Osama bin Laden is a financier of international terrorism whose roots in Islamic fundamentalism was shaped in his formidable years, and that this has led to his present day views on justifying acts of aggression that have led to death of many, in the name of Islam duty.

The significance of Bin Laden’s role in terror is a highly debated question among scholars, world leaders, and terrorism experts, as to the very nature of his direct involvement in carrying out terrorist attacks and in the expedient establishment within the organization of a large, but, vast terrorist network. On the one hand, bin Laden is certain to play a figurative role in promoting the cause of Islamic extremism, but on the other hand, the question of his actual ordering and directing terrorist activity is at best a speculative notion, and very circumstantial in the legal sense. This is not to rule out that he leads a band of network cells which are thought to be loose bands of cells rather than what the West and the United States would categorize as a structured and traditional military order. Unlike a state army apparatus, those whom seek to defend against the superpower of the United States resort to alternative military tactics commando style with an intense element of surprise element which creates a great psychological impact when the attacks are carried out in full completion.

Therefore, it is not without prudent reason that one could argue that bin Laden may have been linked to terrorist attacks that have plagued both the United States and the West. But, to conclude his involvement with definitive conviction that he gave direct orders in every terrorist attack against the United States, is a reckless supposition that must be looked at in-depth, eliminating superficial hearsay that too often, is believed as truth.

In examining the role of bin Laden , it is essential that the course of history be traced, in order to see if any trends follow, if any ironies arise, or any parallels figure into the equation, as to his role of the world's most "dangerous" terrorist.. It is also important to distinguish who has the final authority, in making the final decision, the group or the individual. Furthermore, it is also important to recognize other variables that influence the course of how nations and individuals act, and respond toward the other.

In terms of bin Laden's Islamic ideals, it would be irresponsible not to look back to the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan, his spiritual foundation while a college student, his family's role in Saudi Arabia, along with the passion he had for his fellow man, in the Muslim world.

In comparative terms, those in the West may view bin Laden with disgust as a terrorist, as many are shaped by negative media images, but, many in the Muslim world do not view him in a negative light, however they view him as a hero, in the fight for the Islamic cause against the West and an aggressor as the United States is viewed, in part for their overwhelming support of Israel and continued attacks on Islamic nations and supporting western puppet regimes which include authoritarian dictators as the case in Saudi Arabia. The course of this argument is not to make a reckless conclusion, but to give the most balanced view possible on this complex matter, of terrorism.

In examining bin Laden's role as the world's leading terrorist and the links to networks of terror, one has to strongly consider the "Blowback Theory", that is very pertinent as one of the root causes, in the evolution of bin Laden's hatred toward the United States, leading to President Clinton's preoccupation in capturing him. In the decade of the 1980's the United States had friendly relations with Afghanistan, but as the course of history will show, the hunt for bin Laden has made the present government there a target of American interests once again, but this time in a scrutinized way. The "Blowback Theory" is essentially when one country builds up another militarily with arms, supplies, and training, just to have that country or individual turn on them, and attack those very nations it received its arms and training from. In the case of bin Laden and the United States, this interplay or variable without question, developed in the Afghan resistance against the Soviet Union. This factor can simply not be dismissed.

The oil boom of the 1970's had reasserted the Arab nations as players in the world's economic structure. The Iranian Revolution in 1979, in which some consider the last great revolution, brought back an Islamic government which has led to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the past twenty years. This new "phenomenon" in the return to Islam in the Muslim world gave all Muslims a newfound reason to be optimistic about the future.

To understand the Islamic movement, bin Laden, the Taliban, and terrorism itself, it may be worthwhile to get a clear understanding about the terminology. Within the context of the paper about much discussion is around bin Laden's issuing fatwas, the role of the mujahideen, and the significance of the Taliban, the Islamic Jihad, and other key terms. First and foremost, Allah is the word of God in Arabia, above all else. A fatwa is a legal ruling or decree issued by the ulema who are religious authorities of a state who have the supreme authority of guidance, jurisprudence. and legislation. It is the ulema who make the final decisions about any fatwa issued. The ulema also give duas, sermons in the mosques as well. Fatwas provide guidance to its followers and they are to do what the fatwa tells them to. On receiving a fatwa, it is often times the Jihad in its effort to become better Muslims who defend the spread of the Islamic doctrine. And its the Mujahideen, the "holy warriors" who wage the war fighting jihad. Islamic Jihad is the generic name for the elite strike forces of several Islamist terrorist organizations-both Sunni and Shiite. It coveys messages and claims responsibility for terrorist operations without implicating any group or sponsoring state whose actually responsible. The Sunnis are a majority of Muslims whose emphasis is on the Koran. The Shiites practice the Jihad and sanction martyrdom and get its inspiration from Inman Ali, a descendant of Prophet Mohammed. The Sharia is the traditional (canon) law of Islam based on the techniques of the Koran and related works. The Sharia cannot be changed, but only interpreted to meet contemporary challenges. An Emir is a religious-military leader whose legitimacy and power as a leader are derived from his success on the battlefield rather than from his religious stature. It is the duty of every practicing Islam to take a haji-a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina at least one time in its life. The Mujahideen are those who wage the Jihad and are Islam's holy warriors against non-Islamic people who are "infidels" for not practicing Islam. The last term to be familiar with is who the Taliban are. The Taliban means "students" of religious schools who are politically and militarily involved in Islamist organizations. At present, the Taliban is in power in Afghanistan.

To put into a logical framework of understanding, the identification of a terrorist must be mentioned. The definition many have of a terrorist is the use of force and violence to intimidate innocent civilians to achieve its political purpose or policy goals. The U.S. State Department lists the defining of Terrorist activity as hijackings, seizing or detaining or threatening to kill an individual, a violent attack on an internationally protected person, assassinations, the use of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, or other firearms with the direct or indirect intent to damage persons or property, even without monetary profit being a motive. So, in knowing these terms in light of a superficial background, the ultimate question is, who really is a terrorist? Is the chicken or the egg theory relevant, here? And is the Jihad justified in protecting its holy lands from "infidel" invaders? Did United States foreign policy objectives fail to sustain consistency by its own covert or overt activity, which has in an odd but indirect way led to the making of one Osama bin Laden. The foreign policy of the United States that had a very strong presence in Afghanistan during the 1980's definitely gives much credence to the "Blowback" theory.

The United States conducted its CIA training schools in Pakistan and it was there it was a safe house for many of the guerrillas it trained Central Asia. By 1978, the United States dispatched its first troops in the covert operation in Afghanistan. By setting up tracking stations on the ground the United States had hoped to track the movement of Soviet troops. When it lost its base in Iran with when the Embassy was sieged, it needed a place in this region, to act as a precursor to Soviet aggression.

Osama Bin Laden was the seventeenth son among fifty-seven brothers and sisters. His mother was a Saudi. His father's name was Mohammed Awad bin Laden and came to Saudi Arabia in 1930, from Yemen. Originally a porter, in Jeddah, he kept the bag he used as a trophy in their home.

