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Do not fill this in! === 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> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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