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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text== Background == {{Further|Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|Political views of Osama bin Laden}} === Al-Qaeda{{anchor|Al-Qaeda}} === {{Main|Al-Qaeda}} {{further|Jihad|}} Al-Qaeda's origins can be traced to 1979, when the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan]].<ref name="gunaratna">{{cite book |author=Gunaratna, Ronan |title=Inside Al Qaeda |publisher=Berkley Books |year=2002}}</ref> Soon after the invasion, [[Osama bin Laden]] traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab [[mujahideen]] (the "[[Afghan Arabs]]") to resist the "[[Communism|Communist]] invaders" ([[Soviet Union|Soviets]]) until their exit from the country in 1989.<ref>{{cite book |last=Formichi |first=Chiara |title=Islam as Resistance |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2020 |page=206}}</ref><ref name="CTCSentinel2008-032">{{cite news |last=Hafez |first=Mohammed M. |date=March 2008 |title=Jihad After Iraq: Lessons from the Arab Afghans Phenomenon |volume=1 |work=[[CTC Sentinel]] |number=4 |url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA493790&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508004955/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA493790 |archive-date=May 8, 2011}}</ref> In 1984, bin Laden, along with Islamic scholar [[Abdullah Azzam]], formed the ''[[Maktab al-Khidamat]]'' (MAK), an organization to support Arab mujahideen who came to join the [[jihad]] in Afghanistan.<ref name="gunaratna" /><ref>{{cite news |date=July 20, 2004 |title=Al-Qaeda's origins and links |publisher=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1670089.stm |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=August 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802042719/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1670089.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) funnelled several billion dollars worth of weapons to the indigenous [[Afghan mujahideen]] resistance, a portion of which bled to the Arab volunteers.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Steve Coll|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001]]|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2004|isbn=9781594200076|pages=144–145, 238}}</ref> However, no direct evidence of U.S. aid to bin Laden or any of his affiliates was ever uncovered.{{sfnp|Bergen|2006|pp=[https://archive.org/details/osamabinladenikn00berg_0/page/60 60]–61}} In 1996, bin Laden issued his first ''[[Fatwa|fatwā]]'', which declared war against the United States and demanded the expulsion of all American soldiers from the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Bin Laden's fatwā (1996) |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html |url-status=dead |publisher=PBS |access-date=May 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011031024057/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html |archive-date=October 31, 2001}}</ref> In a second 1998 ''fatwā'', bin Laden outlined his objections to [[Foreign policy of the United States|American foreign policy]] with respect to the [[Israel|State of Israel]], as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the [[Gulf War]].<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28">{{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-jan-june98-fatwa_1998/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131128194258/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military/jan-june98/fatwa_1998.html|archive-date=November 28, 2013 |title=Al Qaeda's Second Fatwa |website=[[PBS NewsHour]] |publisher=[[PBS]] |url-status=live |access-date=May 29, 2014}}</ref> Bin Laden maintained that [[Muslims]] are obliged to attack American targets until the aggressive policies of the U.S. against Muslims were reversed. According to bin Laden, [[Fuqaha|Islamic jurists]] had "throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the [[jihad]] is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries".<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Logevall|first=Fredrik|title=Terrorism and 9/11: A Reader|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=2002|isbn=0-618-25535-4|location=New York}}</ref> The [[Hamburg cell]] in Germany included Islamists who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 19, 2005 |title=The Hamburg connection |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2349195.stm |access-date=June 26, 2011 |archive-date=May 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530031910/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2349195.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mohamed Atta]]; [[Marwan al-Shehhi]]; [[Ziad Jarrah]]; Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and [[Said Bahaji]] were all members of Al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell.<ref>"[http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch5.htm 5 Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland]". [[9/11 Commission]]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816215318/http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch5.htm|date=August 16, 2009}}.</ref> Bin Laden asserted that all Muslims must wage a defensive war against the United States, and combat American aggression. He further argued that military strikes against American assets would send a message to the [[American people]], attempting to force the U.S. to re-evaluate its [[Israel–United States military relations|support to Israel]], and other aggressive policies.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=John |title="Greetings, America. My name is Osama Bin Laden..." |publisher=PBS |website=Frontline |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/miller.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124171126/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/miller.html#:~:text=%22The%20American%20imposes%20himself%20on,the%20future%20of%20these%20children. |archive-date=November 24, 2023 |access-date=December 7, 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 1998 interview with American journalist [[John Miller (police official)|John Miller]], bin Laden stated: {{Blockquote|text=[W]e tell the Americans as people 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 [[International Jewish conspiracy|interests of the Jews]]. The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America, as [[1993 World Trade Center bombing|[the 1993 World Trade Center bomber]]] [[Ramzi Yousef|Ramzi [Yousef]]] 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 honour. My word to American journalists is not to ask why we did that but to ask what their government has done that forced us to defend ourselves.|source=<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/miller.html#:~:text=%22The%20American%20imposes%20himself%20on,the%20future%20of%20these%20children | title="Greetings, America. My name is Osama Bin Laden..." | first1= John |last1= Miller | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010211145335/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/miller.html | archive-date= 11 February 2001 | work=PBS}}</ref>|character=[[Osama bin Laden]]|title=his interview with [[John Miller (police official)|John Miller]], May 1998|multiline=}} ==== Osama bin Laden ==== {{Main|Osama bin Laden}} {{further|Militant career of Osama bin Laden}} [[File:Osama bin Laden, portræt.jpg|thumb|[[Osama bin Laden]] in 1997–1998]] Bin Laden orchestrated the September 11 attacks. He initially denied involvement, but later recanted his denial.