[iwar] [fc:Blair's.evidence.against.bin.Laden.and.Taliban]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-04 20:19:32
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 20:19:32 -0700 (PDT)
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Blair's evidence against bin Laden and Taliban

This document does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against
Osama 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 HMG is confident of its conclusions as expressed
in this document. 

Responsibility for the terrorist atrocities in the United States, 11
September 2001

Introduction

1.  The clear conclusions reached by the Government are: Osama bin Laden
and al Qaeda, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried
out the atrocities on 11 September 2001;

Osama bin Laden and aI Qaeda retain the will and resources to carry out
further atrocities;

The United Kingdom and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets;
and Osama 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 11
September 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 organisation with ties to a global network,
which has been in existence for over 10 years.  It was founded, and has
been led at all times, by Osama bin Laden. 

Osama 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. 

Osama 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. 

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and the Taliban regime have a close and
mutually dependent alliance.  Osama 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.  Osama 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 Osama bin Laden's military
and financial support. 

Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda have the capability to execute major
terrorist attacks. 

Osama 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 were linked to the attack on the USS Cole on
12 October, 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 11 September

5.  After 11 September 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 11 September was carried
out by one of UBL's close associates.  Of the 19 hijackers involved in
11 September, 2001, it has already been established that at least three
had links with al Qaeda.  The attacks on 11 September 2001 were similar
in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks
undertaken by Osama bin Laden and aI 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 Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda

8.  In 1989 Osama bin Laden, and others, founded an international
terrorist group known as "al Qaeda" (the Base).  At all times he has
been the leader of aI Qaeda. 

9.  From 1989 until 1991 Osama 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 1990s.  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 Osama bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan.  He established
a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the
Taliban.  Osama 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.  Osama 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 Osama 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 aI
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 aI 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 aI 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. 

17.  In this, the United States had the support of the United Nations. 
The Security Council, in Resolution 1267, condemned Osama bin Laden for
sponsoring international terrorism and operating a network of terrorist
camps and demanded that the Taliban surrender Osama 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
Osama bin Laden and aI 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 Osama bin Laden, and that neither he nor his
network would be expelled. 

19.  A former Government official in Afghanistan has described the
Taliban and Osama bin Laden as "two sides of the same coin: Osama cannot
exist in Afghanistan without the Taliban and the Taliban cannot exist
without Osama". 

AI Qaeda

20.  AI Qaeda is dedicated to opposing "un-Islamic" governments in
Muslim countries with force and violence. 

21.  AI Qaeda virulently opposes the United States.  Osama bin Laden has
urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most
unequivocal terms. 

22.  On 12 October 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 on 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 [i.e.  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."

Later in the same year he said that " terrorising 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 aI 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 defence of Muslims [was] a religious
duty". 

In an interview aired on AI 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 US 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 Osama 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.  AI Qaeda functions both on its own and through a network of other
terrorist organisations.  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.  Osama bin Laden heads the aI 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 AI-Masri.  Egyptian
Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with aI Qaeda. 

28.  In addition to the Shura, aI 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 Osama bin Laden. 

31.  A great deal of evidence about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda has
been made available in the US indictment for earlier crimes. 

32.  Since 1989, Osama 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 Osama 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. 

34.  Since 1989, Osama 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 AI Aqiq", a construction business known as "AI Hijra", an
agricultural business known as "AI Themar AI Mubaraka", and investment
companies known as "Ladin International" and "Taba Investments". 


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� Associated Newspapers Ltd., 04 October 2001 Terms and Conditions This
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