During the tenure of King Saud's reign in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Laden was able to win the bidding wars on construction projects by placing bids even lower than the others. When a conflict arose in the early 1960's, between King Saud and king-in-waiting Faisal, the elder bin Laden convinced King Saud to step aside. When the treasury ran out of money Mohammed paid the civil servants salaries for the next six months prompting King Faisal to order all construction projects to go to bin Laden's company from that point on.

In rising to become a construction magnate the elder bin Laden amassed many important contracts but none would be more influential in the short-term of his life, but maybe more importantly in eyes of son Osama in the long-term, and the significance attached to those contracts. His father's companies wealth increased immensely with the contracts he received to restore and expand the Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina.

In 1969 Mohammed rebuilt the Al-Asqua mosque after it was severely damaged in a fire. During the 1970's the bin Laden Company as it was known by had emerged as an influential entity in the Arab world and restored not only mosques but developed roads, buildings, airports and contributed to the infrastructure of many countries in the Arab world, and the Persian Gulf. Mohammed was a devoted Muslim and was an example to his son as he instilled a strong religious ethic and social conformity. He also tried to be encouraging by giving his son both confidence, and independence. The restoring of the holy mosques had a very profound spiritual effect on Mohammed. This new spiritual rebirth would impact Osama in a large way. During the 1970's, was the beginning of Osama's transformation into becoming an ardent follower of Islam.

In secondary school and in college he adopted a source of Muslim brotherhood which can be traced to the days when his father used to host pilgrims from all over the world during the Hazi season. It was at this time he started to become interested in

faith.

Osama was introduced to Abdullah Azzam when he was a student, at Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. Osama was greatly influenced by the teachings of Azzam as the lecturer spoke in strict terms about the significance of Islam and the Jihad. Azzam stressed that the establishment of the Jihad was necessary in order to free the Muslims away from Western influence. By the 1970's Azzam had broken with the Palestinians fight against the Israelis when he realized that it was more of a fight for a "national revolutionary ideology" than an Islamic jihad.

In his devotion in the cause of Islamist Jihad, Azzam left the University in 1979, and was one of the first Arabs to join the anti-Soviet resistance movement. The leaders of the jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan urged Azzam to teach, rather than fight. When Azzam moved to Peshawar where the first soldiers of the movement were accepted, he founded the Bait-un-Ansur. The Bait-un-Ansur was where the training of the Afghan jihad and mujahadin took place. And it was at about this time that Osama bin Laden became a very serious about the teachings of Islam and Azzam, which later would lead him to become a very formidable, if not pivotal figure in the Islamist international system.

With Azzam's ideology and bin Laden's wealth and interest in the movement, led to bin Laden's commitment in moving forward with the lecturer's ideas. A central base, called the Mujahideen Services Bureau was established to help promote the cause and help to recruit Islamists and those with special knowledge, to join in the international network.

The development of the Mujahideen Services Bureau made bin Laden realize that a central base was necessary, so he and Azzam established the Masadat al-Ansar, bases that were set up for the Arab Mujahideen, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. These bases were used for the training and conditioning of fighters before it took on the grave dangers and the inevitable war situation. It was also at this time that bin Laden started to make contacts throughout the world on behalf of Islam and began to mobilize various bases in other countries.

The war in Afghanistan with the Soviet Union was, perhaps, the last proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Osama bin Laden helped to finance this war on behalf of the mujahideen whom both bin Laden and the United States government supported in the fight. As a private financier he specifically paid for travel and brought in experts from all over the world, to help train the guerrillas. The United States poured in 500 million dollars per year to this campaign. Bin Laden's group was one of seven main mujahideen factions that fought there. When the war was over the U.S. had spent three billion dollars total. And, according to former Pakistani and CIA intelligence officers, by 1987, the United States was supplying Afghanistan with 65, tonnes of weapons, at cheap rates, proving the United States thirst for victory in this region.

In the late 1970's Afghanistan was ruled by a Soviet-sponsored government. It inflicted much damage on the Afghanis and was fixing to do more damage. The Soviet Union literally marched into Afghanistan and assassinated the President, took over the reigns of the government and infrastructure. The other objective it had was to stop the Islamic militant movement . This invasion marked for the first time since World War II that a Muslim nation was under the rule of a non-Muslim country. United States President Jimmy Carter personally ordered the covert action, and it was CIA director Stansfield Turner who would carry out the initial action. The United States attempted to keep this a secret until the late, former, President of Egypt Anwar Sadat told NBC news, in September of 1981, that he had sold Soviet made weapons to the United States so it could send them to Afghanistan, via Pakistan.

According to former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who worked under President Jimmy Carter, the United States had taken measures in that administration by helping to funnel money to the mujahideen fighters, six months before the invasion, as the Kabul government started to "lose control of the country." In December of 1979, President Carter, "issued a presidential finding on covert action to supply them with "lethal" weapons, through the Pakistani authorities, so they could do “battle with the Soviets and its occupation troops in Afghanistan."

On July 3, 1979 President Carter signed the first directive for "clandestine aid" in the United States effort. Brzezinski saw this as an "Afghan trap" for the Soviets, and the "Soviet's version of the Vietnam War." In the ensuing months to follow the objectives in Afghanistan would go from covert to overt operations, when President Reagan was sworn in.

The Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan, waged this war much earlier than the United States did, against the Red Army, requested to the CIA, that more "devastating" weapons were needed to fight a successful war, and carry out a top-flight mission against the Soviets. True to their anti-Soviet policy agenda, the Reagan administration granted the request. According to a New York Times article in May, 1983, the CIA had aided in the weapon arsenal department by giving among other things: grenades launchers, bazookas, anti-aircraft missiles, and C-S chemical weapons.

When former President Ronald Reagan came to power in 1981, he no longer made a secret of the war in Afghanistan. The late Anwar Sadat was right about the United States involvement. Reagan made it clear that the Americans would arm the counter-revolutionaries. According to former Pakistani and CIA intelligence officers, by 1987, the United States was supplying 65,000 tons of weapons to Afghanistan. In 1986, CIA Chief William Casey persuaded the United States Congress to arm the Mujahideen with American-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to help shoot down Soviet planes there. He also suggested that the United States bring in advisers to help train the guerrillas, as well. Casey in his quest to find help in the war effort recruited Afghan exiles. By funneling money to the mujahideen, the press accused the CIA of supporting terrorists. The recruits received training at the safe houses the CIA had set up in Pakistan. Up to the time that Casey urged Congress to go-ahead with this plan of action no American-made weapons or personnel had been deployed in the conflict. taliban The Stinger's sent to Afghanistan on behest of the mujahaideen fighters helped not only the crushing blows to the Soviet arsenal, but it also enhanced the positive self-image of Osama bin Laden, who became a heroic figure due to his role in the fighting, at the time. The influence of Azzam and bin Laden's, along with the royal family's assistance from Saudi Arabia helped to fund the mujahideen long before the United States was involved to the magnitude it was.