<ref name="CBC 2004-10-29">{{cite news |date=October 29, 2004 |title=Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11 |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-claims-responsibility-for-9-11-1.513654 |access-date=September 1, 2011 |quote=Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden appeared in a new message aired on an Arabic TV station Friday night, for the first time claiming direct responsibility for the 2001 attacks against the United States. |archive-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218142044/http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen_message041029.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="BBC6Jul2011">{{cite news |title=Pakistan inquiry orders Bin Laden family to remain |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14041604 |publisher=BBC News |date=July 6, 2011 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=November 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191130003148/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14041604 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ajNov2004">{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613014620/http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=7403 |archive-date=June 13, 2007 |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=7403 |title=Full transcript of bin Laden's speech |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=November 2, 2004 |access-date=September 3, 2011}}</ref> [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] broadcast a statement by him on September 16, 2001: "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation".<ref>{{cite news |title=Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34440,00.html |publisher=Fox News |date=September 16, 2001 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523082548/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34440,00.html |archive-date=May 23, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In November 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in [[Jalalabad, Afghanistan]]. In the video, bin Laden, talking to [[Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi|Khaled al-Harbi]], [[Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden#December 13, 2001|admitted foreknowledge]] of the attacks.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bin Laden on tape: Attacks 'benefited Islam greatly' |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=December 14, 2001 |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227125232/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape/ |archive-date=December 27, 2007 |url-status=dead |access-date=November 24, 2013 |quote=Reveling in the details of the fatal attacks, bin Laden brags in Arabic that he knew about them beforehand and said the destruction went beyond his hopes. He says the attacks "benefited Islam greatly".}}</ref> On December 27, 2001, a second video of bin Laden was released in which he, stopping short of admitting responsibility for the attacks, said:<ref>{{cite news |date=December 27, 2001 |title=Transcript: Bin Laden video excerpts |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1729882.stm |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=July 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727043659/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1729882.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{blockquote|It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam.{{spaces}}... It is the hatred of [[crusaders]]. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people.{{spaces}}... We say that the end of the United States is imminent, whether Bin Laden or his followers are alive or dead, for the awakening of the Muslim [[ummah]] [nation] has occurred.{{spaces}}... It is important to hit the economy (of the United States), which is the base of its military power...If the economy is hit they will become reoccupied.|author=Osama bin Laden}} Shortly before the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 U.S. presidential election]], bin Laden used a [[2004 Osama bin Laden video|taped statement]] to publicly acknowledge Al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks.<ref name="CBC 2004-10-29" /> He admitted his direct link to the attacks and said they were carried out because: {{blockquote| The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced. I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses were destroyed along with their occupants high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy...As I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America so that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children. And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bin Ladin |first=Osama |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/11/1/full-transcript-of-bin-ladins-speech |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |agency=Al Jazeera |date=November 1, 2004 |access-date=June 3, 2023 |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101175357/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/11/1/full-transcript-of-bin-ladins-speech |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Bin Laden personally directed his followers to attack the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] and the Pentagon.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=February 2, 2019|title=Bin Laden Dead – Where Are Other 9/11 Planners?|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-dead-911-perpetrators-now/story?id=13511484|date=May 2, 2011|publisher=[[ABC News]]|quote=While initially denying responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, Bin Laden took responsibility for them in a 2004 taped statement, saying that he had personally directed the hijackers.|archive-date=May 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504215745/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-dead-911-perpetrators-now/story?id=13511484|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|access-date=February 2, 2019|date=October 29, 2004|title=Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11|publisher=[[CBC News]]|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-claims-responsibility-for-9-11-1.513654|archive-date=February 18, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218142044/http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen_message041029.