Editing Osama bin Laden (section)

=== Move to Sudan ===
{{Further|Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa}}
In 1991, Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia by its government after repeatedly criticizing the Saudi alliance with the United States.<ref name="pbschronology" /><ref name="cnn201107">{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Timeline: Osama bin Laden, over the years |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.timeline/index.html |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717222154/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.timeline/index.html |archive-date=17 July 2011|access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> He and his followers moved first to Afghanistan and then relocated to Sudan by 1992,<ref name="pbschronology" /><ref name="cnn201107" /> in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abdullah Assam: The Man Before Osama bin Laden |last=Emerson |first=Steve |url=http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html |publisher=International Association of Counterterrorism & Security Professionals|access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218211532/http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html |archive-date=18 February 2007 }}</ref> Bin Laden's personal security detail consisted of bodyguards personally selected by him. Their arsenal included [[SA-7]], [[Stinger missile]]s, AK-47s, [[Rocket-propelled grenade|RPGs]], and [[PK machine gun]]s.<ref>Soufan, Ali. ''The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda.'' W.W. Norton and Company. New York and London: 2011.Page 325</ref> Meanwhile, in March–April 1992, Bin Laden tried to play a pacifying role in the escalating [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|civil war in Afghanistan]], by urging warlord [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] to join the other mujahideen leaders negotiating a coalition government instead of trying to conquer [[Kabul]] for himself.{{sfnp|Gutman|2008|page=37}}

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving Bin Laden was the 29 December 1992, bombing of the [[Gold Mihor Hotel]] in [[Aden]] in which two people were killed.<ref name="pbschronology" />

In the 1990s, Bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially, and sometimes militarily, in Algeria, Egypt, and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993, Bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded. The [[Algerian Civil War#Massacres and reconciliation|war]] that followed caused the deaths of 150,000 to 200,000 Algerians and ended with the Islamists surrendering to the government.<ref name="GhostWars">Coll, Steve, "Ghost Wars," (Penguin Books, 2004)</ref>

In Sudan, Bin Laden established a new base for Mujahideen operations in [[Khartoum]]. He bought [[Osama bin Laden's house in Khartoum|a house on Al-Mashtal Street]] in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at [[Soba (city)|Soba]] on the [[Blue Nile]].<ref name="Reeve2002">{{cite book |last=Reeve |first=Simon |title=The new jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQjpziNmoE4C&pg=PA172 |access-date=7 May 2011 |date=27 June 2002 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-55553-509-4 |page=172 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529065422/http://books.google.com/books?id=VQjpziNmoE4C&pg=PA172 |archive-date=29 May 2013 }}</ref><ref name="ShayLiberman2006">{{cite book |last1=Shay |first1=Shaul |last2=Liberman |first2=Rachel |title=The Red Sea terror triangle: Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Islamic terror |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2ss0vor_DkC&pg=PA43 |access-date=7 May 2011 |date=13 October 2006 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-0620-6 |page=43 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529080257/http://books.google.com/books?id=v2ss0vor_DkC&pg=PA43 |archive-date=29 May 2013 }}</ref> During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fisk |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Fisk |date=December 6, 1993 |title=Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi businessman who recruited mujahedin now uses them for large-scale building projects in Sudan. Robert Fisk met him in Almatig |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220902121545/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |access-date=December 7, 2024 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> He was the Sudan agent for the British firm [[Hunting Surveys]],<ref name="VF2002">{{cite web|last=Rose |first=David |date=January 2002 |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2002/01/osama200201 |title=The Osama Files|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008210904/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2002/01/osama200201 |archive-date=8 October 2014}}</ref> and built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people.<ref name="Gallab2008">{{cite book |last=Gallab |first=Abdullahi A. |title=The first Islamist republic: development and disintegration of Islamism in Sudan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1XdRfAJwLIC&pg=PA127 |access-date=7 May 2011 |year=2008 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-7162-6 |page=127 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727154122/http://books.google.com/books?id=s1XdRfAJwLIC&pg=PA127 |archive-date=27 July 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fisk|first=Robert |year=2005|title=The Great War for Civilisation|page=5}}</ref> He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. In response, in 1994, Fahd stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7&nbsp;million a year stipend.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Forbes">{{cite web|last=Ackman|first=Dan |url=https://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html |title=The Cost Of Being Osama bin Laden|work=Forbes |date=14 September 2001|access-date=15 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729115849/https://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html |archive-date=29 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=195}}</ref>

By that time, Bin Laden was being linked with EIJ, which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995, the EIJ [[Attempted assassination of President Hosni Mubarak|attempted to assassinate]] the Egyptian President [[Hosni Mubarak]]. The attempt failed, and Sudan expelled the EIJ. After this bombing, al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by [[Mamdouh Mahmud Salim]], the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find a proper reward in death, going to ''[[Jannah]]'' (paradise) if they were good Muslims and to ''[[Jahannam]]'' (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.<ref>testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, US v. Usama bin Laden, et al.</ref> The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a [[State terrorism|sponsor of international terrorism]] and Bin Laden of operating terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. However, according to Sudan officials, this stance became obsolete as the Islamist political leader [[Hassan al-Turabi]] lost influence in their country. The Sudanese wanted to engage with the U.S., but American officials refused to meet with them even after they had expelled Bin Laden. It was not until 2000 that the State Department authorized U.S. intelligence officials to visit Sudan.<ref name="VF2002" />

The [[9/11 Commission Report]] states:

<blockquote>In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer [[Billy Waugh]] tracked down Bin Ladin in Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.<ref>''Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism,'' 2004.</ref> US Ambassador [[Timothy M. Carney|Timothy Carney]] encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. [[Minister of Defence (Sudan)|Sudan's minister of defense]], Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding against Bin Laden in any country.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch4.pdf |title=Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults |publisher=9/11 Commission |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015032827/http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch4.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2009}}</ref></blockquote>

In January 1996, the CIA launched a new unit of its [[Counterterrorism Center]] (CTC) called the [[Bin Laden Issue Station]], code-named "Alec Station", to track and to carry out operations against his activities. Bin Laden Issue Station was headed by Michael Scheuer, a veteran of the Islamic Extremism Branch of the CTC.<ref name="GhostWars" /> U.S. intelligence monitored Bin Laden in Sudan using operatives to run by daily and to photograph activities at his compound, and using an intelligence safe house and [[signals intelligence]] to surveil him and to record his moves.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |author-link=Annie Jacobsen |title=Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2019 |place=New York |pages=281–288}}</ref>