| 1957 |
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Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden is born in Riyadh. He is
17th of 52 children sired by Muhammad Bin Laden--Saudi Arabia's
wealthiest construction magnate. |
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| 1979 |
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Bin Laden graduates from King Abdul Aziz University in Jiddah
with a degree in civil engineering. |
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| December 26, 1979 |
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Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia to
join the Afghan resistance (mujahedeen). |
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| 1980-86 |
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From the Pakistani border, bin Laden raises funds and provides
the mujahedeen with logistical and humanitarian aid. |
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| 1986-89 |
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According to Islamic sources, bin Laden participates in numerous
battles during the Afghan war against the Soviets as a guerilla
commander, including the fierce battle of Jalalabad which led the
Soviets to finally withdraw from Afghanistan. |
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| 1988 |
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Bin Laden establishes "al
Qaeda," an organization of ex-mujahedeen and other supporters.
Its mission is to channel fighters and funds to the Afghan
resistance. |
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| June 30, 1989 |
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The National Islamic Front (NIF) stages a military coup and
takes control of the Sudan. |
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| 1989 |
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After the Soviets pull out of Afghanistan, bin Laden returns to
Saudi Arabia a hero. He becomes involved in opposition movements to
the Saudi monarchy while working for his family construction firm,
the Bin Laden Group. |
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| August 2, 1990 |
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Iraq invades Kuwait. |
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| April, 1991 |
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Bin Laden flees Saudi Arabia, after being confined to Jiddah for
his opposition to the Saudi alliance with the United States. He
moves first to Afghanistan and then to Khartoum, Sudan by 1992
(Source: Newsweek 2/1/99). Sudan had begun to allow any
Muslim into the country without a visa, in a display of Islamic
solidarity. Allegedly, hundreds of suspected terrorists and
ex-mujahedeen come to Sudan as a safe haven (Source: New York
Times 9/21/98). |
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| 1991 |
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US troops fight Persian Gulf War. After victory, the US
establishes a large permanent military presence in the region,
including Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the land of "the two most
holy places" in Islam--Mecca and Medina. |
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| 1992 |
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According to the current indictment against bin Laden, from 1992
on, bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members stated privately within the
organization that a) Al Qaeda should put aside its differences with
Shiite Muslim terrorist organizations, including Iran and its
affiliated terrorist group Hezbollah, to cooperate against the
perceived common enemy, the United States and its allies; b) the US
forces stationed on the Saudi peninsula, including both Saudi Arabia
and Yemen, should be attacked; and c) the US forces stationed in the
Horn of Africa, including Somalia, should be attacked.
Bin Laden begins to set up legitimate businesses in the Sudan,
including a tannery, two large farms, and a major road construction
company. When Saudi Arabia began pressuring Pakistan to get rid of
the mujahedeen near the border with Afghanistan, bin Laden
reportedly paid for 480 Afghan vets to come work with him. The
Sudanese leaders liked this wealthy Saudi who was enthusiastic about
investing in their fledgling Islamic state. |
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| December 29,
1992 |
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A bomb explodes in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, where US troops had
been staying while en route to a humanitarian mission in Somalia.
The bomb killed two Austrian tourists; the U.S. soldiers had already
left. Two Yemeni Muslim militants, trained in Afghanistan and
injured in the blast, are later arrested. US intelligence agencies
allege that this was the first terrorist attack involving bin Laden
and his associates (Source: New York Times 8/21/98). |
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| 1993 |
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Sudan is placed on State Department's list of countries that
sponsor terrorist activities (Source: Washington Post
8/23/98).
According to US government charges, bin Laden's followers try to
obtain components of nuclear weapons and begin to work with Sudan's
NIF to develop chemical arms (Source: US News and World
Report 10/5/98). |
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| February 26, 1993 |
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World Trade Center bombing. |
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| October 3 & 4th, 1993 |
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Eighteen US troops are killed in an urban attack in Mogadishu,
Somalia. American law enforcement, intelligence and national
security officials are divided as to whether, as a federal
indictment charges, bin Laden and his adherents helped train and arm
the men who killed the US troops (Source: New York Times
2/8/99). |
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| January 1994 |
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According to US intelligence analysts, by January 1994, bin
Laden was financing at least three terrorist training camps in North
Sudan, where rebels from a half-dozen nations received training.