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 showed bin Laden with one of the attacks' chief planners, [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], as well as hijackers, [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]] and [[Wail al-Shehri]], amidst making preparations for the attacks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-9-11-planning-video-aired-1.618703 |title=Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired |publisher=[[CBC News]] |date=September 7, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013183902/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-9-11-planning-video-aired-1.618703 |archive-date=October 13, 2007 |access-date=September 3, 2011}}</ref> Bin Laden had been on the FBI's Most Wanted List since 1998 for the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies]] in [[Tanzania]] and [[Kenya]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Clewley |first=Robin |date=September 27, 2001 |title=How Osama Cracked FBI's Top 10 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/09/47109 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526032503/http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/09/47109 |archive-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Usama Bin Laden |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011161759/https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden |archive-date=October 11, 2010 |access-date=September 10, 2011 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> ==== Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other Al-Qaeda members ==== {{Main|Khalid Sheikh Mohammed|}}[[File:Khalid Shaikh Mohammed after capture.jpg|thumb|[[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] after his 2003 capture in [[Rawalpindi]], Pakistan]] Journalist [[Yosri Fouda]] of the Arabic television channel [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] reported that in April 2002 Al-Qaeda member [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] admitted his involvement in the attacks, along with Ramzi bin al-Shibh.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,3604,906911,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123195032/http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0%2C3604%2C906911%2C00.html |archive-date=January 23, 2008 |title=We left out nuclear targets, for now |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=March 4, 2003 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |quote=Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel al-Jazeera is the only journalist to have interviewed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda military commander arrested at the weekend. |location=London |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3685099/Alleged-911-mastermind-wants-to-confess-to-plot.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3685099/Alleged-911-mastermind-wants-to-confess-to-plot.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Alleged 9/11 mastermind wants to confess to plot |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=October 10, 2008 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |location=London|first1=Tom|last1=Leonard |first2=Alex|last2=Spillius}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="aljazeera2007">{{cite news |date=March 15, 2007 |title=September 11 suspect 'confesses' |publisher=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2007/03/200852512026300115.html |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=September 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927221043/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2007/03/200852512026300115.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The 2004 ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'' determined that Mohammed's animosity towards the United States, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed from his "violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel".<ref name="9/11 Commission Report 2004 p147">9/11 Commission Report (2004), p. 147.</ref> Mohammed was also an adviser and financier of the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]] and the uncle of [[Ramzi Yousef]], the lead bomber in that attack.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/26/white-house-power-grabs/|title=White House power grabs|date=August 26, 2009|work=[[The Washington Times]]|access-date=September 3, 2011|archive-date=December 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205144643/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/26/white-house-power-grabs/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-04/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-terror-indictment-unsealed-dismissed.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417023034/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-04/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-terror-indictment-unsealed-dismissed.html|archive-date=April 17, 2011|title=Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Terror Indictment Unsealed, Dismissed |last1=Van Voris |first1=Bob |last2=Hurtado |first2=Patricia|date=April 4, 2011|work=[[Bloomberg BusinessWeek]]|access-date=September 3, 2011}}</ref> In late 1994, Mohammed and Yousef moved on to plan a new terrorist attack called the [[Bojinka plot]] planned for January 1995. Despite a failure and [[Ramzi Yousef#Arrest, conviction and prison life|Yousef's capture]] by U.S. forces the following month, the Bojinka plot would influence the later 9/11 attacks.{{sfn|Wright|2006|p={{page needed|date=September 2023}}}} In "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" from the trial of [[Zacarias Moussaoui]], five people are identified as having been completely aware of the operation's details. They are bin Laden; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]]; [[Abu Turab al-Urduni]]; and [[Mohammed Atef]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed |page=24 |url=http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/defense/941.pdf |year=2006 |publisher=[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia]] |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=October 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026151908/http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/defense/941.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> === Motives === {{Main|Motives for the September 11 attacks}} {{Further|Fatwa of Osama bin Laden}} Osama bin Laden's declaration of a [[Religious war|holy war]] against the United States, and a [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|1998 ''fatwā'' signed by bin Laden]] and others that called for the killing of Americans,<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28" /><ref name="1996 text">{{cite web |title=[Text of] Bin Laden's [1996] Fatwa |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-july-dec96-fatwa_1996/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419014901/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-july-dec96-fatwa_1996/ |archive-date=19 April 2014 |access-date=14 June 2014 |publisher=[[PBS NewsHour]] |ref=August 23, 1996}}</ref> are seen by investigators as evidence of his motivation.<ref>Gunarathna, pp. 61–62.</ref> During his interview with [[Hamid Mir]] in November 2001, Bin Laden defended the September 11 attacks as retaliatory strikes against American atrocities against Muslims across the world. He also maintained that the attacks were not directed against women and children, asserting that the targets of the strikes were symbols of America's "economic and military power".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bin Laden |first=Osama |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Lawrence |editor-first=Bruce |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |pages=139, 140, 141 |chapter=Declaration of Jihad |quote=The targets of September 11 were not women and children. The main targets were the symbol of the United States: their economic and military power.