The 1990’s and the Growth of Osama Bin Laden’s Terrorist Actions

“If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act. We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable. If their intention was to deter us from our mission of promoting peace and security in the Middle East, they will fail utterly….” —President Bill Clinton, October 12, 2000

As the Soviets conducted a slow withdrawal policy, a massive American weapons operation and a financial partnership with Saudi Arabia aided the mujahideen. At this point, Bin Laden established the presence of Al-Qaeda through the increase of foreign fighters that established this multinational terrorist organization. By 1989, this Afghan conflict became a civil war between the communist-supported Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) forces and the mujahideen for control of the nation. The major leaders of the Afghan resistance created a government and sought to finally bring this war to an end as the Soviets pulled out and returned home.

Near the Hindu Kush Mountains and by a centralized road system that led to Kabul, the fighting at Jalalabad was expected to be one of the final blows to end this war. A growing figure amongst the 7,000 mujahideen opposing the DRA, who used the cover name “Abu Abdullah,” was Bin Laden. All these forces were united to achieve a complete victory over the Soviet-backed forces of the DRA. The fighting was marred by trenches, mines, barbed wire, and well-supplied government forces. Whereas the mujahideen encircled this area in March 1989, the fighting was fierce, and both sides swapped control. It would take the next three years of civil war fighting until the government lost full control to the mujahideen in 1992.

Even as the United States was a determining factor in the Soviet defeat, Bin Laden used the 1990s to strike at American power at home and abroad. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, America emerged as the lone superpower, and the presence of Bin Laden was barely noticed by our government and citizens. Before the start of the Gulf War, Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia and was considered a major mujahideen leader. He was well-known, wealthy, from a powerful family construction business, and opposed the Saudi monarchy.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait with the fourth-largest army in the world, immediately presenting a major threat to the security of Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden approached the government and offered his services and those of the mujahideen he trained to push Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The Saudi Arabian government refused Bin Laden’s offer, and instead, it accepted the massive aid of the United States and the operations “Desert Shield” and “Desert Storm.” Bin Laden was furious at the sight of American forces operating amongst the holiest Islamic areas in the world, where it was believed that these Westerners would corrupt these holy lands. After 500,000 Americans were deployed to Saudi Arabia, some of the bases remained active to conduct the Northern and Southern “No-Fly Zones” over Iraq, and Bin Laden was furious at the continued presence of this lone superpower in the Middle East.

The 1990s proved to be a dangerous decade for the security of America, as hazards were experienced through the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. At 12:17 p.m., a major explosion created a 100-foot crater in the parking garage that killed six people and wounded a thousand. All clues led back to figures who were trained by Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda and from the previous fighting in Afghanistan. Quickly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used seven hundred agents to search New York City, New Jersey, and globally for the terrorists responsible. They found an apartment that housed dangerous chemicals to ignite this explosion, uncovered a strict Islamic fundamentalist who argued to collect a $400 deposit, and Kuwaiti Ramzi Yousef emerged as a confidant of Bin Laden to carry out this local attack.

More violent attempts were discovered, as the FBI found a warehouse with additional bombs that were going to be used against the United Nations, FBI Federal Plaza, and the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels. Several of these targets were going to be hit with cyanide gas. Angered at the imprisonment of Yousef by the American government, Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan to strengthen Al-Qaeda’s operations under an alliance with the Taliban. During the investigation, Clinton stated, “Americans should know we’ll do everything in our power to keep them safe in their streets, their offices, and their homes…”

From a superpower to a global police officer, President Bill Clinton domestically sought the balancing of the budget, expansion of education, and economic growth. While America gravitated away from the militarism of the Cold War, the government by the end of the 1990s would connect Bin Laden’s name to numerous terrorist attacks. Al-Qaeda had numerous foreign contacts who were eager to hurt the global strength of the United States through smaller, coordinated, and powerful attacks. On August 7, 1998, Bin Laden ordered the destruction of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. At Nairobi, the terrorists drove a truckload of 2,000 pounds of explosives that was supposed to be parked in the basement of the embassy, but it was deterred by Kenyan and American Marine guards who fought these assailants. The truck exploded and damaged parts of the front of the embassy, while fragments from this attack caused casualties, and additional buildings collapsed from the powerful stress of this assault. Almost at the same moment, a similar explosion hit the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Shards of glass and debris hit embassy workers and civilians within both American compounds. Both acts of terrorism killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and Bin Laden quickly pronounced responsibility. Clinton responded, “We have come to truly sacred and historic place to honor and celebrate the lives of twelve Americans who perished in service to our nation.”

Whereas the FBI placed Bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, many Americans did not take notice, and months later, Al-Qaeda started planning the 9/11/01 attacks on Manhattan and Washington, D.C. On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole was docked in Aden, Yemen, to pick up fuel. This ship was attacked when two bombers piloted a boat, waved to the American crew, approached the naval vessel, and detonated its explosives. This terrorist attack tore a 40-foot-wide hole in the ship, killed 17 sailors, and injured 40 Americans. Quickly, one hundred FBI counterterrorism agents were sent to Yemen to investigate the attack on the Cole. Government officials spoke with witnesses and suspects, and it was learned that another attack against the USS Sullivans failed because the terrorists’ boat sank before they could detonate the explosives.

Federal courts began charging Bin Laden for terrorist attacks against Americans, while the expanding threat posed by Al-Qaeda would soon culminate in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Next week: Al-Qaeda’s 9/11/01 attacks on America