Al Qaeda
...Laden Network/Organization. Osama Bin Laden established the Al Qaeda organization in the late 1980s, with an aim to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against Soviet invasion. The group was dedicated to opposing non-Islamic governments with force and violence. He helped to finance, recruit, transport, and train Sunni Islamics for Afghan resistance. His current goal is to establish a pan-Islamic caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow other groups that they believe to be “non-Islamic” and banning non-Muslims and Westerners from Muslim countries. The organization issued a statement under the title of “the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders” in February of 1998, saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens; civilian or military, and kill their allies everywhere. The United States had determined that Osama bin Laden is the brains of the operation behind the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed at least 301 persons and injured more than 5,000 others, the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, and finally, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center which killed over 3,000. The organization was also linked to the following plans that have not been carried out: the assassination of Pope John Paul II, simultaneous bombings of the US and Israeli Embassies in Manilla and other Asian capitals, and also a plan to kill former President Clinton. It is believed that the group wishes to pursue these plans by continuing training...