effort–sprawled over forty agencies–would be coordinated by one man.” – Richard Miniter, Losing Bin Laden, Page 166 […]
5/16/1998
“The following are excerpts of a statement issued by bin Laden [on May 16, 1998] following the U.S. government’s designation of the Taliban as a state that tolerated terrorism. ‘The Taliban government has long been in need of such a U.S. resolution to clear the charges that it was an agent of the U.S., to […]
5/15/1998
“In the first interview (actually more of a monologue) with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in mid-May [1998], bin Laden stated that his goals were to expel the U.S. military presence from Saudi Arabia and ‘liberate’ the Haram al Sharif in Jerusalem [Israel]–a thirty-five-acre complex that includes the al Aqsa mosque (one of Islam’s most sacred […]
5/14/1998
On May 14, 1998, “Three days after India detonated two nuclear devices…Osama said: ‘We call upon the Muslim nation and Pakistan–its army in particular–to prepare for the jihad. This should include a nuclear force.’ “ – Rohan Gunaratna, Inside al Qaeda, Page 49 […]
5/14/1998
Bin Laden issued a statement on May 14, 1998, following the Indian government’s nuclear tests near the Pakistani border three days earlier. ” ‘We call upon the Muslim nation in general, and Pakistan and its army in particular, to prepare for the Jihad imposed by Allah and terrorize the enemy by preparing the force necessary […]
5/14/1998
“When India, a Hindu nation–an infidel nation in bin Laden’s eyes–tested its nuclear bomb in May 1998, bin Laden used the occasion to rally the Muslim world [in a statement he made on May 14, 1998]. ‘We call upon the Muslim community in general, and Pakistan and its army in particular, to prepare for the […]
5/14/1998
“Back in Afghanistan, on May 14 [1998], following tests by the Indian government of several nuclear devices, bin Laden issued a call for a Muslim nuclear weapon, [in] ‘Dangers and Signs of the Indian Nuclear Explosion.’ Bin Laden wrote: ‘The world was awakened last Tuesday by the sound of three underground nuclear Indian explosions. …We […]
5/11/1998
“After the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests in May [11] 1998, the al Qaeda issue briefly shifted to the back burner of U.S.-Pakistani relations, only to move forward again when the two American embassies were attacked in August [1998].” – Bruce Riedel, The Search for Al Qaeda, Page 70 […]