Author:
Publication: Fox News
Date: October 5, 2001
URL: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,35827,00.html
This document does not purport to
provide a prosecutable case against Usama bin Laden in a court of law.
Intelligence often cannot be used evidentially, due both to the strict
rules of admissibility and to the need to protect the safety of sources.
But on the basis of all the information available Her Majesty's Government
is confident of its conclusions as expressed in this document.
INTRODUCTION
1. The clear conclusions reached
by the Government are:
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, the
terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities
on 11 September 2001; Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda retain the will and
resources to carry out further atrocities; The United Kingdom, and United
Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda
were able to commit these atrocities because of their close alliance with
the Taliban regime, which allowed them to operate with impunity in pursuing
their terrorist activity.
2. The material in respect of 1998
and the USS Cole comes from indictments and intelligence sources. The material
in respect of September 11 comes from intelligence and the criminal investigation
to date. The details of some aspects cannot be given, but the facts are
clear from the intelligence.
3. The document does not contain
the totality of the material known to HMG, given the continuing and absolute
need to protect intelligence sources.
SUMMARY
4. The relevant facts show:
Background:
Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization
with ties to a global network, which has been in existence for over ten
years. It was founded, and has been led at all times, by Usama bin Laden.
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have
been engaged in a jihad against the United States and its allies. One of
their stated aims is the murder of US citizens and attacks on America's
allies.
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have
been based in Afghanistan since 1996, but have a network of operations
throughout the world. The network includes training camps, warehouses,
communication facilities and commercial operations able to raise significant
sums of money to support its activity. That activity includes substantial
exploitation of the illegal drugs trade from Afghanistan.
Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and the
Taliban regime have a close and mutually dependent alliance. Usama bin
Laden and Al Qaeda provide the Taliban regime with material, financial
and military support. They jointly exploit the drugs trade. The Taliban
regime allows bin Laden to operate his terrorist training camps and activities
from Afghanistan, protects him from attacks from outside, and protects
the drugs stockpiles. Usama bin Laden could not operate his terrorist activities
without the alliance and support of the Taliban regime. The Taliban's strength
would be seriously weakened without Usama bin Laden's military and financial
support.
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have
the capability to execute major terrorist attacks.
Usama bin Laden has claimed credit
for the attack on US soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, which killed
18; for the attack on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August
1998 which killed 224 and injured nearly 5,000; and was linked to the attack
on the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, in which 17 crew members were killed
and 40 others injured.
They have sought to acquire nuclear
and chemical materials for use as terrorist weapons.
In relation to the terrorist attacks
on September 11:
5. After September 11 we learned
that, not long before, bin Laden had indicated he was about to launch a
major attack on America. The detailed planning for the terrorist attacks
of September 11 was carried out by one of bin Laden's close associates.
Of the 19 hijackers involved in September 11, it has already been established
that at least three had links with Al Qaeda. The attacks on September 11
were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks
undertaken by Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and also had features in common.
In particular:
- Suicide attackers
- Co-ordinated attacks on the same
day
- The aim to cause maximum American
casualties
- Total disregard for other casualties,
including Muslim
- Meticulous long-term planning
- Absence of warning
6. Al Qaeda retains the capability
and the will to make further attacks on the US and its allies, including
the United Kingdom.
7. Al Qaeda gives no warning of
terrorist attack.
THE FACTS
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda
8. In 1989 Usama bin Laden, and
others, founded an international terrorist group known as Al Qaeda (the
Base). At all times he has been the leader of Al Qaeda.
9. From 1989 until 1991 Usama bin
Laden was based in Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1991 he moved
to Sudan, where he stayed until 1996. In that year he returned to Afghanistan,
where he remains.
The Taliban Regime
10. The Taliban emerged from the
Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in the early a1990s. By 1996 they had
captured Kabul. They are still engaged in a bloody civil war to control
the whole of Afghanistan. They are led by Mullah Omar.
11. In 1996 Usama bin Laden moved
back to Afghanistan. He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar,
and threw his support behind the Taliban. Usama bin Laden and the Taliban
regime have a close alliance on which both depend for their continued existence.
They also share the same religious values and vision.
12. Usama bin Laden has provided
the Taliban regime with troops, arms, and money to fight the Northern Alliance.
He is closely involved with Taliban military training, planning and operations.