Casey promised CIA support to bring in new radical Muslims from around the world. In this effort he also agreed to work alongside the ISI (Inter-Service-Intelligence Agency of Pakistan), along with the Afghanistan and Pakistan mujahideen, who were involved in the war effort. It was during the this long conflict that the fusion different factions of Islamic radicals came together from around the world. What started as a loose contingent of fighters finished as soldiers who were equipped, organized, and capable of beating a superpower. It was lauded at the time as the most successful covert CIA operation ever. After ten years of savage fighting the Soviet Union finally vanquished at the behest of the mujahideen. In the end more than 25,000 foreign jihadis, from more than thirty countries, joined the fight for Afghanistan. It was a religious calling. And Osama Bin Laden helped finance the war against the Soviets from the start, according to a CIA source. This war against the Soviets gave bin Laden a new perspective on life as a 'holy warrior'. The new purpose for life that bin Laden had within the viewpoint of Islamic jihad was rooted from childhood and his first meeting with Azaam. Bin Laden's role in the Afghan war was more of a financier than warrior. Bin Laden did fight successful battles in Jadzi in 1987 and Shabam also the same year. Many of the alliances that bin Laden formed during that period have carried over throughout his life since, and some counter-terrorist experts claim this is where his alleged network of the present started.

By April of 1991, the United States had cut off all supplies to Afghanistan. In April of 1992, the Mujahideen had entered Kabul. By the time the war was over and the last troops had left Afghanistan there were many factions broken up and insurrectional fighting going on. The internal problems of the mujahideen was also a factor in bin Laden's decision to leave. It was at this time that Osama bin Laden decided there. But when he got back to Saudi Arabia, he saw what he thought was too much Western influence there. He was in part not too thrilled with the Saudis, allowing the infidels to stay in his homeland. To him and this went against his fight for Islam, in the Muslim world.

The core beliefs of bin Laden's Islamic fundamentalism ideals made it difficult for him to accept that another country would be able to use the holy lands as a base for military operations. So, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, bin Laden wanted to take an active role, and wanted to bring the forces from the Afghan war to defend this land. But Saudi Arabia's King al-Fahd invited the Americans to defend, and this action outraged bin Laden. In early 1991, the United States Armed Forces descended upon Saudi Arabia. King Fahd had not listened to bin Laden's pleas. Osama bin Laden was perturbed to say the least, and this was the genesis of his "war" with America. His anger grew even more when 200,000 American troops descended on Saudi Arabia to help liberate Kuwait. Laden was confident that the Iraqi force would not be able to handle the "jihad force". He made it clear to those in power that allowing "infidels" to that region was not consistent with the teachings of Islam, and that it would be insensitive to the Muslims. Furthermore, bin Laden felt that the long-standing legitimacy of Islam would be compromised by having non-Muslim forces there and that militant Islamists, "would not overlook the governments transgressions of the sacred principles of Islam."

Osama bin Laden urged the Saudi ulema to issue fatwas and religious rulings against non-Muslims who he thought invaded his country. The senior ulema in Sauda Arabia actually agreed with bin Laden point-of-view about the American presence on its soil, this led to a meeting between the Saudi court and the Saudi ulema. The King had to convince the 350 ulema at a meeting at Mecca that United States forces were only there on a short-term mission. And United States Defense Secretary under former President George Bush, concurred with the King, that the forces would not stay there longer than necessary. Although bin Laden was gaining popular support he wanted to give the King the benefit of the doubt. Bin Laden took into account that the the King was the holder of the holy shrines and the House of al-Saud would be able to restore legitimacy of its Islamic path after a withdrawal of American troops. So he remained committed to the King's wishes. Because bin Laden was somewhat popular the government did not try to stifle his anti-West views. But at one time the Saudi government threatened him with the loss of his business and bankruptcy, but even these scared tactics did not phase bin Laden to curtail his criticism.

After allowing the American troops to continue its presence in Saudi Arabia after the war, bin Laden left an angry, bitter, and unhappy man, still committed to his passionate feelings about the "long-term Islamic legitimacy", and felt the House of al-Saud had abandoned the Muslim world the day it allowed the American troops a continued stay.

The day that King al-Saud allowed for the American troops to stay, was the time in which, bin Laden made the move to go to Sudan. He would soon meet up with its leader Hassan al-Turabi who shared many common beliefs about Islam, and whose own country was seen with disfavor by the United States, as a terrorist nation.

The United States had its own selfish reasons for wanting relations with Afghanistan following the Mujahideen takeover of Kabul. It wanted to serve as a forebader against Russian and Iranian interests; to restore order in Afghanistan; eliminate terrorist training camps; bring back King Zahir Shah; and provide ally Pakistan with a means to profit from free trade within the Central Asian republics. By April of 1991, the United States had cut off supplies to Afghanistan. And by April of 1992, the Mujahideen had entered Kabul. The Mujahideen had secured the power base, but in terms of stability its rule was short lived. In the ensuing years from 1992-to-1994, it was common knowledge through aid agencies that no established political strategy by the International community for Afghanistan was considered.

There were many who thought the United States was only concerned about domestic interests as it related to foreign policy goals, and perhaps, a case could be made for this. It was not until the reign of Omar's Taliban around 1996 that the United States had any interest in Afghanistan. It was mainly a commercial one. When Kabul fell in 1996, America cared about the surge of the Taliban to pursue the "UNOCAL plan". It said it would "open doors for the construction of gas and oil pipelines from Central Asia to Pakistan". The main benefactors would be the United States and Saudi Arabia who led the coalition of UNOCAL and Delta companies, who were in the oil trade business.

The Taliban began as reformers with a well-known premise of keeping out the "infidels". It has adopted a radical way of thinking in terms of Islam, and has brought forward an extremist pint-of-view. Though its narrow view it lacks a deep understanding of the Koran, Sharia, and Islamic history. The vast number of the Taliban are Pushtun Islamic students in seminaries in Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. The roots of Afghanistan have always been embedded in the Muslim tradition. The new strength of the Islamic movements has helped this revival. In Afghanistan, ninety per cent of Afghans are Sunni Muslims, while the central part of Afghanistan is home to the Shiites, who represent ten per cent of the Muslim population.

After leaving Saudi Arabia, bin Laden still remained a committed soldier to the Islam cause. In 1991, Osama bin Laden and a number of Afghan veterans left to take part in another Islamic movement. Since the 1980's bin Laden who had business interests was scanning the opportunities in Sudan. Sudan had been torn in Civil Wars with Islamic governments in the north, and Christian and animist groups in the south. Bin Laden and the Afghani fighters went to the Sudan where the Sudanese leader Hassan Turabi was in power. Bin Laden established many businesses when he was in Kartoum, and also helped to raise his own personal fortunes with his investments there. He joined in business ventures with Turabi and his associates, and his company was called Al-Hijrah for Construction and Development. He built a new highway linking Khartoum with Port Sudan on the Red Sea, and a modern international airport for Sudan. Bin Laden was so successful as a businessman there that he almost created a "monopoly" on Sudan's agricultural exports Bin Laden also created a new bank under his leadership and dedicated it to the Islamic community and they could take advantage of interest-free banking enterprise. Both militant Arabs and Afghan jihad comprised the work force.

