Last updated on 8/30/08
Please be aware that we are still working on the background pages to this site. However, because of demand, we wanted to put some of what we have up now. Please check back often.
General Background:
BBC:
Who is Osama Bin Laden?
BBC's September 18, 2001, article on Osama bin Laden, his sponsorship by the US and by Pakistan, and how he turned against the US.
ADL:
Backgrounder - Osama bin Laden
The Anti-Defamation League profile of Osama bin Laden, international terrorist
and Islamic extremist. Also contains a timeline.
PBS:
Who Is Osama bin Laden and What Does He Want?
This interview, conducted by ABC's John Miller, was held at bin Laden's
remote mountaintop camp in southern Afghanistan two months before the
truck bombings of the U.S. embassies in East Africa.
CIA
biographies and investigations of bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and terrorist attacks
The September 11 sourcebooks from the National Security Archive Electronic
Briefing Book No. 55
1998:
InfoPlease:
People in the News
From the section about noteworthy people of 1998.
DoD:
1998 Fact Sheet on Osama bin Laden
Subtitle: "Saudi advocates destruction of United States." This
U.S. government factsheet was distributed by the Defense Department August
20, 1998.
DoD:
The Charges Against International Terrorist Usama bin Laden
Department of Defense document which states that the Taliban Movement
of Afghanistan, led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, continues to provide safe
haven to the indicted terrorist Usama bin Laden.
U.S.
State Department: Press Release on the Indictment of bin Laden and Atef
Usama bin Laden and Muhammad Atef were indicted November 4 in Manhattan
federal court for the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States embassies
in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and for conspiring to
kill American nationals outside of the United States.
U.S.
State Dept: Reward Offer: Osama bin Laden and Mohammad Atef
The State Department's 1998 announcement of a $5 million reward for Osama
bin Laden and Mohammad Atef.
ICT:
Osama bin Ladin: Marketing Terrorism
International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism's article starts
off comparing OBL to the CEO of a huge software company.
Text
of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans
Statement signed by Sheikh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin; Ayman al-Zawahiri,
leader of the Jihad Group in Egypt; Abu- Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader
of the Islamic Group; Sheikh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan;
and Fazlul Rahman, leader of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh, first published
in Al-Quds al-'Arabi on Febuary 23, 1998.
The
Nation: Talks with Osama bin Laden
Robert Fisk's memoir of his meetings with Osama bin Laden, first published
in the September 21, 1998 issue of The Nation.
2000:
New
Yorker: The Real bin Laden
Mary Ann Weaver's article, first published in January of 2000, was reprinted
in light of his involvement with the terrorist attacks on American soil.
2001:
FBI:
Ten Most Wanted Terrorists: Usama bin Laden
Bin Laden's official wanted poster from the FBI site, says he is wanted
for the murder of U.S. nationals outside the US; conspiracy to murder
U.S. ationals outside the U.S., and attack on a federal facility resulting
in death.
Sheikh
Abdullah Azzam: Bin Laden's Spiritual Mentor
International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism article about bin
Laden's mentor, a native of Jenin in the West Bank.
