The bulk of my research in my book The War on Truth concerns the role of al Qaeda as an instrument of Western covert operations. And this really does for me fundamentally undermine the entire concept of the War on Terror. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
1980s: US trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives them $3 billion. Michael Moore, Bowling for Columbine, 2002
11th September 1991: Osama bin Laden uses his expert CIA training to murder 3,000 people. ibid.
Who wanted to fly? No-one. Except the bin Ladens ... In all, one hundred and forty-two Saudis including twenty-four members of the Bin Laden family were allowed to leave the country. Michael Moore, Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004
For ten years Western Intelligence has fought a secret war against Al Qaeda, the most deadly and sophisticated terrorist organisation the world has ever faced. Peter Taylor, The Secret War on Terror I, BBC 2011
We investigate whether this secret war has made us all safer. ibid.
How far should the American government go to get Intelligence to save lives? ibid.
So why hasn’t bin Laden been captured or killed? ibid.
Under previous president George W Bush the CIA and the military had been given free rein to wage a secret war against the terrorists using abduction, secret interrogation black sites, and torture. ibid.
America first deployed its new secret weapon under George W but now Obama decided to ratchet up the use of these pilotless aircraft. ibid.
President Obama has authorised more than a hundred and sixty drone strikes ... But there’s a down-side to drone attacks: hundreds of civilians have been killed. ibid.
Al Qaeda is now global, resilient, adaptable and inventive. The American base at Guantanamo Bay is a stubborn reminder of how difficult and controversial the war has been. ibid.
Under increasing pressure Al Qaeda has found ways to adapt and strike back to deadly effect. Peter Taylor, The Secret War on Terror II
Is the west winning? And ten years after 9/11 are we any safer from attack? ibid.
Who does get killed? Are these people Taliban people or al Qaeda or random civilians who had nothing to do with it? It would be naive to believe the propaganda that says that firing these fantastic weapons is killing the right people. Clive Stafford-Smith, director Reprieve
Al Qaeda put their own indelible mark on the [Iraq] insurgency: the suicide bomb. Secret Iraq: Insurgency, BBC 2010
Televisions had been banned in Afghanistan but these men were honoured guests. Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda faithful were there to watch the horror of 9/11 unfold. What al Qaeda called the Manhattan Raid. So the West invaded Afghanistan. Afghanistan: War Without End? BBC 2010
Washington rejected a deal with the Taliban. Their Afghan mission was kill or capture, and they made no distinction between Taliban and al Qaeda. ibid.
The Americans had deployed less than a hundred troops in which to seal all routes out of these vast mountains. ibid.
Greeting the fugitives were not only friends and family but also elements of Pakistan’s military intelligence sympathetic to al Qaeda and who had also helped the Taliban win the Afghan civil war in the 1990s. ibid.
Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and on particular projects, specifically including weapons development. Al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the government of Iraq. 1998 Indictment of Osama bin Laden
The president has as you know now determined that the Geneva Convention does not apply to the conflict with al Qaeda whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere. Donald Rumsfeld
The US has evidence of bin Laden’s role in terrorist attacks that it will present in due time. Condoleezza Rice
The decision was made within the administration to take this event, to take the struggle against al Qaeda, and make it into a full-fledged struggle against good and evil. Mark Danner, staff writer The New York Times
Throughout the ’80s [bin Laden] was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage Jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda, literally The Database, was originally the computer file of the thousands of Mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Robin Cook, British politician
Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. George W Bush
Our War on Terror begins with Al Qaeda. But it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated. Americans are asking, Why do they hate us? They hate what they see right here in this chamber. A democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms. Our freedom of religion. Our freedom of speech. Our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries. Such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world, and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way. We’re not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the twentieth century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions. By abandoning every value except the will to power. They follow in the path of fascism. Nazism. And totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends, in History’s unmarked grave of discarded lives. We will direct every resource at our command. Every means of diplomacy. Every tool of intelligence. Every instrument of law enforcement. Every financial influence. And every necessary weapon of war. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. George W Bush, Congressional address 20 September 2001
The War on Terror – you can’t distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the War on Terror. George W Bush
I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on it, to be honest with you. George W Bush
I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and don’t really care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority. George W Bush, 13 March 2002, cited fromtheleft online
I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah. George W Bush, Washington DC 10 December 2001
I was not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States nor did I have knowledge of the attacks. There exists a government within a government within the United States. The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself. Osama bin Laden
When tens of your soldiers were killed in minor battles and one American pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat, and your dead with you ... The extent of your impotence and weakness became very clear. Osama bin Laden
The US Government has consistently blamed me for being behind every [attack]. I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons. I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following the leaders’ rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations. Osama bin Laden, statement issued via Al Jazeera
My source told me that Osama died his natural death in Tora Bora mountain range after developing a serious lung problem, which could not be treated, and then he was buried. Some thirty to forty people, bodyguards, friends, they attended the funeral. And to pay him homage, last tribute, and hundreds of bullets were fired in the air. Tariq Saeed, Peshawar Editor, Pakistan Observer
Would al Qaeda buy weapons of mass destruction if it could? Certainly. Does it have the financial resources? Probably. Would it use such weapons? Definitely. Tony Blair
The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Osama bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11. Rex Tomb, FBI chief of investigative publicity