The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright [237]
“Do you remember”: interview with Issam al-Turabi.
his right testicle: Randal, Osama, 147.
French had issued a similar indictment: interview with Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani.
220 “if he apologizes”: interview with Timothy Carney.
“We are ready”: interview with Elfatih Erwa. Both Richard A. Clarke, who was the national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection, and counterterrorism at the time, and his deputy Steven Simon dispute the point that the Sudanese ever formally offered bin Laden to the United States, but neither man was in the meeting, and it seems clear that the director of national security at the time, Sandy Berger, did explore the possibility of accepting bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission, however, stated that it found “no credible evidence” that Erwa had made the offer. 9/11 Commission Report, 110.
221 nurtured the fantasy: Barton Gellman, “U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts to Capture bin Laden or Have Him Killed,” Washington Post, October 3, 2001.
Bashir offered: “Arabs and Muslims Must Break Barriers, Contact Others: Turki,” Saudi Gazette, November 11, 2002.
“Give us proof”: interview with Ahmed Badeeb.
“Ask him to leave”: interview with Ahmed Badeeb.
Turabi and bin Laden argued: al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 3, March 21, 2005.
222 Turabi did bin Laden the favor: Jason Burke, “The Making of bin Laden: Part 1,” Observer, October 28, 2001.
$12 million: Robert Block, “In the War Against Terrorism, Sudan Struck a Blow by Fleecing bin Laden,” Wall Street Journal, December 3, 2001.
“a mixture”: ibid.
223 check for $2,400: testimony of L’Houssaine Kherchtou, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al.
Tupolev jet: interview with Jack Cloonan.
Two of bin Laden’s young sons: al-Hammadi, “The Inside Story of al-Qa’ida,” part 3, March 21, 2005.
He held America responsible: interview with Jamal Khashoggi.
13. Hijira
224 given him money: interview with Ahmed Badeeb.
abducted children: interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.
225 disabled 4 percent: Tim Friend, “Millions of Land Mines Hinder Afghan Recovery,” USA Today, November 27, 2001.
most of them orphans: According to Thomas Gouttierre, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, 80 percent of the Taliban forces were orphans from the Soviet war. Anna Mulrine, “Unveiled Threat,” U.S. News and World Report, October 15, 2001.
three former mujahideen: Burke, Al-Qaeda, 145.
Younis Khalis: interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai.
teenage brides: Coll, Ghost Wars, 327.
226 hired pilots: U.S. Embassy (Islamabad) confidential cable, “Finally, a Talkative Talib: Origins and Membership of the Religious Students’ Movement,” February 20, 1995.
four Talibs in a jeep: interview with anonymous Pakistani diplomat.
lost his right eye: Arnaud de Borchgrave, “Osama bin Laden—‘Null and Void,’ ” UPI, June 14, 2001.
crack marksman: Ismail Khan, “Mojaddedi Opposes Elevation of Taliban’s Omar,” Islamabad the News, April 6, 1996.
passable Arabic: interview with Farraj Ismail.
227 “Corruption and moral disintegration”: Zaidan, Bin Laden Bila Qina’.
vision of the Prophet: U.S. Embassy (Islamabad) confidential cable, “Finally, a Talkative Talib: Origins and Membership of the Religious Students’ Movement,” February 20, 1995.
2,500 men: Nojumi, The Rise of the Taliban, 118.
students in a vocational school: Coll, Ghost Wars, 294-95.
three million Afghan refugees: interview with Prince Turki al-Faisal.
Sufi shrines: Juan Cole, personal communication.
228 monthly stipend: Nojumi, The Rise of the Taliban, 119.
beggars and sissies: Lamb, The Sewing Circles of Heart, 105.
twelve thousand fighters: Burke, Al-Qaeda, 113.
228 10 percent tax: Nojumi, The Rise of the Taliban, 136.
229 tents for the wives: Robert Fisk, “Small Comfort in bin-Ladin’s Dangerous Exile,” Independent, July 11, 1996.
former Soviet collective: Jason Burke, “The Making of bin Laden: Part 1,” Observer, October 28, 2001.
Najm al-Jihad: “The Story of the Arab