He has representatives in the Taliban military command structure. He has
also given infrastructure assistance and humanitarian aid. Forces under
the control of Usama bin Laden have fought alongside the Taliban in the
civil war in Afghanistan.
13. Omar has provided bin Laden
with a safe haven in which to operate, and has allowed him to establish
terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They jointly exploit the Afghan
drugs trade. In return for active Al Qaeda support, the Taliban allow Al
Qaeda to operate freely, including planning, training and preparing for
terrorist activity. In addition, the Taliban provide security for the stockpiles
of drugs.
14. Since 1996, when the Taliban
captured Kabul, the United States Government has consistently raised with
them a whole range of issues, including humanitarian aid and terrorism.
Well before 11 September 2001 they had provided evidence to the Taliban
of the responsibility of Al Qaeda for the terrorist attacks in East Africa.
This evidence had been provided to senior leaders of the Taliban at their
request.
15. The United States Government
had made it clear to the Taliban regime that Al Qaeda had murdered US citizens,
and planned to murder more. The US offered to work with the Taliban to
expel the terrorists from Afghanistan. These talks, which have been continuing
since 1996, have failed to produce any results.
16. In June 2001, in the face of
mounting evidence of the Al Qaeda threat, the United States warned the
Taliban that it had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the
regime responsible for attacks against US citizens by terrorists sheltered
in Afghanistan. DEMANDS
17. In this, the United States had
the support of the United Nations. The Security Council, in Resolution
1267, condemned Usama bin Laden for sponsoring international terrorism
and operating a network of terrorist camps, and demanded that the Taliban
surrender Usama bin Laden without further delay so that he could be brought
to justice.
18. Despite the evidence provided
by the US of the responsibility of Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda for the
1998 East Africa bombings, despite the accurately perceived threats of
further atrocities, and despite the demands of the United Nations, the
Taliban regime responded by saying no evidence existed against Usama bin
Laden, and that neither he nor his network would be expelled.
19. A former government official
in Afghanistan has described the Taliban and Usama bin Laden as "two sides
of the same coin: Usama cannot exist in Afghanistan without the Taliban
and the Taliban cannot exist without Usama."
20. Al Qaeda is dedicated to opposing
"un-Islamic" governments in Muslim countries with force and violence.
21. Al Qaeda virulently opposes
the United States. Usama bin Laden has urged and incited his followers
to kill American citizens in the most unequivocal terms.
22. On October 12, 1996, he issued
a declaration of jihad as follows: "The people of Islam have suffered from
aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed by the Zionist-Crusader alliance
and their collaborators . . . it is the duty now of every tribe in the
Arabian peninsula to fight jihad and cleanse the land from these Crusader
occupiers. Their wealth is booty to those who kill them. My Muslim brothers:
your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places (Saudi
Arabia) are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting
against the enemy - the Americans and the Israelis. They are asking you
to do whatever you can to expel the enemies out of the sanctities of Islam."
RELIGIOUS DUTY
Later in the same year he said that
"terrorizing the American occupiers (of Islamic Holy Places) is a religious
and logical obligation."
In February 1998 he issued and signed
a fatwa which included a decree to all Muslims: ". . . the killing of Americans
and their civilian and military allies is a religious duty for each and
every Muslim to be carried out in whichever country they are until al-Aqsa
mosque has been liberated from their grasp and until their armies have
left Muslim lands."
In the same fatwa he called on Muslim
scholars and their leaders and their youths to "launch an attack on the
American soldiers of Satan" and concluded:
"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 Americans and plunder their money whenever and wherever
they find it. We also call on Muslims . . . 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."
When asked, in 1998, about obtaining
chemical or nuclear weapons he said "acquiring such weapons for the defense
of Muslims (was) a religious duty".
In an interview aired on Al Jazira
(Doha, Qatar) television he stated:
"Our enemy is every American male,
whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes." In two interviews
broadcast on U.S. television in 1997 and 1998 he referred to the terrorists
who carried out the earlier attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 as
"role models". He went on to exhort his followers "to take the fighting
to America."
23. From the early 1990s Usama bin
Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons
of terror.
24. Although US targets are Al Qaeda's
priority, it also explicitly threatens the United States' allies. References
to "Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators," and to "Satan's
US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them" are references
which unquestionably include the United Kingdom.