Many of those in the Afghan Jihad did not want to go back to their home country with many facing prison sentences upon return. Bin Laden would at times issue false papers and passports to help them in their ability to move around, so the authorities would not know their real identity. In the Sudan the Afghan fighters were treated as welcomed guests unlike other Arab governments. The Sudanese government gave them jobs, helped them set up training camps, and some even received government employment. In Sudan, a splinter group of the al-Qaeda network assisted bin Laden in hiding these new immigrants, as he continued to support them financially and continued the training they received in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These fighters started its training after the Soviet retreat, and his followers were now fixing to work alongside other Saudi oppositional groups as it viewed as the occupation of American troops in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, as wrong It also targeted the royal family.

The actions surrounding the deaths and the downing of American Blackhawk helicopters has been linked to bin Laden, and its even suggested that this is where his introduction as a terrorist threat occurred. The United States Marines went into Somalia on December 9, 1992, in what was called "Operation Restore Hope". It got involved in politics with one of the largest warring factions, and its leader Farrah Adid. After a United Nations, Pakistan-led contingent were ambushed, the United States stepped up its effort by launching counter-offensives. Some of its tactics were questioned when it killed civilians, with women and children among the casualties. During this operation two United States Blackhawk helicopters were shot down out of the sky. When the Americans started to face ground losses in the case of eighteen dead American soldiers, it decided to leave Somalia. Although the United States attempted to negotiate with Adid, it failed in this diplomatic effort.

Sudan's profound shift toward Iran occurred in the early spring of 1991, when Sadaam Hussein failed to direct a successful war in a real Islamic Jihad against the "infidel" invader, the United States. Sudan wanted to become a "twin" of Iran within the Islamic movement, and model itself as Iran had done after the Revolution, in 1979. Under the Turabi regime was instituted an Islamist ideology that established relations between the Islamist Sunni Muslims and the Shiite militants in Iran. In 1991, the same time of bin Laden's arrival in Khartoum, the attempt of Turabi to launch an assault on the Muslim world and the West was underway.

The emergence of bin Laden as a financial leader in Somalia occurred when Mohammed Sheikh Osman became a member of Adid's team, henceforth bringing along bin Laden as the financial operative in the anti-U.S. operation in Somalia. Again, bin Laden's main interest was putting money into to the training camps as he had historically done. And it also suited Turabi well who was a benefactor of bin Laden's success in the construction industry.

As far as bin Laden was concerned the failure of the United States in Somalia made it clear that the United States could be forced to leave in the same way the Soviets were(forced out) of Afghanistan. In an interview with ABC news reporter, John Miller, bin Laden told him that his men no longer viewed the United States as a superpower. His men thought the "American (soldiers) were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American soldier." Bin Laden equated the American soldier to a "paper tiger", " unable to endure the strikes that were dealt to his army and so he fled, and America had to stop all its bragging and all the noise it was making in the press after the Gulf War in which it destroyed the infrastructure and the milk and dairy industry that was vital for the infants and the children and the civilians..." Again talking about the American soldier, he again stated to Miller, "After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles, "world leader", and rushed out of Somalia in shame, disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers." In short, bin Laden was thrilled that America was forced out of Somalia because it gave credence to his argument that militant Islam could bring down superpowers like the United States. It was another building block in his argument for a United Front for Islam directed at the West. Bin Laden was living in the Sudan at the time also. He also admitted in a 1997 interview with Hamid Mir in Pakistan that his companions did fight with Adid's forces in Somalia. But he emphasized that it was "fighting against United States terrorism under the cover of the United Nations." He was very proud that his men not only shot down an American Blackhawk helicopter and that his men dragged the pilot naked through the streets "tied up". As far as bin Laden was concerned they had beaten the Soviets in Afghanistan and they had now just forced the evacuation of American troops from Somalia.

It has been said by bin Laden in various interviews that the Somalia situation was the genesis of his role as a policy-maker with decision-oriented issues pertaining to his direct involvement in attacks like these. In Somalia he felt a sense of leadership for the first time with the support of others. The withdrawal of troops here also reaffirmed Iran and Sudan's posture as the leaders in the network structure in East Africa. Turabi was elated at the efforts of the Arab "Afghan" commanders in this operation, especially, bin Laden.

Some Afghan veterans returned back to their home country's with an invigorated sense of Islamic fundamentalist spirit and a renewed ideology. They returned home ready to topple "western influenced governments" that they considered to be "infidels" in the view of bin Laden. The knowledge they acquired in the war aided them in building-up terror cells. The majority of the training camps in Afghanistan still had remained, as the mujahideen were still viewed, as the heart of the Afghanistan war effort.

Osama bin Laden was said to have been close with Sudanese leaders, Omar Albahir and Hassan Tarabi, the head of the National Islamic Front in Sudan. However, Sudan has long been on the U.S. State Department's list of state-sponsored terrorist nations. In a gesture to the United States along with the fact that its relations with the West started to improve, Sudan requested that bin Laden depart. In May, 1996, he moved back to Afghanistan. In leaving the Sudan bin Laden left behind former Afghan fighters and an alleged terror network.

Within the year of 1996 bin Laden had been the target of two assassination attempts, on his life, and it was highly speculative that the Saudis were behind these attempts. Bin Laden had been quite critical of the government there for its courting of American troops in the Gulf War with Iraq. After the second attempt on bin Laden's life the Saudi's put pressure on Sudan to get rid of bin Laden. Sudan was facing the distinct reality of sanctions if it did not comply. Encouraged by the Islamic movement and Turabi as leader, he left Sudan. Bin Laden and Turabi shared many common views including business interests, being commanders, and of course, Islam.

So, by May of 1996, General Bashir had given bin Laden and his followers the final stipulation to leave Sudan. He gave in to Saudi pressure. With economic incentives Turabi, Bashir, and bin Laden worked out a plan for an organized departure for him and his family. He had a non-hasty trip back to Afghanistan. He swent from the Khartoum airport to a secret place in Darfur Province in western Sudan where a "terrorist-training infrastructure" was present.

When bin Laden left the Sudan to return to Afghanistan, he was entering familiar territory once again and a country that would soon place Islamic fundamentalism high on its priority list, with the Taliban government.

In May of 1996, Osama bin Laden went back to Afghanistan. Along with an entourage of Arab militants, was thirteen children, three wives, family members and bodyguards. He lived under the protection of the Jalalbad Shura, in Jalalabad, until the Taliban annexed that site and Kabul in September, 1996. Upon bin Laden's arrival into Afghanistan he immediately made contact with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban. He had bought the leader a house ten years earlier. It was reported in a Newsweek magazine in May, 1997, that the financing of Osama bin Laden to the Taliban was a factor in its rise to power, under Omar. The reaction of the United States led to a hard-stand policy against the Taliban government.

The example of the government taken by Iran from the Iranian Revolution is still a model others want to emulate. And so it was the Taliban government wanting to operate under that Islamist model, developing out of the consequence of war, the collapse of a once-stable government, and a new fundamentalism. The rise of the foreign Muslim radicals was influenced by the Afghan jihad who was backed by both the CIA and the Pakistan ISI. The camps that were established in the war still exist. It has become a place where pan-Islamic radicalsim is taught and promoted. In the minds of the Afghans, after defeating one superpower, its goal was to bring down another.