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2001 |title='Muslims have the right to attack America' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/11/terrorism.afghanistan1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825215127/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/11/terrorism.afghanistan1 |archive-date=25 August 2013}}</ref> In bin Laden's November 2002 "''[[Letter to the American people]]''", he explicitly stated that al-Qaeda's motives for the attacks included: * [[Israel–United States military relations|U.S. support of Israel]]<ref name="bin Laden" /><ref name="Israel sources"> *Mearsheimer (2007), p. 67. *Kushner (2003), p. 389. *Murdico (2003), p. 64. *Kelley (2006), p. 207. *Ibrahim (2007), p. 276. *{{harvp|Berner|2007|p=80}}</ref> * Bin Laden's strategy to support and globally expand the [[Al-Aqsa Intifada]]<ref>{{cite web |date=24 November 2002 |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008120001/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |archive-date=2014-10-08 |access-date=2019-01-07 |work=The Guardian |quote=The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone... American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their government and even to change them if they want. (b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes that fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies that occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets that ensure the blockade of Iraq.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=The Search for Al Qaeda |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8157-0451-5 |location=Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, US |pages=5, 6 |chapter=1: The Manhattan Raid |quote=The Palestinian intifada, the fierce uprising in the fall of 2000 on the West Bank and Gaza, was a particularly powerful motivating event for.. bin Laden... The intifada's power over bin Laden's thinking about the 9/11 raid is underscored by his repeated attempts to push KSM to advance the timing of the crashes. In September of 2000, he urged KSM to tell Atta to attack immediately to respond to the Sharon visit to the holy sites in Jerusalem; Atta told bin Laden he was not ready yet. When bin Laden learned that Sharon, who had become Israel's prime minister in March 2001, was going to visit the White House early that summer, he again pressed Atta to attack immediately. And again Atta demurred, arguing he needed more time to get the plan and the team ready to go.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Holbrook |first=Donald |title=The Al-Qaeda Doctrine |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-62356-314-1 |location=New York, NY, US |pages=145}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=J. Greenberg |first1=Karen |title=Al Qaeda Now |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-85911-0 |location=New York, US |pages=192–206 |chapter=October 21, 2001 – Interview with Tayseer Alouni |quote=Last year's blessed intifada helped us to push more for the Palestinian issue. This push helps the other cause. Attacking America helps the cause of Palestine and vice versa. No conflict between the two; on the contrary, one serves the other.}}</ref> * Attacks against Muslims by [[Unified Task Force|U.S.-led coalition]] in [[Somalia]] * U.S. support of the government of [[Philippines]] against Muslims in the [[Moro conflict]] * U.S. support for the [[Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon]] * U.S. support of [[Russians|Russian]] atrocities against Muslims in [[Chechnya]] * Pro-American governments in the [[Middle East]] (who "act as your agents") being against Muslim interests * U.S. support of Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir * The [[Operation Southern Watch|presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia]]<ref>*Plotz, David (2001) [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2001/09/what_does_osama_bin_laden_want.html What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115012459/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2001/09/what_does_osama_bin_laden_want.html |date=November 15, 2016 }}, ''Slate'' *{{harvp|Bergen|2001|p=3}} *{{cite news |last=Yusufzai |first=Rahimullah |title=Face to face with Osama |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0%2C3604%2C558075%2C00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=September 26, 2001 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=January 19, 2008 }} *{{cite news |title=US pulls out of Saudi Arabia |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=April 29, 2003 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172742/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2984547.stm |url-status=live }} *{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1025558570331929960 |title=Saga of Dr. Zawahri Sheds Light on the Roots of al Qaeda Terror |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=July 2, 2002 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230220026/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1025558570331929960 |url-status=live }} *{{cite web |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing10/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-04-13.htm |title=Tenth Public Hearing, Testimony of Louis Freeh |publisher=9/11 Commission |date=April 13, 2004 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172014/https://9-11commission.gov/archive/hearing10/9-11Commission_Hearing_2004-04-13.htm%20 |url-status=live }} *{{cite web |title=Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement |date=February 23, 1998 |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421110549/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> * The [[sanctions against Iraq]]<ref name="bin Laden">*{{cite news |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |publisher=Al Jazeera |access-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093303/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |archive-date=January 1, 2016 }} *{{cite news |first=Osama |last=bin Laden |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |date=November 24, 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |work=[[The Observer]] |access-date=September 3, 2011 |location=London |archive-date=July 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728133223/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |url-status=live }}</ref> *[[Environmental destruction]]<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |date=2002-11-24 |access-date=2010-04-26| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418164357/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver| archive-date=18 April 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/23/osama-bin-laden-s-aide-ayman-al-zawahiri-rants-on-global-warming-89520-20391770/|title=Osama bin Laden's aide Ayman al-Zawahiri rants on global warming – Mirror.co.uk<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=[[Daily Mirror]]|access-date=May 14, 2023|archive-date=May 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511161707/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/23/osama-bin-laden-s-aide-ayman-al-zawahiri-rants-on-global-warming-89520-20391770/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/29/2010-01-29_al_qaeda_leader_osama_bin_laden_blasts_us_in_tape_for_global_warming.html |work=New York Daily News |title=Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden blasts U.S. in audiotape spewing hate for... global warming |first=Brian |last=Kates |date=2010-01-30 |access-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-date=February 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201222703/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/01/29/2010-01-29_al_qaeda_leader_osama_bin_laden_blasts_us_in_tape_for_global_warming.