The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright [234]
members of al-Jihad: interview with Tom Corrigan.
“kill Russians”: Benjamin Weiser and James Risen, “The Masking of a Militant: A Special Report; a Soldier’s Shadowy Trail in U.S. and in the Mideast,” New York Times, December 1, 1998.
kidnappings, assassinations, and hijacking: “The Story of the Arab Afghans from the Time of Their Arrival in Afghanistan Until Their Departure with the Taliban,” part 5, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 12, 2004.
triggering device: interview with Jack Cloonan.
“buy rugs”: interview with Jack Cloonan.
182 name of Osama bin Laden: interview with Jack Cloonan. Bin Laden’s name and his organization were already beginning to be known even in the media. There is an Agence France Presse article, “Jordanian Militants Train in Afghanistan to Confront Regime,” dated May 30, 1993, in which a “27-year-old militant” admits that he has been “trained by Al-Ka’ida, a secret organization in Afghanistan that is financed by a wealthy Saudi businessman who owns a construction firm in Jeddah, Ossama ibn Laden.”
“James Bond”: interview with Harlen L. Bell.
they had been lost: interview with Daniel Coleman.
German military attaché: confessions of Ahmed Ibrahim al-Sayed al-Najjar, “Returnees from Albania” case, September 1998.
183 two thousand dollars: interview with Jack Cloonan.
184 Naguib Mahfouz: interview with Naguib Mahfouz.
185 “Vanguards of Conquest”: al-Zawahiri, “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,” part 6. There is an ongoing dispute about whether Zawahiri was in charge of the Vanguards. There were several articles in the press that described the Vanguards as a dissident, break-away group from al-Jihad, which was led by Ahmed Agazzi and Yasser el-Sirri. However, el-Sirri was evasive when I queried him on this. “In 1993 and 1994, many did not agree with what happened in Egypt,” he said. “But Zawahiri had the money. This group did not.” Mamdouh Ismail, an Islamist lawyer in Cairo, told me that “Vanguards” was a media name; in fact, the arrested persons were largely members of al-Jihad—a view echoed by Hisham Kassem, a human rights advocate and publisher in Cairo, and Montassir al-Zayyat. “There is nothing called ‘Vanguards of Conquest,’ ” Zayyat asserts.
judicial standards: According to Hisham Kassem, a Cairo publisher and human rights worker, “Vanguards was accused of trying to overthrow the government. Part of the evidence was a baseball bat and an air rifle. The ones you think are dangerous, you hang; the rest you give life sentences. It was all staged.”
“only solution”: Andrew Higgins and Christopher Cooper, “Cloak and Dagger: A CIA-Backed Team Used Brutal Means to Crack Terror Cell,” Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2001.
backs of camels: testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al.
“The Minister escaped”: “Al-Sharq al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from al-Jihad Leader al-Zawahiri’s New Book,” by FBIS, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 2, 2001.
186 been to Iran: “Confessions from Last Leader of al-Jihad Organization,” Rose el-Youssef, February 2, 1997. Translated by FBIS.
Zawahiri distributed cassettes: Salah, Waqai’ Sanawat al-Jihad.
“Terrorism is the enemy”: “Egyptian Mourners Condemn Terrorists,” AP, November 27, 1993.
“The unintended death”: Ayman al-Zawahiri, “Al-Sharq al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from al-Jihad Leader al-Zawahiri’s New Book,” Al-Sharq al-Awsat, December 2, 2001. Translated by FBIS.
“This meant”: ibid.
10. Paradise Lost
188 350,000 lives: Huband, Warriors of the Prophet, 36.
250 men: Anonymous, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, 136.
a handful: interview with Hassabulla Omer. The testimony of L’Houssaine Kherchtou mentions only a couple of al-Qaeda fighters, who were sent to Somalia because they were dark-skinned and could pass as natives. U.S. v. Usama bin Laden et al. The extent of al-Qaeda’s involvement in Somalia remains unresolved. Mary Deborah Doran, who concentrated on the Somali question for the FBI, wrote me: “I think there’s no doubt AQ played a role in Somalia, and I believe that AQ had a role in the killing of our Rangers in October