The Road to 9/11

[JaJae]

This is going to be a series of posts. I'm handtyping them from a hard copy. It's just a list of events leading up to 9/11 and the War on Terror.

February 1, 1979 - The First Radical Terror State is Born
With encouragement from Jimmy Carter, Iranian shah Reza Pahlavi, a longtime American ally, is forced from power. Radical cleric Ayatollah Khomeini assumes the Iranian leadership. "We will export our revolution to the four corners of the world," Khomeini declares only ten days later. "Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world." Carter's decision to support Khomeini's ascension leads directly to the first radical Islamic state-sponsored terrorism and will launch a series of cataclysmic events in the Middle East.

February 14, 1979 - Islamic Extremists Kidnap and Kill the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan
Ambassador Adolph Dubs is taken hostage by Islamic extremists attempting to secure the release of several "religious figures." He is killed in the rain of gunfire between Afghan police and his captors.

July 16, 1979 - Saddam Hussein Begins his Murderous Reign in Iraq
In a routhless coup within his Baath Party, Saddam Hussein seizes power from his frail and older relative Presdient Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. His first act of leadership is to identify all "spies" and "conspirators" among his party and have them assassinated--the first of some 2 million people his regime will murder or torture.

November 4, 1979 - Khomeini Declares War on the United States
Under Ayatollah Khomeini's direct control, a mob of approximately 500 Iranian students calling themselves the "Imam's Disciples" overrun and seize the American Embassy in Tehran. Sixty-six American diplomats are taken hostage in this act of war, and one of the most humiliating foreign policy disasters in American history unfolds over 444 days. Carters's foreign policy and betrayal of the Shah has launched a series of cataclysmic events in the Middle East and Islam's war with America has begun.
Immediately, Iran positions itself on the front lines in the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israeilis, establishing the terror group Hezbollah ("The Party of God") in Lebanon. It also begins to attacks on the United States. "We are at war with America as our Prophet was at war against the corrupt regimes of his times," Khomeini declares. "Because we believe Islam is the one and only true faith, it is incumbent on us to fight until the entire humanity either coverts or submits to Islamic authority."

November 20, 1979 - Islamic Fundamentalists Seize the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Just ten days following the storming of the American Embassy in tehran, hundreds of well-armed Islamic fundamentalists seize the Grand Mosque, the holiest site in Islam. Juhayman al-Utaybi, the leader of the insurgents, is a direct descendant of the Wahhabi warriors who helped the Al Saud family assume power in the 1920s.
Al-Utaybi's radicals call for a return of pure Islam and denounce modernization, accusing the Saudi royal family of corruption and loss of legitimacy because of dealings with the West. Saudi and French forces eventually retake the mosque in a battle in which 250 are killed and 600 wounded. Iran's new ruler, Ayatollah Khomeini, blames the United States for the takeover, inflaming the Muslim world. The U.S. embassies in Pakistan and Libya are attacked and torched, and four are killed.
The House of Saud is forced to increase its religious standing in the kingdom by implementing a more fundamental Islamic agenda. Saudi Arabia begins pumping millions of dollars into religious education, creating new theological schools designed to produce large numbers of Wahhabi clerics.

[JaJae]

December 25, 1979 - The Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan
Once the US loses its strategic foothold in Iran, the Soviets invade neighboring Afghanistan. The war will last until 1989, when the Soviet Union finally is forced to retreat. More important, the conflict will establish the epicenter for young Muslim jihadists from across the world. Between 1980 and 1989, approximately 35,000 Muslim radicals from forty Islamic countries will come together in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands more will come to study in Pakistani madrassas. Eventually, more than 100,000 foreign Muslim radicals will be directly influenced by the Afghan jihad, including Saudi national Osama bin Laden.

December 26, 1979 - Osama Bin Laden Goes to Afghanistan to Fight the Soviets
Only days after the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, bin Laden sets up a base in Peshawar, Pakistan, and begins raising funds to provide the mujahedeen with logistical and humanitarian aid. He forms the Maktab al-Khadamat (the "Office of Services") with his mentor Abdullah Azzam.
From 1986 on, bin Laden fights in numerous battles as a guerrilla commander, including a fierce battle at Jalalabad that ultimately leads the Soviets to withdraw. It is in Peshawar that bin Laden first meets Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri.

