AL QAEDA
Osama bin Laden
Multi-millionaire
 Saudi Arabian by birth
 Funded and helped train Mujahedeen

 Muslims
that fought Soviets in Soviet-Afghan
War of 1980s
Soviet Afghan War
1979 – 1989
 One million Afghani deaths
 US provided billions of dollars of aid to
Mujahedeen

 Weapons
and other supplies
Al Qaeda
“The Base”
 Founded in Mujahedeen training camps
in Afghanistan in 1988
 Sunni Islamic Extremists

Recruited
from major Muslim countries
Afghanistan,
Syria
Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq,
Goals and Objectives
Establishing rule of God on Earth
 Attaining martyrdom in cause of God
 Purification of the ranks of Islam

 Wahhabism
 Rid
Islamic societies of cultural practices
 Literal interpretation of the Koran

Tactics
Assassinations,
bombings, hijacking,
kidnapping, suicide attacks

Targets
Very
public and prominent sites
Public
buildings, embassies and military
personnel
US and its allies
Persian Gulf War
1990
 Saddam Hussein and Iraq invades
Kuwait
 Saudi Arabia allows UN and US
forces in

Attack
Iraq through Saudi borders
Upset Bin Laden

Offers help of Mujahedeen to attack
Hussein
 Alternative
to using US and UN
 Saudi Arabia refuses
Insulted OBL
 Increases hatred of Western culture

Islamic Attacks pre-9/11

Feb. 26, 1993 --Bomb explodes in garage
under World Trade Center, killing six and
injuring more than 1,000. Group of Islamic
extremists later convicted.
Nov. 13, 1995 --Seven people, including
five Americans, killed when two bombs
explode at U.S.-Saudi military facility in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden
blamed for attack.
 Sept. 27, 1996 --Taliban, suspected of
giving refuge to bin Laden, completes
takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Taliban

Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist rulers
 1996
– 2001
 Harbored bin Laden and his followers

bin Laden gave funds to train their army,
in return allowed Al-Qaeda training
camps in the country

June 25, 1996 --Bin Laden followers detonate
bomb at U.S. military base near Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American soldiers and
wounding hundreds of Americans and Saudi
Arabians.

Aug. 7, 1998 --U.S. embassies in Nairobi,
Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
bombed, killing more than 250 people,
including 12 Americans, and injuring
5,000. In retaliation, United States
launches airstrikes against suspected
terrorist camps in Sudan and Afghanistan.
Aug. 28, 1998 --FBI accuses bin Laden of
having declared "jihad," or holy war, against
United States. Complaint also alleges bin
Laden founded Al Qaeda that year to
promote Islamic fundamentalism and force
non-Muslims out of Muslim countries.
 November 4, 1998 --Bin Laden charged with
ordering embassy bombings.


Oct. 12, 2000 --Suicide bombers in
Yemen attack U.S. Navy destroyer USS
Cole, killing 17 sailors. Officials suspect
bin Laden involvement.

September 11, 2001 : Hijackers take
over planes flying two into the World
Trade Center, One into Pentagon, and fail
in their attempt on the White House
Why Target the US?
Frustrations over America's pro-Israeli
Middle east policies
 Cause as many deaths as possible
 Slap America in the face for the rest of
the world to see