25. There is a continuing threat.
Based on our experience of the way the network has operated in the past,
other cells, like those that carried out the terrorist attacks on 11 September,
must be assumed to exist.
26. Al Qaeda functions both on its
own and through a network of other terrorist organizations. These include
Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other north African Islamic extremist terrorist
groups, and a number of other jihadi groups in other countries including
the Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and India. Al Qaeda also maintains
cells and personnel in a number of other countries to facilitate its activities.
27. Usama bin Laden heads the Al
Qaeda network. Below him is a body known as the Shura, which includes representatives
of other terrorist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman
Zawahiri and prominent lieutenants of bin Laden such as Abu Hafs Al-Masri.
Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with Al Qaeda.
ALLEGIANCE
28. In addition to the Shura, Al
Qaeda has several groups dealing with military, media, financial and Islamic
issues.
29. Mohamed Atef is a member of
the group that deals with military and terrorist operations. His duties
include principal responsibility for training Al Qaeda members.
30 Members of Al Qaeda must make
a pledge of allegiance to follow the orders of Usama bin Laden.
31. A great deal of evidence about
Usama bin Laden and Al Qaeda has been made available in the US indictment
for earlier crimes.
32. Since 1989, Usama bin Laden
has conducted substantial financial and business transactions on behalf
of Al Qaeda and in pursuit of its goals. These include purchasing land
for training camps, purchasing warehouses for the storage of items, including
explosives, purchasing communications and electronics equipment, and transporting
currency and weapons to members of Al Qaeda and associated terrorist groups
in countries throughout the world.
33. Since 1989 Usama bin Laden has
provided training camps and guest houses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the
Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of Al Qaeda and associated terrorist
groups. We know from intelligence that there are currently at least a dozen
camps across Afghanistan, of which at least four are used for training
terrorists.
COMPANIES
34. Since 1989, Usama bin Laden
has established a series of businesses to provide income for Al Qaeda,
and to provide cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals,
and for the travel of Al Qaeda operatives. The businesses have included
a holding company known as 'Wadi Al Aqiq', a construction business known
as 'Al Hijra', an agricultural business known as 'Al Themar Al Mubaraka',
and investment companies known as 'Ladin International' and 'Taba Investments'.
Usama bin Laden and previous attacks
35. In 1992 and 1993 Mohamed Atef
traveled to Somalia on several occasions for the purpose of organizing
violence against United States and United Nations troops then stationed
in Somalia. On each occasion he reported back to Usama bin Laden, at his
base in the Riyadh district of Khartoum.
36. In the spring of 1993 Atef,
Saif al Adel, another senior member of Al Qaeda, and other members began
to provide military training to Somali tribes for the purpose of fighting
the United Nations forces.
37. On 3 and 4 October 1993 operatives
of Al Qaeda participated in the attack on US military personnel serving
in Somalia as part of the operation 'Restore Hope.' Eighteen US military
personnel were killed in the attack.
38. From 1993 members of Al Qaeda
began to live in Nairobi and set up businesses there, including Asma Ltd,
and Tanzanite King. They were regularly visited there by senior members
of Al Qaeda, in particular by Atef and Abu Ubadiah al Banshiri.
39. Beginning in the latter part
of 1993, members of Al Qaeda in Kenya began to discuss the possibility
of attacking the US Embassy in Nairobi in retaliation for US participation
in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. Ali Mohamed, a US citizen and admitted
member of Al Qaeda, surveyed the US Embassy as a possible target for a
terrorist attack. He took photographs and made sketches, which he presented
to Usama bin Laden while bin Laden was in Sudan. He also admitted that
he had trained terrorists for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in the early 1990s,
and that those whom he trained included many involved in the East African
bombings in August 1998.
40. In June or July 1998, two Al
Qaeda operatives, Fahid Mohammed Ali Msalam and Sheik Ahmed Salim Swedan,
purchased a Toyota truck and made various alterations to the back of the
truck.
41. In early August 1998, operatives
of Al Qaeda gathered in 43, New Runda Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing
of the US Embassy in Nairobi.
TRUCK BOMB
42. On 7 August 1998, Assam, a Saudi
national and Al Qaeda operative, drove the Toyota truck to the US embassy.
There was a large bomb in the back of the truck.