October 6, 1981 - Islamic Extremists Assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
Three years after making peace with Israel, President Sadat is assissinated by Muslim extremists as he prosides over Egypt's annual military parade. Cleric Sheikj Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh," who will later be convicted for his involvement in 1993 World Trace Center bombing, is issued the fatwa sanctioning Sadat's assissination.

January 18, 1982 - Lebanese Terrorists Murder U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles Ray
Ray, a military attache to the American Embassy in France, is shot and killed outside of his Paris apartment by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction.

August 11, 1982 - Lebanese Terrorists Bomb Pan Am Flight 830 to Honolulu, Hawaii
A Pan Am jet traveling from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, explodes at 36,000 feet as the plane prepares to descend. A Japanese student is killed and 15 people are injured. The bomber Mohammed Rashid, a member of the radical Palestinian organization known as the 15 May Organization. Rashid will eventually be captured and tried for his role in the 1986 bombing of TWA flight 840 near Athens, Greece.

April 18, 1983 - Hezbollah Bombs the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon
Sixty-three people, including the CIA's Middle East director and 16 other Americans, are murdered, while 120 are injured, when an explovies-laden vehicle is detonated in the U.S. Embassy compound. U.S. intelligence intercepted a pre-attack cable from the Iranian foreign ministry to the Iranian Embassy in Syria approving payment for a terrorist attack in Beirut. The attack is carried out by Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas operating in Lebanon using "Islamic Jihad" as a cover name.
This marks the first of several Hezbollah attacks on the United States.

October 23, 1983 - Hezbollah Bombs the U.S. Marines Headquarters in Beirut
Hezbollah terrorists send a large truck loaded with 2,500 pounds of TNT through the main gate of the U.S. Marine headquarters, killing 241 Americans. The Marines are part of a multi-national force sent at the request of the Lebanese government to assist in separating warring factions.
Two minutes later, another truck packed with explosives slams into a French paratrooper base two miles away, killing 58 soldiers and the driver.
Thirteen individuals are connected to the attack, including Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the leader of the Hezbollah group, and linked to Iran. Syrian officers and the then-Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, are also implicated in the bombings.

December 12, 1983 - Iranian-Sponsored Terrorists Bomb the U.S. Embassy Annex in Kuwait
An explosives-laden truck crashed into the compound of the U.S. Embassy Annex in Kuwait, killing 6 and wounding 80. The Embassy Annex is one of six installations attacked in Kuwait that day, including French Embassy, the control tower at the airport, the country's main oil refinery, and a residential area for employees of the American corporation Raytheon.
Seventeen terrorists who are members of the Iranian sponsored Al Dawa ("The Call") Party are arrested and convicted for the attacks. One of those convicted is Mustafa Youssef Badreddin, the cousin and brother-in-law of Hezbollah senior officer Imad Mughniyah. Saddam Husseins forces will release all seventeen terrorists after Iraq invades Kuwait in 1990.

1982-1992 - Hezbollah Kidnaps and Murders Numerous U.S. Officials in Lebanon
The kidnapping of American University of Beirut president David Dodge in July 1982 commences a series of kidnappings and murders of Americans conducted by Hezbollah. In all, 30 Westerners are kidnapped over ten years, including Americans Dodge; William Buckley, the CIA Beirut station chief; Terry Anderson, a journalist; Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister; Edward Tracy, a businessman; Jesse Turner; Thomas Sutherland; and Alann Steen.
One of the most gruesome atrocities is the abduction, torture, and killing of U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Richard Higgins, a United Nations official observing the peace in Lebanon. Higgins is kidnapped in February 1998, and is interrogated and tortured before his murder. In a videotape distributed by the terrorists, Higgins's body is shown hanging from a rope. Hezbollah dumps his body onto the street in Beirut in 1991.

[JaJae]

January 18, 1984 - Hezbollah Murders American University of Beirut President Malcolm Kerr
Two Hezbollah gunmen shoot and kill Kerr while he walks to his office.

