http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6yLQRF-cEU

4 min

Casey Young

POL 650

Dr. Shawn Williams

July 19, 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk

5 min

AKA: Al-Qaeda:“The Base”Founder: Osama Bin

Laden Ideological and current

Leader: Ayman al-ZawahiriMajor Base: AfghanistanFounded: Late 1980’sZawahiri joined Bin Laden

in 1998Took responsibility for

9/11 attacks which lead American into a war with Afghanistan

“Al Qaeda is the first truly global terrorist organization in history” (Riedel, pg. ix)

Had a new idea: multiple opeartions in different locales carried out at the same time (Riedel, 60).

Born: June 19, 1951 in Cairo, Egypt

Defining moment: Sadat’s assassination (Riedel, 19)

Head of Islamic Jihad (or Al-Jihad)

Not very charismaticBecame leader of Al

Qaeda after bin Laden death and still on the run.

Not a hatred for Western culture or values, rather his ideology focuses on what he believes the West has don’t to the Islamic world, to the ummah. It is about policy, not values (Riedel, 22-23)

Sees the plot against Islam on every front, fomented by the United States and Europe in the west, Israel nearby, and India in the east (Riedel, 29).

Key element to his plan is jihad; every Muslim is duty-bound to fight against the enemies of Islam, including the unbeliever and the corrupt followers who ally themselves with the enemy.

Usama Bin LadenBorn January 22, 1958 in Riyadh, SA – 17th son. Osama means “the Lion”. Moved to Medina @ age of 6 months.

By July 1958, M. Bin Laden had fathered 41 children – 21 sons & at least 20 daughters.

Mother: Alia Ghanem, 14 year old from Syria. Citrus farming family. 10th wife.

Was a possible maid or concubine.

Same Islamic Year – M. Bin Laden fathered 5 sons and 2 daughters under two different wives.

Bin Laden Affiliated Companies: Binladen Kaiser –

engineering & construction

Binladen Emco – pre-cast concrete

Al-Midhar Telecommunications Company – consulting

Bin Laden Telecom Company

Binladen Brothers for Contracting & Industry

Saudi Binladin Group – registered in 1990 with over 36,000 employees in 30 countries

Prophet’s mosque in medina

Al-Aqsa Mosque Dome of the Holy Rock

54 Children

September 3, 1967M. Bin Laden’s plane crashes along the Saudi – Yemen border.

Pilot – Jim Harrington, former US Air Force fighter pilot. Two other passengers onboard.

Previously flew a 7 passenger Twin Beech propeller. Switched to a Hawker Siddeley twin-engine jet.

Mohammed Bin Laden OrganizationNo known record on the size of the estate.Estimated - $150 million Kingdom outstanding debts to M. Bin Laden

estimated to be $100 million in payments.Saudi Government sets up trust fund for

children.

InheritanceSharia Law – sons to receive

twice as much as the daughters.

4 current wives at the time of

death to split 1/8 of the shares.

Former wives to receive no

inheritance, however their

children would.

Sons, to include Osama, to

receive 2.27% of the company’s

shares. Roughly $20 million

each.

Daughters to receive roughly 1%

Total inheritance breakdown –

Sons – 50%

Daughters – 30%

Current Widows – Rest of the

shares.

“One can ask, at this point, whether 9/11 or some similar tragedy might have happened without bin Laden to steer it. The answer is certainly not” (Wright, pg. 332).

“He saw it (America) as the vanguard of a global crusade on the part of Christians and Jews to crush the Islamic resurgence” (Wright, 208).

“This battle is not between al-Qaeda and the U.S.,” bin Laden would later explain. “This is a battle of Muslims against the global Crusaders” (Wright, 209).

But the “greatest disaster to befall the Muslims” is the “occupation of Saudi Arabi, which is the cornerstone of the Islamic world, the place of revelation…was sold out to the Israelis and Americans (Riedel, 57).