After returning to Afghanistan bin Laden, one of the highest-ranking Saudis in the struggle, he soon issued his first "Declaration of Jihad" against the Saudi royal family and the Americans, whom he resented being in his homeland.

The attacks on Riyadh and Dharan in later years have proved to be links with bin Laden's alleged terror network On November 13, 1995, five American servicemen were killed at Saudi Arabia's National communications Center in Riyadh. The former mujahideen fighters were beheaded before the American intelligence could have a chance to interview them in the attack. The Saudis had its own way of handling justice. After the attack the House of Al-Saud issued him a stiff "warning" where he was living in the Sudan, as it tempted to assassinate him. On June 25, 1996, a massive 5,000 pound truck bomb exploded in Dharan at the Khobar Towers near a military housing complex. It had killed nineteen U.S. servicemen and wounded many more, and critically wounding others. It is thought by CIA counterterrorism experts that the three signatories of the "fatwa" that was released to a London newspaper in February of 1998, were responsible in some way to the blast. The act in part was aimed at the Saudis because it thought it could overpower a weak government of the House of al-Saud. Iran was the major state sponsor of this terror in Saudi Arabia as it sought to spread Islam and bring down what it thought was any vulnerable government. The three other two men that were thought to be linked to the Iranian government and working alongside bin Laden were: Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Ashira Habi, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Both men were well aware of the attack. Bin Laden would call he attack heroic. Bin Laden was committed to the resistance of the government in Saudi Arabia. He knew the locations in Riyadh and Dharan fairly well. He had knowledge, money, and resources. And for any terrorist group that had a plot to inflict any form of violence, bin Laden was a man that could thinly finance it. When bin Laden went back to Afghanistan, after he was forced out of the Sudan with Saudi pressure, he immediately took up with the Taliban. The Taliban emerged in Afghanistan as a group devoted to Shariah doctrine and placed a ban on music, alcohol and while it made people go to the mosque five times a week, and not allowing women to work. This was their commitment to a new Islam. In August of 1996, Osama bin Laden issued his first lengthy and detailed manifesto which was his first "declaration of war." No terrorist leader had ever confronted the United States in this manner before. Bin Laden was in a unique position as a commander and a mujahid, and these for this reason it made him an Emir.

The August 23, 1996 declaration read: "to His Muslim Brothers in the Whole World and Especially inthe Arabian Peninsula: Declaration Against the Americas Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques; Expel the Heretics from the Arabian Peninsula." After this declaration of war the Americans started a frantic search for bin Laden by deploying three CIA agents to look for him, within the "indigenous" African tribes and the Taliban. As bin Laden became re-established in Afghanistan the Taliban had now asserted itself in its command of Afghanistan. Bin Laden, in a sense from countries who deported him, and he became comfortable being with the Taliban. Now in Afghanistan, it was the goal of bin Laden's to establish a state under the Shar'ia

Is bin Laden an organized terrorist who leads men in to battle, or is it more in the name of a political fundamentalism, with serious differneces from the West or infidels? With the death of his close friend Azzam in 1989, bin Laden took over his confidant's organization, the al-Qaeda, or military "base" as it is referred to. It functions as a service center for Afghan and Arabs, and its families can receive information about them. It originally was set up as an information network.

According to the U.S. State Department, and its office on Counter-terrorism, dated October 9, 1999, the al-Qaeda is an organization that bin Laden established around 1990, in order, to bring together the Afghan Muslims who fought against the Soviet invasion. The literal meaning of al-Qaeda means "base". Some suggest this was a link the FBI and the State Department came up with to make have a collective sense of those regional terrorist problems. The FBI claims that bin Laden and Muhammed Atef were the founding leaders of the al-Qaeda group. It is widely believed that this group emerged from the MAK "Services Office" organization that had offices in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Peshawar, during the war.

Its main undertakings were to organize terrorist operations and be the umbrella for various jihad groups. In its deep-rooted ideology, the al-Qaeda was in strong opposition to non-Islamic groups, and had an anti-Western sentiment. Its goal according to the State Department is to work with other Islamic to remove "non-Islamic" groups, and to remove Westerners from Muslims countries. It is also believed that the al-Qaeda group serves as a loose umbrella organization with many Sunni Islamic groups fused together with the Egyptian Jihad and the Mujahideen. It is also said by the State Department's Office on Counter-terrorism that this group has been involved in the alleged terrorist activities of the 1990's, including the US Embassy bombings, on August 7, 1998. And it has also been implicated in the shooting down of helicopters in Somalia, the assassination plan to kill the pope and President Clinton among other threats. The FBI believes that sometime in 1993 or 1994 associates of the bin Laden sponsored terrorist group al-Qaeda started to move to Kenya primarily Nairobi. And among those who migrated there, were former fighters from the Afghan-Soviet war, the mujahideen or the "holy warriors" as many call them. This group also had opposed the US intervention in Somalia during "Operation Restore Hope".

Dr. Saad Al-Fagih, a Saudi dissident living in London as an exile, who also heads the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, took part in the Afghan rebels war against the Soviets; is very familiar with the views of bin Laden. In a Frontline interview he was asked about the controversial al-Qaeda group and the nature of its existence. He explain this group was formed during the war when families wanted to know what happened to their loved ones. When it became apparent that answers to who was there could not be answered , the "documentation" of tracking everybody became signifcant. "He (bin Laden) asked some of his colleagues to start documenting the movement of Arabs coming under his umbrella. That record, that doocumentation, was called the record of al-Qaeda. There's nothing sinister about al-Qaeda. It's not like any other terrorist organization or any underground group." It is evident here that although bin Laden may have been involved with terrorist organizations, al-Qaeda was not one. He went on further to say, that al-Qaeda was a well-known group and that "al-Qaeda was public knowledge". It was a record of people who ended up in Peshawar and joined, and moved from Peshawar to Afghanistan ." Furthermore, Al-Fagih assumes that bin Laden is only surrounded with a "small core, probably a few hundred people of people who are around bin Laden. And the bulk of them are in four countries. Afghanistan. Yemen. Somalia. Saudi Arabia. Very, very few or probably none in other countries." If we are to believe the FBI or the State Department, one could conclude that bin Laden is a very dangerous man with immediate striking power at any given moment because of his vast network of terrorist operatives. Others may have differing views as in the case of believing either Bodansky or al-Fagih, whom speculate that he is not as influential as the government of the United States asserts but, rather, among a band of terror networks with involvement in a very limited way, with a "loose network", of operatives at work, in which, bin Laden is more of a symbol, than an active participant in terrorism.

By February of 1998, bin Laden's support grew as he met with several other Islamic groups who shared similar views about the United States, the West, and Israel. This new coalition was named the "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders." The State Department claimed that the coalition of "The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against The Jews and Crusaders" was really an umbrella of the al-Qaeda group.