September 20, 1984 - Hezbollah bombs the U.S. Embassy Annex in Aukar, Lebanon
The Iranian-sponsored terror group strikes once again, sending an explosive-laden van into the compound at the U.S. embassy, which has been relocated from Beirut. The resulting explosion 30 feet from the embassy annex kills 9 and injures 58.

April 12, 1985 - Terrorists Bomb a Restaurant Near Torrejon Air Base in Madrid, Spain
A bomb is detonated in a restaurant popular with American servicemen near the U.S. Air Force Base outside Madrid, Spain, killing 18 and wounding 32 (including 18 Americans). It is the worst act of terrorism in Spain since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. Spanish authorities determine that Hezbollah is responsible. No arrest are ever made, however. According to Spanish officials, it is the only major terrorist attack in the country's modern history that has not been solved.

June 14, 1985 - Terrorists Hijack TWA Flight 847
TWA Flight 847, bound for Rome with 39 Americans on board, is hijacked over the Mediterranean Sea by members of Hezbollah and forced to land in Beirut, Lebanon. The hijackers, demanding demanding the release of hundreds of Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Israel, single out U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, beat him, shoot him in the head, and throw his body onto the tarmac. The four hijackers are eventually set free after being offered transportation to Damascus and the release of 435 Lebanese and Palestinian Shiite prisoners in Israel.
In 1987 German officials will arrest hijacker Mohammed Hamadei at the Frankfurt Airport with a suitcase containing liquid explosives. German authorities convict Hamadei and sentence him to life imprisonment for the murder of Stethem. The remaining three terrorists are never captured and their whereabouts remain unknown.
Hamadei will be released by Germany in 2005.

August 8, 1985 - Left-wing Terror Group Bombs Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany
A car bomb detonates at the main U.S. Air Force base in Germany, killing 2 and wounding 20. The next day a U.S. serviceman's body is found; he apparently was killed for his identification card. The terrorists responsible for the bombing come from the Red Army Faction, or Baader-Meinhof Group, a radical left-wing German terror organization that trained at a Palestinian terror camp in 1970.

October 7, 1985 - Palestinian Terrorists Hijack the Achille Lauro
Four Palestinian hijackers commandeer the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro off the Egyptian coast and hold more than 700 toursists hostage. Demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in ISrael and elsewhere, teh terrorists shoot and kill elderly wheelchair-bound New Yorker Leon Klinghoffer and push his body overboard.
The Palestinian Liberation Front's Abu Abbas Facilitates the terroists' surrender and release. The four hijackers and Abbas fly out of Egypt for safe haven but are intercepted by four U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat jets and forced to land at Sigonella Naval Airforce Base in Sicily, where U.S. special operations forces await them.
Italian authorities arrest the four hijackers but refuse to hold Abbas, who is allowed to fly to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, under diplomatic cover. Abbas will be arrested by U.S. forces in Baghdad in April 2003.

November 23, 1985 - Terrorists Hijack Egypt Air Flight 648
The Abu Nidal Organization hijacks Egypt Air Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo, forcing it to land on the island of Malta. The terrorists shoot 3 Americans and 2 Israelis in the head and dump their bodies onto the tarmac. Egyptian commandos storm the plane, and 60 more are killed in the ensuing battle.
Abu Nidal, perhaps the most ruthless terrorist in the world and "the father of the struggle," will receive safe haven in Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1999. But in late 2002 Saddam's security forces will assassinate him, because tehy knew the United States was coming and they were covering up their terror ties.

December 27, 1985 - The Abu Nidal Organization Attacks Airline Counters in Rome and Vienna
Terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization storm airports in Rome and Vienna, tossing hand grenades and firing automatic weapons at TWA and El Al airline ticket counters. They kill 20 and wound 110. Airport security forces kill 4 of the 7 terrorists.
In Januar 1986, Italy issues an international warrant for the arrest of Abu Nidal for mass murder. He will be tried in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988.

April 2, 1986 - The Arab Revolutionary Cell Bombs TWA Flight 840
A terror group calling itself the Arab Revolutionary Cell, with ties to Abu Nidal and Yassir Arafat, detonates a bomb on board TWA 840 as it descends into Athens for landing. Four Americans, including an infant, are sucked out of the fuselage to their deaths. Five others are injured.

