Bin Laden's Quotes

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151189292011-04-21T16:30:50.812-07:00Bin Laden's QuotesJMWnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15118929.post-1123187898471164552004-02-27T13:35:00.000-08:002005-09-21T08:40:01.936-07:00FBIS document: 10 years of Osama bin Laden statementsThe following is a compilation of quotes by Osama bin Laden from March 1994 to January 2004, published by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), an agency of the United States government. It is posted here for educational purposes only. COMPILATION OF USAMA BIN LADEN STATEMENTS, 1994 - JANUARY 2004 This compilation includes interviews with and statements, messages, and writings by Al-Qa'ida leader Usama Bin Ladin monitored by FBIS from March 1994 to 9 January 2004. Statements attributed to Al-Qa'ida and by other Al-Qa'ida leaders and spokesmen will be the subject of a separate compilation. CONTENTS 1994 1 USAMA BIN LADIN DENIES `TERRORISM' LINK 1 SAUDI ISLAMIC OPPOSITION OPENS LONDON OFFICE 3 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 8 AUG 94 P 1 3 1995 3 FBIS HAD NO REPORTING ON STATEMENTS OR INTERVIEWS FROM USAMA BIN LADIN DURING 1995 3 1996 4 USAMA BIN LADIN REPORTEDLY INTERVIEWED IN LONDON 4 CAIRO ROSE AL-YUSUF IN ARABIC ON 17 JUNE 1996 ON PP 25-27 4 ISLAMIC FINANCIER BIN LADIN INTERVIEWED ON SUDAN, IRAN TIES 7 CAIRO ROSE AL-YUSUF IN ARABIC ON 17 JUNE 1996 PP 25-27 7 INTERVIEW WITH SAUDI DISSIDENT BIN LADIN 11 LONDON INDEPENDENT IN ENGLISH, 10 JUL 96 P 14 11 BIN LADIN DECLARES JIHAD ON AMERICANS 13 LONDON AL-ISLAH IN ARABIC, 2 SEP 96 13 BIN LADIN INTERVIEWED ON JIHAD AGAINST US 28 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC, 27 NOV 96 P 5 28 1997 37 CORRESPONDENT MEETS WITH OPPOSITION LEADER BIN LADIN 37 LONDON CHANNEL 4 TELEVISION NETWORK IN ENGLISH 2100 GMT 20 FEB 97 37 BIN LADIN CITED ON PRINCE SULTAN'S US VISIT 38 LONDON AL-ISLAH IN ARABIC 3 MAR 97 P1 38 BIN LADIN CHARGES US INVOLVEMENT IN CHINA BOMBINGS 39 ISLAMABAD THE MUSLIM IN ENGLISH 15 MAR 97 PP 1, 11 39 PAKISTAN INTERVIEWS USAMA BIN LADIN 41 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 18 MAR 97 41 MUSLIM LEADER WARNS OF A NEW ASSAULT ON US FORCES' 48 LONDON THE INDEPENDENT IN ENGLISH 22 MAR 97 P 1 48 INTERVIEW WITH USAMA BIN LADIN 49 LONDON THE INDEPENDENT ENGLISH 22 MAR 97 P 14 49 USAMA BIN LADIN DARES US COMMANDOS TO COME TO AFGHANISTAN 52 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 6 JUL 97 PP 1, 7 52 USAMA BIN LADIN URGES 'BEFITTING REPLY' TO HORAN 52 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 7 AUG 97 PP 1, 7 52 USAMA BIN LADIN BACKS HARKATUL ANSAR AGAINST US 53 RAWALPINDI JANG IN URDU 20 OCT 97 PP 7, 8 53 DAILY REPORTS USAMA BIN LADIN'S THREAT AGAINST AMERICANS 54 RAWALPINDI NAWA-I-WAQT IN URDU 27 NOV 97 PP 1, 5 54 1998 55 BIN LADIN CLAIMS FOILING OF UN'S AFGHAN 'CONSPIRACY' 55 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 17 JAN 98 PP 8, 6 55 BIN LADIN CONDOLES WITH AL-BASHIR ON SALIH'S DEATH 55 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 16 FEB 98 P 1 55 TEXT OF FATWA URGING JIHAD AGAINST AMERICANS 56 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 23 FEB 98 P 3 56 BIN LADIN URGES EXPULSION OF 'INVADERS' 59 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 23 MAR 98 P 4 59 INTERVIEW WITH USAMA BIN LADIN REPORTED 61 ISLAMABAD AL-AKHBAR IN URDU 31 MAR 98 PP 1, 8 61 BIN LADIN WARNS AGAINST RICHARDSON MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN 62 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 15 APR 98 P 1 62 BIN LADIN BACKS AFGHAN FATWA ON US FORCES 63 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 14 MAY 98 P 4 63 BIN LADIN SEES US TERRORISM LISTING AS GOOD FOR TALIBAN 66 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 18 MAY 98 P 3 66 'WORLD ISLAMIC FRONT' STATEMENT URGES JIHAD ON US, ISRAEL 67 LONDON AL-HAYAH IN ARABIC 19 MAY 98 P 4 67 BIN LADIN CREATES NEW FRONT AGAINST US, ISRAEL 68 ISLAMABAD THE NEWS IN ENGLISH 28 MAY 98 P 12 68 BIN LADIN DECLARES JIHAD AGAINST US TROOPS 70 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 28 MAY 98 P 1 70 BIN LADIN CONGRATULATES PAKISTAN ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS 71 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI IN ARABIC 1 JUN 98 P 2 71 ARTICLE ON INTERVIEW WITH USAMA BIN LADIN 72 ISLAMABAD THE NEWS (INTERNET VERSION) IN ENGLISH 15 JUN 98 72 BIN LADIN CALLS FOR 'JIHAD' AGAINST JEWS, AMERICANS 74 HONG KONG AFP IN ENGLISH 0313 GMT 21 AUG 98 74 BIN LADIN WARNS CLINTON 'BATTLE HAS NOT YET STARTED' 75 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI (INTERNET VERSION) IN ARABIC 22-23 AUG 98 P 1 75 BIN LADIN PRAISES PAKISTANIS FOR LOVE OF ISLAM 76 ISLAMABAD THE NATION IN ENGLISH 2 SEP 98 P 16 76 USAMA BIN LADIN SENDS MESSAGE TO ANTI-US CONFERENCE 77 ISLAMABAD AL-AKHBAR IN URDU 12 SEP 98 PP 8, 7 77 BIN LADIN: EXPEL JEWS, CHRISTIANS FROM HOLY PLACES 78 RAWALPINDI JANG IN URDU 18 NOV 98 PP 1, 7 78 BIN LADIN DENIES ROLE IN BOMBINGS OF US MISSIONS 78 HONG KONG AFP IN ENGLISH 1409 GMT 24 DEC 98 78 1999 80 JOURNALIST INTERVIEWS USAMA BIN LADIN 80 ISLAMABAD THE NEWS (INTERNET VERSION) IN ENGLISH 6 JAN 99 80 TIME MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH BIN LADIN 83 JANUARY 11, 1999 83 ASSOCIATE PRESS CARRIES EXCERPTS FROM BIN LADIN INTERVIEWS 86 JANUARY 04, 1999; MONDAY 01:56 EASTERN TIME 86 ESQUIRE INTERVIEW WITH BIN LADIN 88 ESQUIRE, FEB 1999 V131 I2 P96(1) 88 CBS RELEASES INTERVIEW WITH BIN LADIN 102 JANUARY 13, 1999, WEDNESDAY 102 ABC RELEASES BIN LADIN'S 1998 INTERVIEW 103 SEPTEMBER 18, 2001 TUESDAY 103 DAILY NEWS CARRIES BIN LADIN REMARKS 106 SEPTEMBER 21, 2001, FRIDAY RACING FINAL EDITION 106 MAY 1998 INTERVIEW WITH BIN LADIN REPORTED 111 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 20 FEB 99 P 10 111 USAMA BIN LADIN PENS LETTER IN SUPPORT OF KASHMIR JIHAD 118 PESHAWAR WAHDAT IN PASHTO 8 JUN 99 PP 1, 5 118 AL-JAZIRAH PROGRAM ON BIN LADIN 119 DOHA QATAR AL-JAZIRAH SPACE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1805 GMT 10 JUN 99 119 BIN LADIN CALLS ON MUSLIMS TO DECLARE JIHAD AGAINST US 133 RAWALPINDI JANG IN URDU 25 JUL 99 PP 1,6 133 UBL ORDERS MUJAHIDIN TO SHOOT US COMMANDOS 'ON SIGHT' 134 ISLAMABAD KHABRAIN IN URDU 12 SEP 99 PP 1, 6 134 UBL DENIES PROVIDING MILITARY AID TO KASHMIRIS 135 RAWALPINDI JANG IN URDU 28 SEP 99 PP 1, 7 135 2000 135 USAMA BIN LADIN DENOUNCES US-SPONSORED 'WORLD ORDER' 135 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 9 JAN 00 PP 1, 7 135 UBL SEES HOLY WAR IN 'EVERY STREET' OF US 136 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 02 MAY 00 PP 8, 6 136 SUPPORTERS OF SHARIAH WEBSITE PUBLISHES BIN LADIN 'SPEECH' 137 INTERNET SUPPORTERS OF SHARIAH WWW-TEXT IN ENGLISH 22 JUN 00 137 USAMA BIN LADIN RENEWS CALL FOR JIHAD 143 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN OBSERVER (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 26 JUN 00 143 BIN LADIN, OTHERS PLEDGE 'JIHAD' TO RELEASE PRISONERS IN US, SAUDI JAILS 144 DOHA AL-JAZEERA SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 2035 GMT 21 SEP 00 144 2001 146 DAILY PRINTS USAMA BIN LADIN 'LETTER' CALLING FOR 'GLOBAL ISLAMIC STATE' 146 RAWALPINDI NAWA-I-WAQT IN URDU 07 JAN 01 PP 1, 11 146 AUSAF RECEIVES BIN LADIN'S POEM ON RESOLVE TO CONTINUE JIHAD 147 ISLAMABAD AUSAF IN URDU 03 MAR 01 PP 1, 7 147 BIN LADIN IMPLICITLY PRAISES USS COLE BOMBNG AT SON'S WEDDING 148 ARAB MEDIA COVERAGE IN 07 MAR 01 148 USAMA BIN LADIN REGRETS RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED BY TALEBAN 150 KARACHI DAWN (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 03 APR 01 150 BIN LADIN CALLS ON MUSLIMS TO INVEST IN AFGHANISTAN, JOIN JIHAD 152 ISLAMABAD THE NATION (LAHORE EDITION) (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 10 APR 01 152 TRANSCRIPT OF BIN LADIN'S SPEECH AT HIS SON'S WEDDING 153 ISLAMABAD THE NEWS (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 07 MAY 01 153 USAMA BIN LADIN WOULD MAKE LIFE 'MISERABLE' FOR UNITED STATES IF TALEBAN ALLOWS 156 ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN URDU 17 MAY 01 PP 8, 6 156 UBL SENDS 'MESSAGE VOICE' TO PALESTINIANS, VOWS NOT TO LET THEM DOWN 156 LONDON AL-ARAB AL-ALAMIYAH IN ARABIC 27 JUN 01 P 1 156 AFGHANISTAN: BIN LADIN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN TERRORIST ATTACKS IN US 157 PESHAWAR AFGHAN ISLAMIC PRESS NEWS AGENCY IN PASHTO 0855 GMT 16 SEP 01 157 AL-JAZIRAH TV BROADCASTS USAMA BIN LADIN'S 1998 INTERVIEW 158 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1805 GMT 20 SEP 01 158 TEXT OF BIN LADIN'S LETTER TO THE PAKISTANI PEOPLE 24 SEP 177 WEBSITE OF DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 177 'EXCLUSIVE' INTERVIEW WITH USAMA BIN LADIN ON 11 SEP ATTACKS IN US 178 KARACHI UMMAT IN URDU 28 SEP 01 PP 1, 7 178 AL-JAZIRAH CARRIES BIN LADIN'S ADDRESS ON US STRIKES 183 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1825 GMT 07 OCT 01 183 2002 184 AL-JAZIRAH TV WEBSITE REPORTS ON 'ROW' WITH CNN OVER BIN LADIN'S TAPE 184 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH NET WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 1211 GMT 01 FEB 02 184 AL-JAZIRAH TV WEBSITE REPORTS ON 'ROW' WITH CNN OVER BIN LADIN'S TAPE 185 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH NET WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 1211 GMT 01 FEB 02 185 BIN LADIN CALLS SAUDI INITIATIVE 'HIGH TREASON', URGES MUSLIMS TO TAKE UP JIHAD 187 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-ARABI IN ARABIC 28 MAR 02 P3 187 MBC TV CARRIES VIDEO OF BIN LADIN, AIDES SUPPORTING 911 ATTACKS 189 LONDON MBC TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1815 GMT 17 APR 02 189 AL-JAZIRAH AIRS 'SELECTED PORTIONS' OF LATEST AL-QA'IDA TAPE ON 11 SEP ATTACKS 191 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1835 GMT 18 APR 02 191 SUNDAY TIMES OBTAINS FILM OF BIN LADIN VOWING REVENGE ON UK, US, OTHERS 196 LONDON THE SUNDAY TIMES (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 19 MAY 02 196 BRITISH-BASED ISLAMIC NEWS AGENCY RECEIVES ENCRYPTED BIN LADIN VIDEO 198 PARIS AFP (NORTH EUROPEAN SERVICE) IN ENGLISH 0950 GMT 19 MAY 02 198 PRO-AL-QA'IDA SITE POSTS POEMS BY BIN LADIN, SON HAMZAH ON 'INSECURE' FUTURE 199 LONDON AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT IN ARABIC 26 JUN 02 P6 199 WEBSITE POSTS BIN LADIN'S STATEMENT ON SAUDI CROWN PRINCE ABDALLAH'S INITIATIVE 201 AFGHANISTAN--FBIS REPORT IN ARABIC 27 JUN 02 201 AL-JAZIRAH TV: BIN LADIN THREATENS ATTACKS ON 'KEY SECTORS' OF US ECONOMY 204 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 2000 GMT 06 OCT 02 204 AL-QA'IDA ISSUES STATEMENT UNDER BIN LADIN'S NAME ON AFGHAN WAR ANNIVERSARY 205 (INTERNET) AL-QAL'AH WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 14 OCT 02 205 AL-JAZIRAH TV REPORTS ON BIN LADIN'S STATEMENT 213 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1300 GMT 14 OCT 02 213 ISLAMIST SITE PUBLISHES BIN LADIN'S 'LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE' 213 (INTERNET) WAAQIAH WWW-TEXT IN ENGLISH 26 OCT 02 213 SAUDI MAGAZINE PUBLISHES 'IMPORTANT PARTS' OF USAMA BIN LADIN'S 'WILL' 221 LONDON AL-MAJALLAH IN ARABIC 27 OCT 02 PP 22-26 221 AL-JAZIRAH: USAMA BIN LADIN HAILS RECENT OPERATIONS IN BALI, MOSCOW, JORDAN 227 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 12 NOV 02 227 'ABDALLAH USAMA BIN LADIN' WARNS COUNTRIES ALLIED TO US 228 (INTERNET) ALNEDA WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 21 NOV 02 228 BIN LADIN URGES 'ARABIAN PENINSULA' PEOPLE TO PREPARE FOR 'ALL-OUT WAR' 230 LONDON AL-QUDS AL-ARABI IN ARABIC 28 NOV 02 P1 230 2003 231 BIN LADIN MESSAGE URGES ISLAMIC FACTIONS TO UNITE, FIGHT 'EXTERNAL' ENEMY 231 LONDON AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ARABIC 19 JAN 03 231 FULL TEXT OF INTERVIEW HELD WITH AL-QA'IDA LEADER USAMA BIN LADIN ON 21 OCT 2001 234 (INTERNET) JIHAD ONLINE NEWS NETWORK WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 21 JAN 03 234 USAMA BIN LADIN'S MESSAGE TO IRAQ, URGES MUSLIMS TO OVERTHROW REGIMES 247 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 2001 GMT 11 FEB 03 247 BIN LADIN'S STATEMENT CALLS FOR REVOLT AGAINST SAUDIS, DEATH TO AMERICANS, JEWS 252 WWW.CYBCITY.COM/MNZMAS/OSAM.HTM IN ARABIC 01 MAR 03 252 PAKISTAN: USAMA BIN LADIN URGES MUSLIMS TO LAUNCH 'SUICIDE ATTACKS' AGAINST US 256 ISLAMABAD AUSAF IN URDU 09 APR 03 PP 1, 7 256 KASHMIRI DAILY REPORTS UBL'S MESSAGE URGING JIHAD AGAINST PAKISTAN, ARAB STATES 256 SRINAGAR KASHMIR IMAGES (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN ENGLISH 09 APR 03 256 RIYADH, CASABLANCA ATTACKS 257 ALGIERS LE MATIN (INTERNET VERSION-WWW) IN FRENCH 18 MAY 03 257 BIN LADIN THREATENS 'TERRIBLE RESPONSE' IF DEATH OF 2 SAUDI CLERICS IS CONFIRMED 258 (INTERNET) MOVEMENT FOR ISLAMIC REFORM WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 29 MAY 03 258 SAUDI SOURCES: UBL DENIED INVOLVEMENT IN RIYADH BOMBING IN MESSAGE TO HIS MOTHER 259 (INTERNET) ILAF WWW-TEXT IN ARABIC 11 JUL 03 259 AL-JAZIRAH AIRS BIN LADIN, AL-ZAWAHIRI TAPE ON ANNIVERSARY OF 11 SEP ATTACKS 261 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1800 GMT 10 SEP 03 261 AL-JAZIRAH TV CARRIES USAMA BIN LADIN AUDIO STATEMENT ON SEP 11 ANNIVERSARY 262 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1826 GMT 10 SEP 03 262 AL-JAZIRAH CARRIES BIN LADIN'S AUDIO MESSAGES TO IRAQIS, AMERICANS 265 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1602 GMT 18 OCT 03 265 AL-JAZIRAH TV: AL-QA'IDA CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ISTANBUL BOMBINGS 270 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 2000 GMT 16 NOV 03 270 AL-ARABIYAH BROADCASTS EXCERPTS OF PREVIOUSLY AIRED BIN LADIN TAPE 271 DUBAI AL-ARABIYAH TELEVISION IN ARABIC 1800 GMT 20 DEC 03 271 2004 272 BIN LADIN WARNS OF 'GRAND PLOTS' AGAINST ARABS, CRITICIZES GULF RULERS 272 DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC 2000 GMT 04 JAN 04 272 - 1994 Usama Bin Ladin Denies `Terrorism' Link London AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI in Arabic 9 Mar 94 p 4 [Interview with Saudi Businessman Usama Bin Ladin by 'Ali 'Abd-al-Karim and al-Nur Ahmad al-Nur in Khartoum; date not given] [Excerpts] [AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI] The attempted attack on you took place after the horrific incident in the Ansar al-Sunnah Mosque. What is your relationship with the Ansar al-Sunnah group? Bin Ladin: Our relationship with the Ansar al-Sunnah group is like our relationship with the other Islamic groups-a lose, cordial, and good relationship based on brotherhood in God. It is Muslims' duty toward their Muslim brothers. AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: Did you have any dealings with the Afghan groups? Bin Ladin: We harbor no hostility toward anyone or any Afghan groups. Our relationship with the Afghan mojahedin egan in 1399 Hijra (1979), namely when we went to Lahore, Pakistan, and worked with the Islamic group in Pakistan to support the mojahedin against the communist invasion. We have focused on helping the brothers in Afghanistan since 1985. We opened camps to train young men to fight the Soviet invasion. We cooperated with everyone to help Muslims to defend themselves and their religion, especially as the enemies of Islam want Muslims to remain weak and subservient. Our work in Afghanistan, which caused some people to insult us, was devoted to fighting the communist invasion and raising the banner that reads ``There is no other god but God.'' AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: In your view, who is responsible for that attack? Bin Ladin: There are external quarters at which a finger of accusation could be pointed. They are the quarters spitefully hostile to Islam. They do not accept the natural right of Muslims to defend themselves. Our position in Afghanistan caused some of Islam's enemies o try to obstruct our cooperation with Muslims. The world tends to prefer to overlook the oppression and persecution in Bosnia and occupied Palestine and then hasten to accuse Muslims of terrorism if they defend themselves. It wants to keep Muslims weak and incapable of defending themselves. We also know that there are contacts among diplomats, all resigned to curb our movement and stop our contacts with our brothers. But we say that cooperation in piety is continuing among Muslims. AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: What is the nature of your relationship with Saudi Arabia? Bin Ladin: There is a disagreement because of their rejection of our cooperation with the Islamic awakening, support f Muslim issues, and opposition to their restrictions on the all [al-da'wah] and the preachers. I am accused of supporting fundamentalism, even though everyone knows that this stems from our eagerness to raise the banner that reads ``There is no other god but God'' and support the Afghan mojahedin camps to fight oppression and communist aggression. I believe that all Muslims adopted this position; or that is what we believe was the case. AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: And with Egypt? Bin Ladin: The Egyptian press says that Usama Bin Ladin supports fundamentalism. We know that there are domestic problems in Egypt because of the state's violence against Islamists. Obviously there are bound to be reactions to this government policy. Like many other Muslim young men, some Islamists in Egypt gained military experience in the Afghan mojahedin amps. These conditions forced some to take such positions in their countries to defend their religion and themselves. The Egyptians are trying to indicate that I have something to do with the reactions taking place in their country. And hey accuse me of posing a threat to them. AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: And with Yemen? Bin Ladin: What I said about Egypt I say about Yemen, which I believe is one of the best Arab and Muslim countries in terms of adherence to traditions and the faith. Nevertheless, its citizens have been subjected to murder and religious persecution. So it is natural for reactions to take place, even if some of Yemen's sons do train in Afghan camps. The accusation that we support terrorism is a hostile, imperialist method designed to suppress Muslims' determination and paralyze their movement toward one another and toward their religion and faith. [passage omitted] AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI: What is the nature of your presence in Sudan? Bin Ladin: I visited Sudan for the first time in 1983, where acquainted myself with its agricultural capabilities and investment opportunities. Four years ago we came here to ooperate and work in the areas of road construction and agriculture. I inherited this type of work from my father, may God have mercy on him. [passage omitted] Saudi Islamic Opposition Opens London Office London AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI in Arabic 8 Aug 94 p 1 London, AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI-The Saudi Islamic opposition ``Advice and Reform Commission'' headed by Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin has announced the opening of an office in London. The commission said in a statement signed by Shaykh Bin Ladin that the commission's shura council held a meeting last Monday [1 August] and decided to open the office in question and to appoint Khalid Bin-'Abd-al-Rahman al-Fawwaz as its director. It added that the opening of the office in London came in response to ``the desire to expand the commission's activities and to facilitate contacts with it in order to receive correspondence and complaints.'' The statement, a copy of which AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI has received, did not say where the commission's shura council met. It bore an address for the London office and two numbers: a telephone number and a fax number. 1995 FBIS had no reporting on statements or interviews from Usama Bin Ladin during 1995 1996 Usama Bin Ladin Reportedly Interviewed in London Cairo ROSE AL-YUSUF in Arabic on 17 June 1996 on pp 25-27 [FBIS Report] Cairo ROSE AL-YUSUF in Arabic on 17 June 1996 on pages 25-27 carries a 2,300-word report on an interview with Usama Bin Ladin, who was recently expelled from Sudan. The interview, which was conducted by Fayizah Sa'd, allegedly took place in London. The date is not specified. Introducing the interview, Sa'd describes Bin Ladin as "the main financier of the fundamentalist terrorist operations" in the Arab world and the world at large. She says she met Bin Ladin at a luxury villa in Wembley in north London. The villa is guarded by a large number of guards, most of them "Afghan Arabs" and foreigners. She says "reaching him required passing through several secretaries before reaching the last barrier, his private secretary Khalid." According to Sa'd, Bin Ladin took the initiative and started talking about himself. He said, "I carry a Sudanese diplomatic passport, using a pseudonym." "My name is Usama Bin Ladin. I am 44 years old and I was born in Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. When the Soviet Union invaded Kabul, I was residing in Turkey, having left the kingdom because of some differences, which I don't like to mention now. I was working in trade. During my stay in Istanbul, I got acquainted with many Iranian merchants who had escaped from Iran at the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war. During that time, Arab mujahidin started going to Afghanistan with the help of the US CIA, which set up a transit camp in Istanbul. Volunteers stayed in the camp and were then dispatched to Afghanistan." Bin Ladin continues that "at that time Afghanistan lacked everything. So I and other merchants agreed to help Afghanistan. We sent everything the state needed. Due to the nature of our work, I and my Iranian friends decided to travel to and stay in Afghanistan. In the beginning, we supplied the mujahidin camps with medicine, food, and weapons. In Pakistan, I got acquainted with three Sudanese, who were members of the National Islamic Front [NIF] led by Hasan al-Turabi. NIF was not in power in Sudan yet. One of the three Sudanese was a young man named al-Tahir, a graduate of the engineering college of Khartoum University. Because he remained jobless for several years, he decided to volunteer for the mujahidin ranks in Afghanistan. Al-Tahir was very bright and polite. He convinced me to invest my funds in Sudanese projects. The al-Bashir-al-Turabi coup then took place in 1989." Bin Ladin continues: "At that time, I became well-known among the mujahidin, especially the Arab and Muslim ones. 'Abdallah 'Azzam and two of his sons were killed in a car bomb explosion in Peshawar in October 1989. I felt my life was in danger. With the beginning of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, we mujahidin felt there were attempts to liquidate the symbols of 'Islamic jihad,' especially as the information available to us indicated the Mosad was behind the assassination of Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, who was a Palestinian." At this point, the interviewer picks up the story as follows: "Before Kabul fell to the Afghan mujahidin, Usama Bin Ladin visited Sudan in April 1992. This was not his first trip to Sudan. He also visited it in October 1990. He went to Sudan with his three Sudanese friends. From Khartoum airport they took a taxi to the Green Village Hotel. One week later, Usama Bin Ladin rented a furnished apartment at 15 Hayy al-'Amarat Street. He and his Sudanese friends began to study projects in which he could invest his money. He visited the ministries of industries, agriculture, and trade. The General Investment Organization was not established yet." The interviewer adds: "Usama Bin Ladin says he possesses bachelor's degree in engineering. He and his Sudanese friend al-Tahir established a construction company that engaged in building roads, bridges, and houses. A meeting was arranged between him and Hasan al-Turabi, who invited him for lunch at his house. After lunch, al-Turabi told him: We have agreed to give you all the help you need. Accordingly, we have accepted your membership in the NIF. Bin Ladin paid al-Turabi $5,000 as a membership fees. "Afterward, Bin Ladin moved from his apartment in Hayy al-'Amarat to a rented private villa in Hayy al-Riyad, an upscale quarter in the Sudanese capital behind Khartoum airport. The villa consisted of two floors. He used one floor as a private office and the other floor as his living quarters. He imported trucks and tractors from Germany in a deal worth $15 million. On the recommendation of Hasan al-Turabi, the Sudanese Government exempted Bin Ladin from customs duty on these trucks and tractors." The interviewer continues: "Relations between Bin Ladin and Hasan al-Turabi became strong. Many Afghan Arabs started arriving in Sudan from Peshawar. Al-Turabi told him that the Iranian government had entangled the Sudanese regime with these Afghans. After promising financial aid to the Sudanese Government to spend on these Afghans, the Iranian Government reneged on its promise. The Sudanese Government could not foot the bill for these mujahidin, but at the same time it could not expel them. Bin Ladin understood he was required to pay a sum of money. He gave al-Turabi a $2 million check drawn on the Faysal Islamic Bank." The interviewer says: "The construction company set up by Bin Ladin in Sudan carried out a number of projects, the most important of which was the al-Rusayris Dam, the largest in Sudan. It also built and equipped 23 mujahidin training camps. Bin Ladin refused to take one cent for building these camps. As a gesture of gratitude, Bin Ladin was awarded without bidding a contract to construct the 500-km al-Tahaddi [defiance] road linking Khartoum with Shandi and 'Atbarah. The cost of the project was estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, the Bin Ladin company constructed the al-Rahad and Kiananah canals. Bin Ladin and the merchants of al-Turabi's front set up the North Bank in Khartoum. He paid up to $50 million toward the bank's capital. In return he acquired one million feddans of land in Kurdufan and western Sudan which he used for agriculture and to raise cattle." The interviewer adds: "In 1993, the al-Bashir government requested a loan from Usama Bin Ladin, who gave it an $8 million soft-term loan to import wheat in an urgent situation after its silos were empty. At the opening of the Port Sudan new airport, Usama Bin Ladin donated $2.5 million." She continues: "Usama has not attended the Arab-Islamic Popular Conference, which is held annually and attended by all the symbols of the Islamic Resistance, even though he has paid $1 million in contributions to the conference. Usama Bin Ladin has more than one residence in Sudan. There is a private villa in Hayy al-Riyad and another more luxurious one in Hayy al-Matar [airport quarter]. He owns a private yacht that is usually anchored at Port Sudan." The interviewer says Bin Ladin's private doctor is Ayman al-Zawahiri, who worked with him in mujahidin training camps in Peshawar. She adds that Mustafa Hamzah, who is accused of participating in the assassination attempt against President Mubarak in Addis Ababa, is a "close associate" of Bin Ladin. Hamzah worked in Bin Ladin's office in Cairo before he escaped to Sudan. Muhammad Shawqi al-Islambuli, the brother of Khalid al-Islambuli, the assassin of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, is also a close associate of Bin Ladin. Continuing, the interviewer says: "In Yemen, the Yemenis consider Bin Ladin the main financier of Islamist movements. He has built seven private religious institutes in Lahaj, al-Dali', Abyan, and Aden. He has expressed readiness to build with his own funds the Islamic University in Ta'izz in Yemen. Bin Ladin has ties with Tariq al-Fadli, the leader of extremist Islamists in Yemen. He also has strong ties with Shaykh 'Abd-al-Majid al-Zandani. He is accused of opening several Islamist extremist camps in Sa'dah. His relations with the Yemeni Government have been tense since it accused him and other Arab mujahidin of being responsible for blowing up oil installations and attacking a hotel in Aden in 1992. Hence, Bin Ladin has moved the Arab mujahidin from Yemen to Somalia in a move that cost him $3 million." The interviewer writes: "Bin Ladin does not hide his relationship with 'Umar Bakri Muhammad, whom he got to know through a person called Nidal Abu-Dijanah, who is also known as Abu-al-Rida'. Muhammad is a Syrian national. He always accompanies Bin Ladin, has lived with him in Sudan, and is one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. He escaped from Hamah after the 1982 events. She adds that Bin Ladin laughs as he plays with his black beard and she quotes him as saying that "he who has funds owns the mujahidin!" The interviewer asks Bin Ladin: "The Philippines Government has accused you of financing the Abu-Siyah organization and of setting up extremist cells that were uncovered last year. This resulted in the arrest of several Arab nationals, including Shafiq Ramzi Yusuf, who is accused of blowing up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993." Bin Ladin answers: "To put it simply, the Bin Ladin Establishment's aid covers 13 countries, including Albania, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Britain, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and some Gulf countries which there is no need to mention." "With a vicious smile on his lips," he adds that "this aid comes in particular from the Human Concern International Society, which was founded in Afghanistan in 1982." The interviewer then says Bin Ladin was one of the founders of that society with the help of the Iranian Government and the CIA. But soon afterward other financiers from the Gulf countries joined in. The society's main office is in Stockholm and it has branches around the world, including the al-Musa'adah [Aid] Society in Britain, the al-Najdah [Rescue] Society in Berlin, the Islamic Support Society in Italy, the Muwaffaq Society in Zagreb, and Bayt al-Ansar in Peshawar. Asked if he owns a big electronic communications network and has access to Internet, Bin Ladin says, "yes, in order to run my business." Asked if his presence in London is connected to the current investigations in London and Paris and with his role in financing terrorist operations, he laughs and says, "no, I am on a mission for the US Embassy in London." She asks him, "aren't you afraid al-Turabi will hand you over, as he did to Carlos?" He says: "It is possible, but I do not live in Sudan now. I keep moving and I do not stay permanently in any country." He adds: "In general, Sudan needs me more than I need it. I can assure you that my departure from Sudan will inevitably lead to the collapse of the Sudanese economy." Concluding his interview, he says that what is happening in Sudan is "a mixture of religion and organized crime." Islamic Financier Bin Ladin Interviewed on Sudan, Iran Ties Cairo ROSE AL-YUSUF in Arabic on 17 June 1996 pp 25-27 [FBIS Report] Cairo ROSE AL-YUSUF in Arabic on 17 June 1996 on pages 25-27 carries a 2,300-word report on an interview with Usama Bin Ladin, who was recently expelled from Sudan. The interview, which was conducted by Fayizah Sa'd, allegedly took place in London. The date is not specified. Introducing the interview, Sa'd describes Bin Ladin as "the main financier of the fundamentalist terrorist operations" in the Arab world and the world at large. She says she met Bin Ladin at a luxury villa in Wembley in north London. The villa is guarded by a large number of guards, most of them "Afghan Arabs" and foreigners. She continues that "reaching him required passing through several secretaries before reaching the last barrier, his private secretary Khalid." According to Sa'd, Bin Ladin took the initiative and started talking about himself. He said, "I carry a Sudanese diplomatic passport, using a pseudonym." "My name is Usama Bin Ladin. I am 44 years old and I was born in Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. When the Soviet Union invaded Kabul, I was residing in Turkey, having left the Kingdom because of some differences, which I don't like to mention now. I was working in trade. During my stay in Istanbul, I got acquainted with many Iranian merchants who had escaped from Iran at the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war. During that time, Arab mujahidin started going to Afghanistan with the help of the US CIA, which set up a transit camp in Istanbul. Volunteers stayed in the camp and were then dispatched to Afghanistan." Bin Ladin continues that "at that time Afghanistan lacked everything. So I and other merchants agreed to help Afghanistan. We sent everything that the state needed. Due to the nature of our work, I and my Iranian friends decided to travel to and to stay in Afghanistan. In the beginning, we supplied the mujahidin camps with all their needs for medicine, food, and weapons. In Pakistan, I got acquainted with three Sudanese, who were members of the National Islamic Front [NIF] led by Hasan al-Turabi. NIF was not in power in Sudan yet. One of the three Sudanese was a young man named al-Tahir, a graduate of the engineering college of Khartoum University. Because he remained jobless for several years, he decided to volunteer for the mujahidin ranks in Afghanistan. Al-Tahir was very bright and polite. He convinced me to invest my funds in Sudanese projects. The al-Bashir-al-Turabi coup then took place in 1989." Bin Ladin continues: "At that time, I became well-known among the mujahidin, especially the Arab and Muslim ones. 'Abdallah 'Azzam and two of his sons were killed in a car bomb explosion in Peshawar in October 1989. I felt my life was in danger. With the beginning of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, we mujahidin felt that there were attempts to liquidate the symbols of `Islamic Jihad,' especially as the information available to us indicated that the Mosad was behind the assassination of Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, who was a Palestinian." At this point, the interviewer picks up the story as follows: "Before Kabul fell to the Afghan mujahidin, Usama Bin Ladin visited Sudan in April 1992. This was not his first trip to Sudan. He also visited it in October 1990. He went to Sudan with his three Sudanese friends. From Khartoum Airport they took a taxi to the Green Village Hotel. One week later, Usama Bin Ladin rented a furnished apartment at 15 Hayy al-'Amarat Street. He and his Sudanese friends began to study projects in which he could invest his money. He visited the ministries of industries, agriculture, and trade. The General Investment Organization was not established yet." The interviewer adds: "Usama Bin Ladin says he possesses a bachelor's degree in engineering. He and his Sudanese friend al-Tahir established a construction company that engaged in building roads, bridges, and houses. A meeting was arranged between him and Hasan al-Turabi, who invited him for lunch at his house. After lunch, al-Turabi told him: We have agreed to give you all the help you need. Accordingly, we have accepted your membership in the NIF. Bin Ladin paid al-Turabi $5,000 as a membership fee. "Afterward, Bin Ladin moved from his apartment in Hayy al-'Amarat to a rented private villa in Hayy al-Riyad, an upscale quarter in the Sudanese capital behind Khartoum Airport. The villa consisted of two floors. He used one floor as a private office and the other floor as his living quarters. He imported trucks and tractors from Germany in a deal worth $15 million. On the recommendation of Hasan al-Turabi, the Sudanese Government exempted Bin Ladin from customs duty on these trucks and tractors." The interviewer continues: "Relations between Bin Ladin and Hasan al-Turabi became strong. Many Afghan Arabs started arriving in Sudan from Peshawar. Al-Turabi told him that the Iranian government had entangled the Sudanese regime with these Afghans. After promising financial aid to the Sudanese Government to spend on these Afghans, the Iranian Government reneged on its promise. The Sudanese Government could not foot the bill for these mujahidin, but at the same time it could not expel them. Bin Ladin understood that he was required to pay a sum of money. He gave al-Turabi a $2 million check drawn on the Faysal Islamic Bank." The interviewer says: "The construction company set up by Bin Ladin in Sudan carried out a number of projects, the most important of which was the al-Rusayris Dam, the largest in Sudan. It also built and equipped 23 mujahidin training camps. Bin Ladin refused to take one cent for building these camps. As a gesture of gratitude, Bin Ladin was awarded without bidding a contract to construct the 500-km al-Tahaddi [defiance] road linking Khartoum with Shandi and 'Atbarah. The cost of the project was estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, the Bin Ladin company constructed the al-Rahad and Kiananah canals. Bin- Ladin and the merchants of al-Turabi's front set up the North Bank in Khartoum. He paid up to $50 million toward the bank's capital. In return he acquired one million feddans of land in Kurdufan and western Sudan which he used for agriculture and to raise cattle." The interviewer adds: "In 1993, the al-Bashir government requested a loan from Usama Bin Ladin, who gave it an $8 million soft-term loan to import wheat in an urgent situation after its silos were empty. At the opening of the Port Sudan new airport, Usama Bin Ladin donated $2.5 million." She goes on to say: "Usama has not attended the Arab-Islamic Popular Conference, which is held annually and attended by all the symbols of the Islamic Resistance, even though he has paid $1 million in contributions to the conference. Usama Bin Ladin has more than one residence in Sudan. There is a private villa in Hayy al-Riyad and another more luxurious one in Hayy al-Matar [airport quarter]. He owns a private yacht that is usually anchored at Port Sudan." The interviewer says Bin Ladin's private doctor is Ayman al-Zawahiri, who worked with him in mujahidin training camps in Peshawar. She adds that Mustafa Hamzah, who is accused of participating in the assassination attempt against President Mubarak in Addis Ababa, is a "close associate" of Bin Ladin. Hamzah worked in Bin Ladin's office in Cairo before he escaped to Sudan. Muhammad Shawqi al-Islambuli, the brother of Khalid al-Islambuli, the assassin of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat, is also a close associate of Bin Ladin. Continuing, the interviewer says: "In Yemen, the Yemenis consider Bin Ladin the main financier of Islamist movements. He has built seven private religious institutes in Lahaj, al-Dali', Abyan, and Aden. He has expressed readiness to build with his own funds the Islamic University in Ta'izz in Yemen. Bin Ladin has ties with Tariq al-Fadli, the leader of extremist Islamists in Yemen. He also has strong ties with Shaykh 'Abd-al-Majid al-Zandani. He is accused of opening several Islamist extremist camps in Sa'dah. His relations with the Yemeni Government have been tense since it accused him and other Arab mujahidin of being responsible for blowing up oil installations and attacking a hotel in Aden in 1992. Hence, Bin Ladin has moved the Arab mujahidin from Yemen to Somalia in a move that cost him $3 million." The interviewer writes: "Bin Ladin does not hide his relationship with 'Umar Bakri Muhammad, whom he got to know through a person called Nidal Abu-Dijanah, who is also known as Abu-al-Rida'. Muhammad is a Syrian national. He always accompanies Bin Ladin, has lived with him in Sudan, and is one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. He escaped from Hamah after the 1982 events. She adds that Bin Ladin laughs as he plays with his black beard and she quotes him as saying that "he who has funds owns the mujahidin!" The interviewer asks Bin Ladin: "The Philippino Government has accused you of financing the Abu-Siyah organization and of setting up extremist cells that were uncovered last year. This resulted in the arrest of several Arab nationals, including Shafiq Ramzi Yusuf, who is accused of blowing up the World Trade Center in New York in 1993." Bin Ladin answers: "To put it simply, the Bin Ladin Establishment's aid covers 13 countries, including Albania, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Britain, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, and some Gulf countries which there is no need to mention." With a vicious smile on his lips, he adds that "this aid, comes in particular from the Human Concern International Society, which was founded in Afghanistan in 1982." The interviewer then says that Bin Ladin was one of the founders of that society with the help of the Iranian Government and the CIA. But soon afterward other financiers from the Gulf countries joined in. The society's main office is in Stockholm and it has branches around the world, including the al-Musa'adah [Aid] Society in Britain, the al-Najdah [Rescue] Society in Berlin, the Islamic Support Society in Italy, the Muwaffaq Society in Zagreb, and Bayt al-Ansar in Peshawar. When Asked if he owns a big electronic communications network and has access to Internet, Bin Ladin says, "yes, in order to run my business." Asked if his presence in London is connected with the current investigations in London and Paris and with his role in financing terrorist operations, he laughs and says, "no, I am on a mission for the US Embassy in London." She asks him, "aren't you afraid that al-Turabi will hand you over, as he did to Carlos?" He says: "It is possible, but I do not live in Sudan now. I keep moving and I do not stay permanently in any country." He adds: "In general, Sudan needs me more than I need it. I can assure you that my departure from Sudan will inevitably lead to the collapse of the Sudanese economy." Concluding his interview, he says that what is happening in Sudan is "a mixture of religion and organized crime." Interview With Saudi Dissident Bin Ladin London INDEPENDENT in English, 10 Jul 96 p 14 [Report on interview with Saudi Dissident Usama Bin Ladin by Robert Fisk in Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province; date not given] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Usama Bin Ladin is a tall, slim man and when he walks towards me surrounded by his Arab "mujahidin" guerrillas in the mountains of Afghanistan, he towers over his companions. Huge insects fly through the night air, settling like burrs on his Saudi robes and on the clothes of his men. Bin Ladin's narrow eyes and long beard were familiar amid the battlefields of Afghanistan where he and his guerrillas fought the Soviet invasion army of the Eighties. His appearance is little changed, the beard a trifle greyer, perhaps, but the fierceness unquenched. Then he fought the Russians. Now, determined to overthrow the monarchy in Saudi Arabia and oust the Americans from the Kingdom, he is descriBing the bombings that slaughtered 24 Americans in Riyadh and Khobar-Dhahran as a symbol of Saudi anger, the presence of US forces as an "insult" to the Saudi people. For Bin Ladin, the betrayal of the Saudi people began 24 years before his birth, when Abdul Aziz al-Saud proclaimed his kingdom in 1932. "The regime started under the flag of applying Islamic law and under this banner all the people of Saudi Arabia came to help the Saudi family take power," he says as the night wind moves through the darkened trees, ruffling the robes of the Arab Afghan fighters around us. "Abdul Aziz did not apply Islamic law; the country was set up for his family. Then after the discovery of petroleum, the Saudi regime found another support -- the money to make people rich and give them the services and life they wanted and to make them satisfied." Bin Ladin is picking his teeth with a piece of "miswak" wood, a habit that accompanies many of his conversations. History -- or his version of it—is the basis of almost all his remarks. And the pivotal date is 1990, the year Saddam Husayn invaded Kuwait. "When the American troops entered Saudi Arabia, the land of the two Holy places [Mecca and Medina], there was a strong protest from the ulema [religious authorities] and from students of the Shariah law all over the country against the interference of American troops. This big mistake by the Saudi regime of inviting the American troops revealed their deception. They had given their support to nations that were fighting against Muslims. They helped the Yemen Communists against the southern Yemeni Muslims and helped East]. After it insulted and jailed the ulema 18 months ago, the Saudi regime lost its legitimacy." Bin Ladin spreads his right hand and uses his fingers to list the "mistakes" of the Saudi monarchy. "At the same time, the financial crisis happened inside the Kingdom, and now all the people there suffer from this. Saudi merchants found that their contracts were broken. The government owes them 340 billion Saudi riyals, which is a very big amount; it represents 90 per cent of the national income inside the Kingdom. Prices are going up and people have to pay more for electricity, water and fuel. Saudi farmers have not received money since 1992, and those who get grants now receive them on government loans from banks. Education is deteriorating and people have to take their children from government schools and put them in private education, which is very expensive." Bin Ladin pauses to see if I have listened to his careful, if frighteningly exclusive history lesson. "The Saudi people have remembered now what the ulema told them and they realise America is the main reason for their problems. "The ordinary man knows that his country is the largest oil producer in the world, yet at the same time he is suffering from taxes and bad services. Now the people understand the speeches of the ulemas in the mosques—that our country has become an American colony. They act decisively with every action to kick the Americans out of Saudi Arabia. What happened in Riyadh and Khobar [when 24 Americans were killed in two bombings] is clear evidence of the huge anger of Saudi people against America. The Saudis now know their real enemy is America." There is a dark quality to Bin Ladin's calculations. "If one kilogram of TNT exploded in a country in which nobody had heard an explosion in a hundred years, surely the exploding of 2,500 kilos of TNT at Khobar is evidence of the people's resistance to American occupation..." Did not the Europeans resist German occupation in the Second World War, Mr Bin Ladin asks? I tell him no European would accept this argument because the Nazis killed millions of Europeans, yet the Americans have never murdered a single Saudi. Surely, I say, such a parallel is historically and morally wrong. Bin Ladin does not agree. "We as Muslims have a strong feeling that Binds us together... We feel for our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon. The explosion at Khobar did not come as a direct result of American occupation but as a result of American behaviour against Muslims... When 60 Jews are killed inside Palestine [in suicide bombings earlier this year], all the world gathers within seven days to criticise this action, while the deaths of 600,000 Iraqi children [after UN sanctions were placed on Iraq] did not receive the same reaction. Killing those Iraqi children is a crusade against Islam. We, as Muslims, do not like the Iraqi regime but we think that the Iraqi people and their children are our brothers and we care about their future." Saudi Arabia's angriest dissident reserves some of his fury for the British. "I astonished at the British government," he says. "They sent a letter to me through their embassy in Khartoum before I left Sudan, saying that I would not be welcome in the UK. But I did not ask to go to Britain. So why did they send me this letter? The letter said, 'If you come to Britain, you will not be admitted.' The letter gave the Saudi press the opportunity of claiming that I had asked for political asylum in Britain—which is not true." But it was America that captured Bin Ladin's anger. "I believe that sooner or later the Americans will leave Saudi Arabia and that the war declared by America against the Saudi people means war against all Muslims everywhere. Resistance against America will spread in many, many places in Muslim countries. Our trusted leaders, the ulema, have given us a fatwa that we must drive out the Americans. The solution to this crisis is the withdrawal of American troops...their military presence is an insult for the Saudi people." Yet did not the Americans support the mujahidin's war against the Soviets? "We were never at any time friends of the Americans," Bin Ladin says. "We knew that the Americans support the Jews in Palestine and that they are our enemies. Most of the weapons that came to Afghanistan were paid for by the Saudis on the orders of the Americans because Turki al-Faysal [the head of Saudi external intelligence] and the CIA were working together." So what kind of Arabian Islamic state does Mr. Bin Ladin wish to see? Would thieves and murderers still have their heads cut off, for example, in a Shariah-governed state? Mr. Bin Ladin's answer is unsatisfactory. All Muslims would love to live under true Shariah, he says. A guilty man would only be happy if he was justly punished. Dissident Mr. Bin Ladin may be. But moderate, never. Bin Ladin Declares Jihad on Americans London AL-ISLAH in Arabic, 2 Sep 96 ["Message From Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin to His Muslim Brothers in the Whole World and Especially in the Arabian Peninusula: Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques; Expel the Heretics From the Arabian Peninsula"—received by fax as supplement to AL-ISLAH; pages 1-12] [FBIS Translated Text] It is God that we thank and it is God whose help and forgiveness we seek and whose name we uphold against our own evil and our wrongdoings. Whoever is guided by God cannot be misled and whoever misleads can find no guidance. I declare that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his subject and messenger. "O ye who believe, fear God as he should be feared and die not except in a state of Islam," "O mankind, reverence your Guardian-Lord who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women; reverence God, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (reverence) the wombs (that bore you) for God ever watches over you," "O ye who believe, fear God and (always) say a word directed to the right, that he may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive you your sins. He that obeys God and his apostle has already attained the highest achievement." [Koranic verses] Thank God who said: "And reform is my only aim and only God can grant me success. On him I depend and in him I believe." And thank God who said: "Ye are the best of peoples evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in God." [Koranic verses] Prayers and peace be upon his Prophet who said: "People who see an unjust person and do nothing are about to be punished by God." You are not unaware of the injustice, repression, and aggression that have befallen Muslims through the alliance of Jews, Christians, and their agents, so much so that Muslims' blood has become the cheapest blood and their money and wealth are plundered by the enemies. Your blood has been spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The image of that dreadful massacre in Qana, Lebanon, is still vivid in one's mind, and so are the massacres in Tajikistan, Burma, Kashmir, Assam, the Philippines, Fatani [as transliterated], Ogaden, Somalia, Eritrea, Chechnya, and Bosnia-Herzegovina where hair-raising and revolting massacres were committed before the eyes of the entire world clearly in accordance with a conspiracy by the United States and its allies who banned arms for the oppressed there under the cover of the unfair United Nations. That alerted Muslims to the fact that they are the main target of the Jewish-crusade alliance aggression, and all the false claims about human rights fell under the blows and massacres committed against Muslims everywhere. The latest aggression was one of the worst catastrophes to befall the Muslims since the death of the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him. It was the occupation of the land of the two holy mosques [Saudi Arabia], the cradle of Islam, the scene of the revelation, the source of the message, and the site of the holy Ka'bah, the qiblah [to which Muslims turn in prayer] of all Muslims, by Christian armies of the Americans and their allies. God is the source of all power. In the light of the reality we are going through and the blessed, sweeping awakening in the world at large and in the Islamic world in particular, I meet with you today after a long absence dictated by the unjust crusade campaign led by the United States against the ulema and advocates of Islam to prevent them from instigating the Islamic nation against its enemies, as did their predecessors, may God have mercy on their souls, such as Ibn-Taymiyah and al-'Izz Ibn-'Abd-al-Salam. And so, this Jewish-crusade alliance killed and detained the symbols of the truthful ulema and upholders of the call—and God is above everyone. It killed the mujahid Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam and detained the mujahid Shaykh Ahmad Yasin in the land from which the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, ascended to heaven, and the mujahid Shaykh 'Umar 'Abd-al-Rahman in the United States. And, at the behest of the United States, a very large number of ulema, advocates of the call, and youth were arrested in the land of the two holy mosques. Prominent among them are Shaykh Salman al-'Awdah, Shaykh Safar al-Hawali, and their brother. Help comes from God who is the source of all power. We were affected by that injustice in that we were prevented from addressing Muslims and were pursued in Pakistan, Sudan, and Afghanistan. Hence that long absence, but, thanks be t God, a safe base was found in Khorasan [Afghanistan], on the soil ofthe Hindu Kush where, thanks be to God, the largest heretic power on earth was destroyed and where the superpower myth vanished in the face of the mujahidin's outcry of Allah Akbar [God is great]. Today, from the same land, from Afghanistan, we seek to end the injustice which has befallen the nation at the hands of the Jewish-crusade alliance, especially after the occupation of the land of the ascension of the Prophet [now Israel], may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, and the violation of the land of the two holy mosques. We beseech God to give us victory, for that is in his hands and he is capable of granting it. Today we begin to talk, work, and discuss ways of rectifying what has befallen the Islamic world in general and the land of the two holy mosques in particular. We want to study the ways which could be used to rectify matters and restore rights to their owners as people have been subjected to grave danger and harm to their religion and their lives, people of all walks of life, civilians, military, security men, employees, merchants, people big and small, school and university students, and unemployed university graduates, in fact hundreds of thousands who constitute a broad sector of the society. The same thing has befallen the people in industry and in agriculture, the cities and villages, and the people in the desert and the rural areas. Everyone is complaining about almost everything. The situation in the land of the two holy mosques is like a gigantic volcano about to erupt and destroy heresy and corruption, whatever their source. The explosions of Riyadh and al-Khubar were only a small indication of that torrential flood resulting from the bitter suffering, repression, coercion, great injustice, disgraceful debauchery, and poverty. People have been greatly preoccupied with matters of their livelihood. Talk of economic decline, high prices, massive debts, and overcrowded prisons is widespread and endless in society. Low-income employees will talk to you about their debts running to tens and hundreds of thousands of riyals. They complain about the massive and continuing drop in the purchasing power of the riyal in comparison with most other major currencies. Major traders and contractors will talk to you about the debts owed to them by the state running to hundreds of millions and even billions of riyals, increasing daily as a result of rates of usury. The state's internal debts to the public have reached more than 340 billion riyals, not to mention the foreign debts. People are wondering: Is ours really the largest oil exporting country? They feel that God is tormenting them because they kept quiet about the regime's injustice and illegitimate actions, especially its failure to have recourse to the Shari'ah, its confiscation of people's legitimate rights, the opening of the land of the two holy mosques to the American occupiers, and the arbitrary jailing of the true ulema, heirs of the Prophets. Good people who specialize in matters of religion, such as propagators of Islam and ulema, as well as experts in earthly matters such as traders, economists, and dignitaries, became alert to that affliction and each group did its best to act quickly to remedy the situation. Everyone agrees that the country is moving towards a deep abyss and a terrible calamity the extent of which only God knows. As one major businessman said, "the king is leading the country to 60 calamities." God is the source of all help and power. Many princes share the public's concern and privately voice opposition to what is going on in the country in terms of terror, repression, and corruption. The rivalry between princes overseeing their own personal interests has ruined the country and the regime has destroyed its legitimacy with its own hands through many actions, the most important being: 1. Its suspension of the Islamic Shari'ah laws, replacing them with temporal laws, and its bloody confrontation with the truthful ulema and good youth—and God is above everyone. 