Al Qaeda

They established what they called a base or foundation (al Qaeda) as a potential general headquarters for future jihad.

by August 1988 Bin Ladin was clearly the leader (emir) of al Qaeda.

KSM then accepted Bin Ladin’s standing invitation to move to Kandahar and work directly with al Qaeda. In addition to supervising the planning and preparations for the 9/11 operation, KSM worked with and eventually led al Qaeda’s media committee.

But KSM states he refused to swear a formal oath of allegiance to Bin Ladin, thereby retaining a last vestige of his cherished autonomy.

Through Atef, KSM arranged a meeting with Bin Ladin in Tora Bora, a mountainous redoubt from the Afghan war days. At the meeting, KSM presented the al Qaeda leader with a menu of ideas for terrorist operations.

Bin Ladin, apparently at Atef ’s urging, finally decided to give KSM the green light for the 9/11 operation sometime in late 1998 or early 1999.

It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda’s fund-raising activities.

The attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi destroyed the embassy and killed 12 Americans and 201 others, almost all Kenyans.

The attack on the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam killed 11 more people, none of them Americans.

al Qaeda, a stateless network of terrorists that struck us on 9/11

The 19 men were aboard four transcontinental flights.

the 19 operatives were funded by al Qaeda, either through wire transfers or cash provided by KSM

To date, the U.S. government has not been able to determine the origin of the money used for the 9/11 attacks.

Our investigation has uncovered no credible evidence that any person in the United States gave the hijackers substantial financial assistance. Similarly, we have seen no evidence that any foreign government—or foreign government official—supplied any funding.

In some ways, al Qaeda had no choice after its move to Afghanistan in 1996

will not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qa’ida, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.

On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.