April 5, 1986 - Abu Nidal, With teh Help of the Libyan Rgime, Bombs a West Berlin Disco
A bomb placed in the restroom of a discotheque frequented by U.S. military personnel explodes, killing 3 and injuring more than 200, including 44 Americans. Libya and Abu Nidal are responsible for the attack, and in response President Ronald Reagan launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, sending U.S. Air Force and Navy fighters around French airspace, Air Force F-111s accidentally bomb the French Embassy in Tripoli.

September 5, 1986 - Abu NIdal Hijacks Pan AM Fligth 73 in Karachi, Pakistan
Four Terrorists from the Abu Nidal ORganization storm Pam Am Flight 73. Jordanian terrorist Zayd Hassan Safarini shoots American passenger Rajesh Kumar in the head execution-style and pushes Kumar's body onto the tarmac. After dark, Safarini and the other hijackers order all the passengers to teh center of the aircraft, then say a martydom prayer and unleash a barrage of hand grenades and automatic weapons. Twenty passengers aer killed and more than 100 are injured in the attack.

[JaJae]

1988 - Bin Laden Establishes Al Qaeda ("The Base")
Bin Laden starts Al Qaeda, seeing the need to shift the fighting away from the Soviets and toward an international jihad that will reunite the Muslim world under a single leader and reestablish the "Caliphate." According to the CIA, al Quaeda will eventually establish terror cells in fifty coutnries.

April 14, 1988 - Terrorists Bomb teh USO Club in Naples, Italy
A car bomb explodes outside of the United Service Organization club in Naples, killing 5 (including one U.S. naval sailor) and injuring 15 (including four U.S. sailors). The terror group Japanese Red Army, working at the direction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is responsible for the attack.

December 21, 1988 - Palestinian Terrorists and the Libyan Regime Bomb Pan Am Flight 103
En route from London to New York, Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 innocent people, including 189 Americans. The bomb was packed into a Toshiba radio-cassette recorder in the luggage compartment. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Libyan government are responsible for the attack. Libyans Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah will be indicted for murder. Libyan president Muammar Qaddafi will turn over the terrorists in 1999 and formally accept responsibility for the attack in 2003.

1989 - Osama Bin Laden Returns to Saudi Arabia
After the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan, bin Laden returns to Saudi Arabia as a hero. He opposes the Saudi monarchy while working for his family's construction firm, the Bin Laden Group.

January 18-19, 1991 - Iraqi Agents Attempt Bombings of Americans in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand
In Indonesia, an Iraqi posing as a contractor plants a bomb at U.S. ambassador John Monjo's residence. The bomb is discovered by a gardener before it detonates and is immediately defused.
In the Philippines, two Iraqi agents target Manila's Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center, but as tehy prepare the bomb it explodes, killing one of the terrorists. Iraqi diplomat Muwafak al-Ani is deported after Philippine investigators discover that an embassy car dropped the bombers off at the target and find al-Ani's card in one of the terrorist's pocket. Later, the Iraqi Embassy's second secretary, Husham Z Hussein, will also be expelled after it is determined that he was in close contact with members of the al Qaeda-associated terror organizations, the Abu Sayyaf Group.
In Thailand, two Iraqi diplomats are deported after they are found smuggling explosives into the country. According to former UN weapons inspector Richard Butler, their targets were teh U.S., Israeli, and Australian embassies in Bangkok.

April, 1991 - Bin Laden Flees Saudi Arabia for Sudan
Bin Laden flees Saudi Arabia after his opposition to the Saudi Arabia's alliance with the United States lands him in detention. After briefly staying in Afghanistan, he relocates to Khartoum, Sudan, where in 1992 he reestablishes al Qaeda headquarters. Hundreds of suspected terrorists and former mujahedeen also relocate to Sudan for safe haven, and bin Laden establishes a number of camps for training in firearms and explosives. In 1994, Saudi Arabia will revoke bin Laden's citizenship and his family will disown him.