Iran was comfortable in acting as a leading state-sponsor of terrorism, and was in the process committed to its anti-American stand on the world's stage. On February 15, 1998, General Rahim Safavi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionaries Guards Corps and a delegation of senior Iranian officials met with bin Laden and other Islamic leaders. The Iranians suggested that a fresh Sunni umbrella organization to combat oppositional groups be started to fight in a Jihad against Jews and Crusaders. Among the people that bin Laden contacted was Sudan President Turabi and cautioned the Sudan leader about the continued threat of the Christians and the Jews in the Muslim world with the ongoing occupation of the al-Mosque.

The declaration of Jihad was sanctioned by Iran, as bin Laden and Aymar al-Zawahiri were on the front lines of the Islamic movement. Bin Laden lobbied for a united front because he realized it was essential in attaining their objectives. In order for this to being actualized there were slight differences to be meted out. Bin Laden had to act as an intermediary between Zawahiri and Ali Taha. He needed cooperation and stressed unity. Both men agreed to a united front while maintaining an independent political-ideological system within its own factions.

The World Islamic Front was sponsored by Iran, Sudan and Pakistan, and to many a terrorist coalition by its clearly defined objectives. The three men mainly responsible for the full-scale war of Jihad against Western aggression wanted the United States, Britain and all other non-Muslims to stay away from Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan and Arabia. They called for all Muslims to join in the fight. The London newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi in Arabic published on February 23, 1998, "fatwas" aimed against the United States. The signatures of the fatwa were Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri an Rifai Ahmad Taha. It was a declaration of war aimed right at America. According to the three men the world situation at the time did not leave much choice other than to issue this declaration. The occupation of the United States in the Arabian Peninsula, its economic exploitation, and its use for a base in being an aggressor against Iraq was the first reason for the fatwa. The continued slaughter by the "Crusader-Zionist" alliance was another reason. And, the furthering of "the Jews" national interests, and destroying Iraq so America could protect its interests.

So, bin Laden had issued "fatwas" against the United States and the war was on. He had justifications for this. In bin Laden's interview with John Miller of ABC-news, he said that after World War II the Americans started to become more "oppressive towards Muslims". He also used the mass destruction with the atom bomb by America in Japan to end World War II at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as an illustration that the US bombs does not distinguish between the military and civilians. He also pointed out that the United States' position regarding the situation in Palestine as another reason as well. In short, bin Laden condoned the "fatwa".

Bin Laden has issued several fatwas against America and her allies to justify his "holy war". According to the Islamic science and the Principles of Jurisprudence, a fatwa is binding when the following four conditions are met: 1. it is in line with relevant legal proofs, deducted from Koranic verses and hadiths; 2. it is issued by a person or a board having the knowledge and sincerity of heart; 3. It is free from individual opportunism and not depending on political servitude; 4. It is adequate with the needs of the contemporary world." Bin Laden was very specific and personal in his Declaration of War in the "fatwas" he issued against the United States, and here are some of the excerpts that were released to the public:

"First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying land in the holiest places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples."

"The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all its rulers are against their territories being used to that end, but they are helpless. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the Crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, which has exceeded over one million...despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to reopen the horrific massacres, as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed after the fragmentation and devastation."

"Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there." "The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula"

"All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema have throughout history unanimously agreed that the jihadis an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries"

It was on this same premise that bin Laden implicated the Americans with its presence in Saudi Arabia, in regard to the holy mosques at Mecca and Medina, and which later, President Clinton would see no justification when it came to violence and mass destruction, or targeting of Americans. Bin Laden's "fatwa" received much fanfare. It received media attention and certainly had an impact upon both the government of the U.S. and those shaping the opinions in the media. It seemed as if bin Laden was becoming media savvy. Bin Laden goes on to say, in speaking about the holy lands to the Muslim people, in the following passage:

“On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies-civilians and military-is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque (Medina) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim."

"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 wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them."

This fatwa could have been taken as hyperbole by someone not familiar with the terrorist threat around the globe. But, in the wake of many attacks against America, and with the CIA having tracked bin Laden for many years, this fatwa was not read as a public relations statement. And in the months to follow, these statements would have more meaning to Intelligence insiders in America, and its message would not be taken quite serious. In the months and the years to follow bin Laden would be an imposing threat to the international safety of civilian and military Americans.

Bin Laden has issued "fatwas" against the United States, and within Islamic law he is not an a cleric or does he have the authority to issue one, therefore the United States and the West have taken these"fatwas" as sermons, where in the Muslim world it doesn't carry the weight he has been given in the United States.

The mosques are a big deal to bin Laden. His family helped in the restoration work in the 1970's. He is an ardent Islamist, and the mosques are not symbols to him. The rebuilding of the mosques was the root of his rebirth into practicing his faith again. And ever since he has been on a path of holy warrior. Many in the West do not understand the context of the mosques in the historical framework it deserves, and to bin Laden this is wrong. As noted Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis points out that in the historical sense many in the West do not understand what the holy mosques represent, (Mecca and Medina), and its importance to the people who live there. In the holy land of Mecca is where the prophet Muhammed was born and Medina is where the first Muslim state was established. Muhammed lived and died in Arabia. From his deathbed, Muhammed said, "Let there not be two religions in Arabia". Many in the Muslim world share bin Laden's point of view as America the "infidel" invader, in Arab lands. It was widely known in Desert Storm that most Arab states did not want the United States there. To most in the Arab world as Lewis says, "holy warriors of any faith are always right and the infidels always wrong." In looking at this point of view, the anti-Terrorism Act that the Clinton administration enacted in February of 1995, perhaps polarized the Muslim world even more.

When the United States passed the Omnibous Anti-Terrorism Act, it was criticized over how constitutional it was or not. The proposal made it sound like terrorism was a common occurrence. It seemed to many in the Muslim community who ardent followers of Islam as if it was they who were the targets of these new measures.

On August 7, 1998, two bombs exploded at the same time at U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dars Es-Salaam, Tanazia, 450 miles apart. In the end, it took the lives of more than 250 people and more than five thousand were injured. Eleven Americans were killed and the majority were Africans.

Its been said that bin Laden and el-Zawahiri, acting as political leader and military leader respectively, were the ones behind the implementation of fatal attacks. These bombings that occurred in East Africa, like the other bombings in Dharan and Riyadh, were low-risk in the operative sense and had the blessing of anti-West state-sponsored governments that included: Iran, Sudan, and Pakistan. It also has been widely suggested that militant Islam leader Hassan Turabi had a role in the advent of the attacks. Turabi wanted to put fear into the nations who were involved in the war-torn southern part of Sudan and further spread Islam.

As early as five days after the bombings seven of the most powerful foreign policy decision-makers in the United States got together with President William Jefferson Clinton. Among those at the meeting were Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Secretary of Defense, William Cohen; National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger and, CIA Director, George Tenet. In the case of the Embassy bombings was great concern because the nature of the attacks were so personal and blatantly directed at the United States. It was thought to have been a direct aggression at the U.S. , and almost like a war declaration. So, the United States decided to attack targets in the lands of the man it thought was directly responsible for the attacks-Osama bin Laden and his alleged base of operations for terror.