43. Also in the truck was Mohamed
Rashed Daoud Al 'Owali, another Saudi. He, by his own confession, was an
Al Qaeda operative, who from about 1996 had been trained in Al Qaeda camps
in Afghanistan in explosives, hijacking, kidnapping, assassination and
intelligence techniques. With Usama bin Laden's express permission, he
fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. He had met Usama bin Laden
personally in 1996 and asked for another 'mission.' Usama bin Laden sent
him to East Africa after extensive specialized training at camps in Afghanistan.
44. As the truck approached the
Embassy, Al 'Owali got out and threw a stun grenade at a security guard.
Assam drove the truck up to the rear of the embassy. He got out and then
detonated the bomb, which demolished a multi-storey secretarial college
and severely damaged the US embassy, and the Co-operative bank building.
The bomb killed 213 people and injured 4500. Assam was killed in the explosion.
WILLING TO DIE
45. Al 'Owali expected the mission
to end in his death. He had been willing to die for Al Qaeda. But at the
last minute he ran away from the bomb truck and survived. He had no money,
passport or plan to escape after the mission, because he had expected to
die.
46. After a few days, he called
a telephone number in Yemen to have money transferred to him in Kenya.
The number he rang in Yemen was contacted by Usama bin Laden's phone on
the same day as Al 'Owali was arranging to get the money.
47. Another person arrested in connection
with the Nairobi bombing was Mohamed Sadeek Odeh. He admitted to his involvement.
He identified the principal participants in the bombing. He named three
other persons, all of whom were Al Qaeda or Egyptian Islamic Jihad members.
48. In Dar es Salaam the same day,
at about the same time, operatives of Al Qaeda detonated a bomb at the
US embassy, killing 11 people. The Al Qaeda operatives involved included
Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil and Khaflan Khamis Mohamed. The bomb was carried
in a Nissan Atlas truck, which Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed
Salim Swedan, two Al Qaeda operatives, had purchased in July 1998, in Dar
es Salaam.
49. Khaflan Khamis Mohamed was arrested
for the bombing. He admitted membership of Al Qaeda, and implicated other
members of Al Qaeda in the bombing.
50. On 7 and 8 August 1998, two
other members of Al Qaeda disseminated claims of responsibility for the
two bombings by sending faxes to media organizations in Paris, Doha in
Qatar, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
51. Additional evidence of the involvement
of Al Qaeda in the East African bombings came from a search conducted in
London of several residences and businesses belonging to Al Qaeda and Egyptian
Islamic Jihad members. In those searches a number of documents were found
including claims of responsibility for the East African bombings in the
name of a fictitious group, 'the Islamic Army for the liberation of the
Holy Places.'
52. Al 'Owali, the would-be suicide
bomber, admitted he was told to make a videotape of himself using the name
of the same fictitious group.
53. The faxed claims of responsibility
were traced to a telephone number, which had been in contact with Usama
bin Laden's cell phone. The claims disseminated to the press were clearly
written by someone familiar with the conspiracy. They stated that the bombings
had been carried out by two Saudis in Kenya, and one Egyptian in Dar es
Salaam. They were probably sent before the bombings had even taken place.
They referred to two Saudis dying in the Nairobi attack. In fact, because
Al 'Owali fled at the last minute, only one Saudi died.
54. On 22 December 1998 Usama bin
Laden was asked by Time magazine whether he was responsible for the August
1998 attacks. He replied:
"The International Islamic Jihad
Front for the jihad against the US and Israel has, by the grace of God,
issued a crystal clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on
Jihad aimed at liberating the holy sites. The nation of Mohammed has responded
to this appeal. If instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans
. . . is considered to be 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." He was asked if
he knew the attackers:
". . . 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." And what the US
could expect
of him:
". . . any thief or criminal who
enters another country to steal should expect to be exposed to murder at
any time . . . The US knows that I have attacked it, by the grace of God,
for more than ten years now . . . God knows that we have been pleased by
the killing of American soldiers (in Somalia in 1993). This was achieved
by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahideen . . . Hostility towards
America is a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded for it by God. I
am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called
superpower that is America."
AIRPORT TARGET
55. In December 1999 a terrorist
cell linked to Al Qaeda was discovered trying to carry out attacks inside
the United States. An Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, was stopped at the US-Canadian
border and over 100 lbs of bomb making material was found in his car. Ressam
admitted he was planning to set off a large bomb at Los Angeles International
airport on New Year's Day. He said that he had received terrorist training
at Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and then been instructed to go abroad
and kill US civilians and military personnel.