December 29, 1992 - Al Qaeda's First Attack
A bomb is detonated in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, where U.S. troops stayed on their way to the humanitarian mission in Somalia. The soldiers depart the hotel prior to the attack, but two Austrian tourists are killed. Two Yemeni Mulsim militants who trained in Afghanistan are injured in the blast and arrested. They will eventually be released, only to collaborate in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.

January 25, 1993 - A Lone Gunman Attacks CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia
Pakastani Mir Aimal Kasi jumps from a car outside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langely and fires an AK-47 assault machine gun, killing two CIA employees and wounding three others. Kasi trained with Afghani jihadists during the war with teh Soviet Union.
After the attacks at Langley, Kasi quickly boards a flight to Pakistan. After years of investigation, in 1997 the FBI will apprehend Kasi on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan and return him to the United States to stand trial. He will be convicted of murder and killed by lethal injection on November 14, 2002.
In retaliation for Kasi's guilty verdict, four American oil company employees and their driver will be gunned down in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

[JaJae]

February 26, 1993 - The First World Trade Center Bombing
Thirty-eight days into President Bill Clinton's presidency, and explosive-laden Ryder van is detonated in a hotel parking garage beneath New York's World Trade Center, killing 7 people (including an unborn child) and wounding 1,040. The blast creates a 100-by-100-foot crater.
Al Qaeda associate Ramzi Yousef, also a veteran of bin Laden's camps in Peshawar, Pakistan, planned the attack. The morning after the blast, Yousef escapes to Pakistan, disappointed he hasn't had more success. He vows to return and finish the job. "Our calculations were not very accurate this time. However we promise you that next time will be very precise and the Trade Center will be one of our targets." Eventually, Yousef will move on to the Philippines at the direction of bin Laden and begin early preparation for Operation Bojinka-the precursor to the 9/11 attacks.
In his first of many failures to confront terrorism, President Clinton cautions Americans not to overreact to the World Trade Center bombing, and in an interview for MTV he attributes the attack to someone "who did something really stupid." At first Clinton even downplays the possibility that terror was involved, preferring to believe that the explosion was of an electric generator-even though several radical Islamic groups claimed responsibility.
Fortunately, bomber Mohammed Salameh's stupidity tips off law enforcement. His incessant demands for a refund of $400 for the van give the FBI the lead it needs. Salameh becomes the first of eight terror suspects arrested. Some are actually caught in the act of mixing explosive materials for attacks on the United Nations, the George Washington Bridge, and two tunnels into the city.
In 1993, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric who was behind the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, is indicted along with fourteen other suspects.
In March 1994, four of the terrorists-Nidal Ayyad, Mohammed Salameh, Ahmad Ajaj, and Mahmud Abouhalima-are convicted each is sentenced to 240 years in prison without parole.
In October 1995, Sheik Rahman and nine of his followers are conviced of plotting the bombings and planning other attacks of terror in New York. In January 1996, Rahman is sentenced to life without the parole plus 65 years and the others are given terms from 25 years to life.

April 14, 1993 - Iraqi Intelligence Agents Attempt the Assassination of President George H.W. Bush
The Iraqi Intelligence Service attempts to assassinate former president Bush as he visits Kuwait to celebrate the coalition victory and the removal of Saddam Hussein two years earlier. Kuwaiti security forces uncover the plot to load 175 pounds of explosives into a Toyota Land Cruiser and detonate them in proximity to President Bush; the security forces immediately round up seventeen suspects associated with the plot.