With the advice of the CIA the United States decided to attack two sites that it thought were linked to bin Laden and his alleged terrorist-network-group, al-Qaeda. On August 20, 1998, the United States launched seventy Tomahawk missile attacks against training camps that were though to have been in the Khost region of Afghanistan and thirteen missiles at a pharmaceutical plant in North Khartoum, Sudan. The United States claimed that the pharmaceutical plant made chemical weapons, used for nerve gas. The United States had now deemed Osama bin Laden as the "mastermind of world terrorism". Dunn article. After the attacks, and on his way to Martha's Vineyard after the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that almost ruined his presidency, Clinton issued a statement on his way there. Here is an excerpt:

"Good afternoon. Today I ordered our Armed Forces to strike at terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the threat they present to our national security. I have said many times that terrorism is one of the greatest dangers we face in this new global era. We saw its twisted mentality at work last week in the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dars-ws Salaam, which took the lives of innocent Americans and Africans and injured thousands more. Today we struck back. The United States launches an attack this morning one of the most active terrorist bases in the world. It is located in Afghanistan and operated groups assciated with Osama bin Laden, a network not sponsored by any state, but as dangerous as any we face. We also struck at a chemical weapons-related facility in Sudan."

The United States had deviated from its usual policy in bringing those to justice in a court of law as it usual prefers than direct attacks. But the United States record in successfully apprehending individuals is not great. Of the twenty-four related terrorist incidents waged against the U.S. since the 1979 Embassy takeover, in Iran, only eight arrests have been made in bringing people to "American justice."

When President Clinton arrived back at the White House later that same day he was again briefed upon the ensuing attacks in Afghanistan and Sudan. He had the following to say about bin Laden and his perceived evil ways. Clinton’s excerpts from his speech to the press are summed up in the following passage:

"Our target was terror. Our mission was clear.-to strike at the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Laden, perhaps the pre-eminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today."

President Clinton also claimed that these groups had a "fanatical gratification of violence, and a horrible distortion of their religion to justify the murder of innocents." But was President Clinton right? There are many in the Muslim world who would not agree with this assessment. The United States after all was a close ally with Israel and had descended upon their holy lands and holy mosques. Perhaps, the President has a very parochial view of Islam and his statements could seem quite inflammatory. President Clinton further in his statements of the bombings and again injected "they" as a collective group. Here is some more of the excerpts from that press statement he made:

“A few months ago, and again this week , bin Laden publicly vowed to wage a terrorist war against America, saying-and I quote-"We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians. They are all targets." ..."Their mission is murder. And their history is bloody."

One could say these were blanket statements and void of any long-term policy goals in the strategic sense, except to retaliate over the U.S. Embassy bombings in a very emotional way, and playing this out in the media to the worst fears of the American public about the Muslim people. In January of 1995 before the President signed the now famous Omnibous Anti-Terrorism Act, he had in January of that same year had alienated the Muslim people and many of its organizations when he signed an Executive Order that read: "Prohibiting Transactions with Terrorists who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process." Many in that community thought that political Islam was the target no matter how one looked at it otherwise. When President Clinton made his statements after the bombings in Afghanistan and the Sudan in 1998 he was very defensive in distinguishing between Muslims who break the law and those who obey it. But in short, the President as foreign policy indicates does not understand the Muslim world, and perhaps ought to devise a plan that would help in the understanding of diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious differences aside from the West.

To the people in the Muslim world, according to the Koran, there were times when it was necessary to use force, even if President Clinton did not think so. Furthermore, the resident who was practicing a policy of disinformation and a hasty retaliation, had the following to say about the Sudan bombing in particular. Here is the following excerpt:

"Our forces also attacked a factory in Sudan associated with the bin Laden

network. The factory was involved in the production of materials for chemical

weapons".

"I want the world to understand that our actions today were not against Islam, the faith of hundreds of millions of good, peace-loving people all around the world, including the United States. No religion condones the murder of innocent men, women , and children.

However, after saying this the President of the United States would think nothing of placing sanctions on the Taliban government in Afghanistan for harboring bin Laden. The Koran does talk about those who kill Muslims on its territory ought to be brought to their justice. Here are two excerpts out of the Holy Koran on this very subject: In Chapter fiver, Verses 32 and 33 read in the English translation of the Holy Koran as follows:

Chapter 32: ..."We prescribe to the children of Israel that whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and certainly Our apostles came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land"

Chapter 33: "The punishment of those who wage war with Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement."

For many in the Muslim world the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians and those killed in Lebanon, along with the unfettered and close association between the United States and Israel, whom have a “special relationship,“ which is not an objective policy by the United States, as there is none like it throughout the world, which brings into question the honest broker status the United States government purports to be in the Arab-Israeli conflict, made the speech by President Clinton suspect. marginal and the if not invalid not to mention the American presence in the Persian Gulf region. The attacks by America directed directly at Osama bin Laden, in both Afghanistan and the Sudan were hit with heavy criticism in the ensuing days that followed. Did the United States attack sovereign states without permission and subsequently break international law? Is a state justifies in bombing a state who harbor those "wanted" by another state? Perhaps the only way to defeat terrorism is through an open dialogue on differences and mutual understanding of vast religious and ethnic diversity.

I would have to conclude that the attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan were very impulsive in nature, and that a long well-thought out foreign policy plan ultimately fails anytime the use of violence and aggression is used. And especially with the possibility of any innocent civilians being killed in the process. President Clinton claimed that U.S. policy was not aimed at Islam but just those outlaws who used violence, for its own political goals. In the Muslim world this will be debated as a "double-standard".These actions have only furthered the tensions between Western and non-Western states, Islam and Christian states.

From Martha's Vineyard, on August 22, 1998, President Clinton sent Congress a letter to freeze all of bin Laden's assets, in America's newest war on terrorists. He declared a national emergency and issued Executive Order 12947. It stated in economic terms that "these prohibitions include the blocking of all property and interests in the property of the terrorists...the prohibition of any transaction or dealing by the United States persons or within the United States."

The war between bin Laden had now reached a level that changed the course of U.S. foreign policy dealing with terrorism, as it shifted from its focus on state-sponsors of terrorism to an individual, and by many accounts, the United States placed too much emphasis on him. If bin Laden is indeed primarily a financier of terrorism, as some would suggest, then the continued efforts to seize, control, trace or block his assets, might be the best strategy. The attack on Sudan was not effective because there is no solid proof it was a chemical plant, nor was bin Laden there at the time.

The attack on the pharmaceutical plant has been debated already, as to whether chemical weapons existed there. According to Ahazi Suleiman, the attorney for Salah Idris, the owner of El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries, claimed that he did not know bin Laden. And the plant only produced drugs, not chemical weapons. The officials in the United States have never been able to clarify what the plant meant to the national security as far as a major threat to America.

Although the attack on Sudan is widely debated, the bombing in Afghanistan comes under less scrutiny. Its thought that the camps were used by bin Laden's loose network of Islamic fighters. The effects on the bombings has angered Sudan and ultimately has paved a road for a lack of cooperation, with the U.S., that seemed to be developing when bin Laden left for Afghanistan, in 1996. And, as far as the Taliban government goes in Afghanistan, it has most likely led it to be more willing to harbor bin Laden from the United States.

