Editing Osama bin Laden (section)

=== The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Gulf war===

The [[invasion of Kuwait|Iraqi invasion of Kuwait]] under [[Saddam Hussein]] on 2 August 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the royal family at risk. With Iraqi forces on the [[Iraq–Saudi Arabia border|Saudi border]], Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism was potentially inciting internal dissent. One week after King Fahd agreed to [[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]] [[Dick Cheney]]'s offer of American military assistance, Bin Laden met with King Fahd and Saudi Defense Minister [[Sultan bin Abdulaziz]], telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the U.S. and others and offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. When Sultan asked how Bin Laden would defend the fighters if Saddam used [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|Iraqi chemical and biological weapons]] against them, he replied, "We will fight him with faith."{{Sfn|Wright|2006|p=178–179}} Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jehl |first=Douglas |title=A Nation Challenged: Holy war lured Saudis as rulers looked Away |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 2001 |pages=A1, B4 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118105250/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |archive-date=18 November 2010 }}</ref>

Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. forces, arguing that it was indignity that the kingdom was being defended by an army of American unbelievers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jehl |first1=Douglas |title=A Nation Challenged: Saudi Arabia; Holy War Lured Saudis As Rulers Looked Away |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |access-date=21 November 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=27 December 2001 |page=1}}</ref> Bin Laden tried to convince the Saudi ''[[ulama]]'' to issue a fatwa condemning the American military deployment but senior clerics refused out of fear of repression.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=180}}</ref> Bin Laden's continued criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to put him under house arrest, under which he remained until he was ultimately forced to leave the country in 1991.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murdico |first1=Suzanne J. |title=Osama bin Laden |date=2004 |publisher=New York, NY : Rosen Pub. Group |isbn=978-0-8239-4467-5 |page=32 |url=https://archive.org/details/osamabinladen0000murd/page/32/mode/2up}}</ref> The U.S. [[82nd Airborne Division]] landed in the north-eastern Saudi city of [[Dhahran]] and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.<ref name="Fisk-p4" />
[[File:1993 World Trade Center bombing debris investigations.jpg|thumb|The aftermath of al-Qaeda's [[1993 World Trade Center bombing|1993 bombing]] of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York City]]
Meanwhile, on 8 November 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of [[El Sayyid Nosair]], an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed. They discovered copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |title=USA v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel-Rahman et al: 93-CR-181-KTD |publisher=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |access-date=28 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109221029/http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |archive-date=9 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]] and, years later, admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi [[Meir Kahane]] in New York City on 5 November 1990.