October 3-4, 1993 - "Black Hawk Down"
The Battle for Mogadishu occurs, thanks to the miscalculation of President Bill Clinton. President George H.W. Bush originally deployed 28,000 U.S. troops to Mogadishu, Somalia, as part of a humanitarian mission to feed drought-stricken Somalis. But when President Clinton inherited the mission, he immediately reduced troop levels to only 4,500. In a demonstration of ignorance and tragic miscalcuation, he also dramatically expanded the scope of the mission, moving from humanitarian aid to nation-building and targeting Somali warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid.
In the days leading up to the Battle for Mogadishu, U.S. Army General William Garrison, commander of U.S. troops, formally requests much-needed armored vehicles, tanks, and AC-130 Spectre gunships. The Clinton administration, through Secratary of Defense Les Aspin, denies the request.
On October 3, members of the U.S. Task Force Ranger are ambushed as they raid the Olympic Hotel in Mogadishu, where a meeting of warlord Aidid's lieutenants is under way. The Somali fighters, who have been trained by al Qaeda and bin Laden, shoot down two Black Hawk helicopters and drag the American dead in the streets through wildly cheering mobs. Eighteen elite U.S. soldiers are killed and 84 wounded.
Democratic congressman John Murtha urges Clinton to begin an immediate and complete pullout of U.S. troops from the region. Clinton takes the advice and orders the withdrawal only four days after the battle.
Osama bin Laden learns a valuable lesson that day. He will later say that America's withdrawal was what convinced him that America could be attacked with impunity: "Our boys no longer viewed America as a superpower. So, when they left Afghanistan [after defeating the Soviet Union], they went to Somalia and prepared themselves carefully for a long war. They had thought that the Americans were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American solider...They realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger. After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles and rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers."

December 8, 1994 - Operation Bojinka Begins in the Philippines
Al Qaeda member Ramzi Yousef joins his uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Wali Khan Amin Shah, and Abdul Hakim Ali Hashim Murad in Manila to being Operation Bojinka, the precursor to the 9/11 attacks.
The planned operation has three phases: (1) assassination of Pope John Paul II, (2) the bombings of multiple commercial airliners as they head to the United States, and (3) piloting and crashing commercial airliners into U.S. targets: CIA headquarters, the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Transamerica Tower in San Francisco, and a nuclear power plant. The money for the operation comes to the terrorists in Manila from Osama bin laden through his brother-in-law Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.
The assassination of the pope is designed to be a diversion for the second phase, Murad has trained as a pilot in North Carolina, and several other al Qaeda operatives now attend flight schools in the United States.
On the night of January 6, 1995, a fire begins inside the terrorists' apartment as Yousef and Murad inadvertenty cross bomb making chemicals. Responding to the complaints of residents, the Philippine police stumble onto a treasure trove of terrorist evidence. Just two weeks prior to its implementation, Operation Boljinka is busted.
Murad confesses and is extradited to the United States, where he is sentenced to life imprisonment. Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law and al Qaeda's moneyman, is arrested for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In March 1995, the Philippine authorities forward the information about the foiled Bojinka plot to the U.S. government, including specific details that Khalifa was the funding source for the terrorist operation. The FBI argues to detain Khalifa for questioning, but the Clinton administration sides with the State Department and deports Khalifa to Jordan, where he is acquitte on murder charges unrelated to the attack in the United States and is allowed to flee to Saudi Arabia.
In April 1995, the Clinton administration receives specific evidence of terror plans to hijack airliners and use them as flying weapons in New York and Washington, D.C. Nothing is done. Only a year later the president will personally turn down an offer from the Sudanese government for Osama bin Laden's arrest and extradition to the United States.

[JaJae]

February 7, 1995 - Ramzi Yousef is Captured in Pakistan

Operation Bojinka planner Ramzi Yousef is apprehended while staying at a hotel in Slamabad, Pakistan, by members of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service. After extradition to the United States, he will be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 240 years for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will successfully escape Manila and rejoin al Qaeda in Afghanistan, becoming the architect for future operations. He will propose turning Yousef's Operation Bojinka into a new attack on a grander scale. Mohammed's plot will be executed on September 11, 2001. Yousef will watch his plan unfold on cable TV from his cell in Colorado's "Supermax" penitentiary.

March 8, 1995 - Al Qaeda-Affiliated Terrorists Murder U.S. Diplomats in Pakistan
Three armed gunmen in a stolen taxi step from their vehicle and begin firing on U.S. Embassy van in Karachi, Pakistan. U.S. diplomats Jacqueline Keys Van Landingham and Gary C. Durell are killed and Mark McCloy is wounded.
The attack comes as retaliation for the capture of Ramzi Yousef a month earlier and is carried out by al Qaeda-affiliated Abu Sayyaf Group.