“The main root of the conflict between our civilization and your civilization is the Palestine question. I stress that the Palestine question is my nation’s central issue. It was, therefore, a key factor that has, since my childhood, provided me and the free 19 men with an overwhelming feeling of the need to punish the Jews and those supporting them. This is why the incidents of September 11th took place” (Riedel, 130).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0ISgosTlQ

Start at 15 seconds

Adolph Hitler Sadam Hussein Musab al-Zarqawi

Mastermind behind 9/11Had planned to blow up

jumbo jets with his cousin Ramzi Yusuf across the Pacific

Bin Laden heard of this idea and had KSM tweak it to make it feasable

Captured in Pakistan in 2003 and has been a key contributor for helping stop terrorists

WTC 1993 BombingsFebruary 26,

bombed planted in Ryder Truck in garage of North Tower

Ramzi Yousef6 people killed

and around 1,000 wounded

October 12, 2000Claimed by Al QaedaKilled 17 and wounded

40“ The destroyer

represented the capital of the West,” Bin Laden said, “and the small boat represented Mohammad” (Wright, pg.319).

America did not retaliate, and bin Laden felt he needed to do something bigger

Al Qaeda called 9/11 the Manhattan Raid (Riedel, pg. 1)

Possibly wanted Eastern and Western attacks but felt it was too risky, so decided to stick only with the East.

Decided to target 4 major targets of significance:

1.World Trade Center (Economic strength)

2.Pentagon (Military strength)3.White House/Capital Building

(governmental/Democracy)

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/09/07/natpkg-911-aircheck-timeline.cnn

CNN (9 min)

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/09/11/cooper-911-wtc-history.cnn#/video/us/2011/09/11/cooper-911-wtc-history.cnn

CNN World Trade Center Video

1) The World Trade CentersOpened in 1973, 7th building

finished in 1987Was made up of 7 buildingsTowers 1 and 2 (Twin

Towers) stood as world tallest buildings (110 stories)

Cost was $400 million50,000 people worked in the

towers, 200,000 passed through

Had its own zip code: 100482,753 people died in attacks,

343 firefighters and 23 NYPDAround 3,000 total deaths

and people from 80 countries

Construction of WTC in 1971

Design of WTC Twin Towers

Top of the World Observation Deck80,000 visitors a year

Such momentous constructions are bound to intrude on the subconscious, as they are meant to do—”those awesome symbolic towers that speak of liberty, human rights and humanity”—as bin Laden labeled them.”

Looming Tower (pg. 176)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNw0jOhVJ3AFirefighter video (1st tower)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XELamUnF0EU

Second tower video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzKI9TBR-XQPeople jumping from WTC (start at 1:50)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaPoD_7TmNc

Hits pentagon at 25 seconds

Went to flight school in Minnesota in 2001 and alerted the flight school after strange questions about flying.

Captured by FBI, but not allowed to thoroughly check his belongings or would have probably made connection.

FBI supervisor responded that he was “trying to keep somone from taking a plane and crashing into the World Trade Center” (Wright, 351).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbqCquDl4k4&feature=related

4 ½ minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQAeeimx3S4

Bush declares war on Terror

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/09/08/tsr-todd-911-audio-recordings.cnn#/video/us/2011/09/08/tsr-todd-911-audio-recordings.cnn

CNN Video

Remembering and RebuildingBuilding 5 new

towersTallest is One

World Trade Center, measuring 1,776 feet (tallest in North America)

Also a Memorial and Museum

January meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was photographed and surveillance but not wiretap. Meeting produced USS Cole bombing and 9/11 attacks (Wright, 310-311)

CIA failed to let FBI or State Department know about two terrorists from Malaysia meeting needed to be put on terror list or had entered the country 19 months before 9/11 (Wright, 311-312)

CIA found laptop of Zawahiri’s closest political confidant in Azerbaijan, but would not turn it over to the FBI

Sensitive information from the CIA may compromise their work with FBI, which could demand total control of a situation

CIA was hoping to recruit some of the terrorists and use them against Al Qaeda

FBI wanted to capture bin Laden for questioning; CIA wanted to kill bin Laden before he became too big a threat

Delays at the airport are longer, arrival time is earlier, and items being carried on are smaller (Fear of flying)

Created a new cabinet department (Homeland Security, 2001)

Declared a War on Terrorism that took us into Afghanistan and then into Iraq

Repression of freedom exchanged for control of security, especially against suspected terrorists (Patriot Act)

Fear/Misunderstandings of Radical Muslims or anyone who might be from the Middle East

Some pictures, information, and slides came from professor Max Wise class

The Looming Tower by Lawrence WrightThe 9/11 Commission ReportAmerican Foreign Policy in a New Era by

Robert JarvisThe Search for Al Qaeda by Bruce RiedelMastermind (KSM) by Richard Miniter