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After the attacks, bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] released additional [[Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden|videotapes]] and audio recordings, some of which repeated the above reasons for the attacks. Two relevant publications were bin Laden's 2002 "''Letter to the American people''"<ref name="BLLTA">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |title=Full transcript of bin Laden's 'Letter to America' |work=The Guardian |date=November 24, 2002|access-date=September 3, 2011 |location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426123409/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |archive-date=April 26, 2019 }}</ref> and a 2004 videotape by bin Laden.<ref name="Full Ladin">{{cite news|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |access-date=April 10, 2012 |last=bin Laden |first=Osama |publisher=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]] |quote=So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093303/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |archive-date=January 1, 2016 }}</ref> {{quote box|[...] those young men, for whom [[God]] has cleared the way, didn't set out to kill children, but rather attacked the biggest centre of military power in the world, [[the Pentagon]], which contains more than 64,000 workers, a military base which has a big concentration of army and intelligence ... As for the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]], the ones who were attacked and who died in it were part of a financial power. It wasn't a children's school! Neither was it a residence. The consensus is that most of the people who were in the towers were men who backed the biggest financial force in the world, which spreads mischief throughout the world. | source = — Osama Bin Laden's interview with [[Tayseer Allouni]], 21 October 2001<ref>{{cite book |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Bruce Lawrence |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |page=119}}</ref> | align = right | width = 25em }} As an adherent of [[Islam]], bin Laden believed that [[kuffar|non-Muslims]] are forbidden from having a permanent presence in the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter L. |author-link=Peter L. Bergen |title=Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden |year=2005 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7432-3467-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sRhZDrJb0zgC&pg=PP1|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref> In 1996, [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|bin Laden issued]] a ''fatwā'' calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia. In 1998, Al-Qaeda wrote "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 neighbours, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighbouring Muslim peoples".<ref name="1998 Al Qaeda fatwā">{{cite web |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |title=1998 Al Qaeda fatwā |publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] (FAS) |date=February 23, 1998 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=April 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421110549/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In a December 1999 interview, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to [[Mecca]]", and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.<ref name="guardian-20010926">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/26/afghanistan.terrorism3 |title=Face to face with Osama |work=The Guardian |date=September 26, 2001 |location=London |access-date=September 3, 2011 |first=Rahimullah |last=Yusufzai |archive-date=January 19, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119011449/http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,558075,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> One analysis of suicide terrorism suggested that without U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, Al-Qaeda likely would not have been able to get people to commit to suicide missions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pape |first=Robert A. |author-link=Robert Pape |title=Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism |year=2005 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8129-7338-9|url=https://archive.org/details/dyingtowinstrate00pape|access-date=March 20, 2020}}</ref> In the 1998 ''fatwā'', Al-Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason to kill Americans, condemning the "protracted blockade" among other actions that constitute a declaration of war against "Allah, his messenger, and Muslims".<ref name="1998 Al Qaeda fatwā" /> The ''fatwā'' declared that "the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies{{snd}}civilians and military{{snd}}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|al-Aqsa Mosque]] and the holy mosque of Mecca from their grip, and in order for their [the Americans'] armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim".<ref name="PBS 2013-11-28" /><ref>See also the 1998 [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|Al-Qaeda ''fatwā'']]: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies{{snd}}civilians and military{{snd}}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." Quoted from {{cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military-jan-june98-fatwa_1998/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131128194258/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/military/jan-june98/fatwa_1998.html|archive-date=November 28, 2013 |title=Al Qaeda's Second Fatwa |website=[[PBS NewsHour]] |publisher=[[PBS]] |url-status=dead |access-date=May 29, 2014}}</ref> In 2004, bin Laden claimed that the idea of destroying the towers had first occurred to him in 1982 when he witnessed Israel's bombardment of high-rise apartment buildings during the [[1982 Lebanon War]].<ref>Summers and Swan (2011), pp. 211, 506n.</ref><ref>Lawrence (2005), p. 239.</ref> Some analysts, including political scientists [[John Mearsheimer]] and [[Stephen Walt]], also claimed that U.S. support of Israel was a motive for the attacks.<ref name="Israel sources" /><ref name="guardian-20010926" /> In 2004 and 2010, bin Laden again connected the September 11 attacks with U.S. support of Israel, although most of the letters expressed bin Laden's disdain for President Bush and bin Laden's hope to "destroy and bankrupt" the U.S.<ref>{{cite news|title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html%20online%20here|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=August 24, 2016|date=November 4, 2004|archive-date=November 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114080708/http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html%20online%20here|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>In his taped broadcast from January 2010, bin Laden said "Our attacks against you [the United States] will continue as long as U.S. support for Israel continues.