Former Undersecretary of Defense Paul “Wolfowitz told the House International Relations Committee in February [25] 1998 that regime change in Iraq was the ‘only way to rescue the region and the world from the threat that will continue to be posed by Saddam’s unrelenting effort to acquire weapons of mass destruction….’ He criticized the Clinton […]
2/25/1998
According to a Washington Post article on February 25, 1998, bin Laden’s fatwa from two days earlier was ” ‘the first from these [Islamist extremist] groups that explicitly justify attacks on American civilians anywhere in the world.’ ” – John Farmer, The Ground Truth, Page 29 […]
2/24/1998
In a February 24, 1998, statement before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information, former Associate Deputy Director of the FBI Oliver Revell said: ” ‘the United States is the most preferred and easiest place in the world for radical Islamic groups to set up their headquarters to wage war in their […]
2/23/1998
“Bin Laden’s declaration of war [on August 23, 1996] was followed eighteen months later by a fatwa ordering and authorizing ‘jihad against the Crusaders and Jews’ and announcing the creation of the ‘World Islamic Front against Crusaders and Jews,’ an organization composed of al-Qaeda, [Ayman] al-Zawahiri’s EIJ [Egyptian Islamic Jihad], and four other Islamist groups. […]
2/23/1998
“On February 23, 1998, bin Laden held a press conference to present the world with a manifesto from the newly formed International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. Signed by Islamist extremist leaders from Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, the document accused the United States of ‘occupying the most sacred lands of […]
2/23/1998
“On February 23, 1998, in Khost, Afghanistan, the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, founded by bin Laden…made an appeal for worldwide terror: ‘It is the duty of every Muslim to kill Americans and their allies, military or civilian, wherever possible. This obligation remains in force until al-Aksa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and […]
2/23/1998
“Dr. [Ayman] al-Zawahiri, the surgeon who had become the group’s [Egyptian Islamic Jihad’s] leader, began forging an alliance with bin Laden. In February [23] 1998, he signed the declaration announcing The Islamic Front for Fighting Crusaders and Jews. Its goals included attacking American military and civilian targets. The move caused a split within Egyptian Islamic […]
2/23/1998
Regarding the possible Iraq/al Qaeda connection, author Richard Miniter wrote: “Bin Laden’s February 23, 1998, call for jihad lists three grievances: that U.S. warplanes use bases in Saudi Arabia to patrol the skies of Iraq, that United Nations sanctions have caused grievous suffering in Iraq, and that America’s Iraq policy is designed to divert attention […]
2/23/1998
“On February 23, 1998, the ‘World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders’ issues a fatwa, a declaration of war, signed by bin Laden. (Bin Laden had taken control of the group only weeks before, according to Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic-language newspaper that serves as a bulletin board for militant Muslims.)” – Richard […]
2/23/1998
In a statement issued on February 23, 1998, and titled Al-Qaeda’s Declaration of War Against Americans, Osama bin Laden wrote: ” ‘Never since Allah made the Arabian peninsula flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas has it been stormed by any force like the Crusader hordes that have spread in it like locusts, […]