56. On 3 January 2000, a group of
Al Qaeda members, and other terrorists who had trained in Al Qaeda camps
in Afghanistan, attempted to attack a US destroyer with a small boat loaded
with explosives. Their boat sank, aborting the attack.
57. On 12 October 2000, however,
the USS Cole was struck by an explosive-laden boat while refueling in Aden
harbor. Seventeen crew were killed, and 40 injured.
58. Several of the perpetrators
of the Cole attack (mostly Yemenis and Saudis) were trained at Usama bin
Laden's camps in Afghanistan. Al 'Owali has identified the two commanders
of the attack on the USS Cole as having participated in the planning and
preparation for the East African embassy bombings.
59. In the months before the September
11 attacks, propaganda videos were distributed throughout the Middle East
and Muslim world by Al Qaeda, in which Usama bin Laden and others were
shown encouraging Muslims to attack American and Jewish targets.
60. Similar videos, extolling violence
against the United States and other targets, were distributed before the
East African embassy attacks in August 1998.
Usama bin Laden and the 11 September
attacks
61. Nineteen men have been identified
as the hijackers from the passenger lists of the four planes hijacked on
11 September 2001. At least three of them have already been positively
identified as associates of Al Qaeda. One has been identified as playing
key roles in both the East African embassy attacks and the USS Cole attack.
Investigations continue into the backgrounds of all the hijackers.
62. From intelligence sources, the
following facts have been established subsequent to 11 September; for intelligence
reasons, the names of associates, though known, are not given. In the run-up
to 11 September, bin Laden was mounting a concerted propaganda campaign
amongst like-minded groups of people - including videos and documentation
- justifying attacks on Jewish and American targets; and claiming that
those who died in the course of them were carrying out God's work.
We have learned, subsequent to 11
September, that bin Laden himself asserted shortly before 11 September
that he was preparing a major attack on America.
In August and early September close
associates of bin Laden were warned to return to Afghanistan from other
parts of the world by 10 September.
SENSITIVE
Immediately prior to 11 September
some known associates of bin Laden were naming the date for action as on
or around 11 September.
Since 11 September we have learned
that one of bin Laden's closest and most senior associates was responsible
for the detailed planning of the attacks. There is evidence of a very specific
nature relating to the guilt of bin Laden and his associates that is too
sensitive to release.
63. Usama bin Laden remains in charge,
and the mastermind, of Al Qaeda. In Al Qaeda, an operation on the scale
of the 11 September attacks would have been approved by Usama bin Laden
himself.
64. The modus operandi of 11 September
was entirely consistent with previous attacks. Al Qaeda's record of atrocities
is characterized by meticulous long term planning, a desire to inflict
mass casualties, suicide bombers, and multiple simultaneous attacks.
65. The attacks of 11 September
2001 are entirely consistent with the scale and sophistication of the planning
which went into the attacks on the East African Embassies and the USS Cole.
No warnings were given for these three attacks, just as there was none
on 11 September.
FLIGHT SCHOOLS
66. Al Qaeda operatives, in evidence
given in the East African Embassy bomb trials, have described how the group
spends years preparing for an attack. They conduct repeated surveillance,
patiently gather materials, and identify and vet operatives, who have the
skills to participate in the attack and the willingness to die for their
cause.
67. The operatives involved in the
11 September atrocities attended flight schools, used flight simulators
to study the controls of larger aircraft and placed potential airports
and routes under surveillance.
68. Al Qaeda's attacks are characterized
by total disregard for innocent lives, including Muslims. In an interview
after the East African bombings, Usama bin Laden insisted that the need
to attack the United States excused the killing of other innocent civilians,
Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
69. No other organization has both
the motivation and the capability to carry out attacks like those of the
11 September - only the Al Qaeda network under Usama bin Laden.
CONCLUSION
70. The attacks of the 11 September
2001 were planned and carried out by Al Qaeda, an organization whose head
is Usama bin Laden. That organization has the will, and the resources,
to execute further attacks of similar scale. Both the United States and
its close allies are targets for such attacks. The attack could not have
occurred without the alliance between the Taliban and Usama bin Laden,
which allowed bin Laden to operate freely in Afghanistan, promoting, planning
and executing terrorist activity.