(Source: New York Times 8/14/96) |
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| April 9, 1994 |
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The Saudi government revokes bin Laden's citizenship and moves
to freeze his assets in Saudi Arabia because of his support for
Muslim fundamentalist movements. (Source: New York Times
4/10/94) |
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| 1995 |
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According to U.S. intelligence sources, bin Laden establishes
extensive training and housing operations for foreign guerillas in
northern Yemen near Saudi border. (Source: Washington Post
8/23/98) |
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| February/March 1995 |
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Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, is
captured in Pakistan and extradited to the United States. A search
of his former residences leads investigators to believe he is
financially linked to bin Laden. Also, he had stayed at a bin Laden
financed guest house while in Pakistan. |
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| June 1995 |
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Unsuccessful assassination attempt on the life of the President
of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, in Addis Ababa. U.S. intelligence sources
believe bin Laden was somehow linked. |
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| August, 1995 |
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Bin Laden wrote an open letter to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia
calling for a campaign of guerrilla attacks in order to drive U.S
forces out of the kingdom. |
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| November 13,
1995 |
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Five Americans and two Indians are killed in the truck bombing
of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh. Bin
Laden denies involvement but praises the attack (Source:
Washington Post 8/23/98). |
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| May 1996 |
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The Sudan expels bin Laden because of international pressure by
the United States and Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden then moves back to
Afghanistan. (Source: Jane's Intelligence Review
10/1/98) |
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| May 31,
1996 |
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The four Saudi men accused of bombing the Saudi National Guard
training center in Riyadh are beheaded in Riyadh's main square.
Before their execution, they are coerced by the Saudi's into a
public confession. In the confession, they claim to have read bin
Laden communiqués. |
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| Spring 1996 |
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President Clinton signed a top secret order that authorized the
CIA to use any and all means to destroy bin Laden's network. |
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| June 25,
1996 |
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A large truck bomb devastates the US military residence in
Dhahran called Khobar Towers, killing 19 servicemen. The US military
initially linked bin Laden to the attack but now believe a Saudi
Shiite group was responsible (Source: Washington Post
8/23/98). U.S. investigators still believe bin Laden was somehow
involved. |
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| August, 1996 |
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A secret grand jury investigation begins against Osama bin Laden
in New York. |
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| August 23, 1996 |
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 Bin Laden signed and issued a Declaration of Jihad outlining
his organization's goals: drive US forces from the Arabian
Peninsula, overthrow the Government of Saudi Arabia, liberate Muslim
holy sites, and support Islamic revolutionary groups around the
world. He declares that Saudis have the right to strike at US troops
in the Persian Gulf. |
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| November, 1996 |
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Gwynne Roberts conducts interview of bin Laden for the British
documentary program Dispatches. Bin Laden threatens to wage an
Islamic holy war against the United States and its allies if
Washington does not remove its troops from the Gulf region (Source:
Reuters 2/20/97). |
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| May 1997 |
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CNN airs an interview with bin Laden in which he criticizes US
"occupation of the land of the holy places." |
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| July 1997 |
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According to Islamic sources, a US-backed multinational
mercenary force is formed with the aim of abducting or killing bin
Laden. Witnesses claim to see 11 black Land Cruisers crossing into
the Afghan city of Khost along with 2 helicopters. A source said
force was composed of 1000 non-US mercenaries. (Source: Mideast
Mirror 7/14/97--al-Hayat & al-Arab) |
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| February
1998 |
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Bin Laden issues joint declaration with the Islamic Group, Al Jihad,
the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh and the "Jamaat ul Ulema e
Pakistan" under the banner of the "World Islamic Front," which
stated that Muslims should kill Americans including
civilians--anywhere in the world. |
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| May 1998 |
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ABC's John
Miller interviews bin Laden in Afghanistan. |
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| June 1998 |
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A raid is conducted in Albania against a cell of an Islamic
terrorist movement by security personnel from the U.S. and Albania.
Two suspected employees of bin Laden are arrested. The CIA takes
custody of a van-load of documents and computer gear. Two weeks
later, another raid was conducted and two more suspected bin Laden
associates arrested. They were Egyptian nationals and were turned
over to anti- terrorist officials in Egypt. All were associated with
the Islamic Revival Foundation. (Source: Washington Post
8/12/98) |
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| June 8, 1998 |
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The grand jury investigation of bin Laden, initiated in 1996,
issues a sealed indictment, charging Bin Laden with "conspiracy to
attack defense utilities of the United States." Prosecutors charge
that bin Laden heads a terrorist organization called al Qaeda, the
base, and was a major financier of Islamic terrorists around the
world. |
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| June 10, 1998 |
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ABC Nightline John Miller interview with bin Laden
broadcast. |
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| August 6, 1998 |
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The Egyptian Jihad group sent the United States a warning: they
would soon deliver a message to Americans "which we hope they read
with care, because we will write it, with God's help, in a language
they will understand." (Source: New York Times 8/21/98) |
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| August 7, 1998 |
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This is the eighth year anniversary of United Nations sanctions
against Iraq and the ordering of U.S. troops into the Gulf region.