2. Its failure to protect the country, opening it to the nation's enemies, the American crusader forces who have become the main cause of all aspects of our plight, especially the economic aspect as a result of the unjustified heavy expenditure on them and as a result of the policies they impose on the country, and particularly the oil policy determining the quantities of oil to be produced and setting the prices which suit their own economic interests ignoring the country's economic interests, and also as a result of the exorbitant arms deals imposed on the regime, to the point that people are wondering what good, then, is the regime? So, each group has made efforts to act quickly and evade the danger. They offered advice secretly and openly, in verse and in prose, singly and in groups, and they sent petition after petition and memorandum after memorandum. They left no stone unturned and there was no influential person they did not include in their reformist moves. In their writings they applied the gentle and lenient method of wisdom and good advice calling for reform and penance for the major wrongdoings and corruption that transgressed the categorical religious limits and the public's legitimate rights. Most regrettably, however, the only response they got from the regime was rejection, disregard, and ridicule. The matter did not stop at the point of just humiliating them but that was followed by greater and greater misdeeds throughout the land of the two holy mosques. Therefore, silence was no longer appropriate and overlooking the facts was no longer acceptable. When the excesses intensified and went beyond the limits of simple wrongdoings and misdeeds to violation of the clear basis of Islam, a group of ulema and religious preachers grew tired of the deafening sound of misguidance and injustice and the suffocating smell of corruption. So signs of rejection appeared and voices were raised calling for reform to remedy the situation and stop the rot. They were joined by hundreds of intellectuals, dignitaries, merchants, and former officials. They submitted petitions and memoranda to the king urging reform. In the Hegira year of 1411 during the Gulf war, a petition signed by about 400 figures was submitted to the king calling for rectification of the situation in the country and for an end to the injustice to the public, but he ignored the advice and ridiculed those who offered it, and the situation got worse. Those who had offered the advice then sent more memoranda and petitions, the most important being the advice memorandum handed to the king in the month of Muharram 1413 Hegira [roughly 1992] which diagnosed the disease and prescribed the medicine with a sound Shari'ah approach and in a sound scientific way. It dwelt on the major gaps in the regime's philosophy and the main anomalies in the regime's foundations, pointing to the suffering of society's symbols and leaders calling for reform, such as the ulema, religious protagonists, tribal shaykhs, merchants, dignitaries, and university professors, who were marginalized, neutralized, and even pursued and harassed. It also dwelt on the country's laws and regulations and what they allowed and disallowed against God's will. It discussed the state of the media in the country which became means for the advancement of individuals and relatives and for obliterating facts, falsifying the truth, defaming righteous people, and shedding crocodile tears for the nation's causes to mislead people without any serious action and to implement the enemies' plans to corrupt people, draw them away from their religion, and spread sin among the believers. "Those who love (to see) scandal published and broadcast among the believers will have a grievous penalty in this life and in the hereafter. God knows and ye know not" [Koranic verse]. It [the advice memorandum] discussed the people's violated legitimate rights and the administrative situation with all its inefficiency and corruption. It pointed to the state's financial and economic situation and the terrible and frightful fate in store as a result of the debts of usury which have broken the state's back, and to the waste which has squandered the nation's wealth to satisfy personal wealth, resulting in taxes, duties, and excises imposed on the public. The Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, said about the woman who sinned, repented, and was dealt with accordingly: "She repented and if one who imposes taxes repented in the same way he would be forgiven." That reflects the magnitude of the sin of the tax man, but some are publicly and over loudspeakers applauding him and his massive and permitted usury, but that is heresy. Reliance is on God who is the source of all power. It exposed the despicable state of the social utilities in the country, which became even worse after the memorandum, and especially the water services, the most important element of livelihood. It discussed the state of the Army whose small numbers, poor training, and inefficient command were exposed by the Gulf crisis, despite the astronomical and unreasonable figures which had been mentioned and could not remain a secret. On justice and the courts, the memorandum showed that numerous Shari'ah laws had been suspended and replaced with temporal laws. On the state's foreign policy, the memorandum exposed that policy's failures and disregard for Muslim causes and even support and backing for the enemies. The (Gaza-Jericho) [agreement] and the case of the communists in southern Yemen are not too distant examples, and there are many others. Upholding temporal laws and supporting heretics against Muslims are prohibited in Islam, as the ulema have ruled. God said "whoever does not rule by God's law is a heretic," and He said: "But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) faith until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction" [Koranic verses]. Although the memorandum submitted all that leniently and gently, as a reminder of God and as good advice in a gentle, objective, and sincere way, despite the importance and necessity of advice for rulers in Islam, and despite the number and positions of the signatories of the memorandum and their sympathizers, it was of no avail. Its contents were rejected and its signatories and sympathizers were humiliated, punished, and imprisoned. The preachers' and reformers' eagerness to pursue peaceful reform methods in the interest of the country's unity and to prevent bloodshed was clearly demonstrated. So why should the regime block all means of peaceful reform and drive the people toward armed action? That was the only door left open to the public for ending injustice and upholding right and justice, and in whose interests do Prince Sultan and Prince Nayif plunge the country and the people into an internal war that would destroy everything, enlisting the aid and advice of those who fomented internal sedition in their country and using the people's police force to put down the reform movement there and pit members of the public one against the other—leaving the main enemy in the region, namely the Jewish-American alliance, safe and secure, having found such traitors to implement its policies aimed at exhausting the nation's human and financial resources internally. The person whom Interior Minister Prince Nayif is consulting [not further identified] was not tolerated in his own country because of his extreme dirt and affront to his people. He was dismissed from his post but came to be received by Prince Nayif with open arms, for cooperation on sin and aggression. He filled the prisons with the nation's best sons, bringing tears to the eyes of the mothers whose sons were jailed unfairly. Does the regime want to pit the public, civilians and military, against one another as was the case in some neighboring countries? I have no doubt that that is the policy of the Israeli-American enemy alliance, the main beneficiary of all that. But, thank God, the vast majority of the people, civilians and military, are aware of that sinister plan and will not allow themselves to be an instrument for strikes against one another in implementation of the policy of the main enemy, namely the Israeli-American alliance, through the Saudi regime, its agent in the country. That is why everyone agrees that "a crooked stick cannot have a straight shadow" and that there must be concentration on hitting the main enemy who has thrust the nation into whirlpools and labyrinths for decades since dividing it into states and statelets. Whenever a reform movement appears in the Islamic states, that Jewish-crusade alliance pushes its agents in the region, the rulers, to exhaust and abort such a reform movement by various suitable means, sometimes aborting it by luring it to armed confrontation, for which it chooses the time and place and through which it would nip it in the bud. Sometimes he would set loose his men in the Interior Ministry, who had graduated from Shari'ah colleges, to confuse and undermine the reform march and to draw the nation and the people away from that march, sometimes luring some righteous men to enter into a war of words with the ulema and the symbols of the reform movement to exhaust everyone's energy and keep the great heresy in control of the nation, misleading it and continuing the peripheral discussions while the worship of God and adherence to his Shari'ah are absent in reality. In these discussions and responses right and wrong get mixed up and often lead to personal enmities, with some people taking sides, thereby further dividing and weakening the nation, so that Islamic action priorities disappear. One should beware of these and similar diabolical tricks by the Interior Ministry. The appropriate behavior in such cases is what has been advised by the ulema, such as what the late Shaykh al-Islam Ibn-Taymiyah said, namely that all Muslims should join hands in warding off the great heresy controlling the Islamic world while sustaining minimum damage to prevent the greater damage which is in the fact the great heresy. When duties are numerous the most important takes priority. It is no secret that warding off that American enemy is the top duty after faith, and nothing should take priority over it, as decreed by the ulema. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn-Taymiyah said: "Fighting in self-defense is the strongest way of warding off harm to honor and religion, and it is a collective duty. Warding off an enemy who corrupts religion and the world is a top duty after faith. It is unconditional and is done according to means." If warding off that aggressive enemy becomes impossible without all Muslims of all walks and ranks getting together, then that is their duty and they should in that case overlook some disputed issues. Overlooking such disputes at this stage is less harmful than continuation of the great heresy afflicting the countries of the Muslims. That is why Shaykh al-Islami, explaining that matter, pointed out a main and great principle which should be taken into account, which is that work should concentrate on warding off the greater of the two evils. Referring to the state of the mujahidin and Muslims, he said that if among them there happened to be very sinful soldiers, that would not justify abandoning the jihad against the aggressive enemy. After discussing the case of the Tatars and their change of God's laws, he, may God have mercy on his soul, said that "agreement on fighting them fully would please God, uphold his word, and establish his religion and obedience to his Prophet. If some among them [Muslims] happen to be sinful and ill intentioned, fighting for leadership or offending others on some matters, and if the religious harm of not fighting them is greater than the harm of fighting them, then the duty is to fight them to ward off the greater harm. That is why one of the principles of the Sunnah and the [Prophet's] group is to do conquest using every good as well as sinful person, for God supports this in the interest of the cause of religion because, as the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, said, if conquest can only be achieved with the help of sinful princes or very sinful soldiers, then one of two things must be done: Either abandon the conquest with their cooperation, which means the greater harm of others taking over, or proceed with the conquest along with the sinful princes, and that way the greater harm is avoided and most of the rules of Islam are established, if not all. That would be the duty in that case and in all similar cases. In fact many of the conquests which took place after the orthodox caliphs took place in that way." What is necessary in such a case is that everyone should do his best to incite and mobilize the nation against the aggressive enemy and the great heresy prevailing in the country and corrupting religion and life. There is no greater duty after faith than warding [daf'] off [that enemy], namely the Israeli-American alliance occupying the land of the two holy mosques and the land of the ascension of the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him. The Muslims are reminded that they should avoid infighting between sons of the Muslim nation because that will have dire consequences, the most important being: 1. Exhaustion of human resources "as most of the casualties and victims would be from the Muslim people." 2. Exhaustion of financial resources. 3. Destruction of the state's infrastructure. 4. Disintegration of society. 5. Destruction of the oil industries, because the presence of the crusader and American military forces in the Islamic Gulf states, on land, in the air, and at sea, represents the greatest danger and harm and the greatest threat to the largest oil reserves in the world. That presence is a provocation to the people and an affront to their religion, feelings, and dignity, and has driven them toward armed struggle against the occupying invaders. A spread of fighting in these areas would carry the danger of the oil burning which would be detrimental to the economic interests of the Gulf states and the land of the two holy mosques, and in fact to the world economy. Here we pause and urge our brothers the people, the mujahidin, to preserve that wealth and not to involve it in the battle because it is a great Islamic wealth and a great and important economic power for the coming Islamic state, God willing. We also firmly warn the aggressive United States against burning that Islamic wealth at the end of the war for fear of it falling into the hands of its legitimate owners and to harm its economic rivals in Europe and the Far East, especially Japan, which is considered the main consumer of the region's oil. 6. Partition of the country of the two holy mosques with Israel taking the northern part. Partition of the land of the two holy mosques is considered to be an urgent demand of the Jewish-crusade alliance, because the existence of a state of such size and with such resources under sound Islamic rule, which, God willing, is coming, would be a threat to the Jewish entity in Palestine, for the land of the two holy mosques would be a symbol for the unity of the Islamic world because of the presence of the holy Ka'bah, the qiblah of all Muslims. Furthermore, the land of the two holy mosques is an important economic power in the Islamic world because it has the largest oil reserves in the world. Furthermore, the people of the two holy mosques are linked to the history of their predecessors, the Prophet's companions, whom they see as the example to follow and the ideal to uphold in restoring the nation's glory and upholding the will of God. That is in addition to the strategic depth and extended manpower fighting for God in happy Yemen. As the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, said, "and from Aden and Abyan would come 12,000 who would support God and his Prophet, and they are among the best of us." That would constitute a threat to the presence of the Jewish-crusade alliance in the region. 7. Any infighting under whatever pretext while the American occupation forces are still present would be a grave danger because these forces would seek to settle the battle in favor of world heresy. Our brothers in the Armed Forces, National Security, and security forces, may God preserve you as defenders of Islam and Muslim: O protectors of monotheism and guardians of the faith; O successors of those who spread the light of guidance in the world; O grandsons of Sa'd Bin-Abi-Waqqas, al-Muthanna Bin-Harithah al-Shibani, al-Qa'qa' Bin-'Amr al-Tamimi, and the companions who fought alongside them: You rushed to join the Army and the Guard merely to join the jihad for the cause of God in order to spread the word of God and to defend Islam and the land of the two holy mosques against invaders and occupiers, which is the highest degree of belief in religion. But the regime disrupted the balances, distorted the concepts, humiliated the nation, and disobeyed the nation. Although the nation still has not recovered its first qiblah and the point of the Prophet's midnight journey to the seven heavens [al-Aqsa Mosque]—despite the promises made by the rulers over half a century to work to recover it, but instead, the al-Aqsa Mosque has been handed to the Jews, and the nation's wounds are still bleeding—despite all this, the Saudi regime shocked the nation by bringing the women of Christian armies to defend it and opening the country of the two holy mosques to the crusaders. There is nothing strange about that, since the [Saudi] king has been decorated by a cross. The regime opened the country which is now full of the armies of the United States and its allies. Because the regime is impotent without their help. You—better than anyone else—are aware of this presence, its scale, aims, and danger. So the regime has betrayed the nation and allied with and supported the infidels against Muslims. As is known, this is one of the contradictions in Islam. By opening the Arabian Peninsula to the crusaders, the regime has violated the Prophet's will to his nation before his death: "Move the atheists out of the Arabian Peninsula." He also said: "If I live, God willing, I will move the Jews and the Christians out of the Arabian Peninsula." The claim that the crusaders' presence in the land of the two holy mosques is a necessity and a temporary matter aimed at defending this land is an old and obsolete story, especially after the brutal destruction of Iraq and its military and civilian infrastructures. This claim reflects the scale of the crusaders' and Jews' spite toward Muslims and their children. And the regime also insisted on not replacing the crusader forces with Islamic forces from among the country's sons and elsewhere. Besides, this claim is no longer valid following the statements made by the leaders of atheism in the United States, the most recent being that of US Defense Secretary William Perry after the al-Khubar blast targeting US troops. He said that their presence in the land of the two holy mosques is aimed at protecting US interests. Shaykh Safar al-Hawali—may God help him—wrote a 70-page book in which he listed evidence and proofs that the US presence in the Arabian Peninsula is a preplanned military occupation. The claim is another trick by the regime, but it will not fool Muslims as its first trick fooled the Palestinian mujahidin. The first trick resulted in the al-Aqsa Mosque being lost. When the Muslim people in Palestine rose up in their great jihad against the British occupation in 1354 H, corresponding to 1936, Britain failed to stop the mujahidin or their jihad. Their devil inspired them that the armed jihad in Palestine can only be stopped through their agent, King 'Abd-al-'Aziz, who they believed was capable of deceiving the mujahidin. And indeed King 'Abd-al-'Aziz carried out his mission by sending his two sons to meet with mujahidin leaders in Palestine and inform him of King 'Abd-al-'Aziz' pledge to guarantee the British Government's promises that it would withdraw and meet their demands if they halted the jihad. So King 'Abd-al-'Aziz was behind the loss of the Muslims' first qiblah. He allied himself with the Christians against Muslims. And he abandoned the mujahidin, instead of espousing the al-Aqsa Mosque issue and supporting those struggling for the sake of God's cause. And here is his son, King Fahd, trying to fool Muslims with the second trick in order to squander our remaining holy sites. He lied to the ulema who sanctioned the Americans' entry and he lied to the Islamic world's ulema and leaders at the [World Muslim] League's conference in holy Mecca in the wake of the Islamic world's condemnation of the crusader forces' entry into the country of the two holy mosques on the pretext of defending it. He told them that the matter was simple and that the US and coalition troops would leave in a few months. And here we are approaching the seventh year since their arrival and the regime is unable to move them out. The regime does not want to admit to its people its inability to do so. It has continued to lie to people and claim that the Americans will depart...which is impossible. Once bitten, twice shy. The happy ones are those who learn from others' experiences. Instead of pushing the Army, the Guard, and the security men to confront the occupiers, the regime is using them to protect the occupiers, which is the highest degree of humiliation, insult, and treason. May God give us strength. We remind the minority of people in the Army, police, Guard, and security forces, who are being humiliated by the regime to get them to encroach on Muslims' rights and lives, of Almighty God's words in the divine hadith: "I declare war on those who are hostile toward holy men." And also of the Prophet's saying: "A man will come holding the hand of another, saying: O God, this man killed me [talking about the Day of Judgment], so God will say to him: Why did you kill him? He will reply: I killed him so that glory would be yours. God will say: It is mine. Another man will come holding another's hand and saying: O God, this man killed me. God will say to him: Why did you kill him? He will say: To achieve glory for such and such. God will tell him: It [glory] does not belong to such and such; he will be punished for his sins." The Prophet is also reported to have said: "The murdered will come on the Day of Judgment, clinging to his murderer. So God will say: Why did you kill him? He will say: To appease such and such." Your brothers and sons, the sons of the two holy mosques, have launched the jihad for the sake of God's cause to expel the occupying enemy from the country of the two holy mosques. Without doubt you wish to carry out this mission in order to restore the nation's glory and liberate its occupied holy sites. But you are aware that this stage requires the adoption of suitable combat methods due to the lack of parity between our regular Armed Forces and the enemy's forces. Namely, through light and fast [khafifah wa sari'at al-harakah] forces operating in complete secrecy. In other words, by waging guerrilla warfare in which the people's sons other than the Armed Forces take part. As is known, it is wise at this stage to spare the Armed Forces the task of engaging in traditional fighting with the crusader enemy's forces. This is with the exception of daring and powerful operations carried out separately by individuals from the Armed Forces, that is, without mobilizing regular forces with their traditional formations, and in a manner that would not reflect adversely on the Army, unless there are great interests to be gained and heavy losses to inflicted on the enemy—losses that destroy its foundations and rock its Pillars— losses that help to expel the enemy, routed—ensuring that no Muslim blood is shed in the process. What your mujahidin brothers and sons want from you at this stage is to provide every possible support: information and the materials and arms needed for their work. And they want the security men—in particular—to turn a blind eye and deceive the enemy about their whereabouts, spread false rumors among its ranks, and do whatever is viable to help the mujahidin against the occupying enemy. We alert you to the fact that the regime might carry out operations against members of the Armed Forces, Guard, or security forces and try to attribute them to the mujahidin with a view to driving a wedge between them and you. So the regime should be denied that opportunity. While we know that the regime is fully responsible for what has afflicted the country and the people, the main disease and the cause of the affliction is the occupying US enemy. So efforts should be pooled to kill him, fight him, destroy him. We should lie in wait for him until he is defeated, God willing. The time will come, God willing, for you to play your role in settling the situation in order to exalt the word of God to the heights, humble the unbelievers' word to the depths, hit the aggressors with an iron fist, put matters right, and perform your true Islamic duty. We will have a separate discussion about these issues, God willing. Muslim brothers everywhere, the Arabian Peninsula in particular: The money paid for US goods is turning into bullets [fired at] the chests of our brothers in Palestine, and tomorrow the chests of the sons of the country of the two holy mosques; by buying their goods we are strengthening their economy while we continue to become poorer. Muslim brothers in the country of the two holy mosques: Is it reasonable for our country to be the biggest importer of US arms in the world, a trade partner of the Americans in the region—he Americans who are occupying the country of the two holy mosques and supporting their Jewish brothers with money, arms, and men to occupy Palestine and kill and displace Muslims there?!! Denying these aggressors the huge profits they make from their trade with us would be a very important help in the jihad against them. It would be tantamount to moral support to reflect our anger and hatred toward them. By doing that we will have contributed to ridding our holy sites of the Jews and Christians and forced them to leave our land, defeated, God willing. We expect women in the country of the two holy mosques and elsewhere to play their role by boycotting US goods. If the economic boycott is coupled with the mujahidin's military trikes, then the enemy's defeat is imminent, God willing—and vice versa: If the Muslims do not cooperate with and support their mujahidin brothers by severing economic dealings with the US enemy, then they are paying him money, which is the foundation of wars and armies, hence prolonging the war and the Muslims' suffering from it. Security and intelligence services in the world cannot force a citizen to purchase his enemies' goods. The economic boycott of the US enemy's goods is an extremely effective weapon, in order to weaken and harm the enemy. Nevertheless, this weapon does fall under the supervision of the repressive organs. Before concluding, we have an important, very important, discussion with young Muslims, the men of the bright future of Muhammad's nation. Our discussion with the young men is about their duty at this difficult stage in the history of our nation—the stage in which no one except the young men—may God protect them—have performed their duty in all directions. After those who hesitated to perform their duty to defend Islam and rescue themselves and property from the oppression, repression, and terrorism exercised by the state, the young men, may God protect them, moved forward to raise the banner of the jihad against the US-Jewish alliance which occupied Islamic holy sites, while others, as a result of the state's terrorism, moved forward to grant legitimacy to this great treason and big disaster: the occupation of the country of the two holy mosques. May God give us strength. The is nothing strange about this: Muhammad's companions were young men. And the young men of today are the successor of the early ones. It was the young men who killed this nation's tyrant, Abu-Jahl. 'Abd-al-Rahman Bin-'Awf, may God be pleased with him, said: A young man told me: I heard that Abu-Jahl insulted the Prophet, peace be upon him. A companion [of Muhammad] said: I swear by God that if I see him I will fight with him until the strongest wins. God is great. This is how the young companions behaved. Two young men asking one another about the most important target among the enemy's ranks, namely to killed the tyrant of this nation and the leader of the atheists in Badr, namely Abu-Jahl. 'Abd-al-Rahman Bin-'Awf's role was to tell them about Abu-Jahl's whereabouts. This is the role required from those who have knowledge and experience about the enemy's most vulnerable spots. They are required to guide their sons and brothers to these spots. Then the young men will say what their predecessors said: "By God, if I see him, I will fight with him until the strongest wins." 'Abd-al-Rahman Bin-'Awf's story about Umayyah Bin-Khalaf reflects the extent of Bilal's insistence on killing the head of atheism. He said "The head of atheism is Umayyah Bin-Khalaf—no life for me if he survives." A few days ago news agencies carried a statement by the occupier-crusader, the US defense secretary, in which he said that he has learned one lesson from the Riyadh and al-Khubar blasts, namely not to retreat in front of the terrorist cowards. We tell the defense secretary that this talk makes people laugh and reflects the scale of your fears. Where was that false courage in Beirut after the bombings of 1403H, corresponding to 1983, which dismembered you by killing 241 soldiers, most of them from the Marines? Where was that false courage in Aden following two bombing incidents which caused you to depart in less than 24 hours? But your great scandal was in Somalia. After several months of media propaganda about the United States' might after the Cold War and its leadership of the new world order, you poured tens of thousands of international troops, including 28,000 Americans, into Somalia. However, after minor battles in which scores of your troops were killed and a US pilot's body was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, you left the country, defeated and carrying your dead. Clinton emerged before the world, threatening to take revenge. But the threat was a prelude to the withdrawal process. God shamed you and you had to pull out. Your impotence and weakness were evident. The picture of you being defeated in the three Islamic cities (Beirut, Aden, and Mogadishu) pleased every Muslim and believer. I say: If the sons of the country of the two holy mosques—who went to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and who are now fighting in Chechnya, and God has granted them victory over the Russians, who are allying with you—and they are also fighting in Tajikistan—believe in the need to fight against atheism everywhere, they have the strength and enthusiasm in the land in which they were born to defend their greatest holy sites, the holy Ka'bah, the qiblah of all Muslims. They also know that Muslims in the world [a portion of the text is missing at this point; if pagination of fax copy is correct, this suggests two pages, approximately 1,600 words, are missing. Text resumes by citing parts of a poem] The Jerusalem wound is painful in my body, it is like fire inside me; I have never betrayed God, but states have. And their grandfather 'Asim Bin-Thabit said when the atheists requested him to negotiate and not to fight: What do I have to lose—I am already too old; death is truth and life is falsehood—if I do not fight you, then I am foolish. Young men believe you [apparently still addressing the United States] are responsible for what your Jewish brothers are doing in Palestine and Lebanon, namely killing and making Muslims homeless and violating their rights. You are openly supplying them with money and weapons. And more than 600,000 children have died in Iraq as a result of the shortages of food and medicines caused by your unjust embargo on Iraq, whose children are ours. So you and the Saudi regime are held responsible for the blood of those innocent people. All this causes us to revoke any treaty ['ahd] between us, as the Prophet, peace be upon him, considered the al-Hudaybiyah peace null and void after Quraysh helped Bani Bakr against the Prophet's allies. So he fought against Quraysh and opened Mecca. And he considered the agreement with Bani Qaynaqa' null and void because a Jew from among them harmed a woman in a marketplace. But you killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims and encroached on their holy sites. It is now clear that those claiming that the blood of the soldiers of the US enemy, who is occupying a Muslim country, is protected, are repeating—under compulsion—what is dictated by the regime, for fear of its oppression and in order to be on the safe side. It is incumbent on every tribe in the Arabian Peninsula to fight for God's cause and purge their territory of these occupiers. God says that it is permissible to shed their blood and seize their property, and anyone who kills a person, the booty is his. Almighty God said: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them...." Young men know that the humiliation inflicted on Muslims through the occupation of their holy sites can only be eliminated through the jihad and explosives. They repeat the poet's words: Humiliation can only be eliminated through bullets and the shedding of blood. I tell the young men of the Islamic world who fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina with their money, lives, tongues, and pens that the battles has not ended yet. I remind them of Gabriel's discussion with the messenger of God after the al-Ahzab battle: When the messenger of God arrived in Medina, he put his weapon aside. Gabriel came up to him and said: Have you laid down your weapon? By God, the angels have not yet laid down their weapons. So move with those who are with you to Bani Qurayzah, as I will be moving in front of you, rocking their fortifications and striking terror in their hearts. So Gabriel joined a procession of angels with the Prophet behind them, joined by emigrants and supporters. Young men know that those who are not killed are going to die [one day], and that the most honorable way to die is to die for the sake of God's cause. They repeat the saying of their grandfather, the companion 'Abdallah Bin-Rawahah, especially after the murder of the four heroes who blew up the Americans in Riyadh—these young men have restored daring operation: If not killed, one will die one day anyhow—here is the fire of death blazing—if you engage in it, you will be rightly guided. Ja'far said: Paradise is approaching—beautiful and its drink is cold; the Romans are approaching their own suffering—I promise I will fight them if I come face to face with them. As regards our mothers, sisters, women, and daughters, they follow the example of the honorable women of the Prophet's companions after the Prophet himself, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, and they emulate their bravery, courage, and generosity in support of God's religion. They remember the courage and steadfastness of Fatimah Bint-al-Khattab, may God's blessings be upon her, when, in support of what was right, she stood up to her own brother 'Umar Ibn-al-Khattab before he adopted Islam and challenged him after he learned of her becoming a Muslim. She said to him: "Do you not see that right is not in your religion, 'Umar?" And they remember the stand of Asma Bint-Abi-Bakr on the day of the migration [the Prophet's migration to Medina] when she cut her belt in two and used one to tie the travel bag of the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, and [one to tie the bag of] Abu-Bakr which they took with them on their journey to Medina, for which she was called the lady of the two belts. They also remember the stand taken by Nusaybah Bint-Ka'b in defense of the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him, one day, sustaining 12 wounds in the process, one of them a deep wound in her neck. They remember the sacrifices of the women of the [Prophet's] companions who sold their jewelry to arm the Muslim invading forces for God's cause. Our women in this era have set magnificent examples in sacrifice for God and in urging their sons, brothers, and husbands to declare jihad for God, in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya, and other places. We beseech God to accept their sacrifices and to release their sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers, and to consolidate their faith and strengthen their steps on that road of sacrifice so that God's will may prevail. Our women only eulogize and sing the praises of the men fighting for God, as the following poem says: Extol only the lions who are brave in raging wars, let me die an honored death in war for glory in death is better than life itself. They urge their brothers to go to jihad for God, as the following poem says: Be ready for struggle for this is a serious matter. Would you abandon us with all these wolves of heresy biting at our wings, wolves who continue to promote evil everywhere? Who among the freemen of my religion will defend freedom with arms? Death is better than life in humiliation and shame. Brother Muslims worldwide: Your brothers in the land of the two holy mosques and Palestine seek your help and ask you to participate with them in their jihad against their enemies and yours, the Israelis and the Americans, with everything that would drive them out of the Islamic holy places, defeated, with each of you doing what he can. "And if they seek your support in religion, then you must give it." [Koranic verse] So mount your horse for God's cause. This is the time to be firm, so be firm and know that your unity and cooperation for the liberation of the Islamic holy places is a sound step toward the unification of the nation's ranks under the banner of the one God. Here in this position we cannot but pray and ask Almighty God to show us the way and grant us success in all that. The genuine ulema of Islam and the nation's good youth are in captivity, so, God, please release them, give them strength, and look after their people. O God, the people of the cross have come with their horses and men and have violated the land of the two holy mosques, and the Jews are wreaking corruption in the al-Aqsa Mosque, the site of the Prophet's ascension to heaven. O God, divide them and break them apart and give us strength over them, shake the earth under their feet. O God, help us defeat them and protect us from their evil. O God, show us to be lions in their eyes and perform your miracles. O God who revealed the Koran, moved clouds, and defeated factions, O God, defeat them and grant us victory over them. You are our strength and our support, with you we move and fight, O God you are the best protector. O God, those youth have come together in support of your religion and your banner, so give them your support and bless their hearts. O God, strengthen the youth of Islam, guide their steps, and strike amity into the hearts of Muslims and unite their ranks, and give us patience and steadfastness and grant us victory against the heretics. Do not hold anything against us, as was the case with others in the past, and do not give us a load in excess of what we can bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us, our lord, and give us triumph over the heretics. O God, give this nation guidance, honoring those who obey you and disgracing those who disobey you, and let good be promoted and evil shunned. O God, bless your subject and messenger Muhammad, his kin, and his companions, and give them great peace. Finally we thank God, the lord of the universe. [Signed] Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin. Friday 9/4/1417 corresponding to 23 August 1996. Hindu Kush, Afghanistan, Khorasan. Bin Ladin Interviewed on Jihad Against US London AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI in Arabic, 27 Nov 96 p 5 Interview with Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin by chief editor 'Abd-al-Bari 'Atwan "in Afghanistan's mountains"; date not given; the front page carries a summary of the interview accompanied by a photograph of Bin Ladin sitting in front of a row of bookshelves with a machine gun visible in the background, captioned "Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin in front of his library in one of the caves; his machine gun, which he said he seized in one of the battles against the Soviets, could be seen hanging in front of a shelf of heritage books"; page 5 carries the text of the interview with a photograph of Bin Ladin and 'Atwan walking among trees among snow, captioned "The most prominent Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin accompanies colleague 'Abd-al-Bari 'Atwan on a tour in the Khorasan mountains"] 'Atwan: Based on sources close to the investigation, some US newspapers reported recently that those who carried out the al-Khubar operation are from the Shiite Hizballah of Saudi Arabia. What is your opinion? Bin Ladin: Regimes throughout the world and in the Arab world tend to lay the blame on other quarters or accuse any opposition of working for foreign quarters. Over the past three decades we have noticed that any reformist endeavor tends to be accused of working for the United States and Israel. But now that it has become clear that the region's states are in one way or another agents for the United States and Israel, these states have invented other means such as accusing other quarters of such actions in a bid to divert attention from the truth about the legitimate opposition and also to prevent people from interacting with those who carried out the operations. There are political objectives behind these rumors, aimed at diverting attention. As for the size of the opposition, it includes all sectors, including the security and the military. A whole people has been humiliated and persecuted. And the group that has been humiliated most is the Army, on which thousands of millions of dollars have been spent only to discover later that it needs those foreign forces. This is in addition to the economic harm inflicted on the people as a result of the money spent on US forces. Cab drivers now say that their sons are unemployed because the budget is spent on US forces and weapons. 'Atwan: Some people consider operations against US forces terrorism and describe you as a leader of Islamic "terrorism." Bin Ladin: Terrorism—if it is against criminals, thieves, and bandits—is a legitimate thing adopted by all states in all ages. The blameworthy terrorism is the kind committed by thieves against nations. What happened in the Riyadh and al-Khubar blasts was praiseworthy terrorism, because it was against thieves, not individuals but major states which went there to plunder the riches of this nation and to encroach on its greatest holy sites. It is a great honor for every Muslim to defend his qiblah [direction to which Muslims turn in praying] and liberate it from these aggressors who are plundering its riches. With regard to their descriBing the mujahidin as terrorists, the following proverb applies to them: "She found comfort in accusing me of her own illnesses." It is these aggressors who are committing the objectionable terrorism. Suffice it to point to the suffering of the Muslim people in Palestine and the disgraceful US stances and its use of the veto, which in itself is terrorism. This is addition to the Qana massacre and the blockade imposed on Iraq, which has caused the death of over 600,000 innocent children. The highest degree of injustice is what happened at the Sharm al-Shaykh meeting. The United States is using the veto against the Muslim people in Palestine, who have been persecuted for over a century. But when [only a few] scores of Jews were killed, world Leaders—some of whose hands are stained with blood, such as Yeltsin, whose hands are stained with the Chechens' blood—got together. Such propaganda will not dissuade Muslims from defending their religion by themselves. 'Atwan: In your recent message you declared jihad against US forces and demanded that Washington goods be boycotted, and many people expected operations along the lines of the al-Khubar operation, but nothing has happened. What is your opinion? Bin Ladin: The military are aware that preparations for major operations require time, in contrast with small operations. It took several months when the United States wanted to hit Iraq in its brutal attack on the nation and [start] the occupation of the [land of the] two holy mosques [Saudi Arabia]. If we wanted to carry out small operations, it would have been easy to do so immediately after the statements. Even the nature of the battle requires qualitative operations that affect the adversary, which obviously requires good preparation. We had thought that the Riyadh and al-Khubar blasts were a sufficient signal to sensible US decisionmakers to avert a real battle between the Islamic nation and US forces, but it seems that they did not understand the signal. 'Atwan: What is that signal? Bin Ladin: Understanding the signal means withdrawing all forces from the region, because we believe that the US Government committed the biggest mistake when it entered a peninsula which no non-Muslim nation has ever entered for 14 centuries despite the presence of imperialist forces in the region. They all feared to enter the two holy mosques area and remained in the fringes, such as Yemen and Oman. The British and others respected the feelings of more than 1 billion Muslims, which is why they did not occupy the land of the two holy mosques. US interests had not been harmed by the US nonentry [into the peninsula], since oil was being sold to the United States—we are not going to drink it. Nevertheless, they managed to impose a policy which reduced prices to an unrealistic level. Their entry was arbitrary and a reckless action. They have entered into a confrontation with a nation whose population is 1 billion Muslims. They made another mistake when they relied on reports which do not reflect the real anger of the masses in the Islamic world. The coming days [al-ayyam al-qaribah], God willing, will prove that that decision was the biggest strategic mistake the United States has ever committed. It can only be redressed by withdrawing and suspending all material support for the Jews in our first qiblah in Palestine. 'Atwan: You are launching these threats from 2,500 meters up in the Afghan mountains, 2,000 miles or more from the Arab region. Do you believe that there is something which is difficult to understand here? Bin Ladin: That could be correct if I was talking about the country of the two holy mosques, on the grounds that I am one of that country's sons, or dissociating myself from a nation whose territory begins from the east of the earth to the west [min mashriq al-ard ila al-maghrib] and whose lands are linked together. I am talking about their [all Muslims'] qiblah, which I want to liberate from the infidels. This nation is linked together like electricity. I am talking about the nation as a whole. I am not addressing the sons of the peninsula only; US interests exist throughout the Islamic world, the world has become a small village, and with God's help, the contacts exists and the interaction is there. The nation has been prevented from hearing a word of truth from its sons, which is why our elite ulema have been put in the jails of the Islamic world, especially the Kingdom's jails. The influence is there, and we are satisfied that the interaction is continuing. And we hope to reach the ignition point not in a long time. 'Atwan: You remained silent for a long time and suddenly decided to surface after a comfortable stay in Sudan. How did you move from Afghanistan to Sudan, and what was the turning point that prompted you to shoulder this big opposition responsibility? Bin Ladin: After the Saudi Government harassed the ulema, dismissed them from their jobs in universities and mosques, and prevented the distribution of their tapes, I decided that, if it was going to prevent them from speaking, I would begin to promote virtue and repudiate vice, something which had been suspended. Then the state prevented the clerics from speaking, so we set up the advice committee and began to reveal the truth and clarify matters, seeking reform and guidance for the nation and reminding people of the long time our ulema had spent working to reform [society] through good preaching. Statements were issued from Sudan, and when the Saudi Government discovered the great impact and effect of these statements, it transcended all its disagreements with the Sudanese regime, which had exerted great efforts to rectify its relations with the Riyadh Government and to end the boycott but encountered a lack of response and arrogance. After Statement No. 17 was issued—it was an open letter to the king on the occasion of the caBinet reshuffle—the Saudi Government contacted the Sudanese Government at the highest level, requesting reconciliation on the condition that Usama Bin Ladin and the sons of the two holy mosques accompanying him in Sudan were expelled and that they stopped issuing statements. 'Atwan: How did you receive the decision, and did you understand their position? Bin Ladin: The Sudanese Government at the highest level informed me of its difficult position and the scale of the Saudi pressure. They asked me to stop issuing statements. On the day I was told to stop issuing statements I sought to find an alternative land capable of bearing the word of truth, so God helped me and we came to the land of Khorasan once again. We are in an invincible [hasinah] land which enjoys security, pride, and immunity against the humiliation and subjugation to which our brothers are subjected in our country. 'Atwan: Did you go to Sudan at an invitation from the government or from another quarter? Bin Ladin: I went to Sudan by myself and without an invitation. 'Atwan: Did you expect the Saudi Government to request your departure? Bin Ladin: The possibility existed, and we had arranged some alternatives such as Afghanistan. This is why we had retained our camps there. So we returned to our home. The Islamic world as a whole is a home for [every] Muslim. 'Atwan: What did the Sudanese Government gain from the decision to expel you? Bin Ladin: Nothing significant. As you have heard, UN and US pressures on Sudan have continued and increased since I left. A US official said that Bin Ladin's expulsion is a good step, but it [the Sudanese Government] still has to do a great deal to prove its good intentions. 'Atwan: In your recent message you referred ambiguously to a lesson you had taught the Americans in Yemen, but you gave no details. Can you clarify that? Bin Ladin: With regard to Yemen, I do not want to add anything significant. However, the press said that the Americans left Yemen in less than 24 hours and that those who hit the airport and tried to blow up a US bus at Aden airport did so because US forces had entered Yemen by force and were heading for Aden. Butrus-Ghali contacted the Yemeni president and told him that there was a US plan to send forces to restore security in Somalia, and we hope that you will give it [the United States] a base, because we want to use Aden airport as a rear base. The Yemeni Government was surprised by the aircraft, and some young men carried out an action against them, so the US forces had to leave in less than 24 hours. 'Atwan: Did you fight the Americans in Somalia? Bin Ladin: The only non-Somali group which fought the Americans was the Arab mujahidin brothers who had come from Afghanistan. The US Government knew for certain that we were fighting it. And it had announced that there were extremist non-Somali forces fighting [against it], and they meant us. These were successful battles in which we inflicted big losses on the Americans. We used to hunt them down in Mogadishu. Aidid denied any responsibility, and he was telling the truth. The war in which we are currently engaged with the United States is not tee first, and we pray to God to grant us victory over them just as He did before. 'Atwan: But the US forces in Saudi Arabia are well-fortified compared with those which were in Somalia, and they have recently been moved to the al-Kharj base. Bin Ladin: Things are possible with God's help. Their fortifications will not impede the faithful mujahidin's resolve, God willing. We were surprised by the US soldier's psychological level in the Somali war. There was nothing for him to fight for. It was just a media show. There is no comparison between him and the Russian fighters, against whom we fought in Afghanistan. The Russian soldier is more courageous and patient than the US soldier. I took up arms against the Soviets in Afghanistan for 10 years, and we believe that our battle with the United States is easy compared with the battles in which we engaged in Afghanistan. And we are now more determined to continue until we meet God [meaning until death]. 'Atwan: After the Taleban movement seized power in Kabul, it was reported that your presence as Afghan Arabs was no longer considered desirable. Is this true? Bin Ladin: Our relations with the Taleban are good. According to them, they consider us similar to the emigrants [who left Mecca for Medina] who were received in Medina by the al-ansar [followers of the Prophet Mohammad]. It is a relationship based on piety and righteousness. We feel completely comfortable with cooperating with the Taleban. Great achievements have been scored since the Taleban elements came to the areas in which we are based, especially with regard to applying the Shari'ah, spreading security, and eliminating fear in their areas. And the extent of the people's acceptance of the application of Islam and God's law is now clear. It is also clear how the people have welcomed this Shari'ah, and bad aspects such as the actions committed by thieves and others have disappeared. Interviewer: If your relations with Taleban deteriorate for one reason or another, will you return to Sudan? Bin Ladin: I can never return to Sudan. Not because I am not interested in Sudan, but because the mountains are our natural place. 'Atwan: What about Iraq? Bin Ladin: Iraq is not on the cards. The choice is between Afghanistan and Yemen. Yemen's topography is mountainous, and its people are tribal, armed, and allow one to breathe clear air unblemished with humiliation. 'Atwan: With or without the Yemeni Government's knowledge? Bin Ladin: It is the same. 'Atwan: Do you believe that that will happen soon? Bin Ladin: I am not thinking [of doing that] in the foreseeable future. 'Atwan: Some people accuse you of financing extremist jihad movements in Libya, Egypt, Algeria, and elsewhere. What truth is there is this? Bin Ladin: Naming numerous countries of the Islamic world will change nothing in the reality. We deal with the Islamic world as one state. We cooperate with people on the basis of piety and righteousness and according to our capacity and capabilities, because we are one nation with one religion and one qiblah. A lot of what is said by the media contains clear exaggerations. 'Atwan: What is the size of your wealth? Is it in billions as the Western media say? Bin Ladin: I praise God for granting us belief, rescuing us from the darkness, and moving us to the light. It is our duty to spread this light in the world through the means sanctioned by Almighty God. He has granted us health, and we praise Him. He has granted us money sufficient, God willing, to repulse the unjust attacks committed against our nation. It is the duty of the nation as a whole to use its money in the jihad so that God's religion will prevail. 'Atwan: Did you think, like others, of turning to a European state? And did you visit London secretly or openly? Bin Ladin: I would rather die than live in any European state. Some Arab governments are circulating such rumors in a bid to distort [my] reputation. Muslims are not supposed to be adjacent to non-Muslim societies. It is not true that I thought about going to London or applying for a visa. Such rumors are designed to defame. They are circulated by hired newspapers which are too lowly to be responded to. 'Atwan: How did you feel when US forces began to arrive in the Arabian Peninsula and then launch raids on Iraq? Bin Ladin: It was clear that it was an occupation of the Islamic countries and Muslim holy sites. My people or most of the people's sons were shocked by the fatwas [religious rulings] issued by people in whom they had had full confidence, so we had to wait until this shock disappeared. Right should be followed. Men are judged on the basis of their adherence to right. Praise be to God, we succeeded in revealing the truth to the people, and the nation in the country of two holy places now knows that their holy sites are under dual US-Israeli occupation. 'Atwan: It is noted that you are focusing on or giving priority to Islamic issues other than Palestine. Many people criticize you for this. What is your opinion? Bin Ladin: Interest in issues is determined by their closeness to the people's life and their sequence. Without doubt the Afghan issue was the most recent responsibility compared with the al-Aqsa Mosque and then came the country of the two holy mosques. The event was a hot issue and prompted the nation's interest, so God helped us to stage the jihad in Afghanistan. The same applied to the two holy mosques, they were occupied recently compared with the occupation of the al-Aqsa mosque, which made them more important because they are the qiblah of all Muslims. 'Atwan: Did you fight against the secession in Yemen? Bin Ladin: It is documented in South Yemeni security departments that we fought the communist Socialist Party before the union and the union plan, because they are atheist, communist, and oppressive socialists. They oppressed the people, destroyed everything, attacked God's religion, and sanctified their party, saying nothing is louder than the party's voice. I delivered a number of lectures in mosques inciting Muslims to fight them (the Socialists), which prompted the Saudi Government to prevent me from delivering any speeches. But with God's grace, the youths continued the jihad, and we continued to cooperate with them against the heads of atheism in the Socialist Party. 'Atwan: We noted that in your recent message you excluded British and French forces from any threat to hit them, focusing, instead, on the US forces in the peninsula only. Can you explain this? Bin Ladin: The message to the Europeans is clear: hasten to leave [the peninsula]. True, the main forces in terms of numbers are the US forces. The logical thing for the wise people in Europe is to withdraw their forces before the battle blazes, especially as they have nothing at all there, now that the United States has seized everything. We hope that they will make that decision and not delay it. 'Atwan: But Europe does not intend to withdraw and is forming a rapid deployment force. Bin Ladin: We believe that they will withdraw. The earlier the better for them. Their intervention is arbitrary and unjustifiable. They are mobilizing their energies in the interests of the United States, and it is in control of the oil "tap" or the largest oil complex in the world, an action which will have negative effects on them as well. 'Atwan: It is clear that the Islamic moderation tide is expanding while extremism is declining. Are you not thinking of reconsidering your calculations and admitting the failure of extremism in Algeria, Egypt, and elsewhere? Bin Ladin: Islam is a moderate religion. It is the religion of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Everything in it is just and right. Words and explanations are used to clarify the matters which can be explained. And Almighty God has sanctioned al-da'wah [preaching]. This is justice and moderation. With regard to the matters in which spearheads [meaning weapons] need to be used, it is a just right. If some people confuse the two, Islam is not responsible, since the error is in the application. If anyone means by violence and renunciation of violence to prevent us from staging the jihad, he has deviated from the right path. The jihad is part of our Shari'ah and the nation cannot dispense with it [in its fight] against its enemies. Since it abandoned the jihad the nation has been suffering the calamities of murder, disposession, and plunder at the hands of the crusaders and their allies, led by the United States and Israel. 'Atwan: Has your family been harmed? Bin Ladin: Obviously the family has been harmed without doubt, but relatively. Great pressures have been exerted on them for the sake of my return. 'Atwan: Is there any mediation by the government for the sake of reconciliation, and when was the most recent one? Bin Ladin: The most recent of these mediations was eight months ago. They promised to return my identity card, passport, and money. They said I can return to the Kingdom dignified and respected if I say through the media that the king is Muslim. My reply was that we firmly believe that the regime has passed numerous laws without referring to God and appointed itself as a lawmaker and a co-lawmaker with God. This is unbelief as endorsed by the ulema and the Book of Almighty God. "He does not share His command with anyone." [Koranic verse] I refer anyone who criticizes me for this attack on the regime to thelorious verse: "God loveth not that evil should be noised abroad in public speech, except where injustice hath been done." God verily says the truth. 'Atwan: It has been reported that you were exposed to an assassination attempt in Sudan during the attack on a mosque in Omdurman in 1993, and another in your house late in Sha'ban 1993? Bin Ladin: We used to meet with the brother guests at 1700 hours every evening. On that day, and for a reason known to God, I was late, then I heard a barrage of bullets fired on the guest room, which is detached from the house. Some bullets were [fired] at me. So I took my weapon and went to a position overlooking the house to investigate the matter. I gave my eldest son ('Abdallah) a weapon and told him to take a position inside the house. I thought that an armed group had attacked the guards, and we prepared ourselves for a clash. But it was discovered that the attack was aimed directly at the guest room, which was stormed by three young men who opened fire at the guests, three of whom were seriously wounded. They opened fire on the place where I used to sit. One [guest] was hit in the abdomen, another in the thigh, and the third in the leg. The brothers clashed with them. There were Sudanese security forces near the house, so they clashed with them, killing two and wounding the third. Some of the brothers sustained minor injuries. 'Atwan: In your opinion, who was behind that attempt? Bin Ladin: We believe that the regimes in our Arab region are now pursuing a bad policy and carrying the arrests to excess, not to extract information through torture, but to create a wing of young men who believe in declaring all society infidel, so as to use this wing indirectly to kill any of society's groups. 'Atwan: What about the second attempt? Bin Ladin: The second attempt was in the al-Thawrah Mosque in Omdurman when a group tried to kill me while I was performing my prayers. 