November 13, 1995 - Bin Laden Connected Terrorists Bomb the U.S. Military Training Complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
A powerful car bomb rips through an American military training complex in Riyadh, killing 7 people, including 5 Americans, and wounding 60 others.
Officials quickly arrest four Saudi nationals and will behead them in June 1996 in an affort to stem potential unrest and preserve relations with the United States. The terrorists involved are all veterans of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan and boast of their relationship to Osama bin Laden.

1996 - The Taliban Conquers Jalalabad and Kabul and Takes Control of Afghanistan
Sudan expells bin Laden because of the international pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia and for his involvement in a failed assassination attempt on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in June 1995. President Bill Clinton turns down the offer from the Sudanese government to bring bin Laden to the United States, which allows the terror chief to return to Afghanistan and reestablish al Qaeda and jihadists training camps.

June 25, 1996 - Hezbollah Bombs the Khobar Towers at Dhahran Air Base, Saudi Arabia
At about 10 P.M. a fuel truck loaded with 20,000 pounds of explosives detonates just outside the fence of the U.S. military complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and wounding more than 500. The blast creates a crater 85 feet by 35 feet.
On June 21, 2001, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, will indict 13 members of the pro-Iran Saudi Hezbollah for the attack. The entire operation was planned, funded, and coordinated by Iran's security services on orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government. In 2004, the 9/11 Commission will note the possibility that Osama bin Laden was involved as well.

July 17, 1996 - TWA Flight 800 Explodes on Departure from New York

August 23, 1996 - Osama Bin Laden Issues the First of Two Declarations of War
Bin Laden issues the first fatwa, published in Al QUds Al Arabi, a London based newspaper. The fatwa is titled "Declartion of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."

February 23, 1997 - A Palestinian Gunman Opens Fire on Tourists Atop New York City's Empire State Building
Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher, kills a young Dutch tourist and wounds 6 other people ebfore turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note on his body claims that the attack was in retaliation against the "enemies of Palestine."

November 12, 1997 - Islamic Terrorists Murder Four American Oil Company Employees in Karachi, Pakistan
Thirty-six hours after Mir Aimal Kasi is prounced guilty of the murder of two CIA employees at the front gate of CIA headquarters in 1993, two gunmen assassinate four Americans and their driver in Karachi. The Islamic Revolutionary council and the Aimal Khufia Action Committee are responsible.

February 23, 1998 - Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Reunite and Declare War on the United States.

Bin Laden and Zawahiri of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad reunite in Afghanistan. Zawahiri has just recently returned to Afghanistan from Baghdad, where he met with Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders on February 3, 1998. According to U.S. News & World Report, Saddam provided $300,000 in funding for al Qaeda and Zawahiri. Three weeks later, bin Laden and Zawahiri declare war on the United States, saying, "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 the 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, and to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson. The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies-civilians and military-is an individual duty for ever Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it."

August 7, 1998 - Al Qaeda Bombs the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
A small pickup truck packed with explosives is driven to the delivery entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and detonated. The blast destroys the left and the rear of the embassy and the adjacent business building. At the same time, a vehicle containing a large explosives cache approaches the main gate of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam and explodes. The east wing of the concrete block building is destroyed and debris rains on streets and houses for a mile in every direction.
The near-simultaneous attacks kill 224 and wound more than 5,000. Within days Pakistan announces the arrest of Palestinian Mohammed Saddiq Odeh, who admits his role in the blasts and that he was recruited and financed by Osama bin Laden. Odeh describes al Qaeda as a terror network of 5,000 with intent to attack American interests abroad. He also details a litany of attacks on the United States, including the ambush of Somalia. He confirms al Qaeda's involvement in the attacks against the American military in Riyadh and Dhahran in 1995 and 1996.
Federal officials publicly charge bin Laden's al Qaeda with the Kenya bombing in a complaint made public on August 28. In November, a federal grand jury returns an indictment against bin laden and his top military commander, Muhammed Atef, also believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. In December 1998, an unnamed bin Laden aide-identified only as "Confidential Source-1"-confesses that he participated in a plot to attack American military facilities around the world, implicating the Saudi millionaire and his disciples in the embassy explosions in Africa, according to reports.