Iraq informed the US Security Council that it was not going to
tolerate the continuation of the sanctions beyond the eighth year
anniversary. (Source: Daily Telegraph 8/12/98)
Two simultaneous explosions
at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The bomb is Nairobi,
Kenya kills 213 people, including 12 US nationals, and injure more
than 4,500 . The bomb in Dar es Salaam kills 11 and injures 85. No
Americans died in the Tanzania bombing. |
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| August 12, 1998 |
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The Small Group of presidential advisors meet with Clinton,
reportedly with evidence that bin Laden is looking to obtain weapons
of mass destruction and chemical weapons to use against US
installations (Source: New York Times 9/23/98). US intelligence also
reportedly intercepted a mobile phone conversation between two of
bin Laden's lieutenants that implicated them in the embassy
bombings. (Source: Newsweek 8/31/98) |
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| August 20, 1998 |
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US
retaliation against bin Laden--cruise missiles attack a
suspected terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Al Shifa, a
pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum. US intelligence claims that Al
Shifa is tied to the production of chemical weapons for bin Laden.
The Sudanese government vehemently denied these claims.
US adds bin Laden's name to list of terrorists whose funds are
targeted for seizure by US Treasury in order to shut down the
financial pipelines that allegedly subsidize bin Laden's terrorist
activities. (Source: Washington Post 8/28/98) |
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| September 23, 1998 |
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US senior administrative officials admit that they had no
evidence that directly linked bin Laden to the Al Shifa factory at
the time of retaliatory strikes on Aug 20. Intelligence officials
found financial transactions between bin Laden and the Military
Industrial Corporation--a company run by the Sudan's government.
(Source: New York Times 9/23/98) |
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| October 1998 |
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The Sunday Times of London reports that bin Laden is sending
Islamic mercenaries to Kashmir to support an Islamic secession
campaign. |
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| October 7, 1998 |
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Arabic newspaper al-Hayat claims bin Laden has acquired nuclear
weapons from Soviet Central Asian countries using a network of
"influential friends". Others are skeptical. (Source: UPI
10/7/98) |
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| November 4, 1998 |
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A new superceding indictment
is issued against bin Laden, Muhammad Atef and a host of other
suspects. They are charged with bombing of two US embassies and
conspiring to commit other acts of terrorism against Americans
abroad. Two rewards of $5 million each are offered for Atef and bin
Laden. Atef is described as bin Laden's chief military commander.
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| December 22, 1998 |
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Bin Laden summons Rahimullah Yusufzai, a reporter for Pakistan's
The News, Time Magazine and John Miller of ABC News, to his tented
encampment in Afghanistan's Helmand province for interviews. |
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| December 23, 1998 |
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TIME correspondent conducts interview with Osama bin
Laden. |
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| December 24, 1998 |
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ABC's second interview with Osama bin Laden is broadcast on ABC
News. |
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| January 11, 1999 |
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TIME and Newsweek publish interviews with Osama bin Laden that
were conducted in late December. |
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| January 16, 1999 |
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The US Attorney's office files its most complete indictment to
date of Osama bin Laden and 11 other suspected members of his
terrorist organization. The grand jury charges the men for
conspiring to kill American nationals. The first count of the
indictment charges that several of the co-defendants, acted with
other members of "al
Qaeda," a worldwide terrorist organization led by bin Laden, in
a conspiracy to murder American citizens. The objectives of the
terrorist group allegedly include: killing members of the American
military stationed in Saudi Arabia and Somalia; killing United
States embassy employees in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania; and concealing the activities of the co-conspirators by,
among other things, establishing front companies, providing false
identity and travel documents, engaging in coded correspondence, and
providing false information to the authorities in various
countries. |
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| May 29, 2001 |
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Four followers of Osama bin Laden are found guilty of charges
stemming from the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Mohammed
Saddiq Odeh, and Wadih El Hage are convicted of charges including
murder, conspiracy and perjury after a nine-week federal trial
during which prosecutors called over 90 witnesses, including al
Qaeda informants and survivors of the bombings. Owhali and Mohamed
face the death penalty at their sentencing, while Odeh and El Hage
face life in prison. |