1997 Correspondent Meets With Opposition Leader Bin Ladin London Channel 4 Television Network in English 2100 GMT 20 Feb 97 [Report by correspondent Gwyn Robert on meeting with Usama Bin Ladin, Saudi opposition leader, near Jalalabad, date not given, including recorded remarks by Bin Ladin; from the "Dispatches" program] [FBIS Transcribed Excerpt] [passage omitted] [Roberts] I am asked to go to Jalalabad, close to the frontier with Pakistan. There I must wait for someone who might take me to Bin Ladin. [passage omitted] I have been told not to watch out and tell nobody my plans. I wait for days and begin to think the intermediary will never show up, but, at last, he arrives. He says he has contacted Bin Ladin by radio at a base 5 miles away and is trying to fix a meeting. Bin Ladin is not prepared for me to interview him on film, however, and it is a great disappointment. Instead I prepare questions and show my intermediary how to use my camera. I want him to do the interview. Several nights later he returns, the meeting is arranged and we are to leave immediately. As we walk from my hotel, he tells me that the Americans supplied a small tracking device to Terry Waite before he left for negotiations in Beirut. I ask him what would happen if I had such a device hidden in my clothes. It is made clear—I would not return alive. Nearby, we are picked up by a vehicle with five men inside carrying sub-machine guns. Two hours drive from Jalalabad I finally meet Bin Ladin. [video shows photograph of Gwyn Roberts sitting with Bin Ladin] This photograph is my record of an extraordinary meeting. He tells me the Saudi Government wants to pretend everything is stable in the kingdom. They can draw attention away from the internal problems by blaming them onto the Shi'ah and linking them to Iran. Days later my video cassettes are returned apparently showing the camp used by Bin Ladin. [video shows Bin Ladin, cutting to show a stone building, protected by look-out posts, cutting to show a tanks on an embankment] My intermediary has indeed filmed Bin Ladin, but although some of my questions are touched upon, this is not my interview. The cassette is clearly intended for Bin Ladin's own followers in the Middle East. It has frightening implications for Westerners in Saudi. [Bin Ladin identified by screen caption, in Arabic fading into English translation] The prophet has said that the people of the peninsula are duty bound to expel the unbelievers from their country when they come from abroad with their man and weapons in number and power that exceeds that of the people of the area. Now the oppressive occupier, with it's military machine and armed forces are once again threatening our Muslim lands. What is even worse is that the occupier has returned to violate the Muslim's greatest and holiest lands. And the bombing of Riyadh and Al-Khubar were a clear indication for the crusading forces to correct this grave mistake and for them to depart before it is too late, and before the battle begins in earnest. People will treat the Americans as they were treated by them. They will not only hit American military but also demand the expulsion of civilians. Moreover, I emphasize that this war will not only be between the two people of the sacred mosques and the Americans, but it will be between the Islamic world and the Americans and their allies, because this war is a new crusade led by America against the Islamic nations. [break in recording] Roberts: Bin Ladin claims it was his followers who forced American troops to leave Somalia in 1993. He saves his most chilling comment for his final address to the camera. [Bin Ladin, in Arabic fading into English translation] I confirm that all the youth and the whole nation should concentrate their efforts on the Americans and the Zionists because they are the head of the spear that has been pointed at the nation and delivered into the nation's heart, and that every effort concentrated on the Americans and the Zionists will bring good, direct, and positive results. Therefore, if someone can kill an American soldier, it is better than wasting his energy on other matters. Bin Ladin Cited on Prince Sultan's US Visit London Al-Islah in Arabic 3 Mar 97 p1 [Article from bulletin No. 48 issued by the Islamic Reform Movement of Saudi Arabia, IRM; received by fax: "New Offer for Bin- Ladin"] [FBIS Translated Text] Having lost hope of persuading the Taleban movement to hand over [Saudi dissident Usama] Bin Ladin, the Saudi Government and the parties collaborating with it abandoned the request for his extradition and asked, instead, for Bin Ladin to be silenced and his activities frozen. All the parties exerted pressure to have the shaykh silenced. But the movement always refused to do that and ignored the requests, and the reports of delegations coming from and going to the embassy of "the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Pakistan became a joke among Taleban circles, who declared that their commitment to the shaykh is principled and cannot be backtracked on. The Saudi Embassy recently tried to send a direct message to Shaykh Bin Ladin himself to offer not to demand his extradition "in return" for his stopping attacking the United States and Saudi Arabia. The shaykh's advisers say the offer is like trying to exchange something you do not own for something you cannot do. Meanwhile, the Bureau for the Study of Islamic Conflicts has quoted Shaykh Bin Ladin as saying the following regarding Prince Sultan's visit to the United States: "We understand that the visit was an enthronement ceremony by the Americans for Sultan to declare him king of the country of the Two Holy Mosques in place of King Fahd, leapfrogging Crown Prince 'Abdallah. The meaning of this is clear and conspicuous: The United States, which excluded the people of the peninsula from its political calculations, has now excluded the Al Sa'ud from the process of choosing the country's ruler. As a result of this US foolishness, we expect a further widening of the resistance against the US occupation of the country of the Two Holy Mosques and also the Zionist occupation of the Palestinian land. We are not interested much in who is in power in the country as long as he is under the protection of the US crusading occupation. What we are interested in is our people's awareness of the dimensions of the current battle and the need for them to join the mujahidin and get ready for the day of the decisive confrontation, with its heavy costs in terms of money and lives. Everything is of little importance when it comes to defending God's religion, Islamic holy places, and Muslim countries, for the sake of applying God's law." Bin Ladin Charges US Involvement in China Bombings Islamabad The Muslim in English 15 Mar 97 pp 1, 11 ["News Analysis" by "Observer": "Bin Ladin: Dissident Turns Pan- Islamist"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] From his base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the Saudi Opposition leader, Usama Ben Ladin spoke at last after a long silence. This time, Ben Ladin has spoken less as a Saudi leader more so a pan-Islamic leader. His perceptions are strongly related to Pakistan and South Asia. This is a surprising change and could usher in far reaching repercussions in the entire [sentence as published]. Ben Ladin has accused the United States of trying to sabotage relations between China and the Muslim world through the CIA. He charged the CIA of being the brain behind the latest explosions in China. Categorically denying any US support for Taliban, Ben Ladin even promised action to bring about an understanding between Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and China. According to Ben Ladin's thinking, this new axis would block attempts to forge axis between India, Russia, Central Asian Republics, China and Iran. Speaking on Afghanistan, he reiterated that the Afghan Civil war was over and Taliban are the legitimate rulers and that on both a short, long term, an Islamic government in Afghanistan would re- affirm pan-Islamism by Kabul and total support for all Islamic causes. This would be good news for the suppressed people of Kashmir and Pakistan, since an Islamic Afghanistan would provide strategic depth for Pakistan. The US have been hunting high and dry [as published] for Ben Ladin, since Washington accuses Ben Ladin of being the brain behind financing various anti-American groups which attempt to mobilise Muslims, to wage a jihad against the United States. Bin Ladin left Saudi Arabia and sought political asylum in Khartoum, Sudan. He remained in Sudan for quite sometime, and become a motivating spirit for the Islamic government of Gen Omar al- Bashir; working closely with Dr Hassan al-Turabi of the NIF (National Islamic Front). Intense US and European pressure and threats to strangulate Sudan politically, economically and militarily, forced Ben Ladin to leave Khartoum and seek a second exile. Because of US influence, no country would accept Ben Ladin, not even Iran. Ultimately, he silently slipped in to Afghanistan, Reportedly, Burhanuddin Rabbani welcomed him before the fall of Kabul. Later, he moved to Jalalabad, where he "reportedly" is under the protection of Taliban but his exact where about, still unknown. Fearing his growing influence and revolutionary posture, the CIA planned physical liquidation, for alleged involvement in aiding extreme Muslim groups to wage Jihad against the United States Unsuccessful attempts on his life turned Ben Ladin into a diehard foe of the US persuading him to cooperate with extreme anti-US groups, including Mohammad al Masari, head of the Saudi Committee of the Defence of Legitimate Rights, Ayman al-Zawahiri of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Ashra al-Hadi of the Egyptian Islamic Group. The CIA leaked reports accusing Ben Ladin of involvement in the November and June 1996 bombings of US military bases in Saudi Arabia that killed 26 American soldiers and airmen, wounding others. CIA agents monitored Ben Ladin traveling in mid-January, 1996 to Qatar. There he allegedly discussed plans for attacks on US military bases in Saudi Arabia. Qatar has territorial disputes with Saudi Arabia and more political differences over Riyadh's support to Bahrain, with tacit support from Saudi Arabia, used Bahrain force to occupy the Qatari island of Huwar believed to be rich in oil. Both Ben Ladin and Qatar strongly denied any involvement in the bombings of the US military bases in Saudi Arabia. However, the CIA is building its case against Ben Ladin, even though evidences against him are only circumstantial. Amongst evidences attributed to Ben Ladin, are his statements and telegrams he received from some anti-US groups following the bombings of the US Military targets in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Ben Ladin issued strong political statements, opposing the US military presence in Saudi Arabia, strictly from a religious point of view. To his mind, no foreign forces should be allowed to stay on the sacred soil of Hijaz. Initially, the US held out that its military presence in Saudi Arabia was temporary and that it would withdraw its troops once Kuwait was liberated. In recent interview, Ben Ladin called for jihad against foreign troops whether US, British or French. This has widened the net of his adversaries and increased British, French intelligence cooperation and their joining hand with the CIA, to counter the activities of Ben Ladin and his followers among the Islamists. Ben Ladin views both Britain and France as anti-Islamic powers which are using NATO to declare war against Islamic movements especially in North Africa. France took the lead in supporting the military junta in Algeria and supported canceling of the multiparty elections when the Islamists of FIS (Islamic Salvation Front ) swept the first phase of elections. Furthermore, Paris is persecuting and hounding over four million Muslims, mainly of north African origin living in France for generations, simply because they refuse to compromise their Islamic identity. Ben Ladin was extremely annoyed with the arrest of the Muslim activists in France and their handing over to the Algerian military. Almost all those arrested by French authorities and handed over to Algeria were summarily executed on charges of planning to topple the military Junta. Ben Ladin also accuses the British of supporting authoritarian regimes in the Middle East in their bid to crush the Islamic movements there. He said that the British were in the forefront, some times even ahead of the United States, in advocating continued siege, collective punishment, and sanctions against the Muslim peoples of Sudan, Iran, Libya and Iraq. The US State Department in a published white paper identifies Ben Ladin as one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world. One US report divulged that the FBI was comBing Pakistan and Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to trace Ben Ladin and his allies. Only recently, the FBI also opened offices in Israel, Amman and Cairo, specifically, to trace Islamists and more so Ben Ladin. Amongst US accusations is that Ben Ladin is financing militants, while Syrian President Hafiz al Assad was training them in the Bekka Valley in southern Lebanon which is under the control of both Syria and Iran. The FBI is also exploring the role of Iran and its possible links with Ben Ladin. Once solid evidence is obtained or fabricated, it would be used to isolate Iran internationally. Pakistan Interviews Usama Bin Ladin Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 18 Mar 97 [Interview with Usama Bin Ladin by Hamid Mir; in Jalalabad; date not given; first paragraph reporter's introduction] [FBIS Translated Text] On 25 February 1997, Saudi Defense Minister Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Saud met President Bill Clinton in Washington. Usama Bin Ladin came under discussion during this meeting. The Saudi defense minister told the US president that Usama Bin Ladin, the alleged terrorist responsible for bomb blasts in Riyadh and Al-Khobar, is staying in Afghanistan and is continuing to threaten more bomb blasts will be conducted if US troops are not removed from Saudi Arabia. The next day, on 26 February, the Saudi defense minister met the US Secretary for Defense, Mr. Cohen and on 27 February he met Secretary of State Albright. In each of these meetings strategies to arrest Usama Bin Ladin were discussed. The Saudi government informed the US authorities that appropriate measures must be taken for the security of US troops, diplomats and other US citizens in Saudi Arabia because Usama Bin Ladin is very dangerous. Consequently the US Embassy in Riyadh and US Consulates in Dhahran and Jeddah advised US military personnel and other US citizens to restrict their movements. Later, the US State Department contacted the Taleban government in Afghanistan requesting that Usama Bin Ladin be handed over to the United States. The Taleban did not deny the presence of Usama Bin Ladin in Afghanistan because the United States already has documents, photographs taken from satellites and other sources which prove that Bin Ladin is in Afghanistan. The Taleban flatly refused to hand Bin Ladin over to the United States. The Taleban's position astonished the whole Western world because it was generally believed that they were being supported by the United States and that the United States is trying to counterbalance Iran's influence in Afghanistan through the Taleban. After this declaration regarding Usama Bin Ladin, we decided to meet the person who is wanted in various cases, not only in the United States and Saudi Arabia, but also in Egypt and Yemen. Usama Bin Ladin is not only accused of being involved in the bomb blasts in Riyadh and Al-Khobar in which several US military personnel were killed but he was also allegedly involved in the killing of more than 125 US troops in Somalia. He is also alleged to have masterminded the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Husni Mubarak. He reportedly established three bases in northern Sudan where Sudanese military commandos provided military training to hundreds of Arab youth. These people were then sent to Egypt, Algeria, Tunis, Yemen and Saudi Arabia while some of them joined Hamas and started fighting against Israel. US authorities say that Ramzi Yusuf, accused in bomb blast at World Trade Center in New York, is also a disciple of Usama Bin Ladin. A few weeks ago, some people affiliated with organizations called "Al-Jihad" and "Jama'at al-Islamia" were arrested in Egypt. During interrogation it came out that they received military training from Usama Bin Ladin in Afghanistan. Usama Bin Ladin has gained international importance. This interview was conducted in view of his important role. There was no way to contact Usama Bin Ladin in Islamabad or in Peshawar. So I [Hamid Mir] decided to visit Jalalabad along with Pakistan's photographer Mazhar Ali Khan. From there I reached Usama Bin Ladin with the help of a representative of Maulvi Yunus Khalis. In the dark of night we could not tell what route we took to reach Usama Bin Ladin. It was a long distance, quite difficult, and it was dark. We stayed with Usama Bin Ladin for one night. The next day we had a four hour session and then returned in the afternoon. Our return journey was even longer and we could not tell in which direction we were heading. We could only make out that Usama Bin Ladin lives in mountain caves located at a distance of several hours from urban settlements. The interview with Usama Bin Ladin follows. It was conducted with the help of an interpreter as Usama speaks Arabic. PAKISTAN: Mr. Bin Ladin, thank you very much that you granted US an interview. It was quite difficult to get here, but it is a good experience for us. We would like to know about your family background. Ladin: My father, Mohammad Bin Oud Bin Ladin, was a minister during the reign of King Faisal. He was the owner of a construction company. He undertook the work of extension of Haram Sharif in Mekkah and the Masjid-i-Nabawi. King Faisal was still alive when my father died. King Faisal cried at the death of only two persons, one was Mohammad Bin Ibrahim and the other was my father Mohammad Bin Oud Bin Ladin. King Faisal said upon death of my father that today I have lost my right arm. For 40 years, my father kept on waiting for the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi [It is a belief among the Muslims that a Hazarat Mahdi will appear at some point in history and will revive the glory of Islam. Under his leadership the Muslims will be able to establish Islamic rule all over the world]. He had set apart some 12 million dollars for the Mahdi. I started working for my father at an early age. I was educated in Hijaz. I took my degree in economics. I supervised the work of the extension of the Masjid-i-Nabawi. So at an early age, for construction purposes, I receive training in explosives in blasting mountains. PAKISTAN: Who was involved in King Faisal's assassination? Ladin: Faisal Shaheed's brother Mutallib Bin Abdul Aziz believes that King Fahad knew about the conspiracy. We believe that the United States was behind his killing. PAKISTAN: You are a businessman. How come you took up the Kalashnikov? Ladin: We were 25 brothers. My father used to say that he gave birth to 25 sons for Jihad. The spirit of Jihad was invigorated when the Jews desecrated Baitul Maqdas. In December 1979, we learned that Russian troops entered Afghanistan. At that time I decided to wage jihad against Russia and came to Afghanistan. PAKISTAN: During the war against the Russian forces in Afghanistan, the United States and Saudi Arabia helped the Mujahidin. So why have you turned against United States and Saudi Arabia? Ladin: The United States was not interested in our Jihad. It was only afraid that Russia would gain access to warm waters. The United States helped the Mujahidin in order to contain Russia. The Mujahidin started their resistance much earlier. The United States and the head of Saudi Intelligence, Turki al-Faisal, used to get money from the government and give it to the CIA. The CIA used to buy ammunition and give it to the Mujahidin. The CIA embezzled quite a bit in the arms purchases. As soon as Gorbachev announced the withdrawal of Russian forces from Afghanistan, the United States and Saudi Arabia stopped their assistance for Mujahidin. The United States does not want an Islamic government in Afghanistan. Therefore an attempt was made to establish a coalition government consisting of Najibullah and Mujahidin groups. In 1992, Butrus- Butrus Ghali came to Islamabad for this purpose. But I made all the Mujahidin groups agree on the point that an alliance with Najibullah is not acceptable. We were fighting against the communists and now the United States was pressuring US to cooperate with those very same communists. The United States has no principles. To achieve its own interests, it forgets about every principle. PAKISTAN: Najibullah is dead. Why are the Mujahidin still fighting each other? Ladin: In Afghanistan, the Mujahidin are not fighting each other. Borhanoddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Masud have gone to Tajikistan and Golbodin Hekmatyar has taken refuge in Iran. Only Dostum is in Afghanistan. But he is not a Mujahid. He was an associate of atheist General Najibullah. Rabbani, Masud and Hekmatyar had made an alliance with him but now he is left alone. The Taleban have to fight against Dostum only. Rabbani, Masud and Hekmatyar participated in Jihad. They played a good role, but it was not good that they started this infighting in Afghanistan. Rabbani and Masud started getting assistance not only from their former enemy, Russia, but also collaborated with India. It is sad that even Hekmatyar joined this anti-Pakistan alliance. But now the government in Afghanistan is not anti-Pakistan PAKISTAN: The US State Department considers you responsible for the bomb blasts in Riyadh and Al-Khobar. What do you say in this regard? Ladin: Only Americans were killed in the explosions in Riyadh and Al-Khoba. No Saudi citizen suffered any injury. When I got the news about these blasts, I was very happy. This was a noble act. This was a great honor but, unfortunately, I did not conduct these explosions personally. But I would like to say to the Saudi people that they should adopt every tactic to throw the Americans out of Saudi territory. PAKISTAN: It is alleged that you were involved in terrorist action against the US troops in Somalia. Ladin: It is true that my companions fought with Farah Adid's forces against the US troops in Somalia. But we were fighting against US terrorism. Under the cover of United Nations, the United States tried to establish its bases in Somalia so that it could get control over Sudan and Yemen. Every Islamic country is our home. The United States had forcefully entered our home. In Palestine and Iraq it had massacred Muslims but in Somalia it claimed that it would provide shelter to the Muslims. The United States is a deceiver. We waged Jihad against it. My associates killed the Americans in collaboration with Farah Adid. We are not ashamed of our Jihad. You will be astonished that Farah Adid had only 300 soldiers while I had sent 250 Mujahidin. We got moral support from local Muslims. In one explosion one hundred Americans were killed, then 18 more were killed in fighting. One day our men shot down an American helicopter. The pilot got out. We caught him, tied his legs and dragged him through the streets. After that 28,000 US soldiers fled Somalia. The Americans are cowards. We made it clearto the world that we will not let America's new world order work. PAKISTAN: The UN peace-keeping force appointed in Somalia included Pakistani contingents too. Were Pakistani soldier also killed in fighting against your men? Ladin: Not at all. US soldiers used to keep Pakistani troops in front for their own safety. The Pakistani troops were sent to attack a radio station. There were landmines in that area. The Pakistani soldiers were killed by those landmines. The Islamic countries who sent their troops to Somalia, acted as US agents. The present US Government is under the influence of Jews. The US Secretaries of Defense and State are both Jews. Cooperation with United States is in fact, cooperation with the Jews. I believe that the Government of Pakistan and the United States are responsible for the death of Pakistani soldiers in Somalia. PAKISTAN: How did you go to Sudan from Afghanistan and then come back to Afghanistan? Ladin: After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, I went to Sudan for some construction work. After our Jihad in Somalia, the United States asked Sudan to expel me. Sudan was promised that economic assistance to it will be restored. So I came back to Afghanistan but assistance to Sudan was not restored. PAKISTAN: Western media have been giving an impression that the Taleban were being supported by the United States but the Taleban have refused to hand you over to the United States. What is the reason for that? Ladin: I don't believe that Taleban are being supported by the United States. In fact, the previous government in Pakistan misled the US Government. Benazir Bhutto and Nasirullah Babar gave an impression that they were supporting the Taleban. This gave the Taleban a bad name. The Taleban were definitely fighting against the enemies of Pakistan but they cannot be labeled as agents of Pakistan or United States. The reason Pakistan supports the Taleban is that Pakistan is sure that Taleban will never collaborate with India. PAKISTAN: Iran says that the Taleban are being supported by United States and they are fighting to safeguard US interests? Ladin: The United States considers me the most dangerous threat. If the Taleban do not hand me over to the United States then how can they be US agents? In fact, Iran wanted to establish its influence over Kabul through Abdul Ali Mazari. After Mazari's murder the plan failed and misunderstanding emerged between Iran and Taleban. The United States is the common enemy of both Iran and the Taleban. One day, relations between Iran and Afghanistan will improve. The United States wants to incite conflict between China and the Muslims. The Muslims of Xinjiang are being blamed for the bomb blasts in Beijing. But I think these explosions were sponsored by the American CIA. If Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and China get united, the United States and India will become ineffective. The Taleban have established the rule of Allah in Afghanistan. The United States is opposed to the rule of Allah. I appeal to the Muslims all over the world to support and assist the Taleban. Differences among the Muslims will be removed through their belief in one God and one Book. The Muslim must think that the Ka'aba facing which they say their prayers is under the siege of Jews and Christians. If your son falls from the roof top and suffers injuries to his head and his foot, you will have to treat the head first. Just like that, the biggest problem of the Muslims should be the top priority. We have to drive out the United States from the Arabian peninsula because this is the root of all problems. PAKISTAN: How should we drive the United States out of the Gulf? Ladin: If robbers break into your house, what will you do? PAKISTAN: If I have a gun I will shoot at them. Ladin: Correct! This is the right method to throw America out of the Gulf. The United States is beefing up its forces in the Gulf in a bid to control the oil resources. Since 1973, prices of all other items have increased but oil prices did not rise much. Since 1973, the price of petrol has increased only 8 dollars per barrel while the prices of other items have gone up three times. The oil prices should also have gone up three times but this did not happen. Price of American wheat has increased three-fold but the price of Arab oil has not risen three-fold. The increase was not more than a few dollars over a period of 24 years because the United States is dictating to the Arabs at gunpoint. We are suffering a loss of 115 dollars per barrel every day. Only Saudi Arabia produces 10 million barrels oil per day and thus the loss is one billion dollar per day. Total loss is more than 2 billion dollars. In the past 13 years, the United States has caused US a loss of more 1100 billion dollars. We must get this money back from the United States. The total population of Muslims all over the world is more than 1 billion. If every Muslim family is given 11,000 dollars then the 1100 billion dollars will be repaid. Muslims are starving to death and the United States is stealing their oil. It buys oil from US at a low prices and then makes US buy its tanks and fighter airplanes by projecting Israel as a threat. In this manner the United States takes all its money back. PAKISTAN: But there are pro-US governments in all the Arab countries except Libya, Sudan and Iraq. How then will US influence be removed? Ladin: Russia was the head of the communist bloc. With the disintegration of Russia, communism withered away in the Eastern Europe. Similarly if the United States is beheaded, the Arab kingdoms will wither away. The biggest crime, the United States has committed is that it has infiltrated our Holy Land. Against whom are the 120,000 US soldiers fighting in Saudi Arabia? What has happened to the Muslim self-esteem? Can't they defend their Holy Ka'aba themselves? Before the dawn of Islam, when Abraha had invaded at Ka'aba, God Almighty had sent birds (Ababeels) which dropped pebbles on them and made them run away. Now there are 1 billion Muslims in the world. God will not send birds, Muslims will have to rise themselves. The Muslims should be worried about Ka'aba rather than the White House. PAKISTAN: Which is your ideal personality in present age? Ladin: Shiekh Salman Oudah. He is imprisoned in Saudi jails because he had demanded expulsion of US troops from Saudi Arabia. I am sure that by the beginning of the next century the United States will no longer be a super power. Next century is the century of the Muslims. PAKISTAN: Rafsanjani, Saddam Husayn, Qadhdhafi and Hafez Al-Asad are also opposed to the United States. What is your opinion of them? Ladin: Muslims need a leader who can unite them and establish the "pious caliphate". The pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan. Interest-free banking will be started here. Allah's rule will be established. We are against communism as well as capitalism. Accumulation of wealth in a few hands is un- Islamic. PAKISTAN: Will women be allowed to get education under the pious caliphate? Ladin: I know you have asked this question under the influence of Western propaganda. The Taleban do not oppose education for women. Hazrat Aisha was a great scholar of Islamic law. She is the narrator of largest number of Hadith. Therefore, we are not against the education of women but we are against creating un-Islamic conditions in the name of education. PAKISTAN: What is the difference between the pious caliphate and the present democratic system? Ladin: They are totally different from each other. Consultation is very important in Islam but the consultation can be held only to appoint a pious and wise person as ruler. Under the present democratic system such people become rulers who are not pious. The parliaments make such laws which are un-Islamic. Getting military training is a duty of every Muslim but democratic governments hand persons like Ramzi Yusuf over to the United States. Four of my sons are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia on the instructions of the United States who claims to be the champion of democracy and human rights. My three years old daughter is not allowed to travel. I am told to stop talking against Fahad and United States the I will be forgiven. I do not beg for mercy from United States. If the United States has courage, it should come here and arrest me. I will die by the will God not by the will of United States. I appeal to the Muslims to boycott US products. They should give up the American democratic system too. This democracy has not given anything to the Muslims. PAKISTAN: Tell US about an unforgettable incident of your life. Ladin: During the Jihad in Afghanistan, Russian made a forceful attack on Jaji area. Tanks attacked from the front and air force also started bombing. I remained confined in an entrenchment for several days. We could hear the enemies' footsteps. Despite the situation, I fell asleep. When I awoke the enemy had disappeared. Perhaps I could not be seen by them. On another occasion a SCUD missile exploded very close to me but I remained safe. Such incidents have removed my fear of death. But the Americans are afraid of death. They are like little mice. If Russia can be destroyed, the United States can also be beheaded. PAKISTAN: Thank you very much On our return from Afghanistan at Torkham border we saw a sign board which read American and Afghan people will reconstruct Afghanistan jointly. Let's see what policy the Taleban do adopt. Muslim Leader Warns of a New Assault on US Forces' London The Independent in English 22 Mar 97 p 1 ["Exclusive" report by Robert Fisk, "Muslim Leader Warns of a New Assault on US Forces"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Eastern Afghanistan—From his guerrilla redoubt high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, Usama Bin Ladin - regarded by Washington as the West's most dangerous Muslim fundamentalist enemy - has warned Americans of a renewed onslaught against their forces in Saudi Arabia. In an interview with The Independent, the 44-year old billionaire Saudi dissident who led an army of Arab fighters against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, claimed that he had now secured the support of thousands of Pakistanis for his jihad - holy war - against US troops in the Gulf. He also acknowledged for the first time that his guerrillas had fought street battles against US forces during the ill-fated UN mission to Somalia. He had, he said, sent faxes to King Fahd and all main departments of the Saudi government, informing them of his determination to pursue a jihad against the Americans; he even claimed that some members of the Saudi royal family agreed with his demand to expel the Americans from the Gulf - an allegation that will only heighten US suspicions that some leading figures in the kingdom covertly support the dissident movement. I spent the night in Bin Ladin's guerrilla camp 8,000 feet up a frozen mountain in south-east Afghanistan as his Arab mujahedin, wearing camouflage jackets and cowled in kuffiah scarves, patrolled the perimeter ridges armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles. The road to the camp had been gouged out of the cliffs and precipices by Mr. Bin Ladin's followers during their earlier jihad against the Soviet army; a few metres from me, a 20 foot high air raid shelter - cut for hundreds of metres through the rock of the mountainside - provided protection against aerial bombing. Mr. Bin Ladin himself, dressed in a white turban and green robes with a Kalashnikov assault rifle beside him, sat on the floor of a tent lit only by a sputtering gas lamp. He heaped praise upon the bombers who slaughtered 24-Americans in the Saudi bombings at Riyadh and Al-Khobar - "a great act in which I missed the honour of participating" - and spoke in a chilling, almost inaudible monotone of his hatred for the American "occupiers" of his country. His claim of Pakistani assistance in his "holy war" will cause deep concern to Americans in Saudi Arabia, where tens of thousands of Pakistanis live as immigrant workers. Astonishingly - in view of this previous threats against British and French troops in the Gulf - Mr. Bin Ladin claimed that the armies of both countries now provided only a "symbolic presence" in Saudi Arabia, at one point praising Britain for not occupying the Arabian peninsula during the First World War. He claimed that European nations were now distancing themselves from US policy towards Israel, singling out the European vote against Israel in the UN Security Council debate on the new Jewish settlement on occupied Arab land outside Jerusalem. But if British and French troops in the Gulf can now sleep a little easier in their beds - in itself a doubtful premise - the Americans appear to face another spate of bombings. "This is the first time in 14 centuries that the land of the two shrines [Mecca and Medina] has been occupied by non-Islamic forces," he said. In the past the Americas didn't meet with real resistance from Muslims because scholars working for the Saudi government misled the people by saying the Americans were providing them with protection. But now, the Muslim nation understands the truth and Pakistanis have allied themselves with us to expel the Americans; Pakistani religious thinkers are issuing fatwa against them." If Mr. Bin Ladin's view of America bordered on the eccentric - at one point, he suggested that individual US states might secede from the Union because of Washington's support for Israel - his historical perspective was deeply disturBing. "We believe that God used our holy war in Afghanistan to destroy the Russian army and the Soviet Union - we did this from the top of this very mountain upon which you are sitting - and now we ask God to use us one more time to do the same to America to make it a shadow of itself. But he was confident. "We also believe that our battle against America is much simpler than the war against the Soviet Union, because some of our mujahedin who fought here in Afghanistan also participated in operations against the Americans in Somalia - and they were surprised at the collapse of American morale. This convinced us that the Americans are a paper tiger." Interview With Usama Bin Ladin London The Independent English 22 Mar 97 p 14 [Report by Robert Fisk: "A pilgrimage through a broken and dangerous land of death"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] The journey to meet Usama Bin Ladin began, as it did last year, outside the facade of the run-down Spinghar Hotel in Jalalabad. An Afghan holding a Kalashnikov rifle invited me to travel in a car out of town. But this time - instead of a journey across the deserts and Russian-bombed villages of the plains we headed past the roaring waters of a great river and upinto the mountains, overtaking trucks and a string of camels, their heads turning towards our headlights in the gloom. Two hours later we stopped on a stony hillside and, after a few minutes, a pick-up truck came bouncing down the rough shale of the mountainside. An Arab in Afghan robes came towards the car. I recognised him at once from our last meeting in a ruined village. "I am sorry Mr Robert, but I must give you the first search," he said, prowling through my camera bag and newspapers. And we set off up the track which Usama Bin Ladin built during his jihad against the Russian army the early 1980s, a terrifying, slithering two-hour odyssey along fearful ravines in rain and sleet, the windscreen misting as we climbed the cold mountain. "When you believe in jihad, it is easy," he said, fighting with the steering wheel as stones scuttered from the tyres, bouncing down ravines into the clouds below. From time to time, lights winked at us from far away in the darkness. "Our brothers are letting us know they see us," he said. After an hour, two armed Arabs - one with his face covered in a scarf, eyes peering at us through spectacles - came screaming from behind two rocks. "Stop! Stop!" As the brakes were jammed on, I almost hit my head on the windscreen. "Sorry, sorry," the bespectacled man said, putting down his anti-tank rocket launcher and pulling from his pocket an electronic metal detector, the red light flicking over my body in another The road grew worse as we continued, the jeep skidding backwards towards sheer cliffs, the headlights illuminating terrifying gorges on either side. Still clutching the wheel, the Arab fighter turned to me and smiled. "Toyota is good for jihad," he said. I could only agree. In the moonlight, I could see clouds both below us in the ravines and above us, curling round mountain tops, the headlights now shining on frozen waterfalls and icy pools. Usama Bin Ladin knew how to build his wartime roads - many an ammunition truck and tank had ground up here during the titanic struggle against the Red Army. Now the man who led those guerrillas - the first Arab fighter in the battle against Moscow - was back again in the mountains he knew. There were more Arab checkpoints, more screaming orders to halt. "No one can get to us here," the driver muttered. Our meeting was almost an anti-climax. Usama Bin Ladin looked fatigued when he entered the tent in which I was waiting cross-legged on a rough blanket, my shoes left at the entrance. At times during our conversation, he paused for at least a minute to choose his words. He was, however, studiously polite, offering the usual Arab courtesy of food to a stranger: a tray of cheese, olives, bread and jam. But his message was unequivocal, even brutal, while couched with the usual conditional clauses. "I am not against the American people - only their government, he said. How many times have I heard that phrase? I told him I thought the American people regarded their government as their representatives. He listened to this in silence. "We are still at the beginning of our military action against the American forces," he said. If the United States regarded him as the foremost "terrorist" in the world - as I suggested to him they did - then "if liberating my land is called terrorism, this is a great honour for me". And so we embarked on a three-and-a-half hour interview in which the US was damned for supporting Israel, but in which Europe was faintly praised for its slow departure from American policy in the Middle East. For him, there was no difference, he said, between the American and Israeli governments, between the American and Israeli armies. But Europe was beginning to distance itself from the Americans, especially France - although he condemned French policies towards north Africa. He did not mention Algeria but the name hovered over us for several minutes like a ghost. He gave me a Pakistani wall poster in Urdu which proclaimed the support of Pakistani scholars for his holy war against the Americans, even colour photographs of graffiti on the walls of Karachi, demanding the ousting of US troops from "the place of the two Holy Shrines (Mecca and Medina)". He had, he said, received some months ago an emissary from the Saudi royal family who said that Bin Ladin would have his Saudi citizenship and passport returned to him and that his family would receive 2 billion Saudi rivals (339m pounds sterling) if he abandoned his jihad - declared on 23 August - and went back to Saudi Arabia. He had rejected the offer and so had his family, he said. The US was in Saudi Arabia because of its oil but - more importantly - because it feared ("along with the Zionists") that "they and their local agents would drown in the Islamic uprising". Of the strict Islamist Taliban militia, which now controls three-quarters of Afghanistan and in whose region Bin Ladin now lives, he said that he had "struggled alongside them" since 1979. "We believe that Taliban are sincere in their attempts to enforce Islamic religious law. We saw the situation here before (they took over) and after, and have seen an obvious improvement." Despite these words, Usama Bin Ladin was unwilling to have me taken back to Jalalabad through the Taliban checkpoints at midnight. So I spent the night under the stars at his guerrilla camp, close to the massive rock-hewn air-raid shelter that he built during the Russian war. When the Arabs drove me back before dawn next day, they paused by the roadside to pray, kneeling on rugs with their rifles beside them, crying "Allahu Akbar" over the bleak landscape of rivers and snow-capped mountains. And amid the pageant of stars above us, a great comet trailed down the sky with a fiery tail, unseen since the time of the Pharaohs. It was, I learned later, the Hale-Bopp comet. "They say that after a comet, there will be a great war," one of the Arabs said to me. We had driven past the police barracks in Jalalabad at first light but, minutes later, a thunderous explosion tore across the road, incinerating every driver within 100 metres, a massive blast at the local munitions store that killed at least 50 men, women and children and left hundreds wounded. The Taliban were on the streets, beating back relatives of the dead with sticks, a mile-high column of brown smoke belching into the sky. It was not difficult to see how this broken, dangerous nation could engender anger and an acceptance of death; even a desire to turn the weapons once used against the Soviets upon the world's only surviving superpower. Usama Bin Ladin Dares US Commandos To Come to Afghanistan Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 6 Jul 97 pp 1, 7 [Report by Hamid Mir] [FBIS Translated Text] Islamabad—Saudi businessman Usama Bin Ladin has said that if US commandos want to come to Afghanistan to arrest me, we will not stop them in any way but we will deal with them according to our own free will. Talking to the daily Pakistan over the telephone from Afghanistan the other day, he said that those who arrested Aimal Kansi through deception must not harbor any illusions. If the commandos came to Afghanistan, they would be meted out the same treatment as was given to them in Somalia. Usama Bin Ladin said we have no sympathy for Aimal Kansi nor do we have anything to do with him. Aimal Kansi, however, was unarmed and he had no cause to espouse. In contrast, we are neither unarmed nor without any cause or mission. He added: I want the Americans to proceed toward Afghanistan, where all of their misconceptions and illusions will be removed. I am sure, however, that the Americans will not come, because they are cowards. They attack only the unarmed and weaker people. The days are not far off when the holy warriors of the Islamic world will arrest the Americans in the same manner as the Americans have nabbed Ramzi Yusuf and Aimal Kansi, Osma Bin Ladin asserted. Usama Bin Ladin Urges 'Befitting Reply' to Horan Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 7 Aug 97 pp 1, 7 [Unattributed report] [FBIS Translated Text] Kabul -- Usama Bin Ladin, the billionaire Saudi businessman and famous Mujahid leader, has strongly condemned US Attorney Robert Horan's derogatory remarks. He said that Horan had insulted not only Pakistanis but the whole Muslim world; his insult was directed toward Muslims in general and Pakistani Muslims in particular. In a statement issued from Kabul, Usama Bin Ladin said that hurting the feelings of the Muslims had become a routine activity of the infidels. Earlier, Salman Rushdie had made a mockery of Islamic injunctions and the West gave him the status of a hero for that. The Western countries, led by the United States, propagated Rushdie's evil thoughts. Aimal Kansi, who had killed and injured two Americans, was abducted from Pakistan, but Salman Rushdie, who had hurt the feelings of millions of Muslims, was given protection by these governments. This shows the moral degradation of the Western nations. The Muslim Ummah must ponder how it should respond to this US lawyer's abusive remarks. Does the Muslim world not have the courage to chop off the tongue of the person who has attacked their integrity? Although this was just a verbal attack on us, the Americans will go further. The future of the Muslims will be secure only if they now give a befitting reply. He emphasized that even though Christian commandos entered Pakistani territory and took away one of our brothers and even though during his trial the US lawyer made filthy remarks against Muslims, we still think that the United States is our friend. He said that earlier we were demanding that the Americans should withdraw from the Holy land of Saudi Arabia, but now we are of the view that the Americans should not stay on even an inch of the Muslim world's territory. They should immediately leave the land against whose people they have made abusive remarks, or they must keep in mind how we will treat the enemies of our religion, our land, and our honor. He said that Afghans would not remain silent over the humiliation of their Pakistani brethren. The Americans would be given exemplary punishment for this crime. Usama Bin Ladin added that if someone keeps silent over these remarks, he should be worried about his faith and self-respect, because using abusive language against a Muslim means using abusive remarks against Islam, which is without doubt a major, punishable crime. Usama Bin Ladin Backs Harkatul Ansar Against US Rawalpindi Jang in Urdu 20 Oct 97 pp 7, 8 [Report by Zafar Mehmood Malik] [FBIS Translated Text] ISLAMABAD -- World renowned Arab mujahid leader, Usama Bin Ladin has strongly condemned the US decision to declare Harkat-ul-Ansar a terrorist organization. He said that the United States itself is the 'biggest criminal' of the civilized world; destroying international peace, strengthening Israeli control over Bait ul Maqdas, stealing oil wealth from the Gulf and occupying the Harmain are its main targets. In a statement issued from his center, Usama Bin Ladin said the US action against an organization fighting for truth and justice is no surprise at all. Following the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, the United States considers itself the policeman of the whole world. But the United States is forgetting that the people who inflicted this defeat on the Soviet Union were Muslim mujahedin. Usama Bin Ladin declared his full support for Harkat-ul-Ansar and appealed to the Muslim world to provide assistance to the Kashmiri freedom fighters. Usama Bin Ladin said that Harkat-ul-Ansar is a mujahid organization which played commendable role in Afghanistan and in Kashmir also it is playing important role in the Islamic Jihad. Meanwhile Egypt's Jama'at al Jihad organization has also declared its support for Harkat-ul-Ansar. A statement issued in Islamabad by the spokesman of Jama'at al Jihad said that they congratulated Harkatul Ansar for its activities and the mujahid organizations of the Islamic countries would always support it. Daily Reports Usama Bin Ladin's Threat Against Americans Rawalpindi Nawa-i-Waqt in Urdu 27 Nov 97 pp 1, 5 [FBIS Translated Text] Jalalabad. The freedom fighter of the Islamic world, Usama Bin Ladin, has urged the people of the United States to restrain the government of the United States and the CIA from committing acts of international terrorism Otherwise, there cannot be any guarantee for the safety of American interests and its citizens in any part of the world. In a special interview here on Wednesday [26 November], he said the Islamic world has now come to its senses. Now they realize that they have become the slaves of the United States and are engaged in a struggle to liberate themselves from its clutches. The people, who are described as terrorists by the United States, are, in fact, taking retaliatory measures to save the Muslim countries from the acts of terrorism committed by the United States. He said the duty of every Muslim is to take action against the United States because, it is the biggest enemy of the Islamic world and is conspiring to eliminate the power of the Muslim countries. He said we have nothing to do with the murders of the Americans in Karachi. However, it is not [as published] Nevertheless, we certainly feel that this action is also the outcome of the deeds of Clinton because, the CIA is playing Holi [a Hindu festival of colors] with human blood and will reap the same in return. He said the United States knows who spilt the blood of the Americans in Karachi. And the United States also knows the reason for the act of retaliation it represented. He said that even now it is not too late. The United States should think about what direction it is marching in. It is the duty of the people of the United States to restrain the notorious CIA and the United States government from committing acts of international terrorism. Otherwise, there cannot be any guarantee in any part of the world that American interests and American nationals will be safe. 1998 Bin Ladin Claims Foiling of UN's Afghan 'Conspiracy' Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 17 Jan 98 pp 8, 6 [Report by Pakistan correspondent] [FBIS Translated Text] Tank -- In an interview to a foreign broadcasting organization in Afghanistan, Usama Bin Ladin , the dynamic force behind the worldwide jihad, Saudi billionaire businessman, and crusader has revealed that when the Afghan jihad was at its last stage and Mojahideen were moving close to their objective, the United Nations abruptly proposed a formula for a coalition government for Afghanistan. When we came to know about this we were surprised at the filthy proposal under which 50 percent representation was to be given to the Mojahideen and 50 percent to the communists. The proposal was ratified by all the jihadi organization leaders, including Ahmad Shah Masud, Hekmatyar and Rabbani. It was only to be signed by UN Secretary General Butrus-Ghali. According to Usama Bin Ladin, he came to know about the conspiracy on Monday and the UN secretary general was supposed to sign it on Friday. Consequently, using his good offices he immediately started making contacts with world's eminent Islamic scholars and asked for their religious ruling and began an urgent campaign against the move, thereby foiling the conspiracy. Usama Bin Ladin said that when he asked the leaders of the jihadi organizations such as Rasul Sayyaf why they signed the proposal, they said that they were under intense pressure from the United Nations and that they were being threatened that if they did not agree then their government would not be recognized. Bin Ladin Condoles With Al-Bashir on Salih's Death London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 16 Feb 98 p 1 [Unattributed report: "Rebels Say Attack on Juba Imminent"] [FBIS Translated Excerpt] Khartoum, Nairobi, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- Sudanese President 'Umar al-Bashir has received a letter of condolences from Saudi Islamic activist Usama Bin Ladin following Sudanese Vice President al-Zubayr Muhammad Salih's death in a plane crash. Bin Ladin said in the letter: "This tragedy has come at a time when the international Christian crusade is rushing madly against our country Sudan and against the heart of the Islamic world." He added that "its (the international Christian crusade's) fleets are plowing the seas of Islam. They are besieging and blockading the peoples of the region as a whole with total disregard for pledges and charters, and are violating the sacred sites and draining all the wealth, while the al-Aqsa Mosque remains the prisoner of this Christian-Jewish alliance." [passage omitted on the plane crash] Meanwhile, Sudanese and Ugandan officials have been exchanging accusations concerning a probable plan to invade Sudan from the south. Southern rebels have announced that their attempt last month to seize the city of Wau, the south's second largest city, has left the city's airport and garrison within range of their artillery and that this increases the chances of an overwhelming attack to seize the Sudanese southern capital of Juba. Observers have said that the Sudanese Government has massed 60,000 troops there to repel any attack. Khartoum reacted angrily to reports that Sudanese People's Liberation Army Commander Colonel John Garang, who has been fighting against it for 15 years, has met with a delegation of Western ambassadors in a strategic city situated on the road to Juba. [passage omitted citing Ugandan newspaper reports that attack on Juba is imminent] Text of Fatwa Urging Jihad Against Americans London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 23 Feb 98 p 3 ["Text of World Islamic Front's Statement Urging Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders" -- Al-Quds al-'Arabi headline; in a front-page report, Al-Quds al-'Arabi says that the statement was "faxed to Al- Quds al-'Arabi and signed by Shaykh Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin (the prominent Saudi oppositionist); Ayman al-Zawahiri, amir of the Jihad Group in Egypt; Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader of the [Egyptian] Islamic Group; Shaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; and Fazlul Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh"] [FBIS Translated Text] Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in His Book: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)"; and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said: I have been sent with the sword between my the shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders. The Arabian Peninsula has never -- since God made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas -- been stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it like locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations. All this is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food. In the light of the grave situation and the lack of support, we and you are obliged to discuss current events, and we should all agree on how to settle the matter. No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone; we will list them, in order to remind everyone: First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples. If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it. The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation. So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to humiliate their Muslim neighbors. Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula. All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries. This was revealed by Imam Bin-Qadamah in "Al- Mughni," Imam al-Kisa'i in "Al-Bada'i," al-Qurtubi in his interpretation, and the shaykh of al-Islam [not further identified] in his books, where he said: "As for the fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending sanctity and religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the ulema]. Nothing is more sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy who is attacking religion and life." On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God." This is in addition to the words of Almighty God: "And why should ye not fight in the cause of God and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? -- women and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord, rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will help!'" We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson. Almighty God said: "O ye who believe, give your response to God and His Apostle, when He calleth you to that which will give you life. And know that God cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He to whom ye shall all be gathered." Almighty God also says: "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you, that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of God, ye cling so heavily to the earth! Do ye prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in the least. For God hath power over all things." Almighty God also says: "So lose no heart, nor fall into despair. For ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith." Bin Ladin Urges Expulsion of 'Invaders' London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 23 Mar 98 p 4 [Unattributed report: "Bin Ladin Urges Jihad and Expulsion of US Forces from Gulf, Praises Prince Talal Bin-'Abd-al-'Aziz's Recent Statement" -- quotation marks as published throughout] [FBIS Translated Text] London, Al-Sharq al-Awsat -- The prominent Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin has called for the expulsion of US forces from the region because they are "occupation forces" and "crusaders." In a statement sent to Al-Quds al-'Arabi Bin Ladin focused on the necessity for "young men, ulema, notables, traders, and tribal chiefs to move out of Muslim countries to work for God's cause and run the jihad-for-God's-cause battalions in order to expel the occupying invaders." Bin Ladin emphasized that US soldiers showed their cowardice and feebleness during the Somali experiment, as the Somalis were able to drive them out of their land. His statement, entitled "One of Them Bears Witness," cited [Saudi] Prince Talal Bin-'Abd-al-'Aziz's recent statement to the BBC radio as evidence that the Americans are an occupation force in the Arabian Peninsula, since Prince Talal said that "if the Americans and the British were asked today to leave the Peninsula, they would not leave." The statement cited the appeal to the Americans by Prince Talal, brother of Saudi King Fahd Bin-'Abd-al-'Aziz, to change their view of the region so that their occupation becomes acceptable to its people. Bin Ladin praised Prince Talal's "courage," saying that this admission of the occupation of the Peninsula is better than the desperate attempts by others to conceal "the shameful aspects of the occupation." He also condemned the actions of some of the [Royal] Court's ulema "who have gained status through the rulers' money, power, and tyranny, selling their [reward in the] hereafter for others' lives." In his statement Bin Ladin analyzed the reasons for what he terms the US occupation of the Gulf, saying: We ask once again: Why are US forces still on our territory? We get no answer except some mangled words designed to confuse, and we hear nothing except the Americans' claims concerning the protection of their ambitions in the region. These claims -- despite the defective logic they reflect -- represent a witness from among them [the Americans] to this occupation, exposing the liars' deception and dealing a strong blow to those claming to be independent. Franklin Roosevelt admitted over 60 years ago the link between the region and US ambitions, especially in the Saudi Kingdom, for three reasons: It sits on two-thirds of the world's oil reserve, it controls the keys to world communication problems, and [there is] its role in Israel's stability and security. The views of the Americans -- leaders, politicians, experts, and journalists -- sum up all this as follows: The region is the elixir of the West's industrial life, as it is sitting on 70 percent of the world's oil reserves, with an expected life of more than 100 years based on the production rates of 1410 Hegira [1990], while the seven [G-7] industrial states, including Western Europe, possess no more than 5.5 percent of this reserve, with an expected life of no more than two decades The Gulf provides the lifeline for the West's industry, since oil is the lifeblood of the industrial states. This region represents a huge consumer market, especially the Gulf states, which import most of their necessities and nearly all their luxuries from the West and its allies. There is also the Zionist entity, which has grown and now controls -- to a large extent -- most of the West's politicians and leaders, especially in the United States. There is also their new enemy: the Islamic resurrection. It must be besieged, and the battle against it should be conducted on its own territory. The spark that ignited the Americans' spite and inflamed their designs in the region was Ramadan 1393 Hegira [October 1973] and the threat it posed to their ambitions in the region and the security of their allies, the Jews. It was decided then to occupy the Gulf states by seizing them directly. The occupation was speeded up because of their fear that the Islamists might seize power, and that appeared at the time to be imminent throughout the region. With regard to US defense policy in 1407 Hegira [1987], Reagan recommended the following: "To guarantee the ability to use vital world communication routes by taking control of them -- if necessary, seizing them -- especially with regard to transport and maritime routes. To guarantee US access to strategic minerals and other vital raw materials, whether with regard to where they are produced or the routes by which they are transported. Bin Ladin's statement went on to say: Lest anyone think that these ambitions disappeared years ago, Schwarzkopf, commander of the Crusade coalition forces during the Gulf war, said the same thing during the second Gulf war in 1411 (1991) and repeated it after the al-Khubar incident in 1416 (1996). He said: It is important for US forces to stay in Saudi Arabia because it is a friendly state and the most important state in the region; it has the will, the infrastructure, and the financial resources to support our forces and equipment, which we need to protect our interests. Concerning his soldiers in the Gulf, he said that these soldiers are defending U.S interests and we have to defend our interests as long as these interests are in existence. So the region is occupied in the air, at sea, and on land. The question that we put to those who dispute this axiom, which is known to everyone, is: Why did these armies come to our land, seas, and airspace? Is the aim -- as claimed by some naive agents -- to protect the weak regimes in the region from Iraq? This pretext has now collapsed, since the leaders of the region themselves have stated that Iraq no longer poses any threat. And all the Gulf states have worked to eliminate the effects of the war and the causes of the dispute with it [Iraq]. In fact they strongly objected to the recent US threats to wage a war against Iraq, using their territory as a staging post. And they demanded that the starvation and suffocation of the Iraqi people be halted But the United States treated with contempt the views of all the Gulf leaders and took no notice of the slogans that it had raised earlier, in order to eat up its Gulf prey. And it continued to increase its forces and movements according to its ambitions, without regard for any pledge or respect for any sanctity. So does anyone have any doubt about the occupation of the Peninsula? What kind of occupation is uglier than the governments' inability to extend their sovereignty over their territories? Is there anything uglier than the US occupier's persistence in usurping the blessed land of the Peninsula and plundering its riches despite rejection and denunciation by its rulers -- who helped the occupier at the start but cannot now find a way out of the scandal? The magic of the concealment trick is no longer working, the deception has been exposed, and the countries are now seen by everyone as prisoners in the Americans' hands. May God give us strength!! Bin Ladin concluded his statement by saluting some oppositionists who are held there [not further specified]: May God help our ulema and shaykhs who are behind bars: Shaykh 'Umar 'Abd-al-Rahman, Shaykh Salman Bin-Fahd al-'Awdah, Shaykh Safar Bin-'Abd-al-Rahman al-Hawali, Shaykh Yahya al-Yahya, Shaykh Ibrahim al-Dubyan, Shaykh Sa'id Bin-Zu'ayr, Shaykh Bishr al-Bishr, and their brothers... Interview With Usama Bin Ladin Reported Islamabad Al-Akhbar in Urdu 31 Mar 98 pp 1, 8 [Report by Azeem Siddiqui] [FBIS Translated Text] Khar, Bajaur Agency--Famous Muslim Mujahid Usama Bin Ladin has said that he is neither a terrorist nor a fundamentalist. He said: The Americans are determined to prove that I am the murderer of the 24 Americans who were killed in Saudi Arabia. This allegation is totally false and baseless. The United States itself is the biggest mischief maker, terrorist, and rogue in the world, and challenging its authority will be a good deed in Islam in every respect. On Monday [30th March] afternoon, in Khar in the Bajaur agency, a prominent Afghan businessman arranged a brief special radio interview with Usama Bin Ladin through some members of the Taliban. It is being said that after a fatwa by Usama Bin Ladin , special teams of the US CIA have been sent to arrest him. In this connection Usama was asked whether he had issued a fatwa and what he had to say about the US efforts for his arrest. The 41-year old Muslim mujahid laughed and said that he was not afraid of anyone except Allah. He said: The United States is the biggest terrorist and rogue and it is the duty of every Muslim to struggle for its annihilation. He added: It is up to you whether you consider it jihad or terrorism. I am not afraid whether they arrest me or kill me. I am ready to face any situation. Two CIA teams have already failed and, God willing, the same will happen again. In Iran, US planes collided with each other and were destroyed. In the future also the Americans will face destruction from collisions among themselves. Responding to a question about the killing of nearly two dozen Americans in Saudi Arabia, he replied: This was an incident on the basis of which Western propaganda masters are trying to prove me a terrorist. But this is a baseless allegation. I have denied this allegation several times and I still deny it. [Description of source: Al-Akhbar—daily which generally has an anti-US editorial policy] Bin Ladin Warns Against Richardson Mission to Afghanistan London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 15 Apr 98 p 1 [Unattributed report: "Bin Ladin Warns Against US Plan To Eliminate Arab Afghans"] [FBIS Translated Text] London, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- Yesterday, Tuesday, in a step that heralds a disagreement between the Taliban movement and the Arab Afghans, the fundamentalist [Taliban] movement welcomed the visit that US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson is to make to Afghanistan, the first such visit by a high-ranking US official for 20 years While it is believed that Richardson will try to persuade the parties to the conflict to start peace negotiations, Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin has announced that the US envoy's agenda includes many items, foremost among them being the fight against Islamic extremism and the elimination of Arab mujahidin in Afghanistan with the Taliban movement's help. Richardson is expected to arrive in Afghanistan Friday [17 April], bearing in mind that he is currently in India, where he arrived from Bangladesh which he visited on Monday. Mullah Wakil Ahmad Motawakkil, the Taliban spokesman, said that "this visit is important" and that he hoped that it would "be positive in resolving the Afghan crisis and restoring Kabul's relations with the rest of the world." On Monday a diplomat representing the Taliban called on the United States to recognize the Islamic militias government during Richardson's visit. The US ambassador will be accompanied by two other high-ranking officials. In a statement of which Al-Quds al-'Arabi received a copy, Bin Ladin said that the peace that the US envoy is promising in Afghanistan is "in fact nothing more than a link in the series of US conspiracies against the Islamic nation," pointing out that "the Americans tried to fan the flames of the war in Afghanistan in order to sully the image of jihad and of the mujahidin by showing them to be fighting for power." Bin Ladin warned against Richardson's mission in Afghanistan and particularly against "attempts to eliminate the Arab mujahidin and to thwart the Islamic state project in Afghanistan." He said that the Arab Afghans now "spearhead the Islamic rejection of US policy against the Islamic nation," and said that the United States is accusing them of being behind the military operations that forced it to withdraw from Somalia and those that were carried out against it in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia. He revealed that a US delegation visited Afghanistan last month with the same mission but went home without achieving its objectives. Bin Ladin stressed that what the United States wants from Afghanistan with regard to combating "Islamic extremism" is to "prevent the Taliban government from implementing the Islamic Shari'ah and to cooperate with it against the threat that the Arab mujahidin pose to the United States." He added, however, that "the Afghan people who have given millions of martyrs in order to establish their Islamic state will not relinquish this goal and will not sell it at any price" and added that the Afghans "will not stop championing the cause of their mujahidin brothers who stood by them during difficult times, regardless of the US temptations that Bill Richardson brings in his briefcase." Bin Ladin Backs Afghan Fatwa on US Forces London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 14 May 98 p 4 [Unattributed report: "Clerics in Afghanistan Issue Fatwa on Necessity To Move US Forces Out of the Gulf; Saudi Oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin Supports It"] [FBIS Translated Text] London, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- Clerics in Afghanistan have issued a fatwa stipulating the necessity to move US forces out of the Gulf region. The fatwa, issued by the "Ulema Union of Afghanistan" following a session held the day before yesterday under the chairmanship of Shaykh 'Abdallah al-Dhakiri [as transliterated], and of which Al-Quds al-'Arabi has received a copy, said that "it is haram [religiously forbidden] for Muslims to seek help from atheists." It pointed out that the Arab Gulf states "violated the Koranic verses, the Prophet's hadith [sayings], and the views of the ummah's [Islamic nation] ulema" by seeking help from US military forces, "which are now vigorously entrenched in the holy land of al-Hijaz, spreading apostasy among young people and carrying out malicious and corruptive actions." They based their fatwa on a number of Koranic verses such as "Let not the believers take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers," "O ye who believe, take not my and your enemies as friends," and "Thou wilt not find any people who believe in God and the Last day, loving those who resist God and His Apostle." They also made reference to the sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, including the hadith: "Ibn-'Abbas, may God be satisfied with him, said: The messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: 'Drive the polytheists out of the Arabian Peninsula.'" This is in addition to the views of the ummah's famous ulema such as al- Shawkani, who said: "With regard to not seeking help from polytheists and unbelievers, a group of ulema -- and this was reported by al-Shafi'i -- prohibited completely the idea of seeking help from polytheists; they included Ahmed [not further identified]. They adhered to the statement made by 'A'ishah [the Prophet's wife], may God be satisfied with her. This is also the doctrine of Malik, Ibn-al-Mundhir, and al-Jawzajani Malik's view is that no help should be sought from atheists during invasion." The group in question [the Afghan ulema] believes that "leaders of the Arab Islamic states should have sought help from the Islamic states in the world, instead of the enemies of Islam, because believers should help their brother believers." They pointed out that "all Muslims in the world sacrifice their lives to protect and defend the land of al-Hijaz, and if US forces leave the Arabian Peninsula now, Muslims should be brought in to defend it and offer their lives as a sacrifice for the two holy mosques." Addressing Muslims in the world, they [the Afghan ulema] say: "The enemies of Islam are not limited to a certain group or party; all atheists are enemies of Islam, and they take one another as friends." Having made reference to a number of historical events, they go on to say: "The governments of the region have forgotten the old enmity of these [atheists], just as they have forgotten God's instructions and the Prophet's signals mentioned in detail earlier, and thus the Arabian Peninsula has become a camp for the soldiers of the enemies of Islam, the US Army, which is equipped with ground and sea weapons." They also say that "the Ulema Union of Afghanistan reminds the Islamic nation through the fatwa in question of their responsibility regarding the Arabian Gulf question; it also alerts them that the responsibility for this question concerns not only the Saudis but all Muslims in the world, leaders and citizens, ulema and ordinary people." The Afghan ulema declare "jihad -- based on the rules of the Shari'ah -- against the United States and its followers." They urge Islamic governments to perform the duty of "armed jihad against the enemies of Islam," pointing out that "if Muslims are lax in their responsibility, the enemies of Islam will occupy the two holy mosques as well, just as they occupied the al- Aqsa Mosque." They stress, in a statement attached to the fatwa, that: "This fatwa -- with the evidence and the rulings issued by early and current ulema, on which it is based -- is not merely a fatwa issued by the ulema of a Muslim country, but rather a religious fatwa that every Muslim should adopt and work under." Usama Bin Ladin, the Saudi dissident who is resident in Afghanistan, believes that this fatwa comes "in response to the issue of the US forces of the country of the two holy mosques, which is worsening." [sentence as published] In a statement sent to Al-Quds al-'Arabi he said that "the fatwa proves with irrefutable religious evidence that it is impermissible for these forces to enter these countries, and [proves] the necessity to expel them from there." He noted that the fatwa issued by the Ulema Union of Afghanistan "is the same fatwa that the ulema and the sincere knowledge seekers from among the sons of the country housing the two holy mosques issued when these forces entered it eight years ago, first and foremost Shaykh Salman al-'Awdah and Shaykh Safar al-Hawali." He pointed out that the recent sermon delivered by the imam of the Prophet's Mosque is nothing but "an example of the scale of the nation's rejection of this presence." He said that the mosque's imam refuted the allegations that these troops came for security reasons concerning the people of the region when he said: "The region's security is the responsibility of the states of the region; it is their right, and the cause of the problems and instability in the region is the major states, which fabricate incidents and then go there whenever they have fabricated an incident, on the pretext of rectifying the situation or warding off danger, when they are actually the biggest danger How can a wolf be a shepherd?" Having expressed his support for this fatwa, Bin Ladin called on "everyone to adopt and implement it, because it is issued by ulema; it is the will of the Prophet, peace be upon him, as he said while dying: 'Move the polytheists out of the Arabian Peninsula.'" Bin Ladin Sees US Terrorism Listing as Good for Taliban London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 18 May 98 p 3 [Unattributed report: "Bin Ladin : Afghanistan's Inclusion on US 'Terrorism List' Is 'Certificate of Good Conduct' for Taliban"] [FBIS Translated Text] London, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- The Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin has deemed the U.S decision to include Afghanistan on the list of states sponsoring terrorism in the world a "certificate of good conduct for the Taliban government and proof that it is not subservient to the United States as it had previously been accused of." He pointed out that the United States has forgotten that "some of these decisions could do more good than harm to those against whom they are issued." In a statement of which Al-Quds al-'Arabi received a copy the day before yesterday [16 May], Bin Ladin said that "the announcement of the US decision and the background on which the decision is based -- namely the Taliban government's sheltering of Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin -- are all matters capable of refuting all the accusations against the Taliban government of working for the United States." Bin Ladin, who has for the past two years been resident in the Kandahar heights, one of the Taliban movement's fortified locations, noted that the US decision was taken after numerous visits by US envoys at various levels, the most recent being the visit by [US representative to the United Nations Bill] Richardson to Afghanistan. He pointed out that US efforts failed to persuade the Taliban to abandon its "Islamic orientation" in government, accept the US solution to the Afghan dispute, and refrain from sheltering and protecting Arab mujahidin. He emphasized that the US "motives" [bawa'ith] prove "the extent of the Taliban government's independence, adherence to its principles, and decision not to bargain over these principles." Bin Ladin, whom the United States accuses of supporting "terrorist" Islamic movements, sees the US decision as "an amusing political contradiction," since it represents "tacit recognition by the United States of the Taliban government, now that the United States has included it on the list of states, not the list of terrorist organizations." He said that "US accusations of terrorism against states, groups, or individuals are no longer of any value or credibility, since everyone now knows that the United States brands as terrorist anyone -- state, group, or individual -- who is opposed to its imperialist policy and hegemony, while it continues to practice the ugliest forms of world terrorism and support the evil of the forces of terror in the world." Bin Ladin wondered: "Is there any terrorism uglier or more brutal than the killing by the United States of hundreds of thousands of children, women, and elderly people by sentencing them to death by starvation in Iraq? Is there any clearer sponsorship of Zionist terrorism in Palestine, Lebanon, and elsewhere than the US sponsorship?" He pointed out that the US decision to include the Taliban government on the list of states sponsoring terrorism will not harm that government at all, "because it lacks credibility at the world level; it also lacks the foundations for implementation inside the United States." He added that the Taliban government has no diplomats that it [the United States] could expel from Washington or reduce their numbers and limit their activities, nor does it have financial assets that the United States could freeze in its banks." Concluding, he said: "Actually the Taliban government had for a long time been in pressing need of such a US decision, which clears it of the accusation that it is working for the United States and proves its adherence to its principles, its own decisionmaking, and its nonsubmission to external pressures, including US pressure." The Taliban government controls two-thirds of Afghan territory and is engaged in a conflict with the opposition forces in the north. So far, world states -- with the exception of three Islamic states: Saudi Arabia, the [United Arab] Emirates, and Pakista -- have not recognized the Taliban government. 'World Islamic Front' Statement Urges Jihad on US, Israel London Al-Hayah in Arabic 19 May 98 p 4 [Report by Muhammad Salah: "World Islamic Front Backs 'Intifadah of Palestine's Sons'"] [FBIS Translated Text] Cairo -- In its second statement since its establishment in February "the World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders" has urged Muslims to stage "the jihad against the Americans and the Israelis wherever they are." It also affirmed its support for "the sons of Muslim Palestine and their blessed intifadah, through which they have renewed their rejection of capiulationist solutions." The statement stressed that the Front "is one of the trenches pooling the nation's energies in order to perform the duty imposed by God, namely the jihad against the atheists among Americans Christians and Israeli Jews." In February Al-Hayah published a report on the establishment of the Front and also its first statement, which said that it had been established "to fight the Americans and plunder their money everywhere." The statement announcing the Front's establishment was signed by: [Saudi dissident] Usama BinLadin ; Dr. Ayman al- Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Jihad Group; Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, chairman of the shura council of the Egyptian Islamic Group; Mir Hamzah, who is in charge of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; Fazlol Rahman Khalil, amir of the al-Ansar Movement in Pakistan; and Shaykh Abdol Salam Mohammad, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh. They all signed a fatwa to the effect that "killing the Americans and their allies, civilian and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim." The statement, of which Al-Hayah has received a copy, is entitled "Wounds of al-Aqsa Mosque." It stresses that "despite the scale of the catastrophe, the glimmer of hope has become a reality and hopes are kept alive through the martyrs' blood, the pain of the sufferers, and the bullets of those fighting for the sake of God's cause." It also says: "The US Jews and Christians are using Israel to bring Muslims to their knees... the Jewish-Crusader alliance led by the United States and Israel is now operating blatantly... the United States, government and parliament, has always worked to spoil Israel and bolster its economic and military power." Bin Ladin Creates New Front Against US, Israel Islamabad The News in English 28 May 98 p 12 [Unattributed report] [FBIS Transcribed Text] PESHAWAR--Usama Bin Ladin, a Saudi rebel leader wanted by certain Western and Arab governments, has announced the formation of an International Islamic Front for Jihad Against America and Israel. Talking to a group of journalists which had traveled from Pakistan to meet him in his base in Khost in southern Afghanistan, he said leaders of Islamic movements in several countries, including Pakistan had evinced interest in joining the front. He informed that Dr Aiman Al-Zawahiri, leader of the Jamaat-ul-Jihad in Egypt who was present on the occasion, had played a crucial role in launching the front. The 42-year Bin Ladin, who took refuge in Afghanistan in May 1996 after being forced to leave Sudan due to American and Saudi pressure, had invited the journalists for the meeting. They were made to drive and walk through difficult mountain terrain before reaching his remote abode near the Pakistan border. Extraordinary security measures were put in place in the area with Bin Ladin's Arab "Mujahidin" guarding routes to his camp, occupying hill tops and roof-tops and searching all vehicles. His men fired in the air with light and heavy weapons to welcome him when he drove into the camp in the company of his right-hand man, Shaikh Taiseer Abdullah, and Dr Al-Zawahiri. About two dozens of his armed and uniformed commandos, with their faces covered, escorted him to the meeting room. Bin Ladin, who participated in the Afghan "jihad" during the 1980s, justified the formation of the anti-American and anti-Israeli front by arguing that Muslims everywhere in the world were suffering at the hands of the US and Israel. He said the Muslims must wage holy war against their real enemies not only to rid themselves of unpopular regimes backed by the Americans and Israelis but also protect their faith. Disagreeing with a reporter who felt Bin Ladin and his colleagues cannot possibly take on the world's only superpower, he contended that the US was vulnerable and could be defeated in the same war in which the USSR suffered humiliation at the hands of the Afghan and Arab "Mujahidin" in Afghanistan and was eventually dismembered. He recalled how the US was forced to pullout its troops from Somalia and Aden (Yemen) after suffering casualties at the hands of Muslim fighters, most of whom received military training in Afghanistan. He said the killing of 26 Americans in Saudi Arabia and the growing opposition to US and Western presence in the Gulf had compelled the American government to consider pulling out its troops from the Kingdom. Another American failure, he argued, was its inability to form an unnatural coalition government comprising the "Mujahidin" and their opponents in Afghanistan or to divide the country into five independent countries ruled by Ahmad Shah Masood, Mulla M Omar, Rasheed Dostum, Haji Abdul Qadeer and Ismail Khan. We aren't alone in waging struggle against the Americans and Israelis. The Muslims have awoken and a large number of our Ulema and scholars are now speaking out against those who hate and harm Islam. The Americans, can take away our resources or rule us, by proxy; but they cannot stop Allah's blessings and support for us," he remarked. In a choked voice, Bin Ladin lamented that holy places like Makkah and Madina were located in a country where "infidel" soldiers had been deployed by the US and its Western allies. "This is the first time after prophethood was bestowed on our Holy Prophet (PBUH) that infidels are in control of this holy land. The Holy Prophet himself said that all "Mushriqeen" must be removed from our holy places," he argued. He alleged that leading Saudi religious scholars like Imam of Masjid-i-Nabavi, Shaikh Ali Bin Abdur Rahman al-Hudaifi, Dr Safar Al-Hawalay, Shaikh Salman Bin Al-Ouida, Shaikh Yahya-Al-Yahya, Shaikh Dobian-Al-Dobian, and Shaikh Nasir Al-Umar had been arrested for demanding removal of US troops from Saudi Arabia. [Description of source: Dawn--Internet version of most widely-read English-language daily] Bin Ladin Declares Jihad Against US Troops London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 28 May 98 p 1 [Report by Muhammad Dalbah: "United States Admits that Keeping Its Troops in the Gulf Is Causing Dissatisfaction; Bin Ladin Threatens To Launch Attack Soon"] [FBIS Translated Excerpt] Washington, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- [passage omitted on statement by Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon on the Pentagon's decision to reduce troops in the Gulf] Meanwhile, Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin, who lives in Afghanistan, has declared a holy war against the US troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and said that the outcome will be known within a few weeks. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday [26 May] at his base in Khost in eastern Afghanistan, Bin Ladin said: "All Muslims must declare jihad against them (the US troops) and expel them from the holy land." Reports of the press conference, which was attended by correspondents from nearby Pakistan, were received only yesterday, Wednesday. Bin Ladin, flanked by several Arab dissidents, said that "the jihad fatwa has indeed been issued." He added that "the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) ordered that Muslims devote themselves to expelling atheist troops," meaning the US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia since the 1991 Gulf war. Bin Ladin, wearing white clothes and a white turban and holding a Kalashnikov rifle, was welcomed by Arab fighters with a burst of gunfire and huge explosions, the echoes of which reverberated along the Wadi Khost, which was surrounded by tight security. Bin Ladin was stripped of his Saudi citizenship for carrying out activities against the [Saudi] ruling family, and the United States sees him him as a major suspect in two bombings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which caused the death of 24 US soldiers in 1995 and 1996. He told newsmen yesterday: "We face a very, very big problem today. A tragic problem. "Arab land has either been occupied or there is a conspiracy to occupy it. For the first time since the Prophet's death atheists are occupying Mecca, Medina, and al-Aqsa Mosques. "This is the most important issue at present. The land where the Holy Koran was revealed is now occupied by Jewish and Christian forces." [passage omitted on Radio Free Europe President Dayan's statement that Free Iraq Radio will start broadcasting next October] Bin Ladin Congratulates Pakistan on Nuclear Weapons London Al-Quds al-'Arabi in Arabic 1 Jun 98 p 2 [Unattributed report: "Bin Ladin Congratulates Pakistan on Its Possession of Nuclear Weapons"] [FBIS Translated Text] London, Al-Quds al-'Arabi -- The Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin has congratulated the "Muslim" state of Pakistan on its possession of nuclear weapons "for the first time in the history of Muslims." In a statement of which Al-Quds al-'Arabi has received a copy, he said that "the explosions conducted by Pakistan over recent days have caused a disruption in the international balance and a change in the balances of conflict [mawazin al-sira'], which the nations of atheism have been eager to prevent the Islamic nation and all its peoples from influencing." He said that India "is just the visible and regional enemy of Pakistan," but the United States, "which is occupying the two holy mosques, and Israel, which is usurping the masra [the point of departure for the Prophet's midnight journey to the seven heavens, i.e. Jerusalem] of our Prophet, peace be upon him, are the real enemies of Muslims." Bin Ladin said that India and Israel "will continue their provocation of Pakistan." He warned India that "it will not face Pakistan alone, since all Muslims will support Pakistan with all their strength." Bin Ladin urged [Muslims] "to support the jihad of the Pakistani people and the Muslim peoples afflicted by the Indian occupation" and to follow Pakistan's example: "They should not be lax in possessing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons." Article on Interview With Usama Bin Ladin Islamabad The News (Internet Version) in English 15 Jun 98 [Article by Rahimullah Yusufzai: "In the Way of Allah"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Until May 1996, the Arabs who had taken refuge in Afghanistan after the end of the Afghan "Jihad" lacked a leader and a well thought-out agenda. The arrival of Usama Bin Ladin, a Saudi dissident accused by certain Arab and Western governments of being a financier of an Islamic international army, in Afghanistan on May 18, 1996 helped solve both their problems. The normally fractious Afghanistan-based Arabs not only found a resourceful leader and a rallying point but also someone who is very clear about his objectives. This was very much evident when he recently announced the launching of an International Islamic Front for Jihad Against America and Israel. There are probably a few hundred Arab volunteers still living in Afghanistan. They are the leftovers of the several thousand Arabs who came to Afghanistan via Pakistan in the 1980s to take part in the "Jihad" against the USSR's Red Army and the Afghan communists. Those left behind have nowhere else to go because they risk being caught in case they venture to return home and no other country would be willing to accept them. In any case, present-day Afghanistan continues to be their safest hideaway. The ones who have returned to their countries have mostly joined the political and military struggle aimed at bringing an Islamic change there. Known as Arab-Afghans, these battle-hardened Islamists have come to be known as the most radical and dangerous of the fighters who have taken up arms against the Algerian and Egyptian governments. It is the leftover Arabs who have now rallied to the Usama Bin Ladin banner. At a camp for Arab fighters near the Pakistan border in Khost in southern Afghanistan, Bin Ladin left no doubt in the minds of a visiting group of journalists as to who was in command. The prolonged gunfire that greeted his arrival and departure at the Al-Badr camp made him look like a hero. He was tall, frail and slim and walked with the help of a stick and yet he commanded respect and obedience. The rigorous life-style and the punishing discipline that the billionaire Saudi has imposed upon himself has already taken its toll on his health but he remains defiant as ever. His circumstances in a remote borderland prompted a colleague to ask him how come he is challenging the world's only superpower and its powerful protege, Israel, with the scant resources at his command. He replied that a true Muslim would never be overawed by worldly power. Moreover, he gave examples to prove that the US has been humbled in the recent and distant past despite its power and resources. Bin Ladin appeared keen to sidestep all other issues and concerns in a bid toconcentrate on his pet theme of combating America and Israel. Despite repeated efforts by certain Pakistani reporters, he declined to be drawn into polemics concerning Pakistan's disputes with India even though he was categorical in condemning New Delhi for exploding nuclear bombs and threatening Islamabad. He also complained that the Pakistan government had refused to allow him and his Arab "Mujahidin" to fight in Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir. His solution for the Kashmir problem was that Pakistan should allow setting up military training camps for the Kashmir "Jihad" and throw its borders open to enable volunteers to infiltrate the Indian-occupied state and liberate it once and for all. So focused was Bin Ladin on "the real, big enemy," ie America, that he advised China not to be drawn into a conflict with its Muslim minority population and instead concentrate on fending-off the Western designs against Beijing. The 42-year old Bin Ladin knows the risks to his life and freedom now that he has thrown a challenge to the US and Israel. About two dozen, hooded bodyguards dressed in black cordoned him off as he moved. Most carried Klashnikov rifles with their fingers on the trigger while a few were armed with SAM-7 missiles. He is required to shift his sanctuaries, keep an eye on his own guards and screen his visitors. His three wives and several children also have to be taken care of while living in an alien land and inhospitable terrain. Women and children who have lived in luxury must be finding the going tough. Bin Ladin doesn't believe that his wealthy clan that runs construction and transport business in Saudi Arabia and provides services at Islam's holiest site, Masjid Al-Haram, has disowned him under pressure from the kingdom's royal family. "Blood is thicker than water," he remarked when asked whether the Bin Ladinfamily have declared him an outcast. He gave another witty answer when asked whether he is still a billionaire. "My heart is rich and generous," he remarked. When inquired about the red alert declared at the US embassy and consulates in Pakistan following his call for "Jihad" against America and Israel, Bin Ladin said the mass media must report these facts and educate the people that America is indeed vulnerable Was he willing to come to Pakistan? "Why not, I have lived there during the Afghan "Jihad" and have many Pakistani friends But I am not sure whether I can go there in the prevailing situation," he replied. The Saudi dissident knows he has many supporters and admirers in Pakistan. He named some Ulema and madressas which have endorsed his call for "Jihad" against America and Israel and said he was in touch with them. He probably is also aware that JUI leaders Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Maulana Samiul Haq, Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad and many other Pakistani Ulema have warned the Pakistan government not to become a party to American plans to nab or kill Bin Ladin. In fact, most of them have declared Bin Ladin a soldier of Islam who needs to be supported in his "Jihad" against the infidels. That Bin Ladin is winning friends and admirers following his tough stance against the US and Israel became evident when it was reported that some parents, included one in Hangu town in NWFP, named their new-born sons as Usama after him. This reminds one of the Gulf War when scores of parents named their sons, Saddam Hussain, after the Iraqi president. Some of them, including one in Tank in southern NWFP, have now repented their decision and renamed their own Saddam Hussains because they resent the post-Gulf War policies of the Iraqi leader. A pertinent question is how long Bin Ladin would be able to enjoy the hospitality of his Taliban friends. Already, the Americans are complaining that Bin Ladin is violating the code by which a guest must abide owing to his campaign against the West from Afghanistan's soil. The Taliban earlier made it clear that Bin Ladin can stay as a guest in Afghanistan but he cannot indulge in political and military activities. According to Bin Ladin, the Taliban Islamic movement founder, Mulla Mohammad Omar, has only asked him not to indulge in military activities while being based in Afghanistan. He said he was free to pursue political activities. After his latest outbursts against the US in his encounter with journalists in Khost, a spokesmen for the Taliban naively said they were unaware of any new statement and interview by Bin Ladin. Obviously, the Taliban are in the picture as to what is happening and one could assume that Bin Ladin isn't doing something on his own. Perhaps the Taliban have realised that they could put pressure on the Americans and Saudis to achieve certain objectives by unleashing Bin Ladin on them. If that is true, it is clever politics of which the Taliban were incapable until now. This arrangement should also keep Bin Ladin happy as he pursues his uphill battle against several enemies -- America, Israel and the conservative, pro-West Arab regimes, foremost being the one in power in his native Saudi Arabia. [Description of source: The News--independent daily, member of the Jang Publishing Group] Bin Ladin Calls For 'Jihad' Against Jews, Americans Hong Kong AFP in English 0313 GMT 21 Aug 98 [As of filing time, Pakistani sources monitored at Bangkok Bureau have not been observed to report the following] [FBIS Transcribed Text] ISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (AFP) -- Saudi dissident Usama Bin Ladin issued a call for jihad (holy war) against Jews and Americans an hour and a half before the US military strikes on his camps in Afganistan, reports here said Friday. The call was conveyed to a correspondent of Islamabad daily The News in the northwestern border city of Peshawar by telephone from Afghanistan, the newspaper said. The text of the message published by the paper said "Bin Ladin calls on Moslem Ummah (nation) to continue Jihad against Jews and Americans to liberate their holy places. In the meanwhile, he denies any involvement in the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings." According to the paper the message was relayed by Al-Zawahiri, head of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad Organisation, which was held responsible for the murder of Egypt's president Anwar Sadaat. Al-Zawahiri did not disclose the place from where he was speaking in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's Taliban Islamic militia denounced the US raids and said Bin Ladin was safe. [Description of source: Hong Kong AFP -- Hong Kong service of the independent French press agency Agence France-Presse] Bin Ladin Warns Clinton 'Battle Has Not Yet Started' London Al-Quds Al-'Arabi (Internet version) in Arabic 22-23 Aug 98 p 1 [Report by 'Abd-al-Bari 'Atwan: Bin Ladin Tells al-Quds al-'Arabi: "The Battle Has Not Yet Started, We Will Reply to Clinton in Deeds;" all Afghani placenames as published] [FBIS Translated Text] Saudi oppositionist Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin has threatened US President Bill Clinton that he will launch further attacks on US sites in retaliation against the raids that targeted his headquarters in the Khost region in Afghanistan. In an exclusive statement to al-Quds al-'Arabi, Shaykh Bin Ladin sent a warning message to the US President that "the battle has not yet started and that the answer is what you see, not what you hear". This is the first telephone contact with Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin from his headquarters in Afghanistan since the US air raids. Shaykh Bin Ladin reassured—through his media spokesman—all Muslims that he is all right. He asserted that the attack had failed to achieve its objectives. The spokesman disclosed that six Arab Afghans were martyred in the US missile strike: Two from Egypt, three from Yemen, and a Saudi from holy Medina. He added that seven Pakistanis and 15 Afghans were among the victims of the raid. In addition, more than 15 Pakistanis were injured, some seriously. Also, five Arab Afghans were injured. The spokesman told al-Quds al-'Arabi that 50 Cruise missiles targeted the main headquarters of Shaykh Bin Ladin in the Khost region. Ten other missiles fell on different other sites of the Arab Afghans. The spokesman added that Shaykh Bin Ladin and other Afghan leaders had expected a US attack after the US Government started evacuating its citizens from Pakistan; therefore, they took precautionary measures. The spokesman said the human losses within the ranks of the Arab Afghans is a natural thing to which they have grown accustomed. They all seek martyrdom and want to meet God as soon as possible. He praised the position of the Taleban government, which supports the Arab Afghans and refuses to hand over Shaykh Bin Ladin to the United States, in spite of the heavy pressures. He added that the leader of Taleban, Mulla Muhammad 'Umar, vowed that he will not extradite the Saudi oppositionist, whatever the pressures. The spokesman wished the Islamic nation would follow Taleban's example. He denied that Muhammad Huwaydi, a Palestinian who was handed over to Kenya by the Pakistani authorities, had any link to Shaykh Bin Ladin, although Huwaydi acknowledged that he was with those who waged jihad in Afghanistan against the Soviets 10 years ago. Al-Quds al-'Arabi learned from informed sources that the US bombing covered five areas in Afghanistan: Qurbuz, which is close to the Pakistani border; the Jawar camp, which is used by the Islamic al-Ansar group; the Salman site, which belongs to Jalal-al-Din Haqqani and which includes deserted camps; the Tura Bura base, west of Jalalabad; and the Khost airport. The sources said that around 75 Cruise missiles were fired at these sites. The sources noted that the United States may have used military facilities in countries that neighbor Sudan and Saudi Arabia in the missile strike. The sources said Bin Ladin had recently been on the move in Afghanistan and that the US strike did not surprise him The sources asserted that Bin Ladin has gained popularity and become an "Islamic symbol" in the face of US arrogance in the wake of the latest attack. Bin Ladin Praises Pakistanis for Love of Islam Islamabad The Nation in English 2 Sep 98 p 16 [Report by The Nation correspondent] [FBIS Transcribed Text] ISLAMABAD—Usama Bin Ladin has praised people of Pakistan for their love of Islam and has said that it is the nature of Pakistani people that they always show readiness to offer sacrifice in the name of Islam. Saudi-dissident Usama Bin Ladin made these remarks in his letters written to Pakistani journalists from his unknown hideout in Afghanistan. "Pakistani people have great love for Islam and they have always offered sacrifices for the cause of religion," reads the letter of Usama Bin Ladin. Usama in his letter has praised Pakistani journalists for their endurance in traveling to far flung areas of Afghanistan to meet him and to attend his Press conference. The letter was delivered to Pakistani journalists two days back. [Description of source: The Nation--independent daily, member of the Nawa-i-Waqt group] Usama Bin Ladin Sends Message to Anti-US Conference Islamabad Al-Akhbar in Urdu 12 Sep 98 pp 8, 7 [News Network International report] [FBIS Translated Text] Kandahar—Usama Bin Ladin, the Saudi billionaire businessman and the great freedom fighter of the Islamic world, has said that by carrying out the recent attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan the United States has explicitly expressed its enmity toward Muslims and the Islamic world. He added that the United States is scared of the implementation of the Islamic system instead of secularism in Islamic countries. However, the opponents of Islam, God willing, will be defeated and Islam will dominate. He said that hundreds of Pakistani youths have made tremendous sacrifices by taking part in the Islamic jihad in Afghanistan, Kashmir and other places of the world. This is very commendable. In a message yesterday to the Azm-i-Jihad [determination for jihad] Conference, which was organized by Jamiat-i-Tulaba-i-Arabia [organization of Arabic students] of Sindh, Usama Bin Ladin said that he extended his congratulations to the responsible officials of the Jamiat for holding the conference against the recent US attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan. He asked: After all, why did the United States carried out attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan? This is because the youth of these two countries are determined to implement Islam in their countries and this is why the United States is against them, he said. Usama said the youths of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have set an example by making sacrifices for the sake of Islam and Muslim brethren. They belong to the same breed of youth who made sacrifices for the establishment of this state by offering the lives of thousands of martyrs and are also in the forefront now in the jihad of Kashmir, Palestine and Afghanistan. [Description of source: Al-Akhbar—daily which generally has an anti-US editorial policy] Bin Ladin: Expel Jews, Christians From Holy Places Rawalpindi Jang in Urdu 18 Nov 98 pp 1, 7 [Report by Mufti Jamil Khan] [FBIS Translated Text] Kahdahar—In a letter to a distinguished religious scholar of Karachi and the spiritual leader of Taleban, Usama Bin Ladin has expressed his gratitude to the Pakistani nation for condemning the US attack on Afghanistan. Usama has made an appeal for cooperation with Taleban in their Jihad [holy war] to expel US forces from holy places. Jang is honored to be the first newspaper to publish the report about this contact, the latest picture, a copy of this letter. Usama said: 'we are thankful to God who blessed us with the wealth of faith and Islam. We are pleased to express our gratitude to you and the Pakistani mujahid nation. We thank you for your efforts to support the Mujahidin's struggle to expel the US forces from the sacred land. I do not need to tell you that this sacred struggle should continue until Bait-ul-Muqaddas and other holy places of Muslims are liberated from the occupation of non-Muslims and the Islamic Shariat [law] is enforced on the land of God. Obviously, for the enforcement of Shariat, it is essential for all Muslims that they should establish an Islamic system on the basis of teachings of the Prophet Mohammed. At this moment, Israel and United States are dominating Palestine and other holy places in such a way that Mujahidin are being killed and besieged and Muslims have been economically ruined Therefore, it is obligatory for all Muslims to continue Jihad by sacrificing their wealth and life as long as their holy places are not liberated from the subjugation of Jews and Christians. This freedom is not possible until we sacrifice all our wealth and our lives As it is a religious obligation for every Muslim to support the Mujahidin fighting for freedom of sacred places, similarly they are also obligated by their religion to support the Taleban government in Afghanistan, because by enforcing Shariat in Afghanistan Taleban have established the system of God on God's land. They are busy in Jihad to rid the Muslims of Afghanistan from the tyranny of non-Muslims. In conclusion, I pray that may God enlighten us with the light of faith and forgive our sins and help us all the time. [Description of source: Jang--largest circulation daily] Bin Ladin Denies Role in Bombings of US Missions Hong Kong AFP in English 1409 GMT 24 Dec 98 [FBIS Transcribed Text] ISLAMABAD, Dec 24 (AFP) -- Saudi dissident Usama Bin Ladin has denied he was behind the bombings at the US embassies in the east African cities of Nairobi and Dar es Salam, the private Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported Thurssday. "I had no hand at all in the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania" in August, AIP quoted Bin Ladin as telling reporters at an unknown place in southwestern Afghanistan late Wednesday. The bombings in the east African cities left more than 250 people dead, including 12 US nationals. Washington accused the Saudi billionaire of masterminding the blasts and demanded his extradition from Afghanistan where the hardline Taliban militia has offered him shelter. Bin Ladin did not rule out the hand of some Moslem militants in the blasts. It is possible some local Moslems might have targetted the US embassies, the AIP quoted him as telling reporters including Afghanistan's state-run Bakhtar news agency. "But I feel no sorrow over the blasts," he added. Bin Ladin, who survived cruise missile attacks against his camps in Afghanistan by US forces on August 20, also strongly condemned the recent US-led air strikes on Iraq. He said he was confident his Taliban hosts would not expel him from Afghanistan because he was abiding by the rules romulgated by the Islamic militia's chief Mulla Mohammad Omar, AIP said. The militia has already absolved him of accusations of terrorism and often emphasized that Bin Ladin has been clearly old not to engage in hostile activity against a third country from his sanctuary while living as a "guest" in Afghanistan. Bin Ladin extended support to the enforcement of Islamic Shariat laws in Afghanistan and lauded the hardline the Taliban, saying the present administration was more Islamic than the previous mujahedeen government. [Description of source: Hong Kong AFP in English -- Hong Kong service of the independent French press agency Agence France-Presse] 1999 Journalist Interviews Usama Bin Ladin Islamabad The News (Internet Version) in English 6 Jan 99 [By Rahimullah Yusufzai: "Taliban let Bin Ladin break his silence"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Usama Bin Ladin has spoken again and there isn't the slightest change in his views about the United States and Israel. His tone is still bitter and he wants the Muslims all over the world to stand up to the US as it was the biggest enemy of Islam. One couldn't have expected a milder reaction from a man who has been declared public enemy Number One of the US and is being hunted with all the resources at the command of the world's only superpower. This was the first time he spoke publicly since May 26 when in his camp in Khost he talked to a group of 14 Pakistani journalists, who were taken to Afghanistan by the Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, Harkatul Ansar (renamed Harkatul Mujahidin). It was at this press conference that Bin Ladin, flanked by his right-hand man Sheikh Taseer Abdullah and Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri, leader of the Islamic Jihad group of Egypt, announced the fatwa (religious decree) formulated by him and several other ulema for Jihad against the United States and Israel. The press conference and Bin Ladin's threats to the "Crusaders and the Jews", as he likes to refer to America, Israel and the western allies, took the Taliban by surprise. The supreme Taliban leader, Mulla Mohammad Omar, wasn't amused and he took steps to restrain Bin Ladin from issuing statements. It seemed that Bin Ladin accepted the demand of his Afghan hosts and kept quiet for a while. But the US missile attack on his base in Khost on August 20 brought a profound change in the situation and Bin Ladinand his Arab lieutenants felt they must react, if not in kind then verbally at least. Speaking on his satellite phone through Dr Al-Zawahiri, who speaks fluent English, Bin Ladin conveyed to this writer on August 21 that he and his close aides had survived the US missiles and that such aggression would not be able to dampen his determination to carry out Jihad against America and Israel. "Tell them the war has just begun; the Americans should now await the answer," he threatened. A day earlier, when an American attack appeared imminent after the US government decision to pull out its diplomats from Pakistan and all westerners and their NGOs started leaving Afghanistan, Bin Ladin had conveyed another brief message to this scribe. Incidentally, that message came barely half an hour before the US missile attack and in it Bin Ladin denied his involvement in the August 8 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Not given to lose any opportunity to deride his pet foes, he reiterated on that occasion his call for Jihad against all forces opposed to Muslims. As Bin Ladin's threats grabbed headlines in the world media, the Taliban felt he had broken his promise of not talking to the press or use Afghanistan's soil in pursuit of his political goals. Mulla Omar was so angry that he declared that there cannot exist two authorities, ie the Taliban and Bin Ladin, in Afghanistan. That effectively silenced the Saudi dissident and one didn't hear from him until last week's decision by the Taliban to let him speak again. Bin Ladin had reluctantly accepted the Taliban order to keep quiet as he had little choice in view of the fact that there is hardly any other place in the world except Afghanistan for him to take refuge. However, he kept arguing with the Taliban that he must be allowed to speak as his silence was working to his disadvantage. In particular, he pleaded with senior Taliban leader and deputy foreign minister, Mulla Abdul Jalil, who has been assigned to deal with Bin Ladin and his men, for permission to talk to the international press. According to Bin Ladin, the Taliban leadership thrice agreed to let him be interviewed by this scribe after the US missile attack on Afghanistan but on each occasion it backed out as it was worried his utterances would have an adverse effect and would further poison Taliban's uneasy relations with the US, Saudi Arabia and other countries. As an aide to Bin Ladin explained, it was also risky to reach journalists on the satellite phone because it could be tracked down. In fact, the satellite phone seems to have been put off. It appears that Bin Ladin's persistence paid off. Certain developments contributed to the change of heart by the Taliban to lift the ban on Bin Ladin's interaction with the press. One was the speculation in the press that he was ill, that he had cancer, and was dying. The Taliban were thus convinced that Bin Ladin must be seen in flesh by reporters and shown on television to deny all such speculation. It showed that even the puritan Taliban, who abhor television and picture of living beings, could relax their rules if it suits their purpose. Bin Ladin made the best of the opportunity and took pains to explain that he wasn't ill and daily did horse-riding in the Afghan desert. Dr Al-Zawahiri explained that the 43-year old Bin Ladin was nursing a sore throat and this is why he drank lots of water during the interview. This was also cited as the reason why the fasting Bin Ladin couldn't be interviewed in the daylight in Ramazan and would thus be unable to talkmuch due to his sore throat. They may be right but one had a feeling that security concerns prompted Bin Ladin's men to arrange the interview at night in a tent pitched in the Afghan wilderness. So alert were Bin Ladin's aides that they erased a video shot of their leader taken by this scribe with a camera as he walked with the help of a cane, along with another shot of the group of armed men sitting in the crowded tent. As they stressed, they couldn't compromise on their security. The use of a cane by Bin Ladin was explained as necessary due to his nagging backache. Seven months ago, when he gave his widely-reported press conference in Khost, he suffered from the same ailment. Bin Ladin's colleagues and Taliban leaders also explained that the decision to let Bin Ladin be interviewed was made to enable him to clarify that he and his organisation, Al Qaeda, weren't involved in the bombings in Kenya and Tanzaniam or in other acts of terrorism "Anything and everything that happens anywhere in the world is now blamed on Usama. We thought Usama and his men would be deemed guilty if he remains silent in the face of all such accusations," argued Dr Al-Zawahiri. The Taliban leader, Mulla Jalil, agreed, pointing out how a man who keeps shifting his abode and has to live in mountains and deserts, could pose a threat to the US and sponsor bomb explosions in distant lands. The recent US-British attack on Iraq also seemed to have influenced the Taliban to let Bin Ladin speak out and reiterate his theory that the American, British and Israelis could never be friends with Muslims. The Taliban, with little hope of improvement in relations with the US and Saudi Arabia and convinced that their government is unlikely to win international recognition, also thought it was time to stop trying to appease their detractors and instead use the Bin Ladin card possibly to their advantage. After a one and a half hour drive from Kandahar on a non-existent, unpaved road whose sideways were stated to have been mined since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, one came face to face with the man whose name nowadays causes fear and terror around the world. Shy and unassuming, Bin Ladin doesn't look like someone who would sponsor bomb explosions to kill his targets as well as innocent people. Courteous and soft-spoken, the tall and lean Saudi billionaire has chosen a life of hardship, having himself taken part in the 1980s in the Afghan Jihad, challenged the might of the US and Saudi Arabia, and now battling it out in an alien country under the watchful eyes of his unpredictable Afghan hosts. Dressed in shalwar-kameez, wearing a battle-worn jacket and wrapped in a woolen chaddar to fight the extreme desert cold, Bin Ladin's voice rose and his Arabic became more fluent as he turned to his favourite subject: bashing America. His white turban gleaming in the bright light illuminated by the huge generator-run bulbs in the tent, he recited from the Holy Qur'aan like a religious scholar to prove his point and praised God while starting to answer every question. And his voice pierced the quiet of the night in the desert when he declared: "If instigating Jihad against the Jews and the Americans in order to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal." [Description of source: The News--independent daily, member of the Jang Publishing Group] Time Magazine Interview With Bin Ladin Copyright 1999 Time Inc. Time Magazine January 11, 1999 SECTION: INTERNATIONAL EDITION; TIME ASIA; ASIA/INTERVIEW; Pg. 16 LENGTH: 1634 words HEADLINE: Wrath Of God; Usama Bin Ladin lashes out against the West BYLINE: Rahimullah Yusufzai; Usama Bin Ladin BODY: Tall and lean, he was dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez—baggy trousers and long shirt—under a military fatigue jacket, with a scarf to fight the desert cold. An AK-47 assault rifle stood at his side. He spoke softly, in Arabic, praising God in nearly every sentence, but his voice rose whenever he criticized the United States. That he did often during the four-hour interview, his first since the US tried to kill him. Usama Bin Ladin, the Saudi financier accused of masterminding the Aug. 7 bombings that took 224 lives at two US embassies in Africa, escaped an American missile attack on his headquarters in southern Afghanistan nearly two weeks after the embassy blasts. In the months that followed, Bin Ladin heeded the orders of his host, the Taliban militia that controls most of Afghanistan, to avoid public statements. The Taliban's leaders evidently didn't want to complicate their budding relations with the outside world. But last month's US bombing of Iraq evidently convinced them they had little to lose from letting Bin Ladin talk. The exile himself wanted to deny involvement in the embassy bombings—and dispel rumors he is dying of cancer. So late last month, Bin Ladin summoned Rahimullah Yusufzai, a well-connected journalist who reports for Pakistan's The News, as well as TIME and ABC News, to his tented encampment in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Bin Ladin has been on the move since the US attack on his headquarters, and he avoids using a satellite phone for fear it could betray his location. During Yusufzai's late-night conversation with Bin Ladin, the man the US calls Public Enemy Number One appeared to be in good health, though he admitted to a sore throat and a bad back. He continually sipped water from a cup, and Yusufzai caught him on videotape walking with the aid of a stick (bodyguards erased that footage). Excerpts from the interview: TIME: Are you responsible for the bomb attacks on the two US embassies in Africa? Usama Bin Ladin: The International Islamic Front for Jihad against the US and Israel has issued a crystal-clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on jihad aimed at liberating holy sites. The nation of Muhammad has responded to this appeal. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans in order to liberate Al-Aksa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba [Islamic shrines in the Middle East] is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal. Our job is to instigate and, by the grace of God, we did that--and certain people responded to this instigation. TIME: Do you know the men who have been arrested for these attacks? Bin Ladin: What I know is that those who risked their lives to earn the pleasure of God are real men. They managed to rid the Islamic nation of disgrace. We hold them in the highest esteem. TIME: But all those arrested are said to have been associated with you. Bin Ladin: Wadih el-Hage was one of our brothers whom God was kind enough to steer to the path of relief work for Afghan refugees. I still remember him, though I have not seen him or heard from him for many years. He has nothing to do with the US allegations. As for Mohamed Rashed al-'Owhali, we were informed that he is a Saudi from the province of Najd. Mamdouh Salim is a righteous man who memorizes the holy Koran. He was never a member of any jihad organization. The fact of the matter is that America, and in particular the CIA, wanted to cover up their failure in the aftermath of the events that took place in Riyadh, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Capetown, Kampala--and other places, God willing, in the future--by arresting any person who had participated in the Islamic jihad in Afghanistan. We pray to God to end the plight [of the arrested men], and we are confident they will be exonerated. TIME: If the targets of jihad are Americans, how can you justify the deaths of Africans? Bin Ladin: This question pre-supposes that it is me who carried out these explosions. My answer is that I understand the motives of the brothers who act against the enemies of the nation. When it becomes apparent that it would be impossible to repel these Americans without assaulting them, even if this involved the killing of Muslims, this is permissible under Islam. TIME: How do you react to the December attack on Iraq by US and British forces? Bin Ladin: There is no doubt that the treacherous attack has confirmed that Britain and America are acting on behalf of Israel and the Jews, paving the way for the Jews to divide the Muslim world once again, enslave it and loot the rest of its wealth. A great part of the force that carried out the attack came from certain Gulf countries that have lost their sovereignty. Now infidels walk everywhere on the land where Muhammad was born and where the Koran was revealed to him. The situation is serious. The rulers have become powerless. Muslims should carry out their obligations, since the rulers of the region have accepted the invasion of their countries. These countries belong to Islam and not to the rulers TIME: What can the US expect from you now? Bin Ladin: Any thief or criminal or robber who enters another country in order to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at any time. For the American forces to expect anything from me, personally, reflects a very narrow perception. Muslims are angry. The Americans should expect reactions from the Muslim world that are proportionate to the injustice they inflict. TIME: The US says you are trying to acquire chemical and nuclear weapons. How would you use these? Bin Ladin: Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so. And if I seek to acquire these weapons, I am carrying out a duty. It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims. TIME: Can you describe the US air strikes on your camps? Bin Ladin: The American bombardment had only shown that the world is governed by the law of the jungle. That brutal, treacherous attack killed a number of civilian Muslims. As for material damage, it was minimal. By the grace of God, the missiles were ineffective. The raid proved that the American army is going downhill in its morale. Its members are too cowardly and too fearful to meet the young people of Islam face to face. TIME: The US is trying to stop the flow of funds to your organization. Has it been able to do so? Bin Ladin: The US knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than ten years now. The US alleges that I am fully responsible for the killing of its soldiers in Somalia. God knows that we have been pleased at the killing of American soldiers. This was achieved by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahedin from among the Somali brothers and other Arab mujahedin who had been in Afghanistan before that. America has been trying ever since to tighten its economic blockade against us and to arrest me. It has failed. This blockade does not hurt us much. We expect to be rewarded by God. TIME: What will you do if the Taliban asks you to leave Afghanistan? Bin Ladin: That is not something we foresee. We do not expect to be driven out of this land. We pray to God to make our migration a migration in His cause. TIME: Do you expect any more attacks if you stay in Afghanistan? Bin Ladin: Any foreign attack on Afghanistan would not target an individual. It would not target Usama Bin Ladin personally. The fact is that Afghanistan, having raised the banner of Islam, has become a target for the crusader-Jewish alliance. We expect Afghanistan to be bombarded, even though the non-believers will say that they do so because of the presence of Usama. That is why we, together with our brothers, live on these mountains far away from Muslims in villages and towns, in order to spare them any harm. TIME: Is your Islamic message having an impact? Bin Ladin: Winds of change have blown in order to lift the injustice to which the world is subjected by America and its supporters and the Jews who are collaborating with them. Look at what is happening these days in Indonesia, where Suharto, a despot who ruled for 30 years, was overthrown. During his reign, the media glorified him, depicting him as the best president. The media in the Arab countries, regrettably, is doing the same these days. But things will change. The time will come, sooner rather than later, when criminal despots who betrayed God and His Prophet, and betrayed their trust and their nation, will face the same fate. TIME: But there are many Muslims who do not agree with your kind of violence. Bin Ladin: We should fully understand our religion. Fighting is a part of our religion and our Shari'a. Those who love God and his Prophet and this religion cannot deny that. Whoever denies even a minor tenet of our religion commits the gravest sin in Islam. Those who sympathize with the infidels--such as the PLO in Palestine, or the so-called Palestinian Authority--have been trying for tens of years to get back some of their rights. They laid down arms and abandoned what is called "violence" and tried peaceful bargaining. What did the Jews give them? They did not give them even 1% of their rights. TIME: America, the world's only superpower, has called you Public Enemy Number One. Are you worried? Bin Ladin: Hostility toward America is a religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. To call us Enemy Number One or Two does not hurt us. Usama Bin Ladin is confident that the Islamic nation will carry out its duty. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America. Associate Press Carries Excerpts From bin Ladin Interviews Copyright 1999 Associated Press Associated Press Online January 04, 1999; Monday 01:56 Eastern Time SECTION: International news LENGTH: 560 words HEADLINE: Bin Ladin Interviews Released BYLINE: RICHARD PYLE DATELINE: NEW YORK BODY: Usama Bin Ladin, the exiled Saudi millionaire accused of plotting bombing attacks on two American embassies in Africa, told one US news magazine that he did not order the attacks and another that he ''instigated'' them. The mixed messages come from interviews released over the weekend that are to be published in the Jan. 11 issues of Newsweek and Time. Bin Ladin previously had denied involvement in the Aug. 7 bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. He repeated that denial in the interview with Newsweek, conducted Dec. 22: ''I did not order them but was very glad for what happened to the Americans there.'' But the next day, Dec. 23, he told Time's reporter that he had ''instigated'' the attacks the closest he has come to admitting personal involvement. ''If the instigation for jihad (holy war) against the Jews and the Americans ... is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal,'' Bin Ladin said. ''Our job is to instigate, and by the grace of God, we did that, and certain people responded to this instigation.'' Bin Ladin is consistent on two subjects defending the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and denying that he is ill, as some US reports have suggested ''Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty... And if I seek to acquire these weapons, I am carrying out a duty,'' he told Time. ''It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims.'' In the Newsweek interview, he called it ''very strange'' that America and Israel could have such weapons, ''but if a Muslim state like Pakistan tries to defend itself... everything should be done to prevent it from doing so.'' The interviews were conducted by Pakistani reporters who had received clandestine invitations to Bin Ladin's mountain base in Afghanistan. Responding to reports that he is ill, Bin Ladin told Newsweek, ''The Americans are committing another lie. I'm healthier now than at any time before.'' Time said Bin Ladin seemed ''eager to deny reports that he had cancer,'' but used no direct quotes. It noted that he walked with a stick because of a bad back. The United States retaliated 13 days after the bombings with cruise missile raids on Bin Ladin's mountain encampment and on a plant in Khartoum, Sudan, that was suspected of making nerve gas components. The United States has offered $5 million for Bin Ladin's capture. Time quoted aides as saying Bin Ladin relied solely on radio and newspapers for outside contact, and avoids using a portable satellite phone because the Americans might use the signal to target his location. Bin Ladin told the magazines that two men arrested in East Africa and now in custody in the United States had nothing to do with the bombings. He told Time that he knew one of them, Wadih El-Hage, but had not seen or heard from him in several years. He told Newsweek that the other, Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-'Owhali, had been tortured into confessing and implicating Bin Ladin. ''What I do know is that those who risked their lives to earn the pleasure of God are real men,'' Time quoted him as saying. ''We pray to God to end the plight (of the arrested men) and we are confident they will be exonerated.'' Esquire Interview With Bin Ladin Esquire, Feb 1999 v131 i2 p96(1) Greetings, America. My name Usama Bin Ladin. Now that I have your attention ... (a reporter describes his journey to interview alleged terrorist)(Abstract)(Interview) JOHN MILLER. Abstract: A reporter travels to Afghanistan to interview the alleged terrorist Usama Bin Ladin. The reporter is not allowed to ask any direct questions, but must submit the questions in writing. The reporter's trip is described, as is the encounter with Bin Ladin. Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1999 The Hearst Corporation A CONVERSATION WITH THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD The gunfire started with a few shots, but in seconds it was thundering. On cue, dozens of Arab men began firing their rifles into the air when the headlights of the first four-wheel-drive vehicle crested the mountaintop. My right ear was pounding. I turned, expecting to see a cannon, but instead it was just a smiling boy--he might have been fifteen—and he was firing his machine gun an inch from my ear. I assumed that this was some kind of test, a rite of passage. He wanted to see fear. I'd been a reporter and a police official in New York. I'd heard my share of shots fired in anger. I just smiled at the kid and gently pushed the gun away. This was my way of saying, Nice try, but you didn't make me jump. No matter, the kid was right back an inch from my ear, firing away. Now it wasn't funny anymore. I glared at him, but let's face it, the little prick had an AK-47 with a thirty-round clip. How far could I get with hard eyes? One thing I learned in New York during the crack wars of the late eighties: Teenagers with machine guns are best not fucked with. So as I watched the man arrive and his loyal soldiers discharged their weapons m ecstasy, this kid was doing his best to make me deaf. The mountaintop in southern Afghanistan was a long way from home, but in another way it wasn't. I was almost sure that night that the man I had come to meet, the man who was inspiring all this firepower, had pressed the buttons that blew up the World Trade Center in New York. Small world. Just minutes before this explosive welcome, I had been told, "Mr. Bin Ladin will be here shortly." The tall bearded man with the elaborate turban had not introduced himself by name, but he seemed to be, for lack of a better title, Usama Bin Ladin's press secretary. "We have prepared a great welcome. Whenever he comes, there is always celebration." Yellow trails from tracer bullets streaked at odd angles, crisscrossing the black, star-crowded skies. Fireworks shot up, and sparks fell like orange rain, evaporating before they hit the ground. As the gunfire continued, the motorcade of three four-wheel-drives crossed the flat dirt encampment. Scores of Bin Ladin's most devout followers were here, all carrying Chinese- and Russian-made machine guns. Several were posted strategically with rocket-propelled grenades. For months, I had been trying to arrange an interview with the man. Now, two months before the destruction of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by Bin Ladin's truck bombs, it was happening. It was after midnight on this mountaintop, and Usama Bin Ladin was not yet a household name in the United States. Still, a grand jury in New York had for a year been hearing evidence about his role as a key organizer and financier of anti-American terrorism. The FBI suspected that Bin Ladin—or at least Bin Ladin's money--had been behind everything from the World Trade Center bombing to the downing of American helicopters in Somalia to bombings that targeted American servicemen in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. And by now, Bin Ladin knew that his targets were beginning to wake up to the threat he posed. That was the very reason I wanted to interview him, and the reason getting such an interview would not be a simple process. His public-relations apparatus is a sophisticated and complex network of agents and intermediaries. The first discussions took place in the old, ornate Jefferson Hotel in Washington. A couple of ABC News producers, Chris Isham and Len Tepper, brought me to meet with a trusted contact who had good connections among Islamic fundamentalists. Soon he sent word back: We would have to travel to London and meet with some of Bin Ladin's people. Bin Ladin, it seems, has people all over. Two meetings, both in Tudor-style homes a half hour's drive from central London. We removed our shoes, drank cider and water, and made our intentions toward Bin Ladin known. We told his people we would raise the issues that concerned him, and "tell his side" and enough about his background so people would get a broader understanding of him. "Instead of just pounding on the `terrorist on the mountain' theme," I told one of Bin Ladin's agents, "we could frame his issues about America in such a way that people might find his arguments reasonable." The man smiled. "It may be better if he does not appear to be too reasonable," he said. From London, we were to move on to Islamabad and await further instructions at the Marriott. We had made the first cut. After a day in the Pakistani capital, a man arrived and said his name was Akhtar. We would only ever know him as Akhtar. But during the next few weeks, he would become the most important person in our world, our passport, our safe passage. He was tall, maybe six two, thin and lanky, and he walked to an inaudible beat, with one hand crooked back, swinging slightly. A rolling strut, the walk of an urban black kid. Where he picked it up I never learned. Akhtar was Afghani and spoke almost no English and only a little Arabic--just enough so that our Iraqi translator, whom I'll call Ali, could understand him. Akhtar told Ali he would have to inspect us, our rooms, our gear. He was such a no-nonsense guy, it sometimes just made me want to laugh. A lesson: Something about being from New York or being American or, hell, being human makes one laugh at inappropriate times. Such as when in the presence of committed warriors whom your government has taken to calling terrorists. Good idea to check that impulse, within reason. Also, resist the urge to crack jokes, especially if your hosts aren't much for jokes. When the knock came at my door early the next morning, it was a surprise. Akhtar and another man, a heavyset guy, came in. "They just want to see you," Ali explained as the two men carefully looked at me in my boxer shorts. They looked at my open suitcase on the bed stand. Akhtar and the other man looked in the bathroom. I was not sure what they were looking for. I assumed just telltale signs that we were CIA agents or something. The two men left for further negotiations in Ali's room. That night, Akhtar called Ali at the hotel. "It is happening," Ali told me when he relayed Akhtar's instructions. "Be ready at 7:00 A.M., and be dressed like him." Ali, cameraman Rick Bennett, and I immediately took a cab from the hotel to a run-down strip of stores and found the "Cash Departmental Store," where we each purchased a suit for about fifteen dollars. Rick went all out and got the vest. A suit was a knee-length shirt, baggy pants, and rope--the white cotton belt with fringe that would hold up the one-size-fits-all pants if you knew how to tie it. We suspected we were going to Afghanistan, but none of us had the necessary visas to get into Afghanistan or back into Pakistan. Akhtar told us that his "people" would handle everything. The next morning, curt instructions: Get to the Islamabad airport. Before leaving, I dropped a copy of my police badge and "retired" ID card into a FedEx envelope to Robert Tucker, my lawyer in New York. The last thing I wanted Bin Ladin's people to find was my old badge. I could just hear myself trying to explain the police credentials: I swear, I was just a clerk. Really! In public relations! (Tucker later told me that when he got the badge and ID with no note, he assumed I'd been killed. "Then," he said, "I wondered if I could have your car.") In time, Akhtar also showed up at the airport. He looked us over. I was wearing the light-brown baggy pants and the oversized shirt that I'd bought the day before. It seemed to be the uniform for millions in this region. The outfit, which was meant to make me blend in at the airport and on the road, was offset slightly by the white socks I wore under the sandals, the Armani prescription glasses, and the Cuban cigars I'd picked up in London. I wasn't fitting in. Rick and Ali wore the same outfit in light gray. Akhtar led us to the gate. We were traveling on sealed orders. As we boarded the plane, we were handed tickets. We were going to Peshawar, the pearl of Pakistan. It was hazy when we got off the plane, very hazy. As you drive into Peshawar, smoke fills the air and sticks at the bottom of your throat. Something seemed to be burning almost everywhere—rubbish, wood, tires. We checked into the Hotel Grand, a 1950s Miami Beach art-deco affair located down an alley off the main road. Hotel security was a man in a green uniform who wore a red beret and carried a Chinese-made machine gun. The very friendly clerks who signed us in made note of the odd collection of nationalities-American, Canadian, Iraqi, and Pakistani—and they knew enough not to ask any of us what our business was in Peshawar. After we checked in, Akhtar strutted into the night, carrying the plastic bag that held his things. I went out on the fifth-floor balcony to light up one of the Romeo y Julieta Churchills. Just what Peshawar needed: more smoke. I imagined what this sad, bustling city was like during the Afghan war, when it had been the staging area for the Mujahidin. This place had been a world-class hotbed of militant organizers and recruiters, CIA operations officers, and KGB spies. Even now, it is the back office of the militant Islamic movement for the region. I looked out at the hovels and junkyards and watched the moon come up through the smoke. Akhtar called the hotel in the morning and told us once again to get to the airport. And again, we were handed tickets in the waiting area. We walked across the tarmac to a prop plane headed for Bannu, in northern Pakistan. With each stop, our trip was taking us further back in time, each place getting more primitive in custom and lifestyle. Here, donkeys pulled carts, and men and women carried sacks hanging from sticks across their shoulders or baskets on top of their heads. In Bannu, we waited outside the tiny airport as vans and buses passed by. After an hour, a van packed with locals stopped, and an old man got out and greeted Akhtar. We all crammed into the van, which was already too crowded. We had been told not to speak. The other passengers already knew we were Westerners, but they didn't need to know that some of us were American. The van drove for two hours. People got off; more people got on. At a village that was nothing more than mud huts and thatched roofs, a loud bang came from the roof of the van. A young man with a cloth bag tied to the end of a branch scampered off the roof and ran toward the huts. The van itself was the only sure reminder that we were not two thousand years in the past. Minor revelation: For most Americans, me included, experience with the ancients is pretty much confined to the Bible. In the Bible is a world rife with plagues and pestilence, a world where things are worth killing and dying for, a world from a time before kill ratios and collateral damage and unacceptable levels of casualties. A world of huts. A world where there is no such thing as a losing battle. In modern America, we no longer have the stomach for endeavors that don't seem like sure bets, which can make things tricky when you're up against someone who doesn't give a damn, someone who is willing to risk everything, and gladly. At Bannu, it felt as if we were crossing over into that world, where the ancient texts aren't so ancient, where martyrs are made. When the van reached a small town, we got into another van, which took us for another hour, farther north through mountains and barren valleys, stopping at the last town before a wilderness that leads to the Afghan border. The old man drove the van into the courtyard of a small house, and metal gates closed behind us. We were to remain unseen in this village. The old man said that this place had been a safe house for Mujahidin fighters headed for the Afghan war. The walls were covered with pictures of tanks and grenades. A pair of loaded AK-47's hung from nails on the walls. Akhtar brought in a stainless-steel bowl filled with meat on the bone, placed it on the floor, and invited us to eat. There was pita bread and Pepsi. We sat on the floor, eating with our hands. In two hours, we were on the road again, in the back of a covered Japanese pickup, our gear hidden under bags of flour. Near the Afghan border, the truck stopped. Most of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban, a Muslim fundamentalist group that believes, among other things, that television is evil (a sentiment gaining popularity in the West) and that no living thing should be photographed or videotaped. So sneaking three American television journalists with camera equipment past a Taliban border checkpoint posed difficulties. Akhtar gave us the options: We could 1) don long black veils with narrow slits for eyes and cross into Afghanistan disguised as women, or 2) walk over the mountains under cover of darkness and hope to avoid the Taliban's patrols. Ali had strong feelings on the subject. "We are not women," he said indignantly. "We will not wear veils. We will walk, as men." An hour into the journey, Ali was wheezing and barely able to continue. He had not mentioned his asthma. "I want to go back to truck and be woman now," he said before hauling himself up to walk again. I lagged behind with him while Rick and our two guides led the way. At one point, I noticed that the guides were holding hands. "Ali," I whispered as I nodded in their direction, "you didn't mention that this was a gay terrorist group." Ali, still very asthmatic, patiently explained that among Muslim men it is customary to hold hands while walking. It is a sign of respect and friendship. It is perfectly masculine. "Yeah," I said. "I was joking." A moment passed. We walked in silence, save for Ali's wheezing. "Would you hold my hand, Ali?" I asked. "No," he replied. It was still dark when we finally made it into Afghanistan. A truck was waiting with our gear. We drove for several more hours, mostly through dry riverbeds, before we reached the first of Bin Ladin's three camps. We were stopped on a dirt road. Two of Bin Ladin's people confiscated our camera gear and drove away. We stayed in a hut, sleeping on the floor, which was covered with brown and red flannel blankets. Pillows lined the walls. "You are not prisoners here; you are our guests," said one of Bin Ladin's aides. "Still, we would prefer it if you stayed inside. We don't want to advertise your presence." Several of Bin Ladin's soldiers were assigned to guard us. They slept in the hut next to ours. We washed from a bowl. Water came from a spigot just outside. An outhouse was up the hill. We spent our time reading or smoking and bullshitting with Bin Ladin's men, one of whom spoke pretty good English. We would eat with the soldiers. Bread, meat, tea. It was hot and dry. It had occurred to us that the interview might not be for days, or that after a few days we could be told that there would be no interview at all. That is the way these things go sometimes. Days of waiting, and then nothing. Most of that kind of waiting--for Castro or Qaddafi--is done in nice hotels. This was beginning to suck. Finally, just as I began to lose track of time, we hit the road. An hour into this leg and, suddenly, gunfire. It was rapid-fire, from machine guns; I could see the muzzle flash through the tinted windows. It was coming from up the hill. Four short blasts, about thirty rounds, then another thirty from the opposite side of the road. My mind was racing. Several times during the three-hour drive between camps, men with guns had jumped out from both sides of the road and screamed in Arabic for the truck to halt, for the windows to come down. Those men were part of al Qaida, Bin Ladin's army. But now who was shooting at us? And why? Were we going to die? I was trying hard to duck my head between my legs, but with three of us stuck together across the backseat, there was no room to get our heads down. My stomach was in knots. Now I was really thinking: Fuck this. Now it's really not worth it.... bam bam bam bam ... Why am I going to die to interview some asshole with radical views and a lot of money? ... bam bam bam bam ... For Christ's sake, I could have done that in New York.... bam bam bam bam ... Then a second wave of thoughts flashed through my head: I was not hearing the sound of metal being hit. The shots were missing. Our guides were not ducking. If they were not worried, maybe this was okay. Slowly, I raised my head. The shooters in the road were yelling for us to halt, to open the doors. The gunfire had been warning shots. For crying out fucking loud. Looking at their faces between the blinding beams of their flashlights, I could see they were very young, perhaps eighteen or nineteen. They had apparently not received the radio message from the last checkpoint that the boys from New York were coming up. It was a little cold out that night, but I was wiping sweat off my forehead. After a little tension and much talk, the driver settled the problem, and we were moving again. We passed one more checkpoint--without incident--before reaching the camp where Bin Ladin would meet us. In the camp, generators were rumbling. The smell of gasoline was thick in the air. Rick Bennett was agitated because Bin Ladin's people had taken his camera days before, and it didn't look as though he was going to get it back. Now they wanted to give him another camera. A Panasonic home-video camera. Bennett had not come halfway around the world to shoot a home video. He wanted his $65,000 television camera back, and he wanted it back now! Just then, the gunfire erupted. Bin Ladin's convoy arrived. Now the show that was being staged for us was in full tilt, and we had no camera with which to record it. Bin Ladin's cameraman handed Bennett the Panasonic. Bennett started taping. That's when the kid started shooting in my ear. Then he ran alongside Bennett and was firing within an inch of his ear, too, as he walked backward with this crappy camera, taping Bin Ladin's arrival. Into the din of gunfire, he walked quickly, surrounded by seven bodyguards. Each had an AK-47. Their eyes darted in every direction for any attacker. This was either merely theatrical or entirely pointless, because with hundreds of rounds being fired into the air, it would have been impossible to pinpoint an assassin. Take your pick. At Bin Ladin's side was his military commander, Muhammad Atef. Behind him, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian group that has merged with Bin Ladin's growing army. Bin Ladin, with his simple white turban and long black beard, stood six three and was the tallest man in the group. Despite the chaos of the scene, his eyes were calm, fixed, and steady. He walked by me and ducked his head to step into a rectangular hut that had been set up for our meeting. One of his aides waved off the gunfire the way an emcee might quell a standing ovation. Everyone kept shooting. Somewhere, all these bullets were falling back down to the earth. Usama Bin Ladin had made his entrance. After his security detail crowded in behind him, I followed into the hut. Aside from his height, the first thing that struck me about Bin Ladin was his voice: It was soft and slightly high, with a raspy quality that gave it the texture and sound of an old uncle giving good advice. Bin Ladin settled onto a bench covered with red cushions at the head of the long, rectangular room with clay walls painted white. Sitting down, he propped his own gun against the wall behind him. Twenty of his gunmen lined the benches on either side of the long room, leaning in, straining to hear whatever he might say. Bin Ladin's clothes told the story of his entangled themes. He wore a green army field jacket with no insignia. Draped over the jacket was a gold shawl, and under the army jacket was the traditional Muslim clothing that made him look like me. Usama Bin Ladin has a firm handshake. We exchanged pleasantries in the polite but stilted manner one uses when speaking through a translator. His aides had insisted the day before that I give them a list of my questions in writing. As Bin Ladin was getting settled, one of them said to me, "I have very good news. Mr. Bin Ladin will answer each of your questions." Then he added that Bin Ladin's answers would not be translated on the spot. "You can take the tape to New York and have them translate it there." "If the answers are not translated now, how can I ask follow-up questions?" I asked Bin Ladin's man. "Oh, that will not be a problem," he told me. "There will be no follow-up questions." At this point, Rick, using stronger terms than one might want to with alleged terrorists, demanded his camera back, Suddenly, all his equipment reappeared. Looking to break the ice, I said to the translator, "Tell Mr. Bin Ladin that for a guy who comes from a family known for building roads, he could sure use a better driveway up this mountain." Okay, so admittedly it wasn't much of a joke, but Bin Ladin's interpreter appeared stricken. "No, no, no," I said, "don't translate, never mind," waving off the remark. "It's okay," I said, trying to prevent an international incident. Not funny. Sorry. Jesus. There was another problem. As I continued my lame attempts at small talk, flies kept landing on Bin Ladin's face and white turban. Sensing that this was undercutting their leader's dignity, his aides asked Bin Ladin and the gunmen in the room to step outside so that they might spray. A few minutes later, in a cloud of insecticide, we began. Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Awad Bin Ladin was born forty-one years ago in Saudi Arabia, one of twenty sons of wealthy construction magnate Muhammad Bin Ladin. The kingdom's Bin Ladin Group is a $5 billion concern. The family's close ties to the Saudi royal family made it easy to get huge government contracts to build roads through the cities and deserts. It is likely that Usama Bin Ladin would have gone to school, settled in London, and focused on living comfortably--if history hadn't intervened. On December 25, 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Bin Ladin, then twenty-two, left for the fighting immediately. When he arrived, he wasted no time. Spending his money, he financed the recruitment, transportation, and arming of thousands of Palestinians, Tunisians, Somalians, Egyptians, Saudis, and Pakistanis to fight the Russians. Bin Ladin brought in his own bulldozers and dump trucks. Grizzled Mujahidin fighters still tell of the young man who rode the bulldozers himself, digging trenches on the front lines. The men who follow Bin Ladin have all heard the stories, and they pass them on to the younger men. By his own account, he was in the thick of the action. He says he got the rifle he carries now in hand-to-hand combat. "We went through vicious battles with the Russians," Bin Ladin told me. "The Russians are known for their brutality. They used poison gases against us. I was subjected to this. We lost many fighters. But we were able to deter many commando attacks, unlike anything before." I asked him why a man of wealth, from a powerful family, had gone to Afghanistan to live in trenches and fight the Russian invaders on the front lines. "It is hard for one to understand if the person does not understand Islam," he said, patiently explaining his interpretation of Islam for a citizen of his sworn enemy. "During the days of jihad, thousands of young men who were well-off financially left the Arabian Peninsula and other areas and joined the fighting. Hundreds of them were killed in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya." Of course, by the time of our meeting, the enemy had shifted. The Soviet Union no longer existed. The enemy was us. And when I asked Bin Ladin if he was worried about being captured in an American raid, he quickly dismissed the possibility, turning instead to the reasons he hates the United States. "The American imposes himself on everyone. Americans accuse our children in Palestine of being terrorists--those children, who have no weapons and have not even reached maturity. At the same time, Americans defend a country, the state of the Jews, that has a policy to destroy the future of these children. "We are sure of our victory against the Americans and the Jews as promised by the Prophet: Judgment day shall not come until the Muslim fights the Jew, where the Jew will hide behind trees and stones, and the tree and the stone will speak and say, `Muslim, behind me is a Jew. Come and kill him.'" Bin Ladin never raises his voice, and to listen to his untranslated answers, one could imagine that he was talking about something that did not much concern him. Nonchalant. He does not smile. He continued, looking down at his hands as if he were reading invisible notes. "Your situation with Muslims in Palestine is shameful—if there is any shame left in America. Houses were demolished over the heads of children. Also, by the testimony of relief workers in Iraq, the American-led sanctions resulted in the death of more than one million Iraqi children. All of this is done in the name of American interests. We believe that the biggest thieves in the world and the terrorists are the Americans. The only way for us to fend off these assaults is to use similar means. We do not worry about American opinion or the fact that they place prices on our heads. We as Muslims believe our fate is set." His interview technique was formidable. Aside from the advantage of not allowing for simultaneous translation, Bin Ladin's approach to questions could have been taught by an American public-relations adviser: First, get out your message. Then, if you like, answer the question. Bin Ladin believes that the United States, which was so heavily involved in supporting the Afghan rebels, misses the profound point of that exercise: Through sheer will, even superpowers can be defeated. "There is a lesson to learn from this for he who wishes to learn," he said. "The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in the last week of 1979, and with Allah's help their flag was folded a few years later and thrown in the trash, and there was nothing left to call the Soviet Union." The war changed Bin Ladin. "It cleared from Muslim minds the myth of superpowers," he said. He was blooded, a hero among militant Muslims, with perhaps three thousand men waiting to follow him. But follow him where, into what battle? Many of these men had not been home for years. By then, fighting was all some of them knew. And there were huge stockpiles of weapons and grenades and rocket launchers, many of them bought for the Mujahidin rebels by the CIA. In December 1992, Bin Ladin found the battle he'd been waiting for. The United States was leading a UN-sanctioned rescue mission into Somalia. In the midst of a famine, the country's government had completely broken down, and warring tribes-largely Muslim--had cut off relief efforts by humanitarian groups. Somalians were starving to death in cities and villages, and the US, which had moved quickly to rescue oil-rich Kuwait, had come under mounting criticism for doing nothing. When the Marines landed in the last days of 1992, Bin Ladin sent in his own soldiers, armed with AK-47's and rocket launchers. Soon, using the techniques they had perfected against the Russians, they were shooting down American helicopters. The gruesome pictures of the body of a young army ranger being dragged naked through the streets by cheering crowds flashed around the world. The yearlong American rescue mission for starving Somalians went from humanitarian effort to quagmire in just three weeks. Another superpower humiliated. Another Bin Ladin victory. "After leaving Afghanistan, the Muslim fighters headed for Somalia and prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were like the Russians," Bin Ladin said. "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat. And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda ... about being the world leader and the leader of the New World Order, and after a few blows they forgot about this title and left, dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat." I asked Bin Ladin why he would kill American soldiers whose work was to restore order and allow for the distribution of food. "Why should we believe that was the true reason America was there?" he replied. "Everywhere else they went where Muslims lived, all they did was kill children and occupy Muslim land." During the two days I had waited at the camp for Bin Ladin, some of his fighters sat on the floor of our hut and told war stories. One soldier, with a big grin, told of slitting the throats of three American soldiers in Somalia. When I asked Bin Ladin about this, he said, "When this took place, I was in the Sudan, but this great defeat pleased me very much, the way it pleases all Muslims." The Somalia operation, in some ways, made Bin Ladin. During the Afghan war, the CIA had been very aware of him (although the agency now insists it never "controlled" him), but in Somalia, Bin Ladin had taken a swing at the biggest kid in the school yard and given him a black eye. The next fight, a few weeks later, would begin with a sucker punch. It was snowing in New York on February 26, 1993, when a massive truck bomb exploded at the World Trade Center, tearing through three levels of the building's underground garage, basement, and foundation. At the time, I was a reporter for NBC. As I walked through the scene, I saw a cop I knew from an antiterrorist unit. Initial reports were that it had been a gas explosion or a transformer that blew up. "They're not saying this now," he warned, "but this was a bomb. Too big to be a car, probably a truck on the lower level of the garage. There just isn't anything down there that could blow up and make a hole this big." Six people were killed, and more than a thousand were injured. It was the first major international terrorist attack on US soil. Within weeks, the FBI had tracked down four of the bombers, a collection of militant Muslims, most of whom had fought in Afghanistan and had become followers of a blind sheik in Jersey City named Omar Abdel Rahman. The organizer of the bombing plot, Ramzi Yousef, boarded a plane at Kennedy airport a few hours after the explosion and escaped. In New York, the FBI had been given two mandates: Find the rest of the bombers, and find out whom they are working for. The agents began the tedious job of tracing bank accounts that Yousef had been using to buy the components of the huge bomb. The money trail led from a Jersey City bank where Yousef had used an ATM card to Detroit to London to Pakistan and finally to Afghanistan. FBI agents and New York detectives on the Joint Terrorist Task Force debated: Was it the Iranians? The Iraqis? The Libyans? The consensus among the detectives was that Ramzi Yousef was an intelligence operative working for some hostile foreign power. But instead, investigators have since uncovered a series of connections between Yousef and groups funded by an individual, Usama Bin Ladin. But Bin Ladin denied to me that he was behind the bombing and claimed he didn't know Ramzi Yousef. "Unfortunately," he said with a wave of his hand, "I did not know him before the incident." Next, Ramzi Yousef was seen in Manila with another of Bin Ladin's associates, Afghan war hero Wali Khan Amin Shah. They were busy planning to blow up a dozen American jetliners over the Pacific. Once again, Yousef had no job but seemed to have plenty of money to finance his plans. The FBI finally caught up to him on February 7, 1995, in Pakistan. He was living in a very pleasant guesthouse called the Su Casa house in Islamabad. It was one of the many guesthouses that Bin Ladin had set up to quarter his fighters. Government sources say that Khan is now cooperating with the FBI. The sources tell me that Khan had been very busy moving around the world, setting various Bin Ladin plans into motion. He told the agents he went to mail drops and fax machines to receive coded instructions from Bin Ladin's bases in the Sudan and Afghanistan and that he was in Manila to set up training camps for terrorists when he was ordered to survey the routes that President Clinton would be using during an official state visit to the Philippines. Last winter, Khan, wearing a bright-orange jumpsuit, sat in a closed room in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, patiently explaining to the feds that the mercury found in his apartment in Manila was not for bomb making but was rather to be placed inside the bullets that would be used to shoot President Clinton. "That way," Khan said, "if the shot didn't kill him, he would die by poisoning." Sitting in the hut on Bin Ladin's mountain in Afghanistan, I asked Bin Ladin if he had tried to kill Clinton. "As I said, every action elicits a similar reaction," he explained. "What does Clinton expect from those that he killed, assaulting their children and mothers?" But he was quick to sidestep the question of his culpability, very careful not to implicate himself. He wasn't in Somalia, but he liked what he saw. He didn't blow up American bases in Saudi Arabia, but those who did are martyrs. He didn't pay for the World Trade Center bombing or the plot to kill Clinton, but they were good ideas. For the future, Bin Ladin told me his first priority is to get the American military out of Saudi Arabia, the holiest of lands in Islam. "Every day the Americans delay their departure, they will receive a new corpse." Already, US forces have been dealt devastating blows there. Nineteen servicemen were killed in the 1996 bombing of the airforce barracks in Dhahran, and five US military personnel were killed in a similar bombing in Riyadh in 1995. Investigators believe Bin Ladin is tied at some level to both attacks. Bin Ladin said that the American military would leave Saudi Arabia, regardless of the fact that the Saudi royal family welcomes the American presence. "It does not make a difference if the government wants you to stay or leave. You will leave when the youth send you in wooden boxes and coffins. And you will carry in them the bodies of American troops and civilians. This is when you will leave." Civilians? "We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians; they are all targets in this fatwa." Bin Ladin argued that American outrage at attacks on American civilians constitutes a great double standard. "American history does not distinguish between civilians and military, not even women and children. They are the ones who used bombs against Nagasaki. Can these bombs distinguish between infants and military? America does not have a religion that will prevent it from destroying all people." Bin Ladin believes that what we consider to be terrorism is just the amount of violence required to get the attention of the American people. His aim is to get Americans to consider whether continued support of Israel is worth the bloodshed he promises. "So we tell the Americans as people," Bin Ladin said softly, "and we tell the mothers of soldiers and American mothers in general that if they value their lives and the lives of their children, to find a nationalistic government that will look after their interests and not the interests of the Jews. The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America, as Ramzi yourself and others did. This is my message to the American people: to look for a serious government that looks out for their interests and does not attack others, their lands, or their honor. And my word to American journalists is not to ask why we did that but ask what their government has done that forced us to defend ourselves." His last words to the camera were, "It is our duty to lead people to the light." Ali had been told to sit in the back of the room during the interview. When it was over, I went looking for him. "So, do we have a story?" I whispered when I found him. "Please tell me it wasn't just an hour of `Praise Allah' bullshit." "No," Ali said. "We have a very good story." I asked Ali what Bin Ladin had said that would make this news. "He was looking right into your face," Ali said, "and he was saying that you--you people, the Americans--would be going home from the Middle East in coffins and in boxes." "He said that?" I asked, excited. "And while he was saying this, what was I doing?" Ali looked at me a bit oddly and said, "You were nodding like you agreed with his plan." During the hour-long interview, Bin Ladin, assuming correctly that I did not understand a word he was saying, had taken to looking at his translator as he gave his answers. Clearly, he did not understand the basic conventions of the American television interview. Imagine that. So, to keep his responses directed toward our camera, to make it seem like we were rocking along together, I engaged him in knowing eye contact and nodded thoughtfully. "So, Ali, you're telling me he's promising genocide, and I'm nodding like an asshole?" "Yes," Ali said, smiling. But we had our little story, and a few weeks later, in a few minutes of footage, Usama Bin Ladin would say hi to America. Not many people would pay attention. Just another Arab terrorist. Bin Ladin was once again surrounded by his men, leaving the way he came in. It was past two in the morning as the gunfire started again. This time, Rick shot the whole scene. But as we packed our gear, Bin Ladin's press aide and his security chief came over to inspect our tape. Looking carefully at each scene of Bin Ladin arriving and leaving, they ordered any face not covered with a kaffiyeh to be erased. When I objected, they said the deal was simple: If we did not delete the faces, we would not leave with the tape. And so, into the night, they played and rewound, played and rewound. Over each face, the two would confer. "He travels," one would say to the other, and we'd have to delete that second or two of footage. According to the FBI, last summer, a group of these men "traveled" for Bin Ladin to Kenya and Tanzania. On August 7, two truck bombs destroyed the American embassies in both countries. Two hundred thirteen dead in Kenya. Twelve of them were Americans. In Tanzania, none of the eleven killed were Americans. Most were Africans. Many of them were Muslims. Two weeks after the bombings, President Clinton ordered a missile attack on the very site where we had met Bin Ladin. All three of his camps were obliterated, and there were casualties. In anticipation of this American retaliation, Bin Ladin, al-Zawahiri, Atef, and most of the leadership had gone into seclusion. Akhtar, who had vanished at the Afghan border on our trek in, was among those cheering, 9mm in his shoulder holster, as Bin Ladin came and went. Akhtar travels, too. He very obligingly escorted us out of Afghanistan and drove us all the way back to Islamabad. Meanwhile, Bin Ladin's reach has now been documented among Albanians fighting the Serbs in Kosovo. Wherever Muslims are in trouble, it seems, Usama Bin Ladin will be there, slaying enemies, real or perceived. A modern nightmare, really—a big-screen villain, a freelancer with the resources of a state but without all the nasty obligations. Sort of a Ford Foundation for terrorists--or freedom fighters, depending on whom you ask. After the American cruise-missile attacks, intelligence sources told me that Bin Ladin had been intercepted talking on satellite phones, trying desperately to get damage assessments and news of casualties. The same sources said that Bin Ladin had shifted his operations from Khost to Kandahar and that he was building new camps. To try to arrange another meeting, Chris Isham and I asked Ali to return to London. A few days later, the same people we had been dealing with in London were arrested by Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch on "suspected connections to Bin Ladin's terrorist group." One was being held for possible extradition to the United States. We sent one more request to Bin Ladin, this time through our man in Peshawar, along with a list of questions. We haven't heard back. Bin Ladin's old house, a walled mansion with a tower, has become a guesthouse for his men. These men, new volunteers, seem to be showing up in greater numbers since the bombing. Some will fight in Kashmir, others will fight on the front lines against the Taliban's opposition, and some, of course, will "travel" for Bin Ladin. After dark, around Kandahar, motorcades of twenty cars with tinted windows speed through the city. No one there has to wonder who it is. Usama Bin Ladin races through the darkness, taillights vanishing in a cloud of dust, a most wanted man. The day after the American counterstrike, an ABC News colleague in Pakistan got a call from Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been at the camp with us that night. Al-Zawahiri said Bin Ladin was alive and very well and that he had a message for us: "The war has just started. The Americans should wait for the answer." Esquire, Feb 1, 19 other articles in this issue Copyright and Terms of Use CBS Releases Interview With Bin Ladin Copyright 1999 Burrelle's Information Services CBS News Transcripts SHOW: CBS THIS MORNING (7:00 AM ET) January 13, 1999, Wednesday TYPE: Newscast LENGTH: 376 words HEADLINE: ACCUSED TERRORIST LEADER USAMA BIN LADIN DECLARES WAR ON ALL AMERICANS ANCHORS: THALIA ASSURAS REPORTERS: RICHARD ROTHBODY: THALIA ASSURAS, co-host: CBS News has obtained videotape of the man authorities believe is behind terrorist attacks against Americans. In an interview, Usama Bin Ladin declared war on all Americans. Richard Roth reports. Richard Roth reporting: The two bombs last August, minutes apart, at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed more than 250 people, including 12 Americans. Now the man US authorities describe as the choreographer of that carnage warns that American civilians anywhere are still targets for Islamic fury. Mr. Usama Bin Ladin (Accused Terrorist Leader): (Through Translator) All Americans are our enemies, not just the ones who fight us directly but also the ones who pay their taxes. Roth: He is Usama Bin Ladin, America's most wanted man, interviewed about two weeks ago at a desert hideout somewhere in Afghanistan. He claims to be fighting a holy war. Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through Translator) We have formed an Islamic front to continue the fight against the Jews and the Christians. We hope that God will open the path to fight against them. Roth: He won't admit involvement in the embassy bombings, but Bin Ladin calls hostility to the US the religious duty of Muslims who want Americans out of Islamic countries. That includes his native land, Saudi Arabia, where American officials believe he may have had a hand in attacks on US military installations in 1995 and 1996 that killed 26 Americans. Now in exile in Afghanistan, Bin Ladin operates under the protection and support of the Taliban, the armed Islamic extremists who control the country. So far, that's made him untouchable. And with a multimillion-dollar fortune inherited from his father, US officials say Bin Ladin's become the world's leading sponsor of terrorism. As a senior State Department official put it, that makes him a major worry for the administration every single day. Richard Roth, CBS News, London. Hattie Kauffman (Co-host): And coming up on THIS MORNING, in our medical report, a new procedure that could help nearsighted people get rid of their eyeglasses forever. And in Mark McEwen's entertainment report, Hollywood's top teens celebrate the success of the 'N Sync set. There is more to come. ABC Releases Bin Ladin's 1998 Interview Copyright 2001 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. ABC News SHOW: World News Now (2:00 AM ET) - ABC September 18, 2001 Tuesday TYPE: Profile LENGTH: 1021 words HEADLINE: President Bush on terrorist attacks; Interview with Usama Bin Ladin from 1998 ANCHORS: DEREK McGINTY REPORTERS: JOHN MILLER BODY: DEREK McGINTY, co-anchor: President Bush went to the Pentagon yesterday for a meeting with the secretary of defense and other top military officials. They briefed him on the call-up of 35,000 reserves and on the capabilities of the special forces units, units which are expected to play a big role in the country's new war on terrorism. While he was at the Pentagon, President Bush took questions from reporters and talked about the enemy we're facing. President George W. Bush: Usama Bin Ladin is a prime suspect. And the people who house him, encourage him, provide food, comfort or money, are on notice. There are no rules. It's barbaric behavior. They slit throats of women on airplanes in order to achieve an objective that is beyond comprehension. And they--they like to hit, and then they like to hide out. But we're going to smoke them out. And we're adjusting our thinking to the new type of enemy. These are terrorists that have no borders. And by the way, it's important for the world to understand that we know in America that more than just Americans suffered loss of life in the World Trade Center. People from all kinds of nationalities lost their life. That's why the world is rallying to our call to defeat terrorism. Many world leaders understand that that could have easily--that the attack could have easily happened on their land. And they also understand that this enemy knows no border. I want justice. And there's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said "Wanted. Dead or alive." McGinty: Of course, Usama Bin Ladin will not be an easy man to track down. There's been a $5 million reward on his head for the past two years--two and a half years, as a matter of fact, but no one's gotten close. One man, however, has been able to track him down, ABC's John Miller, and that is only because Bin Ladin let himself be found for an interview. That interview took place back in 1998, but as John Miller said last night, 'You listen to it, and it could have been yesterday.' (Beginning of file footage from ABC News, 1998) John Miller reporting: (VO) We spent months trying to find Usama Bin Ladin. Finally at midnight, on May 28, 1998, Bin Ladin arrived to meet us on a mountain top in southern Afghanistan He is not what you'd expect. Six foot four, soft spoken, one of 53 siblings. He has four wives and many children of his own. A group of Bin Ladin's fighters gathered in the small hut to listen to the interview. Others stood guard outside. I asked the son of a billionaire Saudi construction magnate how he ended up on the front lines fighting the Russians after the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. Mr. Usama Bin Ladin: (Through translator) This is not a strange issue. During the days of jihad, thousands of young men who were well off financially, left the Arabian peninsula and joined the fight. And hundreds of them were killed in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. Miller: (VO) In 1986, Bin Ladin returned to Saudi Arabia from the Afghan war a hero. But five years later, he was targeting America. Bin Ladin believed US military bases in Saudi Arabia were on holy land, and he believed they were there to help support Israel. Bin Ladin eventually returned to Afghanistan where he began to wage his holy war against the United States from terrorist training camps. (OC) You've been described as the world's most wanted man. Does it worry you? Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) Praise be to Allah. It does not matter to us what the Americans think. The Americans accuse everyone who defends his religion, his rights and his wealth. We do not worry about American opinion. But the fact that there are prices on our heads, we as Muslims believe that our fate is set. Miller: You have said that, 'If the Americans are so brave, they will come and arrest me.' Do you think that's something my country will try? Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) Despite if they try or not, we have seen in the last decade the decline of the American government and the weakness of the American soldier. America is prepared to wage easy wars but not prepared to fight long and bitter wars. This was proven in Beirut when the Marines fled after two explosions. It also proves they can run in less than 24 hours. This was repeated in Somalia. We are ready for all occasions. We rely on Allah. Miller: (VO) That night I asked Bin Ladin how he could justify his latest message to his followers, that they should kill Americans anywhere in the world, wherever and whenever they could. Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) We are surprised to hear this question from Americans. American history does not distinguish between civilians and military, let alone women and children. They are the ones who used the bombs against Nagasaki. Can these bombs distinguish between infants and the military? Miller: (VO) And Bin Ladin made it plain; American civilians were fair game. Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) We do not differentiate between those pressed into military uniforms and civilians. This includes all who share or take part in killing Muslims, assaulting holy places, or those who help the Jews occupy Muslim land. Miller: You have been painted in America as a terrorist leader. To your followers you are a hero. How do you see yourself? Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) As I have said before, we do not worry what America says. I am one of Allah's worshipers. I worship Allah which includes carrying out jihad, to raise Allah's word and evict the Americans from all Muslim land. Miller: (VO) When I found Bin Ladin in 1998, he was about to be indicted in New York for allegedly financing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and conspiracy to kill Americans around the world. (OC) Setting off bombs, killing civilians in incidents like the World Trade Center is terrorism. Mr. Bin Ladin: (Through translator) After our victory in Afghanistan, defeating the Russians, the world media, led by the American media, started a campaign against us. (End of file footage from ABC News, 1998) Daily News Carries Bin Ladin Remarks Copyright 2001 Daily News, L.P. Daily News (New York) September 21, 2001, Friday RACING FINAL EDITION SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 48 LENGTH: 1930 words HEADLINE: BIN LADIN: FROM RICH KID TO TERRORIST RINGLEADER Sheds his fancy cloth es to hide in Afghani hills BYLINE: By LARRY COHLER-ESSES DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER BODY: Usama Bin Ladin, the terrorist mastermind the US holds responsible for the devastating attacks in New York and Washington, has a taste for tailored trousers of fine English cloth and English custom-made Peal Brothers boots. Tall (6-feet-5) and rail-thin, he is also a seasoned leader comfortable in the company of peasant fighters and hardened to killing by Afghanistan's holy war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. As US military forces began to mass in the Persian Gulf, Bin Ladin was believed to be holed up in the rugged mountains of the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan. Although the Taliban rulers rebuffed a US request to hand him over, Bin Ladin's fate appeared anything but certain President Bush has declared Bin Ladin Public Enemy No. 1 and, harking back to the Wild West, said the terrorist leader is "Wanted - dead or alive Born to a family that became one of the wealthiest in Saudi Arabia, Bin Ladin, 44, is a man whose inclination toward the finery of Western civilization was stripped away by his experience with the mujahedeen, or holy warriors, of Afghanistan. A revelation During the 1980s, the mujahedeen fighters - with American support - waged a long, brutal and ultimately successful battle against Soviet invaders that presaged the fall of the Soviet empire itself. The experience was a revelation to Bin Ladin - and the first of several critical junctures in his evolution from a wealthy intimate of Arab princes and potentates into a revolutionary with a pan-Islamic, virulently anti-American political message. "He's a guy who has comBined a number of obsessions into a comprehensive package that has given him what I consider to be a real strategy and mission for his life," said Prof. Thomas Gouttierre, director of the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. That mission includes "purifying" the lands of Islam from a Western culture he views as corrupting, especially ejecting US troops from Saudi Arabia. Bin Ladin would also expand Muslim theocratic rule into the newly opened regions of Central Asia that were part of the Soviet Union. "Afghanistan is the launching pad for both," Gouttierre said. Until 1979, the year of the Soviet invasion, the future revolutionary and terrorist showed scant interest in politics. The 17th of 52 children sired by Muhammad Bin Ladin - Saudi Arabia's wealthiest construction magnate - Bin Ladin concentrated on his education until his graduation that year from King Abdul Aziz University with a degree in civil engineering. Bin Ladin also claims to have studied economics. His family, says Ali Ahmed, a Saudi dissident and human rights activist, "was not just rich - they were filthy rich." His father was so close to the Saudi royal family that he was chosen to build the modern mosques in Mecca and Medina, the most sacred sites of Islam, of which the Saudi royal family is custodian. Bin Ladin's father died in 1968, when he was 10, leaving the boy with a reported personal inheritance of some $40 million to $80 million. Yet for all his family's closeness to Saudi royalty, the Bin Ladins were also, to a degree, outsiders. His father hailed originally from the remote Hadramuth region of Yemen. And his mother, the fourth of his father's wives, was Syrian. Raising Money As Bin Ladin has described it, his transformation into a holy warrior occurred instantaneously when Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan. He began as a fund-raiser, circulating among his wealthy contacts and soliciting support for the cause. Mary Anne Weaver, a writer for The New Yorker who reported from the Pakistani-Afghan border during the 1980s, recalled first hearing about him as "the Good Samaritan" who would arrive unannounced at hospitals to visit wounded Afghan and Arab fighters. Bin Ladin reportedly arranged compensation for their families. Later, he transported bulldozers and other heavy construction equipment on unmarked transport planes behind mujahedeen lines to build defensive tunnels and storage depots for the guerrilla fighters. Bin Ladin also founded a group, which would become Al Qaeda, that recruited Muslim fighters from around the world to the war in Afghanistan. He was involved in at least one major battle, but sources dispute whether he was in any other combat. "I think that's been a little lionized beyond reality," said Gouttierre. "Afghans who know him say he was at times interested in going out and engaging in combat. But he was mostly involved in support services. He offered his resources and engineering skills to meet their supply and logistical challenges." Nonetheless, says Ahmed, the Saudi dissident, Bin Ladin was "hardened" by the fighting when he finally left Afghanistan after the Soviet retreat in 1989. A turning point When he returned to Saudi Arabia, he began to see his own government differently. Even as he worked to expand his stake in the family business, Bin Ladin was disaffected by the corruption of the Saudi regime. Family members and royal friends, such as Prince Turki, the chief of Saudi intelligence, reportedly tried to cool off Bin Ladin's rising anger and opposition to the government. But in 1990, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait jolted Saudi Arabia into inviting US troops onto its soil for the fight against Iraq. That was the turning point for Bin Ladin. From his viewpoint, US troops desecrated a Muslim holy land meant to be free of "kaffirs," or nonbelievers. The Saudi government expelled Bin Ladin in 1991 for his political activities. Soon after, they froze his bank accounts and his $350 million share in the family business. The exile settled in Sudan, where he found common cause with the radical Islamic government there headed by Hassan al-Turabi. Bin Ladin appears to have had the best of all worlds in Sudan. With the fortune he still had in foreign banks, he began funding extremist Muslim groups around the world and established military training camps in Sudan. He also set up several businesses, including a tannery, two farms and a major road construction firm. He had not completely lost his taste for the good life, say former aides. There was also time for horseback riding on one of his farms outside the capital city of Khartoum, as well as regular swimming, soccer and picnicking. In 1994, the Saudi regime stripped Bin Ladin of his citizenship and his family publicly distanced itself from him. But his course was already set. By 1993, federal authorities say, Al Qaeda was helping to bankroll Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. That same year, say national security sources, Al Qaeda helped train and arm the Somali tribesmen in Mogadishu who killed 18 American troops. US forces, sent to aid the war-torn, famine-stricken country, quickly withdrew. The hasty pullout was another revelation for Bin Ladin. Embolded in Somalia The fighters in Somalia, said Bin Ladin, were "prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were like the Russians." But "after a few blows they ran in defeat." Islamic youth, he said, realized "the American soldiers are paper tigers." More Al Qaeda-linked operations quickly followed. In 1996, under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia, Sudan expelled Bin Ladin. Since then, from his redoubt in Afghanistan, Bin Ladin has developed Al Qaeda as a unique, decentralized network of organizations and cells linked to a long string of attacks on US military and civilian targets. Bin Ladin makes little distinction between the two. In a 1998 religious edict issued under the banner of the "World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders," Bin Ladin declared it the duty of every Muslim "to kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military" until US troops leave Saudi Arabia and Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is freed from Israel's sovereignty. "Our enemy, the target . . . is every American male," Bin Ladin told one interviewer in 1999. A man, he explained, was a fighter "whether he carries arms or helps kill us by paying taxes." Sidebar: Usama Bin Ladin:The Making Of A Terror Master 1957 - Born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the 17th of 52 children of construction magnate Muhammad Bin Ladin. 1979 - Receives civil engineering degree from King Abdul Aziz University. Joins mujahedeen to fight Soviet Union after invasion of Afghanistan.1988 - Establishes Al Qaeda to channel funds to Afghani guerrilla fighters.1989 - Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan. Bin Ladin returns to Saudi Arabia, becomes disenchanted with Saudi monarchy.1991 - US-led coalition launches Persian Gulf War following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Bin Ladin goes into exile after opposing Saudi-US alliance. Settles in Sudan.1992 - Uses Al Qaeda to attack US forces in Saudi Arabia and Somalia and sets up guerrilla training camps in Sudan. Begins funding militant Islamic groups.1993 - Al Qaeda helps fund terrorists who bomb World Trade Center and is implicated in the deaths of 18 US troops killed in Somalia.1994 - Saudi Arabia revokes Bin Ladin's citizenship.1996 - Suspected of involvement in truck bombing of Khobar Towers, a US military residence in Saudi Arabia.1998 - Signs fatwa - an Islamic religious decree - calling on Muslims to kill Americans. US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya are bombed, killing 224, including 12 Americans. US launches missile strikes against Bin Ladin bases in Afghanistan.2000 - Allegedly directs foiled millennium terrorist attacks in US Also directed attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.2001 - Believed to have directed terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. More than 7,000 missing or dead. SIDEBAR: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO USAMA "We think the United States is very much weaker than Russia. [In Somalia] only 18 US troops were killed. Nonetheless, they fled in the heart of darkness, frustrated, after they had caused great commotion about the new world order." "With regards to reports among Muslims that Usama is threatening to kill civilians, then, what are they killing in Palestine? They are killing children, not only civilians, but children as well." "Our enemy, the target, if God gives Muslims the opportunity to do so, is every American male, whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes." "American history does not distinguish between civilians and military, and not even women and children. They are the ones who used the bombs against Nagasaki. ... Therefore, you do not have the right to object to like treatment. At the same time, our primary targets are military." "We find that Jews have the first word in the American government, which is how they use America to carry out their plans in the world, and especially the Muslim world." "The Jews are a people who Allah cited in the Koran as those who attacked prophets with lies and killings . ... They are a people who killed Allah's prophets. Would they not kill, rape and steal from humans?" "Almost three-quarters of the American people support Clinton's strikes on Iraq. They are a people whose President becomes more popular when he kills innocent people. They are lowly people who do not understand the meaning of principles." "It was a painful blow. The Americans had not sustained such a blow since the bombing of the Marines in Lebanon. They deserved it. It made them taste what we tasted during the massacres committed in Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yasin, Qana, Hebron and elsewhere." [On the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya] GRAPHIC: Saudi-born Usama Bin Ladin, alleged mastermind of Trade Center disaster, holds assault rifle on video still first releasted in June. May 1998 Interview With Bin Ladin Reported Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 20 Feb 99 p 10 [Article by Abu Shiraz] [FBIS Translated Text] The great Arab Mujahid Usama Bin Ladin had been living in Afghanistan for the last few years. He has devoted his life to Jihad and is supporting Muslims wherever in the world they are carrying it out. The United States is the biggest enemy of Usama Bin Ladin. It attacked his headquarters after failing to arrest him. This interview with Usama Bin Ladin was held on 26 May last year. Before answering the questions, Usama delivered a short speech, which is translated below: At present, we have got into trouble, which is very dangerous and unfortunate. By this trouble, I mean the presence of Christian forces in Arab lands. They are constantly trying to establish their full control in this region. This is the first time since the annunciation of the Holy Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, that our sacred places, including the Kaaba [House of God], the Nabavi Mosque, and the Aqsa Mosque are under the open and covert control of non-Muslims. It has become obligatory for Muslims throughout the entire world to start their struggle to oust the infidels from our sacred places. Mecca is the place where God sent divine revelation to the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him. There has never been such an unfortunate time in Kaaba as there is now. It has been surrounded on all four sides by US forces. There is only a distance of seventy kilometers between Jeddah and Kaaba and the US forces are also present in Tabook and other big cities. Muslim scholars of the world and Saudi Arabia have issued a fatwa [religious decree] for a Jihad against these forces that have dared to occupy our sacred places. The Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, said that infidels should be ousted from the Arab lands. Most of the scholars who issued this fatwa were arrested by the Saudi government. These scholars included Dr. Safar al Wali, Salman Bin al Saudi, al Sheikh al Hussaini Bin al Mecci, Sheikh Tobiyan Bin Tobiyan, and al Sheik Nasir al Omar, who have been imprisoned in Riyadh. Eminent scholars from Pakistan and Afghanistan have also declared a Jihad against the presence of these forces in the Arab lands. It is very unfortunate to have Christians and Jews present in such sacred places. Sheikh Ali Bin Abdur Rehman, the Imam of the Nabavi Mosque, has also issued a fatwa which states that Muslims should sacrifice their lives and resources to expel the infidels from Mecca We pray to God that he may provide courage to Muslims to rise for a Jihad. The United States is helping the infidels and the Christians and Jews have established control over one third of the Muslim nation, something which we aim to halt. There was a time when a superpower like Russia tried to occupy Afghanistan. We supported our brothers in Afghanistan and Russia, which was proud that it never retreated from anywhere in the world, was defeated by us and then disintegrated. I announce that geographical boundaries have no importance for us. We are Muslims and wish to be martyred. We have no discrimination on the basis of color and race. We support every oppressed Muslim and we pray to God to provide us with help and to enable us to help every oppressed Muslim. After this brief and comprehensive speech by Usama Bin Ladin, the audience was allowed to ask questions. The expressions on Usama's face were very affectionate and warm. I couldn't believe I was sitting in front of the great Mujahid only at a distance of two or three feet This was the time when India had conducted its nuclear explosions and there was great pressure on the Pakistani government to conduct nuclear explosions. Usama Bin Ladin is with Muslims of the whole world and he wants to share the sufferings of Muslims. My first question to him was in the context of the nuclear explosions: 1. India, which is an enemy of Muslims, has conducted nuclear explosions and has tried to intimidate the Muslim world. Do you think Pakistan should also conduct nuclear explosions? How can you help Pakistan in this regard? Usama was probably not expecting this question, but he was keen to answer it. His smile turned into seriousness and he said the alliance between India and Israel was a big threat to the Muslim world. The Christian powers are busy in conspiracies against the Muslims. India has conducted nuclear explosions with the consent of the United States and Israel. I believe that at present the Pakistani nation should unite and should end the sectarianism provoked by its opponents. If Pakistanis do not get united, it will not be possible for them to face this difficult situation. It is important for them to strengthen their nuclear power and demonstrate it with full strength. The Government of Pakistan is liable to do what the Pakistani nation wants. It should take every possible step to defend it from the enemy. It is the responsibility of the brotherly Islamic country of Pakistan to examine the situation and give a stern reply to India one way or the other. If there is a risk of any loss in case of conducting nuclear explosions, it should adopt any other way to demonstrate its power, but it must show its power to India at any cost. This was the voice of a Mujahid. He strongly wished to answer the enemy tit for tat, but at the same time he was also considering the profit and loss to Pakistan. He asked: how is it possible to keep Pakistan deprived of nuclear arms when India already has them? Two days after this interview, Pakistan conducted its nuclear explosion. 1.How should a practical form be given to the Jihad you are talking about? Usama smiled, as he loves to speak on the Jihad against the United States. He said: the Jihad has already started in a practical form. In Saudi Arabia, modern arms are used against the Americans. The first incident took place in Riyadh and the second in Alkhobar. In these bomb blasts, 19 Americans were killed and more than one hundred wounded. With every passing day, resistance to the United States is increasing and young men are being recruited against the United States. That is why the United States had to decide to reduce its forces in Saudi Arabia. The United States had claimed that it wants to reduce its forces in Saudi Arabia from 35,000 to 20,000, but we know that these figures are not correct. The number of US forces in Saudi Arabia is much more than this. It can be between 70-80,000. Two months back, the Saudi government confiscated a sizeable quantity of arms used by our Mujahidin, including seven rockets and Stinger missiles. The Americans were shocked to see the type and size of the arms. They wondered what would have happened if those arms had been used against them. Fear of the Mujahidin has overtaken the Americans and they are being defeated by the Mujahidin everywhere. Usama said meaningfully that the Jihad would continue against the United States until it vacated Saudi Arabia and other countries of the region. In Pakistan also, Muslims are supporting us in the Jihad and the United States is also confused in Pakistan. In the coming days, the United States will anyway have to vacate the Muslim countries. 1. Why did Saudi government confiscate the weapons from the Mujahidin? It was not possible for such a large quantity of arms to be seized without insider information. Eight hundred and twenty Mujahidin have been arrested in Saudi Arabia since the first of Ramadan and the Americans took away their arms. The majority of these Mujahidin were arrested from Mecca. Some Mujahidin were arrested in police raids while they were shifting arms from one car to other. 1. Do these Mujahidin have any connection with you? Usama smiled and said: these are the people who agree with my views and who want the US forces to get out of Saudi Arabia. They are not my men, but have the same views as me. 1. You came here for the interview amidst heavy firing. Are these security measures taken because of the US threat to arrest you? Did you feel any kind of fear while you came here? Life is only in the control of God and no human being can do anything about it. God can give life or death to anybody He wants. It does not matter if you are a superpower or not. If God wants me to live, even ten countries like the United States cannot kill me. But when God wants me to die, even an ordinary person would have no difficulty killing me. It is my faith that the United States cannot do anything to me and I am not afraid of it at all. My life and death are in the hands of God. We are fighting for the truth. The United States is plundering our resources and wandering about our sacred places. It may do anything it wants but it can never harm us because God is with us. It has been nine years since we have been struggling against the United States, and I am alive in front of you despite all its attempts to kill us. In these nine years, we have inflicted considerable damage on the United States in different places and will continue to do the same in the future. In response to a question from a Chinese journalist, Mr. Ching, about the Muslims of China, Usama replied: we have good wishes for all Muslims in the world. I often hear about Chinese Muslims, but since we have no direct connection with people in China and no member of our organization comes from China, I don't have any detailed knowledge about them. The Chinese government is not fully aware of the intentions of the United States and Israel. These two countries also want to usurp the resources of China. The United States is a country which does not even refrain from destroying the human race in its own interests. It was the United States that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. So I suggest the Chinese government be more careful of the US and the West. China must use its force against the United States and Israel and should be friendly towards Muslims. I request the Chinese Muslim brothers to be united to protect their rights and try to contact me as soon as possible. Since they are living very far away from the Islamic world, they need to study Islamic history more. They should also extend their relations with the organizations of other Muslim countries. 1.How far has the Jihad succeeded in ousting the US forces from Saudi Arabia? Are you also struggling against the Saudi government or kings in this regard? We have focused our attention on Israel and the United States. First we want to expel them, after which a Muslim state will be established and those who are forcefully ruling the people will be given severe punishments. 1.India conducted its nuclear explosions a few days ago. It is hurling different kinds of threats against Pakistan with regard to Kashmir. What should we do in response and how can you help us in this regard? I could see expressions of affection appearing on Usama's face every time he heard the name of Pakistan. He calls Pakistan his second home. He said, you should carry on your preparations with full strength. You should have an atomic bomb against India which should be of better quality than the Indian bomb. Shariah [Islamic law] should be enforced in the country. Religious scholars and other leaders should announce a Jihad against India. They should set up military camps to provide military training to people. A Jihad against India has become obligatory for the Muslims of Pakistan. 1. Do you have connections with any organizations in Pakistan? Which personalities do you think would rise for a Jihad on you advice? God has regarded Jihad as the most sacred act. A Mujahid is the second person dear to God after the Holy Prophet. Although we don't have strong relations with any party in Pakistan relating to Jihad, Pakistanis did participate in the Afghan Jihad. Russia had to retreat at the hands of the Mujahidin despite being a superpower. We wanted to go to Kashmir for a Jihad after the Afghan Jihad ended, but the People's Party Government in Pakistan did not allow us, but rather it arrested a lot of our Mujahid brothers from Peshawar and other places and handed them over to the governments concerned on the instruction of the United States. Some of our arrested Mujahidin are still imprisoned in jails, while some have been killed. We could not take part in a Jihad in Kashmir, but we believe that Muslims have full rights to defend their countries. We will provide every possible help to the Mujahidin in Pakistan. Not only in Pakistan, but wherever Mujahidin are fighting against the enemies of Islam, we will help them. We will support Pakistan in its war against India When the Jihad in Afghanistan ended, I went to Sudan to help the Muslims of Sudan against the United States. The Americans were not happy at our activities. Therefore, they tried to kill me, but, by the grace of God, failed in their objective. The United States thought we would surrender because of their efforts, but we never did that. When the Muslims of Sudan also started their struggle against the United States, we decided to help them. The Mujahidin of Sudan perplexed the Americans so much that they were forced to run away from Sudan. This shows how weak the United States is. The United States again tried to have me expelled from Sudan and continued to mount pressure on the government of Sudan. Then I felt that the government of Sudan could not afford to bear the pressure any more. I didn't have any place to go to after Sudan, but God helped me and Mollah Omar opened the doors of his country to me. He had not forgotten the Mujahidin who participated in the Afghan Jihad and remembered that thousands of Mujahidin were martyred during the Jihad. Saudi Arabia and the United States pressurized Mollah Omar not to allow me into his country, but he did not listen to anybody He was pressurized into extraditing me to the United States but this brave man refused to do that. 1. The war which is going on inside Afghanistan at present is synonymous with a civil war. This can't be declared a Jihad. What is your opinion in this regard? At present, the situation is not very clear, so we have decided not to interfere in this matter. We have left it up to them to decide. But after establishing their government, the Taleban have established peace and restored the confidence of the public. We are on the side of the Taleban. Muslims all over the world should convince these leaders to end the conflicts in Afghanistan and seek a solution to the issue through talks. Because of this war, the results of the victory against the Soviet Union are being wasted. The United States and the Jews wanted to divide Afghanistan into five independent states in order to weaken it. According to their plan, they wanted to establish a government of Haji Qadeer in the East, Ismail Khan in the West, Najeeb in the Center, Masud in the North, and Mollah Omar in the South. We are thankful to God that their plan failed and the Taleban established their government over a major part of Afghanistan. Russia disintegrated geographically after its defeat in Afghanistan, but it still has its interests there as before. It wants the confusion to continue in Afghanistan. It does not want peace to be restored in this country. It is present in Salang and keeps on interfering in Afghanistan. It is supporting Masud and his forces in the North. 1. How far are you allowed to participate in political and other activities in Afghanistan? We are asked to avoid military activities, but there is no restriction on political activities 1. Aimal Kansi was arrested from Pakistan and in this regard there are many doubts. On whose indication and help was he arrested? I have as much knowledge in this regard as you have. He was arrested with the mutual cooperation of the government of Pakistan and the US government. The United States knows that we foiled one of its plans in Afghanistan. It wanted to divide Afghanistan into two parts after the end of the Najeeb government. We contacted the scholars and the Mujahidin of Afghanistan and asked them not to become part of any conspiracy of the United States to divide their country. For the implementation of its plan, the United States sent General Benon Sevan, Deputy Secretary General of United Nations to Afghanistan, and then Mr. Boutrous Ghali himself visited Afghanistan, but the Afghan leaders refused to accept any plan. As far as we are concerned, we work with the cooperation of Muslim scholars and Muslims of the whole world. The United States wanted to set up a military base for US soldiers in Yemen so that it could send fresh forces to Somalia. The Arab Mujahidin related to Afghan Jihad carried out bomb explosions in two hotels in Yemen to warn the United States, causing damage to some Americans staying in these hotels. The United States received our warning and gave up the idea of setting up its military bases in Yemen. The United States sent 30,000 soldiers to Somalia, where the UN forces, including 5,000 Pakistani soldiers, were already present Other countries which sent their forces to the UN peace forces included Bangladesh, India, Saudi Arabia, and others. Some of our people rose against them and in an attack they killed some and injured many of them. We want to state that finally the United States will be defeated and we will win. We are fighting for the truth and are depending on God for help. A few days ago, the US Deputy Secretary of State admitted that the opposition against them is increasing in Saudi Arabia. They are afraid that the land of Saudi Arabia is shrinking for the Americans. They have realized that a large number of Muslims are supporting us and are standing by us. 1. As you have claimed that a large number of Muslims are supporting you and you are fighting against the United States and Israel, have you established any organization on whose platform all this is taking place? Moreover, who are the other leaders with you? By the grace of God, we have established an organization named "Eslamic Front" with the help and suggestion of a lot of Jihadi organizations. The purpose of this organization is to fight against the Americans and Israelis. An important leader of this organization is Dr. Aiman al Zawahiri. We are receiving assurances of support from many Mujahid organizations. Everything is occurring exactly according to our expectations. We are getting encouragement from Pakistani intellectuals, scholars, and the press. We are thankful to all of you. We have nothing to offer you except prayers. May God accept our prayers and make your country a great country. After the formal interview, Usama Bin Ladin expressed his wish to have an informal talk with the journalists in the open yard. We were pleased to hear that. Incidentally, I was seated quite close to Usama Bin Ladin. Dr. Aiman al Zawahiri was acting as a translator. In this informal discussion, we came to know that Usama Bin Ladin has fourteen sons in Afghanistan, two of were standing near the stage. Four of his sons are living in Saudi Arabia. When one of us asked Usama why he was looking so weak, Usama replied that he had to travel a long way to meet us, so he was looking tired. He told us that he is a very regular horse rider. He has three wives, all of them living in Afghanistan. All his wives are from Saudi Arabia. When asked what is the source of funds required to run such a big organization, Usama said God makes all arrangements for us. One of us said that although the Saudi government was supporting the United States, the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz does not like the United States, Usama Bin Ladin said that this was correct. I asked him why he did not use English for communication and needed a translator. He said that although he received his education in the United Kingdom and can easily speak and understand English, he did not like this language and was trying to forget it. When I asked him about his age, he laughed and said: I am young, just 42 years old. [Description of source: Pakistan--widely read daily generally supportive of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League] Usama Bin Ladin Pens Letter in Support Of Kashmir Jihad Peshawar Wahdat in Pashto 8 Jun 99 pp 1, 5 [Wahdat Report] [FBIS Translated Text] Peshawar—According to reports, after the growing tension between Pakistan and India along the line of control, famous Arab Mujihid and the servant of Islam and Muslims Abu Abdullah Usama Bin Ladin has sent a letter to certain places in Pakistan from an unknown place. In the letter, Usama Bin Ladin is said to have told the high level places [as published] that Pakistan's silence on the problems between them [Usama and his men] and the United States especially when they [Usama and his men] are in the right, is not agreeable, unacceptable [as published], contrary to the opinion of all Pukhtoons and Muslims and unlikable. But despite that, Usama Bin Ladin is said to have written that Pakistani people are a Muslim and Mujahid nation who have supported the oppressed people of Afghanistan in defeating the Soviet Union in the region. Usama Bin Ladin said that every government of the day, especially the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, has always played an exemplary role in Afghan Jihad and have also stood up against the infidel, especially the communist countries, for the true faith of Islam. This, Usama Bin Ladin said, forces him not to stay impartial on the Kashmir issue. He said that Kashmir is an Islamic problem and it is necessary to resolve it through armed Jihad by keeping in mind faith in Allah. Usama Bin Ladin is said to have written in the letter that he believes that Pakistani people are a Muslim nation according to the true spirit of Islam and have defended him [Usama] in every difficult time because of their Islamic responsibility. Therefore, Usama Bin Ladin said, he also announces support to the independence of Kashmir and the people of Kashmir on the basis of Islamic opinion and the order of the Muslim people of Pakistan [as published]. He said that Kashmir has taken almost the same turn as Afghanistan. Usama Bin Ladin is said to have said in the letter that if conditions are made favorable, the Mujahidin, who are ready to sacrifice their lives, have the power to create problems for India not only on the frontline but also inside India. He has urged all religious scholars to shun differences and unite until the oppressed people of Kashmir are free from Indian occupation and atrocities with the help of God. In the letter, the famous Arab Mujahid is said to have tried to clear the negative perception of certain countries and called upon all the leaders of Muslim countries not to get deceived by Saudi Arabian King Fahad's so-called claim of being the custodian of the holy places. He said that they [Usama and his men] were sincere with the Kaaba [the holy grand mosque in Mecca] and are the real soldiers to defend it. Usama Bin Ladin said that the Muslim countries should accept their position and openly defend them because Prophet Mohammad has said that all Muslims are brothers and it is Binding on them to support Muslims against the infidel. If the leaders of the Muslim countries fail to do so, it means they are turning a blind eye on their [Usama Bin Ladin and his men] being right, he said. He said that their [leaders of the Muslim countries] silence may imply that now they do not like their [Usama Bin Ladin and his men] empty pockets. And like the artificial expansion process of Mecca, which is often initiated by King Fahad they [leaders of the Muslim countries] are not only looking for a way out but also hiding the fact in the hope of getting some financial help from King Fahad's stuffed pockets. And they are also ready to bow before evil, he said. Usama's contact with some anti-India places [as published] in Pakistani was expected some time ago and has perhaps now been established because Usama is alive and lives somewhere on the face of earth [as published]. It is not necessary to identify the place from where he has made this contact. Usama is a truthful and loyal person and wherever he is and despite the fact that he stays away from issuing statements and activities, he still responds to certain things as he did in this case. The Indian atrocities on Kashmiris might have rekindled Islamic feelings that he could not control. [Description of source: Wahdat—Newspaper reporting mainly on Afghan issues, including reports on conflict in Afghanistan and interviews with Afghan political leaders] Al-Jazirah Program on Bin Ladin Doha Qatar al-Jazirah Space Channel Television in Arabic 1805 GMT 10 Jun 99 ["Special" program entitled: "Usama Bin Ladin, the Destruction of the Base" presented by Salah Najm; interview with Usama Bin Ladin conducted by Jamal Isma'il in an unspecified location in Afghanistan; date not give - recorded] [FBIS Translated Text] Salah Najm: When Bin Ladin's name is mentioned, a number of conflicting ideas cross one's mind. Wealth, asceticism, terrorist, heroism, and Jihad. What links all these words together is this man, whom some people consider to be a devil, while others believe he is a fighter with a cause. Usama Bin Ladin: Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin-'Awad Bin Ladin. God Almighty was gracious enough for me to be born to Muslim parents in the Arabian Peninsula, in al-Malazz neighborhood in al-Riyadh, in 1377 hegira [1957 or 1958 depending on the month in which he was born]. Then God was gracious to us as we went to Holy Medinah six months after I was born. For the rest of my life I stayed in Hejaz moving between Mecca, Jeddah, and Medinah. As it is well known, my father, Shaykh Muhammad Bin-'Awad Bin Ladin, was born in Hadramaut. He went to work in Hejaz at an early age, more than 70 years ago. Then God blessed him and bestowed on him an honor that no other contractor has known. He built the holy Mecca Mosque where the holy Kaabah is located and at the same time -- because of God's blessings to him -- he built the holy mosque in Medinah for our prophet, God's prayers be upon him. Then when he found out that the Government of Jordan announced a tender for restoration work on the Dome of the Rock Mosque, he gathered engineers and asked them to estimate the cost price only, without profit. They said to him: With God's help, we will be awarded the project and make some profit as well. He said to them: Calculate only the cost price of the project. When they did, they were surprised that he, God have mercy on his soul, reduced the cost price in order to guarantee that God's mosques, and this mosque in particular, are well served. He was awarded the project. Because of God's graciousness to him, sometimes he prayed in all three mosques in one single day. May God have mercy on his soul. It is not a secret that he was one of the founders of the infrastructure of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Afterward, I studied in Hejaz. I studied economy at Jeddah University, or the so-called King 'Abd-al-'Aziz University. I worked at an early age on roads in my father's company, may God have mercy on his soul. My father died when I was 10 years old. This is something brief about Usama Bin Ladin. As to what he [Usama Bin Ladin] wants; what he wants and demands is the right of any living being. We want our land to be freed of the enemies, we want our land be free of the Americans. God equipped these living creatures with an instinctive zeal and they refuse to be intruded upon. For instance, if an armed military man walks into a chicken's home wanting to attack it, the chicken will fight back and it is only a chicken. We are demanding a right given to all living creatures, not to mention the fact that it a right for all human beings, and a right for Muslims in particular. There was an attack on the countries of Islam, especially on the holy shrines and on al-Aqsa Mosque, the prophet's first Kiblah. And then the aggression continued with the Crusader-Jewish alliance being led by the United States and Israel. Now they have taken the country of the two holy mosques. The only source of strength is Allah. We seek to instigate the nation to get up and liberate its land, to fight for the sake of God, and to make the Islamic law the highest law, and the word of God the highest word of all. [S'ad-al-Din Ibrahim, journalist and social sciences professor at the American University of Cairo] With regards to Bin Ladin, he is the exception that proves the rule, because he is the youngest child, and because his family, despite its considerable wealth, is still considered a marginal one in Saudi Arabia originating from Hadramaut, which is why he was not fully accepted in Saudi society despite his wealth This marginalization sometimes explains the desire to rebel against the system, and if he is unable to do this on the inside, then he does it from the outside. This applies to some Saudi princes -- even in the era of [former Egyptian President Jamal] 'Abd-al-Nasir -- who were not very popular among the Saudi royal family and who rebelled against the royal family, the system, and their class as a result of attempts to marginalize them. ['Abd-al-Bari 'Atwan, editor in chief of the London-based Al-Quds al-'Arabi newspaper] I found him to be a man who is very modest in nature. He believes in every word he says. He does not lie. He does not exaggerate. He does not complement anyone. He does not even try to hide anything. He expresses everything he feels. He is very enigmatic. His voice is calm and well-mannered. I spent a whole day with him and I truly sensed his charm, his refined manners, and true modesty, not exaggerated or with fake modesty. He is a man who seeks the after-life and who truly feels that he has lived more than enough. You feel that there is a sadness inside him -- which he did not express -- that he was not martyred when he was fighting the Soviet or the communists or the heathens. You feel like he is saying: Why am I alive? [Larry Johnson, expert on terrorism and former US intelligence officer, in English with superimposed Arabic translation] It is clear, he has killed and wounded more American citizens than any other group involved in terrorist attacks in the past seven years. No individual or group has killed as many Americans or foreigners. For example, if we were to count the number of victims per attack, we find that Usama Bin Ladin and his followers have killed about 125 victims per attack, while Hamas [Islamic Resistance Movement]—which is number two on the list -- has killed six victims per attack. This difference shows that Bin Ladin is not doing the ordinary, but rather has taken it upon himself to carry out a clear mission. He believes that the United States is desecrating the cradle of Islam in Saudi Arabia, and has thus directed his war against American interests. Fortunately, his capabilities are limited; afterall he is only human. He is not a giant, he is not superman, nor can he tell the future or read minds, but he is still a threat. He has pledged to kill people and has acted on it. I think that he is a man of his word. He made a threat and we should not just consider him an idiot. We should take his threat seriously. Najm: Usama Bin Ladin is the man that the United States has declared war on, and who has declared war in return. An attempt to assassinate him has cost several hundreds of millions of dollars that fell in the form of Cruise missiles on his camp in (Khoft) mountain in Afghanistan. It is the same camp that the United States called the base. The story does not start here. The Afghan war was just starting after a series of military coups, the first of which toppled the monarchy, and brought pro-Soviet Union governments to this hard-to-invade country. The cold war, with all its implications, hit Afghanistan: Soviet troops entered Afghanistan, the United States issued a warning: [Former US President Jimmy Carter; archive recording of speech, date not given; in English] I have sent a message today to the US Olympics Committee spelling out my own position, that unless the Soviets withdraw their troops within a month from Afghanistan, the Olympic games will be moved from Moscow to an alternate site or multiple sites, or postponed, or cancelled. Najm: The resistance movement began. The mujahidin were fighting communist atheism, while the United States was fighting the progress of Soviet influence, and for the first time in centuries, the banner of Jihad in the name of Islam and the war on the Soviets in the name of Jihad was raised. There are those who say that this holy war was launched in the name of the United States and with its support Were the mujahidin US agents who turned against Washington when it turned on them? Usama Bin Ladin: This is a US attempt to distort things. Praise be to God who made their plots backfire on them. Every Muslim who sees discrimination begins to hate the Americans, the Jews, and Christians. This is part of our religion and faith. Since I become aware of things around me, I have been in a war, enmity, hatred against the Americans. What they claim has never happened. Saying that they supported jihad or fighting, it became clear to us that this support was from the Arab states, particularly the Gulf states, for Pakistan to encourage it to support jihad. This support was not for the sake of Almighty God, but out of fear for their thrones from the Soviet advance. At the time time, Carter was the US President. He could not say anything significant until after some 20 days in 1399 [hegira], corresponding to 20 January [year not given]. He said any Russian interference in the Gulf region will be termed an aggression against the United States. This is because he occupies this region and its oil. This is why he said we will use military force if this interference takes place. The Americans are lying when they say that they cooperated with us in the past, and we challenge them to show any evidence of this. The truth of the matter is that they were a burden on us and on the mujahidin in Afghanistan. There was no agreement on this. We were doing our duty in support of Islam in Afghanistan, although this duty used to serve, against our desire, the US interests. This situation was similar to the Muslims' fight against the Romans. We know that fighting between the Romans and the Persians has always been strong. So, no wise man can say that when the Muslims fought the Romans first at the Mu'tah battle they were agents to the Persians, but interests met at this point. In other words, your killing of the Romans, which is a duty for you, used to please the Persians However, after they finished with the Romans, they began to fight the Persians. So, the conversion of interests without agreement does not necessarily mean relations or agentry. In fact, we have been hostile to them since then. Praise be to God, we gave lectures during those days in Hejaz and Najd on the need to boycott the US goods and to attack the US forces and the US economy. This was more than 12 years ago. Najm: The United States has always tried to belittle the size of the role it played there, however, it admitted that it extended aid. In the US capital, Washington, Larry Johnson, a former US intelligence employee, is still doing his job of training government quarters on how to combat terrorism. He speaks about that period: Johnson: Several foreign powers before the Russians went into Afghanistan. The British went to Afghanistan and tried to control its people. The British and the Russians failed. I do not think that there is anyone who can control Afghanistan other than its people However, saying that the United States went there and trained the mujahidin how to use rifles or plant explosives, this is nonsense. Did we do this? Yes, we went and helped in training and we provided them with aid which helped them in expelling the Russians. However, this was not a phenomenon that was created by the United States. This practice has been going on there for centuries, and we should realize this. Najm: At the beginning of that war, the Arabs used to flow into Afghanistan, mujahidin and journalists. Jamal Isma'il, al-Jazirah correspondent, used to study there at the time. He was acquainted with a wealthy young man who was full of enthusiasm of jihad against the infidels. Usama Bin Ladin was in Peshawar: Isma'il: I was first introduced to Shaykh Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin when he used to visit the Pakistani city of Peshawar during the Afghan jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. At the time, I was a student at Peshawar University. I used to visit the Arab relief aid offices to report news to those interested at the time. I knew him first in 1984 when he established a services center. It was called the Mujahidin Services Center [MSC]. I knew him in the city of Peshawar in 1984 when the MSC was established in cooperation between Shaykh Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin and the Palestinian Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam who was killed in Peshawar in 1989. At the time, Usama Bin Ladin used to finance the biggest part of the MSC budget and some Arab preachers or mujahidin at the Afghan fronts. However, he was not a permanent resident in Peshawar or on the Afghan territories. He used to come to these areas once every three or four months. Most of the time, he used to come to Peshawar to acquaint himself with the situation and to meet with the Afghan mujahidin leaders, Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, and others. He used to visit the internal Afghan fronts. Later, things developed for him. So, he financed the establishment of the first camp for the Arab mujahidin in 1986 or at the end of 1986. This camp began to prepare and train Arab fighters in an areas in Afghanistan and close to the Pakistani border. It was called the (Geiji). [Golbbuddin Hekmatyar, a leading Afghan leader] Usama Bin Ladin came to Afghanistan when many states used to encourage their youths to go to Afghanistan to take part in the battles there. The United States also did not object to this. A number of Muslims used to come from the United States too. They participated in the battles during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Usama Bin Ladin also came at the same time. The Saudi Government also did not object to this. He stayed in Afghanistan. Najm: However, the losing party in this war had another viewpoint. General (Valenkov), commander of the Soviet land forces in Afghanistan, laid down his arms and became a member of the Soviet Parliament. However, several years ago, when the war was at its peak, the general was at the frontline, fighting the Mujahidin. Then he withdrew. (Valenkov): The United States played a really decisive role. Since we sent our forces into Afghanistan, the Americans knew about our decision which was very well known. However, the Americans kept silent. They did not show any stand for fear that we might change our opinion. They wanted us to go there. But when we entered Afghanistan, they did their utmost to fully support the Afghan opposition, materially, technologically, and ideologically. They exploited the presence of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran. They provided every material need to establish military camps, training centers, arsenals, and bases. Some other countries also contributed to this, including Pakistan for a clear purpose; namely, preparing the Afghan refugees in the best possible way. Obviously, we called those who constituted armed factions gangs but they were real armed groups. They used to dispatch arms convoys to Afghanistan through Pakistan. They knew that they had definite tasks and that they were fighting not only for religion or a cause but for the substantial amounts of money they were receiving. The mujahidin had a direct financial interest in fighting and this is very important. Najm: During the battles that raged in Afghanistan between the government forces and the Mujahidin, Usama Bin Ladin visited Afghanistan several times. During these visits, his participation in the operations with the mujahidin developed from one level to the next. Usama Bin Ladin: This military camp was called the al-Ansar Lions' Den, or the Arab camp. In 1987, it was exposed to land and air attacks from the Soviet and Afghan communist government forces against the Arab camps at the time. The Afghan fighters who were there withdrew when the battles, the air attacks, and the landing of paratroopers began. The Arab fighters, led by Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam and Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin and a group that, as far as we knew, did not exceed 35 persons, held their ground for two weeks of fierce fighting. Then the so-called legend of Bin Ladin or the Arab fighters in Afghanistan was born and began to develop gradually, especially ... [sentence incomplete; voice fades out] Najm: This was Usama Bin Ladin's experience that was accumulated in years of fighting. An experience of which he is proud because he believes it ended with a victory over the Soviets, an experience he used to establish a training camp which was attacked by the United States with missiles. The United States called this camp the "base camp." Najm: Two main characters were the driving force behind receiving and organizing Arab fighters and then sending them to the battlefield. They were Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, a Palestinian shaykh who decided to undertake jihad, and Usama Bin Ladin. [Begin recording of Shaykh 'Azzam's voice over video clip of tanks firing, battle scenes, piles of ammunition, scenes of destruction, and the 1996 house and camp of Bin Ladin] Shaykh 'Azzam: To the widowed mothers, orphaned children, our righteous martyrs, makers of glory, and leaders of conquests, we present this tape entitled: The buzzing of bullets. Usama Bin Ladin: Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, may God have mercy on his soul, is a man worth a nation. After his assassination, Muslim women proved to be unable to give birth to a man like him. The people of jihad who lived that epoch know that Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan has not benefited from anyone as it has from Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam. He instigated the nation from the farthest east to the farthest west. During that blessed jihad, the activities of Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam, may god bless his soul, as well as the activities of our brother mujahidin in Palestine, particularly Hamas, increased. His books, particularly his book The Verses of the Merciful, began to enter Palestine and instigate the nation for jihad against the Jews. The shaykh proceeded from the narrow, regional, and often city atmosphere that was familiar to Islamists and shaykhs, to the larger Islamic world and began to instigate this Islamic world We and the shaykh were in one boat, as is known to you, together with our brother Wa'il Jalidan. A plot was concocted to assassinate all. We were very careful not to be together all the time. I often asked the shaykh, may God have mercy on his soul, to stay away from Peshawar in (Sada) due to the increasing plots, especially since one or two weeks earlier a bomb was discovered in the mosque where the shaykh lived in Sab' al-Layl. The Jews were mostly harmed by Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam's movement. It is believed that Israel, together with some of its Arab agents, were the ones who assassinated the shaykh. As for this accusation, I think that it is being promoted today by the Jews, Americans, and some of their agents. However, this is not worth a response. It is illogical for a person to chop off his head and the one who was in the field knows the extent of the strong relationship between me and Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam. This accusation is silly and baseless. There was no competition [between me and him] Shaykh 'Abdallah's field was that of call [da'wah] and instigation, while we were on the (Baktia) mountains in the interior. He sent us young people as well as directives. We did what he ordered us. We pray that God will accept him and his two sons, Muhammad and Ibrahim, as martyrs, and to compensate the nation by giving it one who can carry out the duty he used to perform. Ibrahim: This was a phenomenon that was considered healthy by all those opposing occupation and colonialism, even if this colonialism was by a friendly state like the Soviet Union at that time. When the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan came to an end, a large number of the volunteers maintained fighting as part of their lifestyle. They diverted their attention from fighting a non-Muslim foreign occupier to an attempt to topple regimes in Arab and Islamic states, which they did not consider sufficiently Islamic. Those Arab nationals were called the Afghan Arabs or Arab Afghans. Some of them returned to Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, and other states and tried to do so. They originally came from middle-class society and had some degree of knowledge and education. They had an ambition to be something in this life through public service, educational excellence, or vocational prominence. When they faced obstacles to the attainment of their ambition, which I think was legitimate, they either left their country in search of other opportunities abroad, or began to question the legitimacy of the regime, which does not allow them to fulfill this legitimate ambition. [Valyenkov, commander of Russian ground troops in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion of the country, speaking in Russian with superimposed Arabic translation] We evacuated Afghanistan in circumstances that I vividly remember, because I was there. There were lots of flowers. Similarly, the people were tearful. Of course, this was not the sentiment of all Afghans. For those who were hurt by the war or suffered a setback as a result of it had completely different