[JaJae]

December 28, 1998 - Yemeni Terrorists Kidnap and Murder Western Tourists
Sixteen Western tourists-12 Britons, 2 U.S. citizens, and 2 Australians-are kidnapped outside of Aden, Yemen, by the radical jihadist Aden Abyan Islamic Army. Four of the hostages are killed the next day during a raid by Yemeni security forces.

November 12, 1999 - Rocket Attacks Target U.S. Installations in Islamabad, Pakistan
Six rockets are fired from improvised launchers in three vehicles at American and United Nations offices in Islamabad. The rockets are all fired within minutes of one another. The attacks are aimed at U.S. Embassy in the Diplomatic Enclave, the UN headquarters inside the Saudi Pak Tower, and the American Center. Rockets also land on a parked vehicle outside of the UN World Food Program.

August 12, 2000 - Islamists Kidnap Americans in Uzbekistan
Four American mountain climbers are kidnapped by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. They are able to escape six days later.

October 12, 2000 - Terrorists Bomb the USS Cole in the Port of Aden, Yemen
Two men guide a tender boat alongside the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy Aegis destroyer docked in the port of Aden, and detonate explosives, blowing a hole 20 feet high and 40 feet wide in the hull of the ship. Seventeen sailors aboard the Cole are killed and 39 are injured.

December 30, 2000 - The U.S. Embassy in Manila Survives Multiple Bombings
Members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the South Asian terrorist operation for al Qaeda, explode five bombs in Manila killing 22 people. One of the bombs detonates across the street from the U.S. embassy.

September 11, 2001

[JaJae]

That's all of it. It came from an appendix of a book that was handed to me from someone at work. Across the top of each page it just says "Appendix." This is pages 221 - 241.

As comments below indicate I also found it to be one-sided. Very clearly so. The US involvement in the Middle East as well as our training and interference instigated many of the attacks and resentment towards America.

I do, however, think it is a very interesting list and I needed practice typing so I figured why the hell not.

[Donkey®]

This is completely one sided and biased.

[7960]

starting in on 9/11 and looking backwards all the way to 1979 I could find evidence for just about anything that happened in 2001.

[motivez]

Did you forget to post the stuff before 1979 or does whatever site you're pasting from seem to (incorrectly) think that the middle east's problem's don't predate the 1979 revolution?

I mean, the US played a very important role in helping shape the revolution and the Islamic state in Iran.. dating back to at least the 50's.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Donkey®

This is completely one sided and biased.

Well in the sense that it doesn't show American involvement in region. But it is a very informative write-up of events where Islamic Extremists have killed or attacked Americans leading up to 9/11. The sheer volume of attacks often goes unremembered and when they're laid out in front of you it's quite alarming.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

Did you forget to post the stuff before 1979 or does whatever site you're pasting from seem to (incorrectly) think that the middle east's problem's don't predate the 1979 revolution?

I mean, the US played a very important role in helping shape the revolution and the Islamic state in Iran.. dating back to at least the 50's.

The list starts in 1979 and I would argue it dates back to the formation of Israel in the late 1940s. I think that would have been a much longer list though. I don't necessarily see the problem with starting off at the formation of the first Islamic extremist state.

[Donkey®]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Well in the sense that it doesn't show American involvement in region. But it is a very informative write-up of events where Islamic Extremists have killed or attacked Americans leading up to 9/11. The sheer volume of attacks often goes unremembered and when they're laid out in front of you it's quite alarming.

If you're going to talk about 9/11 (an American event) it would only make sense to discuss all the American intervention, meddling, flip-flopping support, double-talk, flag-planting and general bullshit that got us attacked.

[garbagemanlb]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Well in the sense that it doesn't show American involvement in region. But it is a very informative write-up of events where Islamic Extremists have killed or attacked Americans leading up to 9/11. The sheer volume of attacks often goes unremembered and when they're laid out in front of you it's quite alarming.

It tells us absolutely nothing about the reasoning...which is kind of important if you want to have a definitive 'road to 9/11' timeline.