{{spaces}}... The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian [[Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab]] is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September{{spaces}}11". Quoted from [http://www.haaretz.com/news/bin-laden-attacks-on-u-s-to-go-on-as-long-as-it-supports-israel-1.265770 "Bin Laden: Attacks on U.S. to go on as long as it supports Israel"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216081625/http://www.haaretz.com/news/bin-laden-attacks-on-u-s-to-go-on-as-long-as-it-supports-israel-1.265770 |date=December 16, 2016 }}, in Haaretz.com</ref> Other motives have been suggested in addition to those stated by bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Some authors suggested the "humiliation" that resulted from the Islamic world falling behind the Western world{{snd}}this discrepancy was rendered especially visible by globalization<ref>Bernard Lewis, 2004. In [[Bernard Lewis]]'s 2004 book ''[[The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror]]'', he argues that animosity toward the West is best understood with the decline of the once powerful [[Ottoman empire]], compounded by the import of western ideas{{snd}}[[Arab socialism]], [[Liberal movements within Islam|Arab liberalism]] and [[Secularism in the Middle East|Arab secularism]]</ref><ref>In "The spirit of terrorism", [[Jean Baudrillard]] described 9/11 as the first global event that "questions the very process of globalization". {{cite web |url=http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/baudriterror.htm |title=The spirit of terrorism |last=Baudrillard |access-date=June 26, 2011 |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528231925/http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ikalmar/illustex/baudriterror.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and a desire to provoke the U.S. into a broader war against the Islamic world in the hope of motivating more allies to support Al-Qaeda. Similarly, others have argued the 9/11 attacks were a strategic move to provoke America into a war that would incite a [[pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] revolution.<ref>In an essay entitled "Somebody Else's Civil War", [[Michael Scott Doran]] argues the attacks are best understood as part of a religious conflict within the Muslim world and that bin Laden's followers "consider themselves an island of true believers surrounded by a sea of iniquity". Hoping that U.S. retaliation would unite the faithful against the West, bin Laden sought to spark revolutions in Arab nations and elsewhere. Doran argues the [[Osama bin Laden videos]] attempt to provoke a visceral reaction in the Middle East and ensure that Muslim citizens would react as violently as possible to an increase in U.S. involvement in their region. ({{cite magazine|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2002-01-01/somebody-elses-civil-war|title=Somebody Else's Civil War|first=Michael Scott|last=Doran|issue=January/February 2002|magazine=[[Foreign Affairs]]|access-date=December 5, 2009|url-access=subscription|archive-date=April 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423172939/http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/57618/michael-scott-doran/somebody-elses-civil-war|url-status=live}} Reprinted in {{cite book|last1=Hoge|first1=James F.|last2=Rose|first2=Gideon|title=Understanding the War on Terror |publisher=Norton |year=2005 |location=New York|isbn=978-0-87609-347-4|pages=72–75}})</ref><ref>In ''The Osama bin Laden I Know'', [[Peter Bergen]] argues the attacks were part of a plan to cause the United States to ''increase'' its military and cultural presence in the Middle East, thereby forcing Muslims to confront the idea of a non-Muslim government and to eventually establish conservative Islamic governments in the region.({{harvp|Bergen|2006|p=229}})</ref> Documents seized during the [[Killing of Osama bin Laden|2011 operation that killed bin Laden]] included a few notes handwritten by bin Laden in September 2002 with the heading "The Birth of the Idea of September 11". In these notes, he describes how he was inspired by the crash of [[EgyptAir Flight 990]] on October 31, 1999, which was deliberately crashed by co-pilot [[Gameel Al-Batouti]]. "This is how the idea of 9/11 was conceived and developed in my head, and that is when we began the planning" bin Laden continued, adding that no one but [[Mohammed Atef|Abu Hafs]] and Abu al-Khair knew about it at the time. The ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'' identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the architect of 9/11, but he is not mentioned in bin Laden's notes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lahoud |first=Nelly |date=2022 |title=The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader and His Family |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoppEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |location=New Haven (CT) |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26063-2 |pages=16–19, 307 }}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/8F/8F496071D25B831EFBFD5299FBC0DF62_msoB4938.jpg |title=The Birth of the Idea of September 11 |date=September 2002 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=ar |access-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415162318/https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/8F/8F496071D25B831EFBFD5299FBC0DF62_msoB4938.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> === Planning === {{Main|Planning of the September 11 attacks}} [[File:911 - FEMA - WTC impacts (graphic).svg|thumb|alt=Ground zero and surrounding area as seen from directly above depicting where the two planes impacted the towers|Map of the attacks on the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]]] [[File:World Trade Center, NY - 2001-09-11 - Debris Impact Areas.svg|thumb|Diagram of the World Trade Center attacks]] The attacks were conceived by [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], who first presented it to [[Osama bin Laden]] in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |title=Suspect 'reveals 9/11 planning' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3128802.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=September 22, 2003 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172402/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3128802.stm%20 |url-status=live }}</ref> At that time, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from [[Sudan]].<ref name="911-ch5">''9/11 Commission Report'' (2004), Chapter 5, pp. ??{{page needed|date=September 2020}}</ref> The [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 African embassy bombings]] and bin Laden's February 1998 ''fatwā'' marked a turning point of Al-Qaeda's terrorist operation,<ref>''9/11 Commission Report'' (2004), p. 67.</ref> as bin Laden became intent on attacking the United States. In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden approved Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot.<ref>''9/11 Commission Report'' (2004), p. 149.</ref> Mohammed, bin Laden, and [[Mohammed Atef]], bin Laden's deputy, held a series of meetings in early 1999.<ref>''9/11 Commission Report'' (2004), p. 155.</ref> Atef provided operational support, including target selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers.<ref name="911-ch5" /> Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting potential targets such as the [[U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles)|U.S. Bank Tower]] in Los Angeles for lack of time.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lichtblau |first=Eric |title=Bin Laden Chose 9/11 Targets, Al Qaeda Leader Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/us/threats-and-responses-the-plot-bin-laden-chose-9-11-targets-al-qaeda-leader-says.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 20, 2003 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=August 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830215929/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/us/threats-and-responses-the-plot-bin-laden-chose-9-11-targets-al-qaeda-leader-says.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Wright|2006|p=308}} Bin Laden provided leadership and financial support and was involved in selecting participants.{{sfnp|Bergen|2006|p=283}} He initially selected [[Nawaf al-Hazmi]] and [[Khalid al-Mihdhar]], both experienced jihadists who had fought in [[Bosnian war|Bosnia]]. Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in the United States in mid-January 2000. In early 2000, Hazmi and Mihdhar took flying lessons in [[San Diego|San Diego, California]]. Both spoke little [[English language|English]], performed poorly in flying lessons, and eventually served as secondary "muscle" hijackers.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=309–15}}<ref>McDermott (2005), pp. 191–92.</ref> In late 1999, a group of men from [[Hamburg]], Germany, arrived in Afghanistan. The group included [[Mohamed Atta]], [[Marwan al-Shehhi]], [[Ziad Jarrah]], and Ramzi bin al-Shibh.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Richard |title=On Path to the U.S. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 10, 2002 |access-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-date=May 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512010444/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the West.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=304–07}} New recruits were routinely screened for special skills and Al-Qaeda leaders consequently discovered that [[Hani Hanjour]] already had a commercial pilot's license.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|p=302}} Mohammed later said that he helped the hijackers blend in by teaching them how to order food in restaurants and dress in Western clothing.{{sfnp|Jessee|2006|p=371}} Hanjour arrived in San Diego on December 8, 2000, joining Hazmi.<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16">{{cite news|title=9/11 commission staff statement No. 16|date=June 16, 2004|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_16.pdf|publisher=9/11 Commission|access-date=September 11, 2012|archive-date=March 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320032738/https://9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_16.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|6–7}} They soon left for Arizona, where Hanjour took refresher training.<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16" />{{rp|7}} Marwan al-Shehhi arrived at the end of May 2000, while Atta arrived on June 3, 2000, and Jarrah arrived on June 27, 2000.<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16" />{{rp|6}} Bin al-Shibh applied several times for a visa to the United States, but as a Yemeni, he was rejected out of concerns he would overstay his visa.<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16" />{{rp|4, 14}} Bin al-Shibh stayed in Hamburg, providing coordination between Atta and Mohammed.<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16" />{{rp|16}} The three [[Hamburg cell]] members all took pilot training in South Florida at [[Huffman Aviation]].<ref name="9/11 commission staff statement No. 16" />{{rp|6}} In the spring of 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Monograph.pdf|title=Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel|publisher=9/11 Commission|year=2004|access-date=September 3, 2011|archive-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225172706/https://9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Monograph.pdf%20|url-status=live}}</ref> In July 2001, Atta met with bin al-Shibh in [[Tarragona]], Catalonia, Spain, where they coordinated details of the plot, including final target selection. Bin al-Shibh also passed along bin Laden's wish for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible.<ref name="irujo">{{cite news|url=http://elpais.com/diario/2004/03/21/espana/1079823611_850215.html |title=Atta recibió en Tarragona joyas para que los miembros del 'comando' del 11-S se hiciesen pasar por ricos saudíes|work=El País|date=March 21, 2004|last=Irujo|first=Jose María|access-date=April 10, 2012|language=es}}</ref> Some of the hijackers received passports from corrupt Saudi officials who were family members or used fraudulent passports to gain entry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Entry of the 9/11 Hijackers into the United States Staff Statement No. 1 |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/staff_statement_1.pdf |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States |page=2 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-date=April 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414204904/https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/staff_statement_1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> There have been a few theories that 9/11 was selected by the hijackers as the date of the attack because it resembled [[9-1-1]], the [[Emergency telephone number|phone number used to report emergencies]] in the United States. However, [[Lawrence Wright]] wrote that the hijackers chose the date when [[John III Sobieski]], the [[King of Poland]] and [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]], began the [[Battle of Vienna|battle]] that turned back the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s Muslim armies that were attempting to capture [[Vienna]] (present-day capital of [[Austria]]) on 11 September 1683. During 1683, [[Vienna]] was the seat of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and [[Habsburg monarchy]], both major powers in [[Europe]] at the time. For Osama bin Laden, this was a date when the West gained some dominance over Islam, and by attacking on this date, he hoped to make a step in Islam "winning" the war for worldwide power and influence.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hudson |first=John |title=How jihadists schedule terrorist attacks |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/03/how-jihadists-schedule-terrorist-attacks/ |magazine=[[Foreign Policy]] |date=May 3, 2013 |access-date=February 9, 2020 |language=en-US |archive-date=April 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404042748/https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/03/how-jihadists-schedule-terrorist-attacks/ |url-status=live }}</ref> === Prior intelligence === {{Main|September 11 intelligence before the attacks}} In late 1999, Al-Qaeda associate [[Walid bin Attash]] ("Khallad") contacted Mihdhar and told him to meet in [[Kuala Lumpur]], Malaysia; Hazmi and [[Abu Bara al Yemeni]] would also be in attendance. The [[NSA]] intercepted a telephone call mentioning the meeting, Mihdhar, and the name "Nawaf" (Hazmi); while the agency feared "Something nefarious might be afoot", it took no further action. The CIA had already been alerted by Saudi intelligence about the status of Mihdhar and Hazmi as Al-Qaeda members and a CIA team broke into Mihdhar's [[Dubai]] hotel room and discovered that Mihdhar had a U.S. visa. While [[Alec Station]] alerted intelligence agencies worldwide about this fact, it did not share this information with the FBI. The [[Malaysian Special Branch]] observed the January 5, 2000, meeting of the two Al-Qaeda members and informed the CIA that Mihdhar, Hazmi, and Khallad were flying to [[Bangkok]], but the CIA never notified other agencies of this, nor did it ask the [[State Department]] to put Mihdhar on its watchlist. An FBI liaison to Alec Station asked permission to inform the FBI of the meeting but was told: "This is not a matter for the FBI".