On August 23, 1996, “Bin Laden signed and issued a declaration of jihad outlining his organization’s goals: drive US forces from the Arabian Peninsula, overthrow the Government of Saudi Arabia, liberate Muslim holy sites, and support Islamic revolutionary groups around the world. He declares that Saudis have the right to strike at US troops in […]
8/23/1996
“In August [23, 1996, Osama bin Laden] issued an open call for war titled ‘The Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places,’ meaning Saudi Arabia, where more than five thousand U.S. soldiers and airmen were based. Bin Laden asked his followers to attack Israelis and Americans and cause […]
8/21/1996
“The War Crimes Act of 1996, as amended, makes it a criminal offense to commit certain violations of the law of war when such offenses are committed by or against U.S. nationals or Armed Service members. Among other things, the act prohibits certain violations of Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions …” – […]
8/15/1996
In August 1996, the FBI moved suspected terrorist Ishtiaque Parker and his family to a secret location in the United States. “Ishtiaque Parker became a rich man for helping to capture [World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef. Parker rejected an offer to enter the Witness Protection Program, instead choosing to go it alone under a […]
8/15/1996
In August 1996, “A secret grand jury investigation begins against Osama bin Laden in New York.” [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 Life,” PBS Frontline, accessed on April 24, 2018 […]
8/15/1996
“By the late spring of 1996, the Feds had learned of the existence of a Kenya cell tied to bin Laden. Beginning in August 15, 1996, the U.S. intelligence community established wiretaps on the phones of five cell members, including the one [embassy bomber Wadih] El-Hage had used for calls to bin Laden himself. Within […]
8/14/1996
“[I]n mid-August [14, 1996] the State Department published a fact sheet on bin Laden, calling him ‘one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today.’ “ – Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 91 […]
8/14/1996
A fact sheet published by the State Department on August 14, 1996, “charged that Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, had resided in a bin Laden guesthouse in Peshawar [Pakistan] for three years before his arrest in February 1995 and said bin Laden had sponsored terror training camps in […]
8/14/1996
CIA Counterterrorist Center analyst Stanley “Bedington’s recollection [in a November 19, 2001 interview] that bin Laden’s activities were first reported in CIA cables around 1985 is supported by an unclassified profile of bin Laden released by the agency in [August 14] 1996. Drawing on agency reporting, the profile says, ‘By 1985, Bin Laden had drawn […]
8/10/1996
Former CIA Agent Robert Baer wrote: “I knew that the [Qatari] interior minister, ‘Abdallah bin Khalid, had met Osama bin Laden on August 10, 1996, but that didn’t mean a damn thing. A lot of Arabs were making the pilgrimage to Khartoum [Sudan] to see bin Laden. Iraqi intelligence had met with bin Laden on […]