The Taliban, is a group that practices the Pushtun codes of honor and has given refuge to bin Laden even in the wake of those sanctions placed upon the Taliban by both the United States, and the United Nations, respectively. It seems that the plight of Afghanistan, a poor state has had to historically fight off the invasion and oppression of superpowerss had to historically fight off the invasion and oppression of superpowers at one time or another. Afghanistan is a land where the Islamic groups grew out of the war against the Soviets.

The United States demanded in February of 1999, that the Taliban release bin Laden over to the United States or to have them ponder what would happen or the consequences of inaction if they did not release him into United States or UN custody. In October of 1999, the United States, in conjunction with the United Nations placed sanctions on the Taliban for not releasing bin Laden. The freezing of his assets, the bombings in Sudan and his training camps all proved to leave the Clinton administration frustrated with the "Man who Declared War on America".

The United Nations' Security Council resolution halted air travel of the Taliban operated Ariana Airlines in the international air space and froze its assets. President Clinton had already signed an Executive order in July of 1999. In the statement of the imposition of sanctions on the Taliban, President Clinton said he signed the order , "imposing financial and commercial sanctions on the Afghan Taliban for its support of Osama bin Laden, and his terrorist network". The fact of the matter in this case, is that it is unlikely that the Taliban will be turning bin Laden over to the United States any time soon. He provides them with financial support and he has become an important symbol within Islamic militancy and in that he can provide an example to Afghan fighters of the future. The resources that Bin Laden has due ti his wealth give him options other terrorist organizations lack. It could be stated that bin Laden acts as an entity all to his own, in the world of international terrorism. And this can lead to the next question. Is the individual that makes the group, or is the group that makes the individual? In the case of bin Laden its the United States authorities who have helped to make the legend of Osama bin Laden, and by the media interviews he has given over the years, he seems to know the 'fourth-estate politics' of America, quite well.

It has been said that if bin Laden ever did leave Afghanistan he would go to Yemen, another poor country, who has tense relations with Saudi Arabia, or to Pakistan near the Afghan border, that was home to the mujahideen in the Soviet war, or back to the Sudan, whom are still under international sanctions. The irony of the whole bin Laden saga started during the anti-Soviet, Afghan war when he started to finance the mujahideen, in which, ultimately led to the establishment of a "loose" network of former Afghan Muslims who were fighting for Islamic fundamentalism throughout the international sphere. After the anti-Soviet war was over in Afghanistan, the United States handed the reigns of overseeing Afghanistan's problems to two of its main allies in that region: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Furthermore, the United States failed to develop any coherent strategic framework or policy tactics as to the complex problems needed to be dealt with as to those issues as it immediately presented in this abyss of terror, but, rather being more concerned with the domestic problems as it related to national interests, in America. The Taliban is only recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Emigrates as a legitimate government. And as long as it harbors bin Laden, this is unlikely to change.

Abdul Hakeem Mujahid the representative of the Taliban at the U.N. says that bin Laden is a persecuted refugee and that "he has not been proved guilty". Although bin Laden has not been brought to justice yet in America, a five million bounty has been put on his head. He is presemtly on the FBI's Most Wanted List and is at the top of the list. Bin Laden's close associate, Mohammed Al-Owhali was arrested August 7, 1998 said he was trained in explosives, hijacking. and kidnapping at bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan.

As the Taliban was being pressured to release bin Laden to the American authorities, the United States faced a regime in Afghanistan who was willing to hide him (bin Laden), as the Taliban has become a place that represents the Islamic movement, and a place where terrorists can train at the camps set up under the watchful eye of one, Mr. Osama bin Laden.

In conclusion, the objective of Osama bin Laden is to spread the doctrine of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the world. Since the Iranian Revolution over twenty years ago, the Middle East has experienced the re-emergence of Islam. And with the fall of Communism, Islam has replaced it as the number one ideological threat to the United States and the West. Osama bin Laden is a wealthy man who does not need a movement to make him any more rich than he already is. He is a unique terrorist in this regard. The United States has geared much of it anti-Terrorist, foreign policy campaign at him , even freezing his assets. However nothing has worked. The man is elusive, and America has been unable to catch him. From the Soviet resistance in Afghanistan onward, bin Laden has helped finance the mujahideenin in war, is now helping the Taliban government as it is hit with sanctions, and helped build up the infrastructure in Sudan, another state-sponsor of terrorism, according to the United States.

Bin Laden was greatly influenced by the late Abdullah Azzam, and it was Azzam's influence that bin Laden started to become an ardent follower of Islam. They both started to help those fighting in the Afghan war and set up an Information bureau for the fighters. And that too, is where the training camps in the now network of terrorists grew from. And it had the financial assistance of the United States. They both fought in the battle for Jihad. Bin Laden later issued "fatwas" for the "International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders", where he challenged the United States.

Bin Laden respects those brothers that fight, or die, in the name of cause of Islam and says they are heroes and martyrs. He has a less favorable view of the United States. Bin Laden was even upset when the Saudi government did not let the mujahideen fight in against Iraq, when it invaded Kuwait. In short, from A-to-Z, bin Laden sees everything in terms of the Jihad, the protecting of holy lands, and the movement of Islamic fundamentalism.

Bin Laden has caught the eye of the CIA who has been tracking him for several years, and even has placed satellites in his way, and have bugged his phone, and has tried to get hold of bank accounts. But bin laden remains at-large right now. The United States government claims that he has a cohesive group, of terrorists behind him, most notably, the al-Qaeda group, but this has not been proven conclusively, and some argue its a loose coalition at best.

Bin Laden does claim territorial rights in Saudi Arabia. The dispute over America's occupation there led him to move to the Sudan where another Islamic government was in place. His father restored the Holy Mosques at Mecca and Medina. He is greatly influenced by that, and as in the case of being influenced by Azzam, this influence preceded his meeting with the teacher. Those in the Muslim world do not have the advanced technology of the West, therefore it is only reasonable that cultural differences is a factor in misunderstanding, the Muslim world and its point-of-view.

In the final analysis, Osama bin Laden is part of political Islam, and is thought to agree with terrorist activity, even if he is not present in the actual strategic discussions. In that, he serves as a symbol. Although he has taken the lead, terrorist activity must still get sanctioned by Iran or Syria. If bin Laden was responsible for the U.S. Bombings in Dars-Eslaam or Nairobi, it would be justified, in the name of Allah, and that it was just trying to rid itself of an 'infidel' from it midst. The World Trade Center bomber, Ramzi Yossef is said to be linked with bin Laden. So be it. It seems that for the man most responsible for terrorist activity is the one who has been erased from the radar screen. If bin Laden does ever get caught, and is brought to justice in America, no matter the outcome he will go down as heroic or martyr, in his part of the world. Unless the United States is able to find a different approach to its foreign policy objectives in all the Middle East, than the continued threat of people like bin Laden are sure to be in the shadows waiting for its assault on the West. In a perverse sense the United States bulit him up, and now they are trying to destroy him. That is the effect of the "Blowback" theory, and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. In declaring War on America in the name of political Islam, Osama bin Laden brought out the vulnerable psychological state of a standing superpower, who perhaps, never faced a challenge like his before.