{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=310–12}} By late June, senior counter-terrorism official [[Richard A. Clarke|Richard Clarke]] and CIA director [[George Tenet]] were "convinced that a major series of attacks was about to come", although the CIA believed the attacks would likely occur in Saudi Arabia or Israel.{{sfnp|Clarke|2004|pp=235–36}} In early July, Clarke put domestic agencies on "full alert", telling them, "Something spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon". He asked the FBI and the State Department to alert the embassies and police departments, and the [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] to go to "Threat Condition Delta".{{sfnp|Wright|2006|p=344}}{{sfnp|Clarke|2004|pp=236–37}} Clarke later wrote: "Somewhere in CIA there was information that two known al Qaeda terrorists had come into the United States. Somewhere in the FBI, there was information that strange things had been going on at flight schools in the United States{{spaces}}... They had specific information about individual terrorists from which one could have deduced what was about to happen. None of that information got to me or the White House".{{sfnp|Clarke|2004|pp=242–43}} {{quote box|[...] by July [2001], with word spreading of a coming attack, a schism emerged among the senior leadership of al Qaeda. Several senior members reportedly agreed with [[Mullah Omar]]. Those who reportedly sided with [[Osama bin Laden|bin Ladin]] included [[Muhammad Atef|Atef]], [[Sulaiman Abu Ghaith|Sulayman Abu Ghayth]], and [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed|KSM]]. But those said to have opposed him were weighty figures in the organization-including [[Mahfouz Ould al-Walid|Abu Hafs the Mauritanian]], [[Saeed al-Masri|Sheikh Saeed al Masri]], and [[Saif al-Adel|Sayf al Adl]]. One senior al Qaeda operative claims to recall Bin Ladin arguing that attacks against the United States needed to be carried out immediately to support [[Second Intifada|insurgency in the Israeli-occupied territories]] and protest the presence of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia. | source = — ''[[9/11 Commission Report]]'', pp. 251<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[9/11 Commission Report]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-16-072304-3 |edition=Official Government |location=Washington D.C, US|last1=Kean |first1=Thomas |last2=Hamilton |first2=Lee |page=251 }}</ref> | align = right | width = 25em }} On July 13, Tom Wilshire, a CIA agent assigned to the FBI's international terrorism division, emailed his superiors at the CIA's [[Counterterrorism Center]] (CTC) requesting permission to inform the FBI that Hazmi was in the country and that Mihdhar had a U.S. visa. The CIA never responded.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|p=340}} The same day in July, Margarette Gillespie, an FBI analyst working in the CTC, was told to review material about the Malaysia meeting. She was not told of the participant's presence in the U.S. The CIA gave Gillespie surveillance photos of Mihdhar and Hazmi from the meeting to show to FBI counterterrorism but did not tell her their significance. The Intelink database informed her not to share intelligence material at the meeting with criminal investigators. When shown the photos, the FBI refused more details on their significance, and they were not given Mihdhar's date of birth or passport number.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=340–43}} In late August 2001, Gillespie told the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|INS]], the State Department, the [[United States Customs Service|Customs Service]], and the FBI to put Hazmi and Mihdhar on their watchlists, but the FBI was prohibited from using criminal agents in searching for the duo, hindering their efforts.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=352–53}} Also in July, a [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]]-based FBI agent sent a message to FBI headquarters, Alec Station, and FBI agents in New York alerting them to "the possibility of a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges". The agent, Kenneth Williams, suggested the need to interview all flight school managers and identify all Arab students seeking flight training.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|p=350}} In July, Jordan alerted the U.S. that Al-Qaeda was planning an attack on the U.S.; "months later", Jordan notified the U.S. that the attack's codename was "The Big Wedding" and that it involved aeroplanes.{{sfnp|Yitzhak|2016|p=218}} On August 6, 2001, the CIA's Presidential Daily Brief ("PDB"), designated "For the President Only", was entitled ''[[Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US|Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US]]''. The memo noted that FBI information "indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Osama bin Laden File: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 343|url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/|publisher=The National Security Archive|access-date=March 14, 2016|archive-date=July 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713182539/http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/|url-status=live}}</ref> In mid-August, one [[Minnesota]] flight school alerted the FBI about [[Zacarias Moussaoui]], who had asked "suspicious questions". The FBI found that Moussaoui was a radical who had travelled to Pakistan, and the INS arrested him for overstaying his French visa. Their request to search his laptop was denied by FBI headquarters due to the lack of [[probable cause]].{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=350–51}} The failures in intelligence-sharing were attributed to 1995 [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] policies limiting intelligence-sharing, combined with CIA and NSA reluctance to reveal "sensitive sources and methods" such as tapped phones.{{sfnp|Wright|2006|pp=342–43}} Testifying before the [[9/11 Commission]] in April 2004, then – [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[John Ashcroft]] recalled that the "single greatest structural cause for the September 11th problem was the wall that segregated or separated criminal investigators and intelligence agents".{{sfnp|Javorsek II|Rose|Marshall|Leitner|2015|p=742}} Clarke also wrote: "[T]here were... failures to get information to the right place at the right time".{{sfnp|Clarke|2004|p=238}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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