sentiments. Nonetheless, most Afghans had fears about the repercussions of our withdrawal from the country. They even tried to obstruct this withdrawal. If we are to talk about Afghan leaders, they did not want this at all. I am talking about Najibullah and others. [video footage from archives shows hostilities in the Afghan war] Najm: The Soviets left. They withdrew after it had become clear that Afghanistan was a quagmire that drowned the Soviet Union in stagnant political and military waters. The entire Soviet empire was about to collapse. The mujahidin felt victorious and proud, because they felt that they brought the greatest military power on earth to its knees. They waged the war and won it. An enemy was vanquished while another is still to be overcome. Usama Bin Ladin: Nowadays, jihad needs to be waged by the nation. The obligation to engage in jihad may be dropped if people suffer from disability. But, we believe that those who participated in the jihad in Afghanistan bear the greatest responsibility in this regard, because they realized that with insignificant capabilities, with a small number of RPG's, with a small number of antitank mines, with a small number of Kalashnikov rifles, they managed to crush the greatest empire known to mankind. They crushed the greatest military machine. The so-called superpowers vanished into thin air. We think that the United States is very much weaker than Russia. Based on the reports we received from our brothers who participated in jihad in Somalia, we learned that they saw the weakness, frailty, and cowardice of US troops. Only 80 US troops were killed. Nonetheless, they fled in the heart of darkness, frustrated, after they had caused great commotion about the new world order. [Jamal Isma'il, al-Jazirah correspondent who conducted an interview with Bin Ladin] Until the year 1989, he [Bin Ladin] was in Peshawar or in Afghanistan in general. He used to frequent Peshawar. Afterwards, he left for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a visit. He was denied travel for domestic reasons. However, the former Pakistani government said that this had something to do with the Pakistani Government, which asked that he be deported from Pakistani territory. Najm: A short while after his return to Saudi Arabia, the region was boiling with change. The following year, the earthquake occurred [video shows footage from the archives of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti crisis] [Former US President George Bush, in English] We're here to protect freedom, we're here to protect our future, and we're here to protect innocent lives. But we won't pull punches, we are not here on some exercise. This is a real world situation. And we are not walking away until our mission is done, until the invader is out of Kuwait. And that may well be where you come in. [Gulf War footage from archives] Najm: Arab Afghans began to return to their home countries at almost the same time. Since that date, their presence was felt in several Arab capitals which pointed a finger of accusation at them regarding many operations which extremist Islamic groups were accused of. In Algeria, in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia, and many of them appeared in the United Kingdom. Isma'il: After the second Gulf war, the war of Kuwait, Usama Bin Ladin was given a passport by the Saudi Government—and at the time he was not permitted to have a passport—with an exit-only visa. The following day, he left for the Pakistani city of Peshawar. At the time, his movement and activity was engulfed with some secrecy in fear of being exposed to assassination, especially since Shaykh 'Abdallah 'Azzam was assassinated in Peshawar with his two sons Muhammad and Ibrahim two years earlier. Usama Bin Ladin: We were in deep grief during the dispute between these factions and the parties of the Mujahidin. But God Almighty was gracious to the Arab nations by giving it the Taleban Movement, which came to rescue this Jihad from the US scheme which supported Najib [Najibullah] and was pressuring the Mujahidin, through Pakistan, to form a secular government. Fifty percent of its members would be former communists and some of those who had studied in the west, and the rest would be from the seven Afghan parties. Praise be to God, we were blessed with the coming of this movement. It came at a time when things came to a head and people got sick and tired of bandits of which there were becoming more and more, unfortunately. The Americans and their allies managed to divide Afghanistan to five small states. You, in Pakistan, no doubt are watching this. There was a state in the east, which is called (Hawzat Sharq), Jalalabad. They are (Ningirhar) (Lughman) and (Kunar). There was a state and a president of a state. Their leader was Haji Qadir. In the west there was another state, there was a state and a president of a state led by Haji Qadir. In the West there was another state, (Hawzat Gharb). Muhammad Isma'il Khan and he ruled over three to four provinces between (Hirat), (Farah), and Numrouz) and that too was a virtually independent government from Afghanistan. In the north there was the state that was supported by the communists in the past and it was led by Dostum. He had provinces there. In the north and the center there was a government ruled by Ahmad Shah Mas'ud and Najib and Sayyaf. What is shocking is that every time Muslims are deceived. How can we believe that a government can be established in Kabul and in one neighborhood we have, Najib the communist who killed more than 70,000 Muslims, and right next to him there is Ahmad Shah Mas'ud? How can we believe that they had a joint government in the full sense of the word and that the former communist president Najib signs the state budget? Then we are told: We are not Communists and we do not support the communists. In reality, it was a joint government being supported by foreign parties and Najib was part of it. The southern part was a state for the Taleban. It consists of the provinces of Qandahar, Zabol, and (Hilmend). So there were five governments in this small state, not to mention the bandits who were considered small states with the states. God blessed the Muslims with the coming of the Taleban rule. It was not a force being pushed in from abroad, as the Crusaders in the western media try to depict them; but it was rather a pulling force from the inside. People had become sick and tired of road bandits and from paying taxes and protection money. So any tribe that had students of religion who had connections with the Taleban they [the Taleban] would ask the students to come to this or that province. This is why we see that engineer Hekmatyar was on the borders of Kabul for four years. He had the public support of Pakistan and was trying to move forward a few meters to seize Kabul, but he could not. It is known that the Islamic party led by Hekmatyar is the best Afghan party in terms of power, organization, and deployment in Afghanistan. He could not move forward. On the other hand, it is also known, these students of religion are generally young and many of them had not participated in fighting. But because of the popular support after the people had reached a state of despair from previous events, they were successful. Hekmatyar: I honestly think that this war was forced on us just like these wars were imposed on all the Muslims in the world. I ask you: Why are all the wars taking place in the Muslim world? Why are Muslims being killed and their houses destroyed? Why are the problems in Europe and the United States easily solved, while simple issues in the Muslim world ignite vicious wars? Why the problems in Algeria, Palestine, and Kashmir? I think that the Hizb-e Islami is the underdog. Unfortunately, the Muslim world does not know how this war was imposed, starting with the war that the coalition government in Kabul declared against the Hizb-e Islami and later the Taleban Movement. Why does the US State Department say: We are the ones who did not permit Hekmatyar to enter Kabul? The US defense minister said: We cannot allow the Hizb-e Islami to rule Kabul; while a CIA official tells CNN: We have decided to destroy the Hizb-e Islami. This is what they say, but there are people who do not know how the war started, who is funding it, and why it is being launched against the Hizb-e Islami, or why the coalition government and later the Taleban movement are waging a war against the party. The United States was behind this war just to prove to everyone that Jihad is a failure. If an Islamic government was formed by the mujahidin after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States believed that this type of government will spread to the rest of the rest of the region. They thought to themselves: We must strike at this movement and not allow the mujahidin to form an Islamic government. They consequently imposed this war on us. Isma'il: In 1991 and 1992, I interviewed him [Bin Ladin] more than once to find out some details. At that time I was a correspondent for [London-based] Al-Hayah newspaper and he was the head of a reconciliation committee between the Afghan factions that were at war in some states. He was chosen by these factions as a neutral party that is supportive of Afghan jihad in general. After 1992, when the mujahidin parties entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, and were at war with each other, which stunned all observers, especially the Muslims, Usama Bin Ladin -- along with a number of Arab Islamic activists who were in Peshawar and other Arab countries -- exerted intensive mediation efforts between Hekmatyar, Masud, and Rabbani, but all these efforts failed, so he moved to Sudan in mid-1992 and stayed there until May 1996, when the Sudanese Government was forced to ask him to leave. According to the Afghan information minister in the Taleban Government, a deal was made between the United States and Sudan to drive Usama Bin Ladin out to Afghanistan because Afghanistan has no means of communication. In return for this, the sanctions and economic and political pressure on Sudan was to be eased off. 'Atwan: He [Bin Ladin] told me about attempts to tempt him to stop his jihad and the money he was offered. He said -- and he was telling the truth -- that he was offered hundreds of millions of dollars and he refused them. He named the mediators who visited him, whether in Sudan or even in Afghanistan, to talk him into going back, and he refused. He used to affirm that he will stick with this approach until the end and that he has dedicated his life to the cause of God and Islam. He was saying this without hesitation. He told me about his days in Sudan and the challenge he faced when Arab aid to Sudan stopped and how he was able to survive with limited local resources. He told me about the agricultural projects he carried out in the al-Jazirah area in Sudan. He told me that this country can feed the whole world if it were allowed to be properly invested. He told me about how he was able to produce a record number of sunflowers. His agricultural projects were many and included cotton farms. He wished he could have stayed in Sudan and continued his projects, but he was forced to flee back to Afghanistan. Najm: In 1994, we saw the first attack against US targets in the Middle East begin. The target was Riyadh, the headquarters of the US mission which was training the Saudi National Guard. In 1996, an attack was carried out in al-Khubar, the headquarters of the US Marine force. Some reports linked both with Usama Bin Ladin, who made every effort to praise the men who carried out the attacks. Usama Bin Ladin: These were popular reactions by young men who willingly offered their lives, seeking the satisfaction of Almighty God. I hold in great esteem and respect these great men because they removed the brand of shame from the forehead of our [Islamic] nation, whether those who carried out attacks in Riyadh or those who carried out bombing attacks in al-Khubar and East Africa and other places. I also view with great esteem our brother cubs in Palestine who are teaching the Jews lessons in faith and the pride of the faithful Regrettably, after these daring operations in Palestine, the world's infidelity was gathered. It is a cause of sadness that they gathered on the soil of Egypt. They gathered their agents from the rulers of the region, the Arab rulers, who had been deceiving the Islamic nation for more than half a century. Whenever a president and a king met they used to say that they discussed the Palestinian cause. Fifty years later, the clear picture emerged; namely, they met not only to betray the mujahidin in Palestine but to denounce these cubs whose fathers and brothers were killed, imprisoned, and tortured in defense of their religion and for endeavoring to evacuate the infidels from their land The proverb says: Clear things are impossible to explain. 'Abd-al-Bari 'Atwan, chief editor of the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds al-'Arabi] Following the attacks on the US forces in al-Khubar and in Riyadh, he [Bin Ladin] expressed unusual sympathy with those who carried out the attacks. He was very close to saying that they were from among his supporters. He was close but he did not say this. You sense pride in his eyes, that these real men, as he told me, were capable of implementing these two successful operations. Najm: However, the real turning point which drew the attention of the United States was the issuance of a fatwa [religious edict]. Usama Bin Ladin: The previous fatwa says that in our religion, we have divisions that are different from what they claim, even if they claim something and act in the opposite way. We differentiate between the man, the woman, the child, and the old people. The man is a fighter, whether he carries arms or helps kill us by paying taxes and by gathering information. He is a fighter. With regards to reports among Muslims that 'Usama is threatening to kill civilians, then, what are they killing in Palestine? They are killing children, not only civilians, but children as well. The United States has an advantage media-wise and has great media power that varies its standards according to its needs. Our enemy, the target -- if God gives Muslims the opportunity to do so -- is every American male, whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes. You may have heard these days that almost three quarters of the US people support Clifton's strikes on Iraq. They are a people whose president becomes more popular when he kills innocent people. They are a people who increase their support for their president when he commits some of the seven cardinal sins. They are a lowly people who do not understand the meaning of principles. As I said, we are pursuing our rights to have them [the Americans] evicted from the Muslim world countries and to prevent them from dominating us. We believe that the right to self-defense is to be enjoyed by all people. Israel is stockpiling hundreds of nuclear warheads and bombs. The Christian West is largely in possession of such weapons. Hence, we do not regard this as a charge, but rather as a right We do not accept to see anybody level charges against us in this regard. It is as if you were accusing a man of being a courageous knight and fighter. It is as if you were denying him this. Only a man who is not in his right mind would level such accusations. This is a right. We supported the Pakistani people and congratulated them when God was gracious enough to enable them to acquire the nuclear weapon We regard this as one of our rights, of Muslim rights. We disregard such worn-out US charges. Let us say that there are two parties to the conflict: The first party is world Christianity, which is allied with Zionist Jewry and led by the United States, Britain, and Israel; while the second party is the Muslim world. In such a conflict, it is unacceptable to see the first party mount attacks, desecrate my lands and holy shrines, and plunder the Muslims' oil. When it is met by any resistance on the part of the Muslims, this party brands the Muslims as terrorists. This is stupidity. People's intelligence is being belittled. We believe that it is our religious duty to resist this occupation with all the power that we have and to punish it using the same means it is pursuing against us. The US claims are numerous. If we presume that they are true, we are not concerned by them. These people are resisting the forces of world infidelity that occupied their lands. Why should the United States get angry when the people resist its aggressions? Its claims are baseless. However, if it means that I have something to do with instigating them, I would like to say that this is obvious. I have frequently admitted to having done so. I admitted that I was one of those who cosigned the fatwa [religious edict] that urged the nation to engage in jihad. We did so a few years ago. Thanks be to God, many people responded favorably to our fatwa. Of these people were the brothers whom we regard as martyrs. They were brother 'Abd-al-'Aziz al-Mi'thim, who was killed in Riyadh, brother Muslih al-Shamrani, brother Riyad al-Hajiri, and brother Khalid al-Sa'id. The only strength is that bestowed by God. We beseech Almighty God to accept them all During interrogation, they admitted to coming under the influence of some of the statements and circulars we issued to people. In these statements and circulars, we communicated the fatwas issued by clergymen regarding the need to engage in jihad against these US occupiers. 'Atwan: I felt that the man had his own vision and special strategy. This strategy is based on his concept of the region. The first point in this strategy is that the US Administration or the US forces, which he considers occupation forces in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, are a prelude to a comprehensive Israeli-Jewish hegemony over the region with the aim of looting its wealth and humiliating its Muslim people. One senses this as the essence of his creed and strategy. Therefore, he believes that expelling these US forces from the Arab world is a top priority. He believes that the regimes should be reformed or, more correctly, changed. The regimes immune to reform should be changed, the shari'ah should be applied properly, and a just Islamic system should be set up in the Islamic and Arab states, particularly the Gulf states. This is a summary of his strategy. Currently, he does not want to fight the regimes. That is what he told me He wants to fight the Americans, who are protecting these regimes. Najm: Although Usama Bin Ladin insists in all his statements that his role is confined to the issuance of fatwas and instigation, he almost stated in the interview conducted with him by our correspondent Jamal Isma'il that he was aware of all aspects of the US Embassy explosion in Nairobi. Usama Bin Ladin: It was a painful blow. They [the Americans] had not sustained such a blow since the blowing up of the Marines in Lebanon The Nairobi [US] Embassy was actually six embassies comBined in one. The brutal US invasion of Somalia kicked off from there. Some 13,000 from among our brothers, women, and sons in Somalia were killed under the banner of the United Nations. Reports, corroborated by photographs, said that our Somali brothers were grilled as if they were sheep. It is only God who bestows strength They did not speak about the scope of brutality or aggression and so forth and so on. Muslims are always reproached when they defend themselves. For the past few decades, plots have been hatched to partition Sudan from there. These plots are hatched in Nairobi. As is widely known, the US Embassy in Nairobi is the agency that is doing this. The greatest CIA center in eastern Africa is located at this embassy. Thanks to God's grace to Muslims, the blow was successful and great. They deserved it. It made them taste what we tasted during the massacres committed in Sabra, Shatila, Dayr Yasin, Qana, Hebron, and elsewhere. Najm: The United States did not make do with the bombardment. It issued an arrest warrant against Usama Bin Ladin and promised a $5 million prize to whoever provides information leading to his arrest. It tried to freeze his financial assets. Usama Bin Ladin began his odyssey in Afghanistan when he was 22 years old. Now, he is 42 years old. He was the paramount Arab Afghan. The number of Arab Afghans in Afghanistan is diminishing. Those who met him said that he is no longer the same man. 'Atwan: I believe that the Nairobi and Dar es Salam bombings changed Bin Ladin. He was aware that the Americans were targeting him, but not with this intensity. There was not a single piece of evidence that he was behind the al-Khubar and Riyadh bombings. He may have been wanted by the Americans. But, there was no powerful evidence incriminating him. I think that the situation now is different Nonetheless, even prior to these two incidents, the man took all the necessary security precautions. For example, I know that he built a camp in the open air to give the impression that it was his base when he was interviewed by CNN. It was not a base. I am aware of this He did not allow the CNN team to bring its own camera. The team left for the camp and found the camera waiting for it. It was Bin Ladin's camera. He asked the team members not to bring anything with them. The CNN team members were inspected, pursued, and monitored indirectly to make sure that they were neither followed nor monitored by the US intelligence service. The man knows how to take care of his security concerns. I hope that he will be successful in his efforts in this regard. He is taking his own precautions. I know that he is now in a secure place, that his moves are banned, not because Taleban wants to restrain his moves, but because it wants to protect him. Taleban officials have strong convictions that the press and press men are the trap that could track his whereabouts and bring about his liquidation. Isma'il: It goes without saying that he feels that is under siege. He as well as the Afghan Taleban-led government have admitted that his moves in Afghanistan are not restrained. Nonetheless, he is banned from engaging in any action originating in Afghan territory against any country whatsoever regardless of whether or not it has recognized the Taleban-led government. All that he is currently doing on Afghan territory is confined to addressing appeals, engaging in media-related activities, and issuing fatwas, along with a group of Afghan or other clergymen, promoting fighting, which Taleban cannot ban or restrain, because this is enshrined in Koranic verses and traditions of the prophet. Najm: The base was destroyed, but Bin Ladin survived. He is trying to mobilize more supporters even though he has fears that their number may shrink in the future. Usama Bin Ladin: When jihad was obscured for a long time, we saw the emergence of a generation of students who did not experience the heat of jihad. They were affected by the US media that invaded Islamic countries. Without even engaging in combat, they suffered a psychological defeat. They acknowledge the necessity for jihad. Nonetheless, they say that they cannot fulfill such an obligation. The people who had the honor of engaging in jihad in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzevogina, or Chechnya--we had such an honor--are certain that the nation nowadays can, God willing, engage in jihad against the enemies of Islam, particularly, the external archenemy, the Crusader-Jewish alliance. Najm: All this brings us back to the Arabian Gulf, which some call the Persian Gulf. Shiites are living on one of its coasts, while the other coast is inhabited by a comBination of Sunnites and Shiites. Holy shrines are located to the west of the gulf: In Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. Similarly, holy shrines are located to the north: In al-Najaf and Karbala'. There are also holy shrines in the east: In Qom and Mashhad. Afghanistan is a stone's throw away. Iraq is under siege. Weapons are deployed at sea, on land, and in the air. An oil artery is running through its waters. It is the embodiment of wealth and conflict. What we forget in the midst of routine details is the cumulative effect of things. When somebody drops a stone in a river, this may cause the river course to change once and for all. Washington and Usama Bin Ladin are part of this mosaic. To them, the targets have been delineated and the pursuit has begun. [Description of source: Independent Television station financed by the Qatari Government] Bin Ladin Calls On Muslims To Declare Jihad Against US Rawalpindi Jang in Urdu 25 Jul 99 pp 1,6 [ANN Report] [FBIS Translated Text] Kabul—Muslim mujahid Usama Bin Ladin has said that the United States is an enemy of Islam and Muslims He said that trusting the United States is like cutting one's own feet. He said that if the Muslim ummah did not unite against the United States, the US will hatch a conspiracy to create distance among them or eliminate them one by one to the extent that their ability to speak up or resist will die. He said that Islamic world will stand to lose if this happens. According to information received from Taleban sources from across the border, Usama Bin Ladin has said that whether US commandos arrive or rewards fixed for his arrest, the United States will not be able to harm him as he enjoys the support of his Allah [God]. He said that the United States will have to face defeat in every matter. Usama Bin Ladin said the United States' journey towards destruction will start before the arrival of 21st century because this the century of Islam and therefore the Muslim Ummah should declare a jihad against the United States. According to Taliban sources, although agents on US payroll have become active in gathering information about the exact location of Usama Bin Ladin, the US will have no success in this regard. [Description of source: Jang--largest circulation daily] UBL Orders Mujahidin To Shoot US Commandos 'on Sight' Islamabad Khabrain in Urdu 12 Sep 99 pp 1, 6 [Report by Khabrain Correspondents] [FBIS Translated Text] Mardan, Kot Chatha, Sher Garh--Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman has once again threatened the government that if Pakistan's land was used to attack Afghanistan, holy war would be declared against the United States and no American would be safe in Pakistan as well as in the entire world. Talking to religious scholars of Mardan and leaders of Jamiat, he said that economic sanctions on Afghanistan would not be tolerated. He said that to block the western power, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam had contacted the Muslim world, and if economic sanctions were imposed the entire Muslim world would boycott the United Nations Organization. He told the party leaders that Jamiat was about to face tough times because the rulers were preparing to sign the CTBT, putting the country's security at stake in order to extend their government. But, he said, if the decision was taken against the wishes of the people, Jamiat would vigorously oppose it. Moreover, President of Sipah-i-Sahaba Maulana Mohammad Azam Tariq has said that they had no link with the movement or the protest of non-religious forces, and that they could ally only with religious parties. He said that Usama Bin Ladin was a representative of the entire Muslim nation. He added that signing CTBT was analogous to renouncing the nuclear program. Replying to a question about Saraiki province, he said that making provinces would not solve problems, but the situation could be controlled only by providing inexpensive and speedy justice to the common man. He said that signing the CTBT was more dangerous than not signing it. Denying the statement attributed to him about not making an alliance with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said that they had no link with protests and rallies of non-religious forces and they could ally themselves only with religious parties. Earlier, on arrival in Kot Chatha, Maulana Azam Tariq was given a tremendous reception. Moreover, a message of Usama Bin Ladin was conveyed to students of religious institutions in which the Saudi holy warrior has asked them to speed up the holy war against infidels. He said that this century was the century of eminence of Islam and the United States could neither arrest nor murder him. Usama said in the message to the Mujahidin that the entire world was after Islamic countries. He said that Chechnyans and Kashmiris were his brothers and it was his responsibility to help them. He issued orders to shoot foreign commandos on sight. [Description of source: Khabrain--daily providing generally sensationalistic coverage of the news; generally opposes the Pakistan People's Party] UBL Denies Providing Military Aid to Kashmiris Rawalpindi Jang in Urdu 28 Sep 99 pp 1, 7 [Report by Zafar Mehmood Malik] [FBIS Translated Text] Islamabad--The great holy warrior of the Islamic world, Usama Bin Ladin, has said that he has only Islamic brotherly relations with the Kashmiri Muslims, but is not helping them militarily. Conveying his message to the Islamic world through the "Jang" group, a special representative of Usama said that Usama Bin Ladin had made it clear that he issued no statement about India and that his companions were not active in the Kashmir war. [Usama said] that India was using his name to get US sympathies and that he issued no war declaration against India. He said that he feared that Indian intelligence agency RAW was issuing such statements to get US support for their [Indian] aims. [Description of source: Jang--largest circulation daily] 2000 Usama Bin Ladin Denounces US-Sponsored 'World Order' Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 9 Jan 00 pp 1, 7 [Report by Bakht Ullah Jan Hasrat] [FBIS Translated Text] Shergarh—In his message on the occasion of 'Id al-Fitr, the famous, popular, and great mujahid, Usama Bin Ladin, said that 'Id al-Fitr and other Islamic festivals teach us a lesson on love, brotherhood, and unity, among Muslims only. He asked the Muslim ummah [nation] to collectively pledge to help other Muslims, with their lives and money, all over the world when they are in trouble. He appealed to Muslims to remain united because it is very difficult, if not impossible, to defeat anti-Islam forces without unity. Usama Bin Ladin pledged to fight against the alliance of the United States, India, and Israel. He expressed the hope that Muslims would soon defeat the anti-Islam conspirators with the grace of Allah. He said that he and his comrades are like mountains of stone against anti-Muslim aggression. He made this pledge to the whole Muslim ummah in his message on the occasion of 'Id al-Fitr. He said the United States wants to rule the world with force. But, we would like to tell it that we are the soldiers of Allah. Only the followers of Allah and Muslims will rule the world, he added. The conspiracies of Christians and Jews will not succeed. The United States should not forget the fate of Russia. The United States will also be divided into 52 states, he warned. We do not accept the world order of the United States, he said, we believe only in the world order of Allah, he added. [Description of source: Pakistan--widely read daily generally supportive of the Pakistan Muslim League] UBL Sees Holy War in 'Every Street' of US Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 02 May 00 pp 8, 6 [Report by correspondent] FBIS Translated Text] Shergarh—The holy warrior of Saudi origin, Usama Bin Ladin; has declared that a holy war against the United States is the duty of every Muslim and that there will be a holy war against the United States in the United States. He said he was a holy warrior not a terrorist. He said all Jews including Clinton was their [holy warriors] enemy. He said it was God's order to continue holy war against the Jews. He urged the holy warriors to unite as the destination was near. He said Islam would spread everywhere in the 21st century. He said he would continue cooperation with the holy warriors all over the world as much as possible. He said he would certainly make all the eminent Jewish people including Clinton to stand trial in a court. He was addressing delegations of holy warriors at a secrete place in Afghanistan who visited him from various places in world. He said he was not afraid of US threats. He said holy war was the purpose of his life and that a time was fixed for his death before which, he said, he would not die. He said if he was destined to be killed by the Americans they would certainly kill him. He said he would be lucky to get killed by an enemy as he would become a martyr. He said wherever he was going [as published]. He said the United States wanted to scare him but he was not afraid of US threats. He said there would be a holy war in every street of the United States. He said the Mujahidin who supported him were present in every corner of the world and they could start a holy war wherever they went. Referring to the terrorism allegations by the United States, Europe and other enemy countries, he said he was fighting the enemies of Islam and the oppressors of human beings, which was a holy war not terrorism. He said they were not terrorists but certainly holy warriors. He said Islam was the religion of peace and security and that holy war was essential for peace and security. He said all the Jews including Clinton who had destroyed the world's peace were their [holy warriors] enemies and that the holy warriors of Islam would inflict a crushing defeat on them. He said the dream of having him stand trial would never come true. He said the holy warriors would make all the eminent Jewish people including Clinton stand trial in a court. \ He said the holy warriors from all over the world were brothers and that he considered it his duty to cooperate with them. He said Islam's victory was near, the holy warriors should intensify the holy war and create unity in their rank and file. [Description of Source: Description of Source: Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu -- Widely read daily generally supportive of the Pakistan Muslim League] Supporters of Shariah Website Publishes Bin Ladin 'Speech' Internet Supporters of Shariah WWW-Text in English 22 Jun 00 [Unattributed report on "speech" by Saudi oppositionist Usama Bin Ladin; place and date not given; from "Al-Jihaad" newsletter published on the Supporters of Shariah website: "Usama Speaks on Hijrah and the Islamic State?" Speech can be located at http://www.ummah.net/alansar/aj1/aj4.html] [FBIS Transcribed Text] This is a khutbah [sermon] by Usama Bin Ladin. Usama Bin Ladin left his Saudi citizen at the age of 22 and he left to go and fight against the Russians in Afghanistan. Being the son of a multi-billionaire, he went with a lot of wealth and he built roads, schools and hospitals for the Afghanis. And he became loved by the people for his sacrifice not only in wealth but also on the battlefield in killing the Russian soldiers who had invaded Afghanistan in the year between 1979 and 1980. So he partake he was on the front-line. And because of his stance against the presence of the American troops in the holy lands, he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship. He was living in the Sudan for a time. And because of the pressure from the West, USA, he was asked to leave the USA and now he has gained sanctuary in the one and only Islamic state in the world today and that is Afghanistan. He has given a speech in regards to the importance of liberating the Holy Land and insha'llah we will be translating this speech word for word because in our opinion everything he said is of extreme importance. Every word is like a gem it is of extreme importance. This speech of his is very important. He begun by saying: "All praise is due to Allah Lord of the Worlds, We praise Him and we seek His Help and we seek His Forgiveness. We seek refuge from Allah from the evil in ourselves and the vile consequences of our actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to lead him astray, and whomsoever Allah leave to go astray there is none to guide. I testify to the fact that there is nothing in the heavens above nor the earth below which deserves to be worshipped, except Allah He is One, He has no partners. Likewise, I testify to the fact that Muhammad ibn Abdullah is His Last Prophet and Messenger. We thank Allah abundantly for this great blessing Al-Islam. This is a great blessing which Allah has used to rescue us from the darkness of disbelief to the light of Iman (faith). Allah has blessed us in that He has sent onto us the Most Noble of His creation; Muhammad (saw). He his a mercy onto us. Allah has sent him to us after raising him up from among us. He Allah has revealed unto Muhammad (saw) the Most sacred Book and He has chosen the closest Angel Jabril (as) to transmit this book unto Muhammad (saw)." "You should understand that mankind, any person who does not follow the Holy Qu'ran and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw), not only is he astray, but he should lead a wretched life. Because man was created weak as Allah has said in Surah 4:28, "He doesn't know what is beneficial for him or what is harmful onto him. However by follwing the divine example of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw), he will achieve success by entering into the paradise by the will of Allah Ta'ala." "So concerning the life of this world, the Prophet (saw) has made it clear to us what's the way to inherit the paradise. Noone can deny that the most noble soul to set foot on the face of the earth was the Prophet Muhammad (saw). And he is the most noble both in this life and the hereafter. He is the seal of the prophets and the last Messenger. He is their Imam as he led them in salah at Jerusalem. He will be given the great intercession on the day of Judgement when all the prophets will refuse to intercede. And with all this what was his aim, what was his objective. With all this he wished to always be a Mujahid. And nothing else but except a Mujahid. He (saw) wished to always be a shaheed, a person who died on the battlefield fighting for Allah. He (saw) said in a hadith, 'By Allah in whose hand is my life, it is my desire to wage jihad fisibilillah and slain, then I come back and slain.' And he said this as much as ten times. This is the great shahaada, the great martydom, which the holy Prophet (saw) constantly yearns for. Hence, the happy person is the one who makes the holy Prophet (saw) his role model in life. In seeking martydom for Allah's sake. Not the man who piles up worldly incumberances and material things in this dunyia. And he comes to the hereafter with nothing to show. In regards to worship. Nothing to show in regards to sacrifice. Nothing to show in regards to jihad and martydom. This is the purpose of life, so we don't waiver to the right side or the left side, but our only goal is straight forward; shahaada dying for Allah, fighting for Allah, dying for Allah to make his word 'la ilaha illallah' the highest. The slogan of Allah la ilaha illallah the highest, and the kalama the slogan of kuffar the lowest of the low. Then he read the poetry, 'the high blow may be many times the high blows are many, but the short and swift blow which cause the enemy to bleed are the best of blows.' "Indeed this ummah has been affected with a great disaster, a great calamity since not seen in this ummah since the coming of our beloved Prophet (saw) and this calamity is that the holiest lands of Islam are being occupied by the Jews and the Christians. This disgrace never occurred before in the (Islamic) peninsula, not even in the days of the Mushrikeen. Call to mind Abraha, the Christian king of Ethiopia came with his army of 60,000 strong to destroy the Kabah before Islam. The Arabs, even though they were pagens, they stood up with whatever forces they had to repel the aggression of Abraha and his Christian army. A man called Abu Ragal volunteered to be his guide to lead him to the Kabah, the house of Allah Ta'ala. And Allah Ta'ala destroyed him, killed him on his way between Tahif and Makkah. Upon reaching Makkah, the elephants refused to go forward out of reverence and respect for the Kabah, the house of Allah. But the Christians of Ethiopia, did not take heed. Even after they saw the elephants refuse to go forward. They did not take heed from the sign. So they marched forward and proceed forward towards the Kabah. Upon marching forward, Allah Ta'ala sent against them birds pelting them with bake clay. So Allah said, 'Didn't you see how we dealt with the companions of the Elephant. Didn't we cause their evil strategy to go to waste. And we sent against them birds pelting them with stones of baked clay. Pelting with baked clay so that they became like vegetables squashed up.' This was a great miracle. This year is called the year of the Elephant. This is the year the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was born. When Abraha came with his army of 60,000 strong chritian men to demolish the house of Allah SWT. Today history has repeated itself. There is a new Abraha in our midst today. And a new Abu Ragal in our midst today, who wish to demolish the house of Allah Ta'ala. Abu Ragal who wish to lead the Jews and the Christians towards the sacred sight of Al-Islam. Who wish to let the Jews and the Christians enter the holiest land of Islam. here are the men of this deen, the men of Islam? No one is coming forward to rescue Allah's deen; to rescue Allah's house. To purify Allah's holy land; to purify the sanctuary of Allah. As Muslims, we should all implement the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (saw). We should all implement his commandment. When he was on his dying bed, he said: 'Drive out the Jews and the Christians from the (Islamic) peninsula. Drive out the pagans from the (Islamic) peninsula. No two religions must be found in the (Islamic) peninsula.' So even in this book Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women (p.36), When Sheikh Bin Baz was asked the question about allowing a non-Muslim maid to come and work in the (Islamic) peninsula. His response was swift, 'It is not allowed to have a non-Muslims maid. It is not allowed to have a non-Muslim male or a non-Muslim male servant, or a worker who is a non-Muslim for anyone living in the (Islamic) peninsula. This is because the Prophet Muhammad (saw) ordered the Jews and the Christians to be expelled from that land. He ordered that only Muslims should be left there. Hew decreed upon his deathbed that all polytheists must be expelled from this peninsula. Furthermore, hiring disbelieving men and women is very dangerous for the Muslims, their faith, their behavior, and the upbringing of their children. Therefore, such must be prevented in obedience to Allah to glorify and His Messenger (saw). And to prevent a source of evil and immorality and Allah is the one who provides guidance.' So it is known of Islam by necessity that no two religions must be allowed in the (Islamic) peninsula. And if one female, non-Muslim kafir female was not allowed based upon this fatwa, how can we allow half a million American troops in the (Islamic) peninsula. So the American troops today, christians, jews, crusaders, prostitutes, lesbians, homosexuals, atheists, all these people are walking in the holy land where Allah Ta'ala has chosen to reveal the Al-Qu'ran; where Allah Ta'ala has chosen to reveal the deen where Makkah and Madina (is placed). So this house the kabah, Allah holds it in great respect and reverence. No salah is accepted from anyone unless he faces that house the kabah. Whenever you make hajj, your hajj is not accepted unless you face that house the kabah. So the question is what will be your excuse on the day of judgement? How can you exhonerate yourself. What will be your excuse when you stand in front of Allah and you are asked: what did you do to drive out the jews and the Christians from the (Islamic) peninsula? How can you allow kafirs; jews and the Christians to occupy the holiest land of Islam? What will be your excuse when you stand in front of Allah on judgment day when you will be asked this question? Today there is even a British consulate in Makkah. Although British is the greatest enemy to Islam and Muslims. The British was responsible for destroying the Caliphate system. They are the ones who created the Palestinian problem. They are the ones who created the Kashmiri problem. They are the ones who put the arms embargo on the Muslims of Bosnia so that two million Muslims were killed. They are the ones who are starving the Iraqi children today. And they are continuously dropping bombs on these innocent children of Iraq. Yet they have an embassy in Makkah in the holiest lands. So what will be your excuse when you stand in front of Allah and you are asked what did you do to cleanse the (Islamic) peninsula from jews and the Christians these occupying powers. The kafirs occupy Makkah and Madinah, and even Al-Quds, hence the first wajib compulsory act upon you after your declaration of faith, la ilaha ilillah Muhammadan rasoolullah (saw) is for you to fight and kill the Americans and the Jews and drive them out of the (Islamic) peninsula. Takbir! Allahu Akhbar. Takbir! Allahu Akhbar. Takbir! Allahu Akhbar. Then and only then will you be helping Islam. Then and only then you will be cleansing the holy places to help this deen and to remove your sins, which you have committed by carrying out this great path of Allah. Alhumdulillah thuma humdulillah. All praise is due to Allah who has made jihad compulsory upon all of us and who has made it the peak of the matter. So the Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, in a hadith collected by At-Tirmidhi: 'The hair of this matter is Islam and it's pillar is Salah, and the peak of this matter is jihad.' Jihad was compulsory upon us brothers and sisters to liberate Muslim territories from kufr, from jews and Christians and their allies. The allies of the jews and the Christians meaning so-called Muslims who have apostated and have become allies of the (enemies of Islam). We have to liberate our lands from jews and Christians and their allies; their helpers and their stooges. Some may ask the question what's compulsory upon me regards to this deen. And how can I fight and kill the Americans, the jews and the Christians and drive them out of the holy land. We say to you the Sahaaba migrated, they abandoned and they immigrated. So what did they abandon and where did they migrate to? They abandoned their land, they abandoned their homeland, they abandoned their families, they abandoned their properties and they migrated to Madinah al-Marwa. But the link that holds the Muslims together, the bond that bonds us together is the bond of Iman, which is the strongest bond. So they left their country and established Al-Madinah at the holy hands of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw). So it's incumbent on all the Muslims to ignore these borders and boundaries, which the kuffar have laid down between Muslim lands, the jews and the Christians, for the sole purpose of dividing us. So the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, we do not recognize that. The border between Yemen and the (Islamic) peninsula, we do not recognize that. The border between Egypt and Sudan, we do not recognize that. The border between Syria and Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, we do not recognize that, because the bond that Binds us as Muslims; this ummah is 'la ilaha ilillah Muhammadan rasoolullah (saw)'. Allah does not look at your skin color, he doesn't look at your bodies, nor does he pay attention to your nationalities, but instead he looks at your heart. And these Muslim hearts are shining with revelation which is inside of them. Shining with the Qu'ran, shining with the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (saw). The Sahaabas came from all places, left their land and came and no one said, 'how can I left Yemen.' So the companions of the Prophet (saw) came from all places. They left their lands, their homes, their properties and they all made hijra to Madinah. This concept never came across their minds, because of their strength in Iman. They did not say how could I left the comfort of our homeland to fight alongside the Propeht (saw) at the battle of Ahzab against the kuffar who marched from all over to demolish the Islamic state of Madinah. They didn't say this, but they struggled over valleys, over mountains, over hills, until they all reached Madinah. So today, after the whole world was sunken in darkness of kufr, sins, oppression and jahiliya (ignorance), all these darknesses, a lamp emerged, a shining lamp in this darkness and that lamp is Afghanistan. Allah has blessed Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan, after the crusaders have split it up into five sections to turn them against each other. They were able to unify the country under the Taliban and under the leadership of Amir Mu'mineen Mulanna Omar. So today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world today that has the Shari'ah. Therefore, it is compulsory upon on all the Muslims all over the world to help Afghanistan. And to make hijra to this land, because it is from this land that we will dispatch our armies all over the world to smash the kuffar all over the world (and spread Al-Islam). There is a hadith of the Rasool (saw) where he prophecised that Islam will come from this land; Afghanistan. So we pray and we beg Allah Ta'ala to enlist us among the soldiers to rise up to help this deen of His. Brothers and sisters in Islam, there are many Muslims who have forgotten that the jews and the Christians are the greatest enemies of Islam. Allah Ta'ala has commanded us to fight them, even when they are in their own lands. Capture them and tie them tight and prepare for them with every single every ambush under the heavens. These are the words of Allah commanding us to fight them even when they are in their own countries. And Allah Ta'ala has even commanded to us in another ayat, "where Allah Ta'ala says fight them who are closest to you and let them find harshness in you." So if you were commanded to fight them even when they are in their own countries, how can you have them in the holiest land of Islam? This land where Allah Ta'ala has chosen to reveal the Holy Qu'ran. Inside of this land is Makkah, the land of holy revelation, the land of The Prophet (saw) where is musk is and where is grave is. It is incumbent upon us Muslims to remind the believers of the importance of killing these kafirs, fighting them and killing them and reminding them that they are our enemies. Brother and sisters let me remind you that all of you will die except the Shaheed. Allah said in Surah 3:169, "Don't think that those who are slain in the path of Allah are dead, Nay they are alive gaining sustenance from their Lord." Brothers and sisters, I must remind you about the importance of jihad, the importance of hijra, the importance of enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong." [Description of Source: Mouthpiece of the London-based Supporters of Shariah Organization, which supports Islamic movements worldwide; leader Mustafa Kamil (aka Abu-Hamzah al-Masri) reportedly has links with the Aden-Adyan Islamic Army] Usama Bin Ladin Renews Call For Jihad Islamabad Pakistan Observer (Internet Version-WWW) in English 26 Jun 00 [NNI report] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Rawalpindi—Saudi dissident Usama Bin Ladin has called upon the Muslims of the world to wage Jihad (holy war) against the anti-Muslim forces which are perpetrating atrocities on them. "You are fully aware that the Jews and Christians have, through their machinations, occupied the Muslim holy sites in Haramain Sharifain and in Palestine. We have to play an extremely important role to break their shackles", Bin Ladin said in a message marking the publication of Shuhada-e-Jamiat No of Jamiat Talaba-e-Arabia's magazine Mishkat-ul-Misbah. The letter, carrying Usama's full name printed in bold letters on top and his signatures at bottom, said it was evident that the Jews and Christians were archetypal enemies of the Muslims. "God says they can never be your friend until you start following them. Therefore Jihad against both of them is incumbent upon the Muslims", he said. Usama, whom the United States accuses of having masterminded attacks on its facilities worldwide, further said that besides occupying and sacrilege of Muslim holy places they were also plundering their wealth and resources. "How can we remain silent spectator to this situation. It is the joint duty of Muslims to wage Jihad against the Jews and Christians", he said, and added all efforts could yield fruit only if the enemy was defeated at every front. "It is therefore necessary that unflagging efforts are made for the liberation of the Muslim holy places, Kashmir, Palestine and other oppressed Muslim territories". This, he said, was imperative to regain the lost grace. He said US and Israeli attacks against weaker Muslim states were an emblem of their confusion. [Description of Source: Description of Source: Islamabad Pakistan Observer in English— Widely read daily with access to sources in the Pakistan Muslim League. Editorials are often vehemently anti-India] Bin Ladin, Others Pledge 'Jihad' To Release Prisoners in US, Saudi Jails Doha Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel Television in Arabic 2035 GMT 21 Sep 00 [Report by anchorman Jamal al-Rayyan from "Today's Harvest" program. This report contains photos or other graphic elements; if you see the phrase "Attachment Not Included", you are using a system that cannot display these images Please call the FBIS Information Center at 1-800-205-8615 or 1-202-338-6735 to learn how to view the images] [FBIS Translated Text] We now go back to our main topic in "Today's Harvest" program, namely, the rare meeting of four leaders of the Islamic groups in Afghanistan in which they pledged to stage Jihad to release Shaykh Umar Abd-al-Rahman from US jails. Usama Bin Ladin spoke at the meeting. He revealed that one of his supporters is held in a Saudi jail after he attempted to carry out an operation, the nature of which he did not spell out. [Begin Bin Ladin recording in progress] ...and our brothers in jails everywhere, in the United States [words indistinct] Shaykh Umar Abd-al-Rahman, our Brother Sayyid Nusayr, and our brother Muhammad Bin-Rashid Bin-Dawud (?al-Awhani), who we went into a mission knowing that he would not return. God Almigty, however, granted him a new life. He went to ward off the injustice, paganism, and disgrace in the land of the two holy mosques [Saudi Arabia], the land (?of mercy), the land in which the noble prophet was born, and the land in which the Holy Koran was revealed to Muhammad, God's blessings and peace be upon him. In the United States, our brother Usama [words indistinct]. He is one of three men who established the first center for Arab mujahidin. The three men are Usama (?Haydar), who is also known as [words indistinct], the late (?Shafiq) Ibrahim al-Madani, and myself. On this blessed night, we pledge to God Almighty to do all we can to support our religion, to establish the shari'ah of Islam in the land of Islam, to expel the Jews and the Christians from the sacred places, and to endeavor to release our ulema from the United States, from Egypt, from Riyadh, and from all Muslim lands. We pledge this to God Almighty. We beseech God Almighty to grant us His support to fulfill these tasks. He is our Lord and supporter. May God have mercy and grant his blessings to Muhammad and his family. [end recording] click here to hear recording of Bin Ladin Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, an Egyptian Islamic Group military leader sentenced to death in absentia, also spoke at the meeting. [Begin Taha recording, in progress] ... imprisoned behind the walls of a blatantly heathen state. How can we remain silent over the imprisonment of this righteous mujahid [Umar Abd-al-Rahman] who advocates what is right in jails of infidelity and tyranny that have hidden him out of sight. These jails have hidden his call and his righteous message that [words indistinct]. By God, we all have a duty toward that man. By God, it is our duty to support that man. We must not (?hesitate) to free him. By God, we fear that God Almighty shall punish us if we do not perform our duty in freeing him from the prisons of infidelity and tyranny. By God, freeing him is easy for those to whom Allah has given strength. [end recording] Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian Islamic Jihad Group leader sentenced to death in absentia, also spoke at the meeting: [Begin al-Zawahiri recording] Which one of us today would not sacrifice himself for this man who has supported every righteous stand and has been an unshakable leader? We have a duty towards Dr. Umar Abd-al-Rahman, who has never abandoned a righteous stand. Do we now abandon giving him support and rewarding him? Dear brothers, I am not trying to play on your emotions or ask you for your sympathy; rather, we are now talking business, we are talking jihad. The situation now is not that of glittering statements; today's struggle —brothers—is a relentless one. Paganism has grouped itself against Islam and the mujahidin. It is attacking them, imprisoning them, killing them, and targeting on them. Where are you now from the (?jihad that God has prescribed)? Brothers, we have spoken much and done little. Today is the time of the great ones and the mujahidin to confront this heathen tyrannical power that do not [words indistinct] and have occupied our mosques and the two holy mosques. These heathens have spread their forces in Egypt, Yemen, and the Gulf killing our children, persecuting our scholars, soiling our holy shrines, and stealing our wealth. Dear brothers, lets start working and stop playing. Brothers, we have spoken much and done little. [words indistinct] We ask God Almighty to enable us to work for a life of dignity and jihad. [end recording] Shaykh Asadallah, the son of Shaykh Umar Abd-al-Rahman, participated in the meeting but he does not appear in the footage. He called for armed action to release his father. [begin Asadallah recording] O my brothers everywhere, avenge your leaders, avenge your shaykh, avenge your religious authority, avenge your [word indistinct], avenge them everywhere. O ye who believe, give your response to God and his apostle, when he calleth you to that which will give you life; and know that God comes in between a man and his heart and that it is he to whom we shall all be gathered. [Koranic verse] Do not be late. Do not be defeatists. [word indistinct] Your life is in God's hand. The entire forces of this earth cannot reduce your [word indistinct] a little bit. Your fate is in God's hand. No power on earth can reduce your life by one minute, not even by one second. Go to the arenas of struggle, go to the arenas of sacrifice and generous giving, go to the spilling of the blood, go to the spilling of the blood. [end recording] We would like to draw your attention to the fact that what you have heard and seen reached us through the Jihad Media Center in Afghanistan. We do not know where the film was shot. We do not know if it was in Afghanistan or outside Afghanistan. [video shows four leaders, including Bin Ladin and Taha, sitting cross-legged, side-by-side, dressed in Afghan clothes; Bin Ladin, Taha, and al-Zawahiri making speeches] [Description of Source: Doha Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel Television in Arabic—Independent Television station financed by the Qatari Government] 2001 Daily Prints Usama Bin Ladin 'Letter' Calling For 'Global Islamic State' Rawalpindi Nawa-i-Waqt in Urdu 07 Jan 01 pp 1, 11 [Report by Ikramullah] [FBIS Translated Text] Lahore -- On the occasion of 'Id al-Fitr, I received an unexpected letter. At the end of the letter is written Usama Bin Ladin's name in Urdu and English; however, there is no signature of Usama Bin Ladin on the letter. Along with the address, the word "personal" is written in bold letters on the envelope. The letter, sent through the office of "Nawa-i-Waqt," expresses a resolve to establish a new Islamic state. I am sure that this letter has been mailed to a lot of people. It is printed on high-quality colored paper. The post office stamp on the envelope indicates that it was posted from Lahore. For the time being, this letter is being published without any comments. But one thing is obvious: this is a letter with revolutionary thinking. Whether the author of this letter is Usama Bin Ladin or a representative of Usama in Pakistan, this is for the intelligence agencies to find out. A world map in the letter shows Islamic countries in green color. Beside the map, a Koranic verse is also written, as follows, "And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided among yourselves." In the inside page of the letter, there is another Koranic verse, "What has happened to you that you don't fight for the helpless men, women, and children who pray to God that O Lord! Take us out of this city whose inhabitants are cruel and send someone to us for help." At the end of the letter are written the names of all the Islamic countries whose geographical boundaries have been erased to form a vast new state with the proposed name of Global Islamic State. Following is the text of this letter: "Sons and daughters of Islam! Assalam-o-Alaikum [Greeting]. You are well aware of the problems being faced by the Muslim world at present. In this context, I want to make some requests to you. All the movements and efforts presently taking place from different platforms for the dominance of Islam are individually respectable. Whichever movement you are associated with is a source of blessing for us. However, today the Muslim nation needs a collective and strong target so that every member of the Muslim nation enters the practical field to fulfill the promise made to God Almighty on the pattern of the example set by Prophet Ibrahim. Today, the roles of Pharaoh, Caesar, and Chosroes have been taken up by Israel and United States, who first occupied our Aqsa Mosque, in the direction of which our Holy Prophet performed his prayers. And now these so-called powers are eying the Holy Kaaba and the Nabvi Mosque. Only seventy kilometers from the Holy Kaaba, they are ready to implement this ugly conspiracy. You are successors of Khalid Bin Waleed and Tariq Bin Ziad. You are the beloved people of Ali [Holy Prophet's cousin and son-in-law]. You are the nation of the Prophet who prayed for us every night. Today, every member of the Muslim world agrees that all the Muslim countries of the world having geographical boundaries on the basis of nationality, geography, religious discord, color and race, should be merged into one Muslim state, where men do not rule men. There should be one caliph for the whole state whose capital should be Mecca. There should be one currency and defense for this state and the Holy Koran should be its constitution. The name that has been proposed for this vast state is Global Muslim State. I want to congratulate you that by the grace of God, from today, we have begun the task of achieving a highly important and strong target of domination of Islam over all other religions. No matter which movement or organization you belong to, you should propagate this message from your respective platforms in such a way that it becomes a voice of the two billion Muslims, so that practical steps might be taken as soon as possible. Sons and daughters of Islam! The countdown has started. You have the agenda in front of you and God has given a destination within your reach. The struggle initiated by the heroes of Karbala is about to reach its logical end in the coming few years. The hero of Badr War [war fought between Muslims and infidels in the era of the Holy Prophet] will emerge successful from the disaster of 1,400 years, God willing. Muslims! Rise up like a storm and destroy the devilish powers. May God help us all. Amen, a servant of Islam, Usama Bin Ladin." [Description of Source: Description of Source: Rawalpindi Nawa-i-Waqt in Urdu -- Pakistan's second largest circulation's daily, widely respected] Ausaf Receives Bin Ladin's Poem on Resolve To Continue Jihad Islamabad Ausaf in Urdu 03 Mar 01 pp 1, 7 [Report by special correspondent] [FBIS Translated Text] Islamabad—Saudi mujahid Usama Bin Ladin has begun to write poem in Arabic. He has recently said wrote some poems and sent them to Ausaf. One of the poems is based on a conversation between a father and his son. The poem begins with a question by the son who asks his father why he made him travel in valleys and deserts far away from the cities. The son says, "I have remained away from my family for such a long time that I have forgotten their faces. I have not seen my mother and my beloved brother for a long time. During this period, I have gone through many hardships. Probably because of this, you migrated to the River Nile. I still love the fragrance of Khartoum, but the United States could not tolerate our presence there. Then we came to a country where the people were very brave. We moved to Kabul, where the people do not bargain away their respect despite severe opposition. They shelter Mujahidin despite difficulties. Our chief, Mullh Omar, is the embodiment of Islamic respect. This is why the United States showered missiles on Afghanistan and did not even care about the children and the elderly people. Father! Is your crime only that you want to sacrifice yourself for the respect and magnificence of the Holy Kaaba and are actively working for the eminence of Islam?" In the second part of the poem, the father answers these questions. He says, "My tongue is locked, eyes are weeping, and heart is mourning. What should I tell you? We live in a world where the majority of the people constantly worry about accumulating wealth. How should I correct those who sell themselves for a few pennies? In this world of crime, children are slaughtered like goats, but the custodians of peace are silent. Jews are killing my Palestinian brothers, while the Arab rulers are merely holding conferences. The stooges of the US have turned blind and they can't see anything. The resolutions on Muslims are nothing but pages colored with ink. These resolutions cannot save us from oppressors. Therefore, I have vowed to continue my jihad against the infidels, because oppression cannot be fought with resolutions, but only with jihad." [Description of Source: Description of Source: Islamabad Ausaf in Urdu—Newspaper with strong anti-India views Gives wide coverage to fundamentalist religious groups] Bin Ladin Implicitly Praises USS Cole Bombng at Son's Wedding Arab media coverage in 07 Mar 01 [FBIS Report] According to Arab media coverage of Usama Bin Ladin's celebrations of his son's marriage—on 9 January and 28 February—the second party had distinctly anti-US overtones, with Bin Ladin implicitly praising the USS Cole bombng in a poem. In accordance with Middle Eastern tradition, Bin Ladin's son celebrated his marriage on two occasions—the first to sign the marriage contract [katb al-kitab] and the second to consummate it [laylat al-dukhlah]. As usual, the second occasion was marked by a big party attended by family members and friends. The London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayah reported on 3 March that "Bin Ladin's mother, his two brothers, and his sisters attended the wedding," which took place near Qandahar. On 9 January, Doha's Al-Jazirah independent television reported that Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an associate of Bin Ladin who is wanted by Egypt and the US for terrorist activities, officiated at the first part of the ceremony; according to Al-Hayah, however, he did not attend the ceremony's "second part." One explanation for his absence could be that the Taleban had asked Bin Ladin to keep a low profile regarding his terrorist links. Al-Jazirah videotaped both occasions. On 9 January, a number of speakers touched on the Palestinian intifadah, but on the 28th, Bin Ladin recited a poem dedicated to Al-Aqsa Intifadah, which contained implicit praise of the bombing of the USS Cole. " . . . And your brothers in the East tightened their saddles, And so did Kabul; young men got well trained A destroyer whose might is feared by strong men, And which nurtures fear when it anchors and sets sail, Ploughs the waves, driven by arrogance, haughtiness, and false power To its death it hurriedly sails, Surrounding itself with a great-false delusion, Toward a boat that the waves toss about, And that at times disappears with the wave and then appears again . . . " Bin Ladin reciting a poem, with a map of the Indian Ocean and Sumatra behind him. Bin Ladin's nine-year-old son Hamzah reading a poem, asking why the US keeps after his father. Al-Jazirah correspondent Ahmad Muwaffaq Zaydan (left) attending the wedding. Al-Jazirah prided itself on being the sole medium to attend this wedding. Usama Bin Ladin Regrets Restrictions Imposed by Taleban Karachi Dawn (Internet Version-WWW) in English 03 Apr 01 [Report by Ismail Khan: "Usama regrets curbs by Taliban"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Peshawar—Usama Bin Ladin has regretted Taliban's restrictions on him, saying that the United States and its western allies are using him as a pretext. In a letter to the supreme leader of the Taliban, Bin Ladin said: "It is surprising that the United States is free to do whatever it feels like and I have been placed under restrictions. History will record this fact." The letter was delivered to Mulla Omar by the Taliban minister for state and frontier regions, Syed Jalaluddin Haqqani, who ran the famous al-Badr camp in Afghanistan's southern Khost province which received a hail of US missiles in August 1998. Mr Haqqanni called on the supreme Taliban leader in southwestern Kandahar shortly before leaving for Saudi Arabia to perform Haj. A senior aide to Mulla Omar confirmed the meeting but denied that Mr Haqqani had delivered any message from Usama. "The meeting did take place but he did not deliver any letter from Usama," Tayyab Agha, senior aide to Mulla Omar, told Dawn on telephone from Kandahar. In his letter, Bin Ladin noted that the world community's reaction to the demolition of the Buddha statues in the Bamiyan province had proved the West's general antagonism towards Islam. He quoted the former US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, as having said that there were other issues besides Usama, which the Taliban needed to resolve. He insisted that it was proof enough that he was being used as a pretext. Bin Ladin claimed that no matter what, the US and its western allies would never recognize the Taliban's Islamic emirate. He said he was grateful to the Taliban and was extremely thankful to Mulla Omar for his role, adding that he saluted the courage demonstrated by the Afghan people. It may be added that prosecutors in the US are likely to end arguments by the middle of this week in their case against four defendants, allegedly followers of Saudi exile Usama Bin Ladin, accused of conspiring to kill Americans in the August 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa. NNI ADDS: Mulla Omar ruled out the possibility of handing over Usama Bin Ladin to the US, saying that he was ready to "sacrifice" what was left of his shattered country before giving up his "guest" to the US. "Half of my country has been destroyed by two decades of war. If the remaining half is also destroyed in trying to protect Bin Ladin, I'm prepared for this sacrifice," he said. "He is not going to be handed over if there is any prospect that he will be convicted," a Taliban source confirmed. [Description of Source: Karachi Dawn in English—Internet version of most widely-read English-language daily] Bin Ladin Calls On Muslims To Invest in Afghanistan, Join Jihad Islamabad The Nation (Lahore Edition) (Internet Version-WWW) in English 10 Apr 01 [NNI report: "Usama urges Muslims to help Afghans, wage jihad"] [FBIS Transcribed Text] Peshawar—Announcing allegiance to Taliban reclusive leader Mulla Umar, the Saudi exile Usama-Bin Ladin here on Monday urged Pakistani religious scholars to back the sanctions stricken Afghans. "The decisions taken by Mulla Omar about the destruction of statues, stopping poppy cultivation and standing in front of world campaign must be supported," Usama said in a message, read out in religious Deoband conference in Peshawar. Recording of Usama's message was played in the three-day conference and its Arabic text was distributed among the journalists. The conference has been organized by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. He, in the message, said that Mulla Muhammad Omar is a gift of God to the people of Afghanistan in the present difficult situation. "This is the only country in the world where the Amirul Momineen (tile for Mulla Omar) [leader of the faithful] has implemented real Islamic system, he said. "Almighty Allah and you should be witness that I, Oasma-Bin-Mohammad-Bin Ladin, am giving 'Baiat' [allegiance] to Mulla Omar.' He said that 'you all should the Muslims loyalty to Omar as is the only in the world who is leading an Islamic state [as published]. He urged the gathering to influence the young people to go for Jihad in Afghanistan and get training and the rich ones should pay donations and invest in Afghanistan." Usama lashed out at the United Nations for imposing sanctions on Taliban and questioned the UN claim of serving the humanity. "I am delivering the message to you at a time when innocent young children in Afghanistan are the victims of the so-called New World Order and the UN curbs. They are aimed at killing the Muslims," he observed. He regretted that the Muslims could not help Afghans when they were subjected to unjust sanctions. "The people are waiting for your decisions. Do not be afraid. Speak, boldly and implement what Islam says," he urged the religious scholars. He said that the anti-Islamic forces are worried over the conference and are doing their best to create differences among the Muslim ummah [nation]. "I am proud to send my message to Muslim brethren, who are dedicated to Islamic cause and against oppression". Highlighting the duty of religious scholars, he said that they should speak boldly and tell the people about their responsibilities. "The duty of the ulema [religious scholars] is to explain to the people actual problems. The ulema should throw light on the importance of 'Jihad-fi-sabillelah (Holy War in the Way of Almighty Allah). He said that the previous generation of Muslims was successful who waged Jihad. [Description of Source: Islamabad The Nation (Lahore Edition) in English -- Independent daily, member of the Nawa-i-Waqt group] Transcript of Bin Ladin's Speech at His Son's Wedding Islamabad The News (Internet Version-WWW) in English 07 May 01 [Report by Abdul Sattar: "Usama urges Ummah to continu Jihad"] FBIS Transcribed Text] Lahore—A 16-minute video of Usama Bin Ladin's address at the wedding ceremony of his son on January 10 reveals some interesting insights into his thinking and ideology. His youngest son, eight-year-old Usman, also made a speech on the occasion. Video, obtained by The News, shows the wedding took place in a room at the back of the house with a huge map showing Usama's influence over areas of Mujahidin's struggle and the rise of Islam. Amid repeated and loud slogans, verses were rendered after every couplet was read out which was followed by a thunderous Allah-o-Akbar [God is great]. A voice alerted that "this is a sermon, these are verses and directions for all those who presently revel in the earthy comforts and put leisure before religion. It is for all those who professing the same faith are oblivious to the cause these Mujahidin fight and die for". All this is preceded by Usman paying tributes to his father in a four-minute eulogy by lauding his efforts and commitment to aid sustenance to his cause. Wearing a white Arabic Dasha [dress], with a light brown shawl draped over his shoulders, Usama is also seen carrying a mobile, visible in his front pocket. Also seen are two mini speakers pinned around the front of Usama, BBC and CNN style, which hint Usama availing the state-of-the-art technology in speaking and recording. Yet another personal trait is also visible through this video where unlike previously available photographs where Usama appears older and a jaded, Usama comes out with dyed beard, in black. Following is the transcript of Usama Bin Ladin's video tape. The original address was in Arabic and was first translated into Urdu and then into English: "My current pronouncements and teachings are forever directed towards those who are forever ready to die for the cause of Islam and are always prepared for Jihad. The might and power of Kuffir [infidelity] has in no way made cowards of them. They and their desire for Jihad is a continuation and endorsement of that "Hadith" [sayings of Muhammad], which reflects Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) attribution to those Mujahidin engaged in the last battles of Syria, who prided themselves living under the sword and they were sons of the holy soil. "Your lives and the last drops of your blood are to be shed for the everlasting glory of the Ummah [Muslim nation] and its is through these martyrs and their blood that shall bring forth the grace and goodness of the Ummah. They shall always serve as the bridge to help give honour and dignity to the Ummah. Your sacrifices and your blood shall rise as the ultimate in giving respect and help educate and bring an understanding to those deviant for their being uninitiated towards this sacred cause. It is through them, their sacrifices that the enemy shall be subjugated and thus shall be liberated Masjid-e-Aqsa [grand mosque at Jerusalem]. You all have given your blood to infuse an existence and life to the holy land of Palestine. "None of you have shown any duplicity or lack of faith in this struggle. And all this shall give added impetus to your struggle. You all gave your lives and shed your blood in the name of Allah, the merciful, and none of you ever placed your self before dying for this cause. "Oh children, you are all the braves of Al-Quds and nary people of age and maturity can hardly compare well with you. Your manhood and bravery have put to shame as courageous men of lore. And Aqsa prides in your manhood and bravery. Your bravery and courage has lifted that veil which Kuffir [infidelity] had embalmed in the eyes of the followers. You surfaced and created a wall against Kuffir. "When the Ummah was on the brink of annihilation, the caliph of Muslim Ummah reneged on his faith and endeared himself to Christianity. The Cross of Christ was seen hanging on his chest (referred to Shah Fawad, so garlanded by Queen Elizabeth). "Our history is being rewritten. This is my country. It has been declared out of bounds for Christianity and yet the nefarious designs of Jews are hell bent upon destroying this country. All await another Salahuddin Ayubi [a Muslim king] who shall come and liberate this sacred country from their intended subjugation. I envision you all as Salahuddin Ayubi in self, wielding his all conquering sword and his sword is dripping with the blood of the infidels. I envision Salahuddin Ayubi coming out of the clouds and in our hearts and minds is recreated the remembrance of the battles of Badr and Khyber [during the prophet Muhammad's days]. "Ummah is being energised and reinvigorated. And their conscience being emboldened through a newer and stronger faith. Your brethren have taken up your struggle through out East and have come out to fight against Kuffir and the West has been threatened by their rise. The West fears that they (the Mujahidin) shall annihilate their very existence. Much that the West take sustenance in their arms and might, in their hearts of hearts they fear and are scared of them (the Mujahidin). "Two 'Lashkars', (The forces of West and Islam) have been pitted against one another. One Lashkar is endowed with the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and is imbibed with a desire to be martyrs, while the second Lashkar is manned and directed by a worn-out, aged infidel leadership (Kaisar) [Roman Empire]. A confrontation is now bound to take place and the war clouds have truly engulfed both the Lashkars. "Unafraid of the might and size of the infidels, an appreciable small number of committed Mujahidin, shall prevail upon them. While they pride on their military resources, the Mujahid take the field through faith and conviction. The Mujahidin shall recreate the old Islamic chivalry against the Cross and has history ever witnessed such bravery as of these Mujahidin who endorse themselves as true descendants of those Islamic heroes of yesteryear. You should all shed tears assessing the prevailing conditions in which the Ummah is going through now. Your hearts should bleed and bemoan the insensitivity the Ummah is reflecting now. It is only your faith, your religion that can be prided upon. "Your verses should be 'Tauheed' [monotheism], your slogan 'Allah-o-Akbar'. None should have second thought about you since you follow the spirit and conviction of your forefathers. None should infer that you are all without that light which your forefathers had carried in their hearts in fights against the infidel. All kinds of greed and vice should be eliminated from your hearts. And never ever shall fear be depicted in your eyes, however insurmountable the odds. Remember he who fears not death, is protected from death itself. "The Palestinians are the one who in name of Allah, take on the enemies without arms and equipment. Deserve credit those traders and businessmen who give Zakat [Islamic tax on saving] so that they can help arm that ill-equipped Lashkar. They, the Palestinians sacrifice their lives, can you (the traders) not part with your riches. "Where are those followers who adhering to Qura'anic directions, mortgaged their souls for a heavenly repose? And where are those that to seek the Almighty's benevolence, are ever ready to die for a cause?" Following is the transcript of Usama's youngest son's Usman verses: "How can any one blame my father or hold him accountable if he filled with the love and respect of the Ummah endeavoured to instill in one and all a feeling and desire to stand against the might of "Kuffir"? My father raised a voice and urged the Muslims to unite against the infidels. But he so ever does not heed this does not harbour a desire to go for Jihad. "My mother taught and instilled in me and unending everlasting feeling that I should always be motivated to fight and die for the glory of Islam. I stand for a Jihad against Kuffir today, and shall so do till eternity. Jihad is in my mind, heart and blood veins. No fear, nor intimidation can ever take this feeling out of my mind and body." [Description of Source: Islamabad The News in English -- Independent daily, member of the Jang Publishing Group] Usama Bin Ladin Would Make Life 'Miserable' for United States if Taleban Allows Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu 17 May 01 pp 8, 6 [ANN report: "If Taleban allow, I can make US life miserable: Usama"] [FBIS Translated Text] Kandahar—Saudi dissident Usama Bin Ladin has said that the United States has forgotten everything because of being power-intoxicated and that power makes it arrogant. [He said] if the Taleban allowed, he could make life miserable for the United States, because the United States was not really the world's superpower and that it wanted to kill him because of its enmity against Islam. In a statement issued from an undisclosed location, Usama Bin Ladin said that the United States was dreaming of having him killed but he would not bow before anyone, because a Muslim did not bow before anything except God. [He said] life and death is in God's hands and God has fixed a time [for death]; except for God no one could reduce or increase it by even a single second. He said that the United States was aiming baseless allegations, which it could not prove, at him. [He said] the United States was imposing unjust sanctions on Muslims, and that imposing such sanctions and boasting of power was a US hobby. [He said] the United States would soon break up into pieces. [Description of Source: Islamabad Pakistan in Urdu—Widely read daily generally supportive of the Pakistan Muslim League] UBL Sends 'Message Voice' to Palestinians, Vows Not To Let Them Down London Al-Arab al-Alamiyah in Arabic 27 Jun 01 P 1 [Unattributed report: "Bin Ladin Sends Voice Message to Palestinian People: 'We will Not Let You Down!'"] [FBIS Translated Text] Kandahar, Afghanistan; occupied Jerusalem; Al-Arab; NNI— Usama Bin Ladin, the number one wanted man by the United States on charges of financing a number of activities hostile toward Washington's interests throughout the world, has sent a voice message to the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, expressing his and his group's utmost sympathy with the Palestinians who are experiencing a difficult time under the Zionist, Jewish occupation of their blessed land, as Bin Ladin put it Bin Ladin stressed in his message that the Palestinian people's blood is the blood of all Muslims throughout the world Blood, blood... bloodletting, bloodletting, said Bin Ladin, citing, so it seems, what the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said [warning against bloodletting among Muslims] while trying to bring together as brothers the Al-Muhajirin [Meccans who emigrated with the Prophet Muhammad to Medina] and the Al-Ansar [Medinan followers of the Prophet Muhammad] Pointing with his finger, Bin Ladin vowed in the presence of a large number of his followers and associates that he will not let the Palestinian people down until victory is achieved for Muslims or until Bin Ladin and his followers experience what Hamzah Bin-Abd-al-Muttalib [the Prophet Muhammad's uncle who was killed in the Uhud battle] experienced. And in a statement which has several meanings, Bin Ladin, who leads a new organization called the "Jihad Base" [qa'dat al-jihad], told the Palestinian people that Islam's support is coming and Yemen's support will continue. However, he did not explain what he meant by Islam's support or Yemen's support, something which has been interpreted as a clear message from him to Washington and Tel Aviv that the next strike by the Bin Ladin group and the members of his international network will probably be in Palestine. Meanwhile, Hebrew reports have said that Tel Aviv has decided to tighten security in an unprecedented manner around its embassies and diplomatic missions in the world. [Description of Source: London Al-Arab al-Alamiyah in Arabic—London-based Libyan daily providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues with a strong pro-Libyan, Arab nationalist, and anti-US editorial line.] Afghanistan: Bin Ladin Denies Involvement in Terrorist Attacks in US Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press News Agency in Pashto 0855 GMT 16 Sep 01 [FBIS Translated Text] Peshawar: A statement by Usama Bin Ladin on the US explosions, translated from Arabic into Pashto. Following the latest explosions in the United States, some Americans are pointing the finger at me, but I deny that because I have not done it. The United States has always accused me of these incidents which have been caused by its enemies. Reiterating once again, I say that I have not done it, and the perpetrators have carried this out because of their own interest I am residing in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and I have held talks with His Eminence Amir ol-Momenin [Taleban leader Mola Mohammad Omar Mojahed], who does not allow such acts to be carried out from Afghanistan's territory. Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin Al-Jazirah TV Broadcasts Usama Bin Ladin's 1998 Interview Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television in Arabic 1805 GMT 20 Sep 01 [Interview with Usama Bin Ladin by Jamal Isma'il at an unspecified location in Afghanistan in December 1998—recorded] [FBIS Translated Text] Bin Ladin: Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin-Awad Bin Ladin. Almighty God was gracious enough for me to be born to Muslim parents in the Arabian Peninsula, in Al-Malazz neighborhood in Riyadh, in 1377 hegira [1957 or 1958 depending on the month in which he was born]. Then God was gracious to us as we went to Holy Medina six months after I was born. For the rest of my life I stayed in Hejaz moving between Mecca, Jedda, and Medina. As it is well known, my father, Shaykh Muhammad Bin-Awad Bin Ladin, was born in Hadramaut. He went to work in Hejaz at a very early age, more than 70 years ago. Then God blessed him and bestowed on him an honor that no other contractor has known. He built the holy Mecca Mosque, where the holy Ka'bah is located and at the same time -- because of God's blessings to him -- he built the holy mosque in Medina for our prophet, God's prayers be upon him Then when he found out that the Government of Jordan announced a tender for restoration work on the Dome of the Rock Mosque, he gathered engineers and asked them to estimate the cost price only, without profit. They said to him: With God's help, we will be awarded the project and make some profit as well. He said to them: Calculate only the cost price of the project. When they did, they were surprised that he, may God have mercy on his soul, reduced the cost price in order to guarantee that God's mosques, and this mosque in particular, are well served. He was awarded the project Because of God's graciousness to him, sometimes he prayed in all three mosques in one single day. May God have mercy on his soul. It is not a secret that he was one of the founders of the infrastructure of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Afterward, I studied in Hejaz. I studied economy at Jedda University, or the so-called King Abd-al-Aziz University. I worked at an early age on roads in my father's company, may God have mercy on his soul. My father died when I was 10 years old. This is something brief about Usama Bin Ladin. As to what he [Usama Bin Ladin] wants, what we want and demand is the right of any living being. We want our land to be freed of the enemies; we want our land to be freed of the Americans. God equipped these living creatures with an instinctive zeal and they refuse to be intruded upon. For instance, if an armed military man walks into a chicken's home wanting to attack it, the chicken will fight back and it is only a chicken. We are demanding a right given to all living creatures, not to mention the fact that it is a right for all human beings, including the Muslims. There was an attack on the countries of Islam, especially on the holy shrines and on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the prophet's first Kiblah [direction to which Muslims turn when praying]. And then the aggression continued with the Crusader-Jewish alliance being led by the United States and Israel. Now they have taken the country of the two holy mosques. The only source of strength is Allah. We seek to instigate the nation to get up and liberate its land, embark on jihad for the sake of God, and to make the Islamic law the highest law, and the word of God the highest word of all. Isma'il: Recently there was a joint US-British attack on Iraq. First, how do you view this attack? Second, the popular and official Arab and Islamic reactions were reportedly below the required level of resistance, or below the Iraqi people's expectations. What is your position on this? Bin Ladin: The latest attack on Iraq a few days ago was led by the United States and Britain. The attack underscored many important and serious facts. We are not talking about the material or human losses inflicted on our Muslim brothers in Iraq, but about the implications of this attack. The United States accuses Iraq of using toxic gases against the Kurds and against its people. It also accuses it of using lethal weapons against Iran. What draws attention and what people should consider is the fact is that the United States did not talk about Iraq at that time; it supported it through its brokers and agents in the region. When Iraq turned into a power to be reckoned with in the region, and even became the biggest Arab power in the region that threatens Jewish security and the security of the Israeli occupation of the land from which our Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him, made his journey to heaven, the United States began to dig up these things and claim it wants to take it to task for them. It admits that Israel possesses lethal and mass destruction weapons, but says it does not use them. Iraq did.This argument is flimsy and rejected. The United States is the one which possesses these weapons and is the one which attacked nations in the farthest east, in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, after Japan had surrendered and the World War was drawing to a conclusion. Nevertheless, it insisted on striking at nations, including children, women, and elderly people. In fact, we must consider Israel the real perpetrator of any attack today on any state in the Islamic world. However, for fear that people might wake up and huge popular movements would emerge to topple the agent regimes, which failed to support Islam and Muslims or the sake of maintaining their seats -- and the feelings of these nations were somehow anesthetized toward the United States -- the Jews managed to employ the Christians -- the Americans and British -- to carry out the duty of attacking Iraq. The United States claims to be taking Iraq to task. What is true, however, is that the Israeli and Jewish authority is influential within the White House as is clear to people. The defense secretary is a Jew, the secretary of state is a Jew, CIA and National Security officials are Jews, other senior officials are Jews. They led the Christians into breaking the wings of the Islamic world. The target is not really Saddam Husayn, but the emerging power in the Islamic and Arab world. They attacked the Iraqi people and earlier besieged Libya because it had a chemical factory. They also attacked the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. One should note these things. Another implication of these incidents is that they emphasized clearly and explicitly that Muslims and all sensible people should not go to the United Nations. According to Islamic law, Muslims should not appeal to these atheist temporal regimes. But we also urge the non-Muslim wise men not to do so. Take North Korea, for example. Will any wise man, even if he is an infidel, go to a court where the judge ...[sentence incomplete as heard]. If a sentence is issued against us, we will be painfully beaten up under what is falsely called international legitimacy. If we are judged right, the United States will use the veto. Accordingly, no Muslim should go there because this conflicts with faith. Likewise, no wise person, even if he is an infidel, should go there. Those who keep talking about the United Nations and its resolutions are either ones who do not understand their religion or want to anesthetize the nation by pinning hopes on what is Isma'il: Do you think the US-UK attack on Iraq will increase the popularity of and support for the anti-US organizations or subjugate and terrorize them against any military or non-military action against the United States and its interests? Bin Ladin: In response to this question and what preceded it, I would like to say it is time for the Islamic nation to realize after these attacks that the states of the region are non-sovereign states. Our enemies are moving freely in our seas, lands, and space. They strike without seeking anyone's permission. This time the United States and Britain were not able to rally support for this flagrant and exposed conspiracy. The present regimes are no longer capable of doing so. These regimes are either colluding or having lost the ability to do anything against this blatant occupation. The Muslims, particularly those in power and people of good judgment -- true ulema, faithful merchants, and tribal chiefs -- should emigrate for the sake of God and seek a place where they can raise the banner of jihad and mobilize the nation into safeguarding their religion and worldly affairs. Otherwise, they will lose everything. They should learn a lesson from what was inflicted on our brothers in Palestine. The Palestinian people were well known for their activity and agricultural crops, citrus fruit, textiles, and soap, which they used to export. The Palestinian people, who are our brothers, are now displaced and expelled everywhere. Finally, they became laborers employed by the colonialist Jews, who would allow them in or deny them entry whenever they want and at the cheapest of wages. The situation is serious. If we do not move now that the old house, the qiblah [direction to which Muslims turn in prayer -- the Ka'bah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia] of 1.2 billion Muslims, was encroached upon, when will people do so? This is a significant matter that needs to be addressed. Deluded are those who think that the current circumstances frighten the Islamic movements We the Muslims believe that the instant of death was fixed the moment we came to existence in our mothers' wombs; it moves neither forward nor backward. Our livelihood comes from the Almighty God. It is God who created these souls and gave these funds to people. God has purchased of the believers their persons and their goods. So, why should people fail to support their religion? Isma'il: Following the first US attack on Afghanistan last summer, the news agencies cited you or your representative as saying that you will reply to the attack, but we have not heard of any reply. Will there be a practical reply if there is a new US attack on Afghanistan? How will the reply be? Bin Ladin: Our duty -- and we carried it out -- is to rouse the nation for jihad against the United States, Israel, and their supporters for the sake of God. We continue to move in the direction of instigating people. The popular movement of the past few months gives hope. It is a step in the right direction to force the Americans out of the Islamic countries Due to the circumstances surrounding us and due to our inability to move outside Afghanistan to closely pursue this, we did only what we could. By the grace of God, we, together with a large number of our brothers, formed the world front for jihad against Jews and crusaders [al-salibiyin]. We believe matters are proceeding well with many of them [brothers] They are largely active. We hope God will help them uphold religion and take revenge from the Jews and Americans. Isma'il: This world Islamic front was formed or announced seven or months ago. Thus far, we have not heard anything from it other than the statement to which you referred or the news conference you held in the city of Khost last summer. Do you think the front is now practically frozen? Bin Ladin: It is not frozen. Its members are of diverse nationalities and have a large margin of movement. They should not necessarily announce their actions. These months cannot be considered much in the effort to rouse the nation and resist the biggest enemy in the world. Isma'il: The United States warned its nationals in the Gulf states and the region in current month of Ramadan. How serious are these warnings and do you target the US nationals in general or the US forces in the Gulf and some other Islamic areas? Bin Ladin: I heard this a few days ago on radio stations. It delighted me as it heralded the emergence of the nation, thanks to Almighty God. As for the seriousness of threats, I, regrettably, do not know who undertook this blessed effort. We pray to the Almighty God to grant them success and bestow on them (?victory over) the infidels -- Americans and others. The previous fatwa said that in our religion we have categories that are different from what the infidels claim, although they claim something and act differently. We differentiate between man, woman, child, and elderly people. The man is a fighter, whether he carries arms or helps us in our struggle by paying taxes and by gathering information. He is thus a fighter. With regard to reports disseminated among Muslims that Usama is threatening to kill civilians, I ask who are they killing in Palestine? They are killing children, not only civilians, but also children. The United States took exclusive possession of the media and managed to build huge media power. It uses different standards at different times according to its needs. With God's help, the target or enemy of Muslims is every American man who is directly fighting us or paying taxes. You may have heard these days that almost three quarters of the US people support Clinton's strikes against Iraq They are people whose president becomes more popular when he kills innocent people. They are people who increase their support for their president when he commits cardinal sins. They are a lowly people who do not at all understand the meaning of values. Isma'il: The US Pentagon published reports on your health. It attributed them to Pakistani intelligence. They said you have developed an incurable disease and may not live long. They said you will live only five or six months at most. First, how true are these reports? Second, what is the purpose of publishing these reports now after issuing warnings to US nationals against possible operations by you and your supporters? Bin Ladin: I enjoy a very good health, praised be God, whom we always thank. As you can see, we are living in the mountains. We endure this bitter cold; we also endure the summer heat. Praised be God, I continue to practice my favorite hobby, which is horse-riding. Thanks to God, I still can ride a horse for 70 km without stopping. These are tendentious rumors, possibly intended to affect the morale of Muslims sympathizing with us. They may also be intended to dispel the Americans' fears that Usama might do something. What is true is that things do not hinge on Usama. This is a nation of 1.2 billion Muslims, which absolutely cannot leave God's old house to the malicious Jews and Christians. The nation, God willing, will continue [along this path]. We are confident that they will continue jihad and continue to deal painful blows to the United States and its supporters, God willing. Isma'il: When the United States bombed Afghanistan on 20 August it was reported that you were attending a meeting in the Khost area, which was the target of the US missiles. It was also reported that the missile attack was timed to coincide with your presence at that meeting. Was there a meeting and were you present there? It was also said that you received a message from a neighboring country; namely, Pakistan, asking you to immediately leave that place because it could possibly be attacked. What is your relationship with Pakistan and what is its attitude toward you? Do you think Pakistan will cooperate with the United States in dealing a blow to you? Bin Ladin: Praised be God. The Americans apparently had wrong information. I was not in Khost. I was not anywhere in the Bektiya Province. I was a few hundred kilometers away from that place. As for what was said about information reaching us, we, with the help of God, found in Pakistan sympathetic and generous people. Their sympathy exceeded all our expectations. May God bless them. We get information from our beloved ones and supporters of jihad against the Americans for the sake of God. The people of Pakistan gave a clear indication of how much they hate the US arrogance against the Islamic world. There are groups in Pakistan that sympathize with Islam and jihad against Americans. There are also other groups, which are few but, regrettably, continue to cooperate with the Americans, the nation's enemies. Isma'il: Do you mean on the official level? Bin Ladin: I mean the government; groups within the government. Isma'il: Some Arab and foreign newspapers published reports on your attempt to possess nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, particularly via some merchants from central Asian states or former Soviet republics. How true are these reports, especially since the US Administration recorded these accusations in the list of 235 charges leveled at you. It says you are seriously seeking to possess such weapons. Bin Ladin: As I said, we are demanding our right to have them [the Americans] evicted from the Islamic world and to prevent them from dominating us. We believe that the right to self-defense is to be enjoyed by all people. Israel is stockpiling hundreds of nuclear warheads and bombs and the Christian West is largely in possession of such weapons Hence, we do not regard this as a charge, but rather as a right. We refuse to see anybody level charges against us in this regard. It is as if you were accusing a man of being a brave knight and fighter. It is as if you were denying him this Only a man who is not in his right mind would level such accusations. This is a right. We supported the Pakistani people and congratulated them when God was gracious enough to enable them to acquire the nuclear weapon. We regard this as one of our rights, of Muslim rights. We will not pay attention to these worn-out US charges. Isma'il: Is this a confirmation of the charges that you are seeking to possess such weapons? Bin Ladin: These are not charges. It is the duty of the Muslims to possess them. The United States knows that with the help of Almighty God the Muslims today possess these weapons. Isma'il: The US Administration leveled accusations at you on issues they said related to terrorism and the support extended to terrorist groups and others. Are you ready to counter these accusations and stand trial in a neutral court in another state? Bin Ladin: There are two parties to the conflict: World Christianity, which is allied with Jews and Zionism, led by the United States, Britain, and Israel. The second party is the Islamic world. In such a conflict, it is unacceptable to see the first party mount attacks, desecrate my land and holy shrines, and plunder the Muslims' oil. When Muslims put up resistance against this party, they are branded as terrorists. This is stupidity. It is an insult to people's intelligence. We believe that it is our religious duty to resist this occupation with all the power we have and to punish it using the same means it is pursuing against us. Isma'il: But the Taliban government said it will try you if hard evidence is presented by any state or quarter on the charges leveled at you. Will you agree to stand trial according to the Islamic law, which is being applied by Taliban? Bin Ladin: We left our country to undertake jihad for the sake of Almighty God. God has honored us with this blessed emigration out of our desire to apply the shari'ah [Islamic law]. This is what we left for -- a country where there is a religious court that applies the Islamic shari'ah away from pressures and personal whims. This is our aim and demand. We are ready at any time to appear before any religious court, in which both the plaintiff and defendant stand. If the plaintiff is the United States, we will also sue it for many things and cardinal sins it committed in the land of Islam. When the Americans, God fight them, asked Taliban to hand me over, they refused to apply the shari'ah. They said: We demand one thing, that is, to hand over Usama Bin Ladin. They deal with people as if they were their slaves or servants. This is due to their arrogance. May God disgrace them. Isma'il: Regarding the bombings against the US embassies in East Africa -- in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam -- charges were made against you, based on the confessions published in some Pakistani and world newspapers. They were attributed to Muhammad Sadiq Huwaydah, who was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the United States and Kenyan authorities. He claimed that you ordered him to carry out the bombings. What is your opinion about these bombings and what is your relationship with Muhammad Sadiq Huwaydah? Bin Ladin: With the grace of Almighty God, they [bombings] delighted Muslims in the Islamic world. Those who followed world press and media reports saw the extent of the Islamic world's sympathy with the strikes against the Americans, although people regretted the death of some innocent people of that country. What was clear was the mammoth wave of joy that swept through the Islamic world. This is so because they believe that the Jews and the United States have gone too far in their tyranny and scorn of Muslims. Peoples failed to make the Islamic states move to defend them or their religion. Therefore, these were purely popular reactions by young men who willingly offered their lives, seeking the satisfaction of Almighty God. I hold in great esteem and respect these great men because they removed the brand of shame from the forehead of our [Islamic] nation when they carried out the bombings in Riyadh, Al-Khubar, East Africa, and elsewhere. I also view with great esteem our brother cubs in Palestine, who are teaching the Jews great lessons in faith and pride of the faithful. Regrettably, after these daring operations in Palestine, the world's infidelity gathered. It is a cause of sadness that they gathered on the soil of Egypt. They gathered their agents from the rulers of the region -- the Arab rulers -- who had been deceiving the Islamic nation for more than half a century. Whenever a president and a king met they said they discussed the Palestinian cause. Fifty years later, the clear picture emerged; namely, they met not only to betray the mujahidin in Palestine, but to denounce those cubs whose fathers and brothers were killed, imprisoned, or tortured for trying to defend their religion or expel the infidels from their land. The proverb says: Clear things are impossible to explain. I do not know what people are waiting for after this clear agentry and submission by the Arab rulers in favor of the Jews and the United States. Isma'il: Yes, but the United States says it is confident and has evidence on your involvement in these operations. It has not yet revealed this evidence. It was reported that investigations revealed that a person -- one of your group or your supporters -- confessed many things to the US intelligence about your organization and your connection with operations, including the bombing of the World Trade Center. Bin Ladin: The US claims are numerous. If we presume that they are true, we are not concerned about them. These people are resisting the forces of world infidelity that occupied their land. Why should the United States get angry when the people resist its aggressions? Its claims are baseless. However, if it means that I have something to do with instigating them, I would like to say that this is obvious. I have always admitted this. I admitted that I was one of those who cosigned the fatwa [legal religious ruling] that urged the nation to engage in jihad. We did so a few years ago. Praised be God, many people responded favorably to our fatwa. Of these people were the brothers whom we regard as martyrs. They were brother Abd-al-Aziz al-Mi'thim, who was killed in Riyadh, brother Muslih al-Shamrani, brother Riyad al-Hajiri, and brother Khalid al-Sa'id. The only strength is that bestowed by God. We beseech Almighty God to accept them all. During interrogation, they admitted to being influenced of some of the statements and circulars we issued to the people. In these statements and circulars, we communicated the fatwas issued by clergymen regarding the need to engage in jihad against these US occupiers. The Buddhists, North Koreans, and Vietnamese fought against the Americans. This is a legitimate right. What right do the Arab and Islamic media have to criticize the Mujahidin, who emulated and were inspired by Prophet Muhammad, God's peace and blessings be upon him. The prophet was quoted as saying: By Him in whose hand is my soul, I love to invade and get killed, then invade and get killed again, and then invade and get killed. It is our wish to embark on jihad for the sake of God. I had earlier told some Western media that we missed a great deal of honor for not participating in killing the Americans in Riyadh. These accusations are baseless in part and parcel, unless they meant instigation. True, I, together with many of my brotherly Islamic scholars, instigated the nation to embark on jihad. Isma'il: Muhammad Sadiq Huwaydah claimed that he received training in your camps and that he personally knew you. How true are his claims and the statements attributed to him by some news media? Bin Ladin: What I know is that more than 15,000 young men, mostly Arabs, received training in the camps of jihad in Afghanistan. God has bestowed his grace on us and helped us open these camps during the jihad against the Soviet Union. Some trainees were brothers from the Islamic world. I firmly believe that the claim that I asked him to carry out the bombing is a falsehood fabricated by the US government. It has no evidence on this. Even if we suppose that brother Huwaydah said this, he must have said this or made this confession under torture. The torture methods in Pakistan or East Africa are well known. Isma'il: But Muhammad Sadiq Huwaydah also claimed that you ordered the assassination of Shaykh Abdallah Azzam in Peshawar in 1989 and that there was struggle over the leadership of the Arab Afghans or Arab mujahidin in Afghanistan between you and Shaykh Abdallah Azzam, who chaired the services bureau. How true are these claims and how do you describe your relationship with Shaykh Abdallah? Bin Ladin: Shaykh Abdallah Azzam, may God have mercy on his soul, was a man worth a nation. His assassination clearly showed how sterile the Muslim women are for not giving birth to a man like him. The people of jihad, who were in the field and lived that era, know that the Islamic jihad in Afghanistan did not benefit from anyone as much as it benefited from Shaykh Abdallah Azzam. He prodded the nation [for jihad] from the farthest east to the farthest west. During the blessed jihad, he worked with our brother mujahidin in Palestine, particularly HAMAS. His books, particularly his book "The Verses of the Most Merciful" began to enter Palestine and urge the nation to undertake jihad against the Jews. He began to break out of the narrow regional circle observed by Islamists and Shaykhs and open up on the Islamic world to prod for jihad. We were in one boat as is known to you, along with our brother Wa'il (Jalidan). A plot was concocted to assassinate all. We were very careful not to be together all the time. I often asked Shaykh Abdallah Azzam to stay away from Peshawar due to the increasing plots, especially since a week or two ago a bomb was discovered in the mosque where the shaykh lives in Sab' al-Layl. The Jews were mostly harmed by the movements of Shaykh Abdallah. It is believed that Israel, along with some of its Arab agents, were the ones who assassinated the shaykh. The Jews, Americans, and some of their agents are spreading this accusation [that Bin Ladin ordered the killing of Azzam] these days. It is illogical for someone to behead himself. Those who were in the field knew how strong my relationship with Shaykh Abdallah Azzam was. These are falsehoods said by some and they are baseless. There was no competition between us. Shaykh Abdallah's specialization was in the field of call and instigation. We were in the Bektiya mountains. He sent us young men and we observed his directives and instructions. We pray to God to accept him as a martyr, together with his sons Muhammad and Ibrahim, and to make up for his loss by sending someone who can carry out the duty he used to carry out. Isma'il: Following the US missile attack on Afghanistan, the US President ordered an economic or financial war against you and the commercial institutions you are running of dealing with. It is said that the stage of drying up your financial resources has begun. Wouldn't this cause you financial problems and lead to the dispersal of your supporters in the coming stage? Bin Ladin: War has its ups and downs; we either win or lose. The United States exerted extremely strong pressures on our activities at an early stage. This affected us. Some of the states, in which we have funds and property, responded. They ordered us to stop antagonizing the United States. But we believe it is our duty to instigate the nation. We continued the instigation. With the help of the Almighty God, we continued and now we have been doing so for several years. The US pressures did not actually begin with the latest bombardment. Some Arab countries put economic pressures on us, denying us our rights and even preventing our people from paying us our money. They are thus following the footsteps of Abdallah Bin-Salul, the leader of the hypocrites, about whom God said: They are the ones who say spend nothing on those who are with God's apostle to the end that they may disperse, but to God belong the treasures of heavens and the earth; but the hypocrites understand not. [Koranic verse] The Almighty God has punished them and they now live in a hardship worse then the restrictions they imposed on us. As our prophet, God's peace and blessing be upon him, said, the one who is secure among his people, sound in his health, and capable of earning his livelihood will possess all the world. By God, we feel that the whole world is with us. Money is perishable. We call on Muslims to spend their money on jihad and be with the jihad movements, which have devoted themselves to fighting the Jews and crusaders. Isma'il: You declared jihad against Christians and Jews, especially Americans, in the fatwa issued last February. But, that fatwa coincided with a decision by several Islamist groups, which once engaged in armed struggle, to suspend this struggle, as is the case now in Egypt and Algeria. And in some Arab countries, we have also seen these Islamist groups engaging in parliamentary life or what is termed the democratic game. Don't you think that by calling for jihad now that you are moving against the general trend taken by these Islamist groups? Bin Ladin: We believe that Jihad is a duty for the nation today. But, we have to distinguish between jihad as a duty and the ability to carry it out. Any country that has insured the necessary requirements for jihad -- number and equipment -- Muslims there should embark on jihad against the great infidel. Now in some countries, people may think that they have insured the requirements, but discover after a while they have not. In such a case, they are exempted of that duty. But, who defines the requirements? Is it those who went after worldly affairs or those who do not have enough juristic or military knowledge? So the correct thing here is that although jihad is a duty it could be ruled out due to lack of ability. But preparation to insure the number of equipment cannot be ruled out. There is frequent talk among Muslims this is not the time for jihad. Now, this is incorrect if not properly documented. Some scholars also say this is not the time for jihad. This is really wrong if documented. But, if they say that jihad is a duty today and we are striving with all the means in our power to insure the number, equipment, and other necessary requirements, this is correct. Islamic scholar Ibn-Taymah, may God be pleased withim, says on this point: The one who issues the ruling on jihad must be one who is conversant with the Islamic shari'ah and with the conditions of jihad. In other words, he must have engaged in jihad himself. But, when jihad stopped among the nation for a while, there emerged a generation of religious scholars who had no experience in jihad. They fell under the influence of the US media that invaded the Islamic countries, and were thus defeated psychologically even before engaging in military action. They say: we cannot go for jihad. True, Jihad is necessary, but we cannot do it. But, the correct thing is that those on whom God bestowed the grace of jihad as Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechneya -- God has also bestowed this grace on us -- can with God's help, fight against the enemies of Islam, especially the outside great enemy, the crusader-Jewish alliance. I wish to point out here that some youths, may God preserve and bless them, are influenced by the hesitation of their elders. They think that these revered elders would not have hesitated had they not known the interests of the nation. But, facts have shown that this is not the case at all. It is not necessary for the hesitation of the revered ones stem from their awareness of the general interest. When reading the Holy Koran we find that righteous ones, may God be pleased with them, were rebuked by God for their hesitation. So if the chaste, righteous leaders, may God be pleased with them, had suffered from this disease of hesitation over jihad, how could we claim that our present day righteous ones were hesitant over jihad for the sake of the general interest? In the Holoy Koran sura of Al-Anfal, God says, addressing his prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, and the Badr Battle fighters, who were among the most righteous, may God rest their souls in peace: "Just thy Lord ordered thee out of thy house in truth, even though a party among the believers disliked it. Disputing with thee concerning the truth after it was made manifest, as if they were being driven to death and they (actually) saw it." If this description had applied to the Badr Battle fighters, the most righteous ones, it is only natural to apply to us as well. Ka'ab Ibn-Malik, m