Following a speech given by English Prime Minister Tony Blair on October 2, 2001 to the House of Commons,
the English government made this following document available for public dissemination. 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 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
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida, the terrorist network which he
heads, planned and carried out the atrocities on 11 September 2001;
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida 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 Qaida were able to commit these atrocities
because of their close alliance with the Taleban régime, 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 Qaida 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 Usama Bin Laden.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida 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 Americas allies.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida 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 Ladens Al Qaida and the Taleban régime have a close
and mutually dependent alliance. Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida
provide the Taleban régime with material, financial and military
support. They jointly exploit the drugs trade. The Taleban régime
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
Taleban régime. The Talebans strength would be seriously
weakened without Usama Bin Ladens military and financial
support.
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida 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 5000; 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 UBLs close associates. Of the 19 hijackers
involved in 11 September 2001, it has already been established that
at least three had links with Al Qaida. The attacks on 11 September
2001 were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to
previous attacks undertaken by Usama Bin laden and Al Qaida, 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 Qaida retains the capability and the will to make
further attacks on the US and its allies, including the
United Kingdom.
7. Al Qaida gives no warning of terrorist attack.
THE FACTS
Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida
8. In 1989 Usama Bin Laden, and others, founded an
international terrorist group known as "Al Qaida" (the
Base). At all times he has been the leader of Al Qaida.
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 Taleban Regime
10. The Taleban 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 Usama Bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan.
He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and
threw his support behind the Taleban. Usama Bin Laden
and the Taleban régime 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 Taleban
régime with troops, arms, and money to fight the
Northern Alliance. He is closely involved with Taleban
military training, planning and operations. He has
representatives in the Taleban military command
structure. He has also given infrastruture assistance
and humanitarian aid. Forces under the control of
Usama Bin Laden have fought alongside the Taleban
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 Qaida support,
the Taleban allow Al Qaida to operate freely, including
planning, training and preparing for terrorist activity. In
addition the Taleban provide security for the stockpiles of
drugs.
14. Since 1996, when the Taleban 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 Taleban of the responsibility of Al
Qaida for the terrorist attacks in East Africa. This evidence
had been provided to senior leaders of the Taleban at their
request.
15. The United States government had made it clear to the
Taleban regime that Al Qaida had murdered US citizens,
and planned to murder more. The US offered to work with
the Taleban 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
Qaida threat, the United States warned the Taleban that it
had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the
régime 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 Usama Bin Laden for sponsoring international
terrorism and operating a network of terrorist camps, and
demanded that the Taleban 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 Qaida for the
1998 East Africa bombings, despite the accurately
perceived threats of further atrocities, and despite the
demands of the United Nations, the Taleban régime
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 Taleban and Usama Bin Laden as "two sides
of the same coinUsama cannot exist in Afghanistan without
the Taleban and the Taleban cannot exist without Usama."
Al Qaida
20. Al Qaida is dedicated to opposing un-Islamic
governments in Muslim countries with force and violence.
21. Al Qaida 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 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 brothersyour 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 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 Gods help call on every Muslim who believes
in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with Gods
order to kill Americans and plunder their money whenever
and wherever they find it. We also call on Muslims . . . to
launch the raid on Satans US troops and the devils
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 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 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 Usama Bin Laden has sought to obtain
nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons of terror.
24. Although US targets are Al Qaidas priority, it also
explicitly threatens the United States allies. References to
"Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators," and to
"Satans US troops and the devils 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 Qaida 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 Qaida also
maintains cells and personnel in a number of other countries to
facilitate its activities.
27. Usama Bin Laden heads the Al Qaida 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 Qaida.
28. In addition to the Shura, Al Qaida 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 Qaida members.
Members of Al Qaida 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 Qaida
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 Qaida 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 Qaida 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 Qaida 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, Usama Bin Laden has established a series of
businesses to provide income for Al Qaida, and to provide cover for
the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the
travel of Al Qaida 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 travelled to Somalia on several
occasions for the purpose of organising 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 Qaida, 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 Qaida 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 Qaida 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 Qaida, in
particular by Atef and Abu Ubadiah al Banshiri.
39. Beginning in the latter part of 1993, members of Al Qaida 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 Qaida, 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 Qaida 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 Qaida 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 Qaida gathered in 43,
New Runda Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing of the US
Embassy in Nairobi.
42. On 7 August 1998, Assam, a Saudi national and Al Qaida
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 Qaida
operative, who from about 1996 had been trained in Al Qaida camps
in Afghanistan in explosives, hijacking, kidnapping, assassination
and intelligence techniques. With Usama Bin Ladens express
permission, he fought alongside the Taleban 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
specialised 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.
45. Al Owali expected the mission to end in his death. He had been
willing to die for Al Qaida. 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 Ladens 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 Qaida or Egyptian Islamic Jihad
members.
48. In Dar es Salaam the same day, at about the same time,
operatives of Al Qaida detonated a bomb at the US embassy, killing
11 people. The Al Qaida 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 Qaida operatives, had
purchased in July 1998, in Dar es Salaam.
49. Khaflan Khamis Mohamed was arrested for the bombing. He
admitted membership of Al Qaida, and implicated other members of
Al Qaida in the bombing.
50. On 7 and 8 August 1998, two other members of Al Qaida
disseminated claims of responsibility for the two bombings by
sending faxes to media organisations in Paris, Doha in Qatar, and
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
51. Additional evidence of the involvement of Al Qaida in the East
African bombings came from a search conducted in London of
several residences and businesses belonging to Al Qaida 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 Ladens 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."
55. In December 1999 a terrorist cell linked to Al Qaida 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 Years Day.
He said that he had received terrorist training at Al Qaida 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 Qaida members, and other
terrorists who had trained in Al Qaida 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 refuelling in Aden harbour.
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 Ladens 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 Qaida, 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 Qaida. 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 Gods 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.
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 Ladens 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 Qaida. In Al Qaida, 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 Qaidas record of atrocities is
characterised 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.
66. Al Qaida 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 Qaidas attacks are characterised 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 organisation has both the motivation and the capability
to carry out attacks like those of the 11 September only the Al
Qaida network under Usama Bin Laden.
Conclusion
70. The attacks of the 11 September 2001 were planned and carried
out by Al Qaida, an organisation whose head is Usama Bin Laden.
That organisation 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 Taleban and Usama Bin Laden,
which allowed Bin Laden to operate freely in Afghanistan,
promoting, planning and executing terrorist activity.