Telegraph - Bin Laden told friends: flee before Sept 10 By Sarah Womack Political Correspondent (Filed: 05/10/2001)

TONY BLAIR published a 21-page dossier yesterday containing "firm evidence" about last month's attacks in the United States and saying that they bore all the hallmarks of previous atrocities carried out by Osama bin Laden.

Close associates of bin Laden were warned in August and early September to seek refuge in Afghanistan no later than September 10. And bin Laden himself said shortly before September 11 that he was preparing a major attack on the United States.

Of the 19 men identified as hijackers on the four planes seized on September 11, at least three have already been "positively identified as associates of al-Qa'eda".

One hijacker (not named) has been identified as a key player in earlier attacks on embassies in East Africa and the warship USS Cole.

The dossier, bereft of sensitive intelligence detail so as not to compromise sources, was released after Mr Blair told Parliament the time was approaching for retaliatory action. It sets out the following "clear conclusions":

Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'eda, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities.

Bin Laden and al-Qa'eda retain the will and resources to carry out further attacks.

Britain and its nationals are potential targets.

Bin Laden and al-Qa'eda were able to commit the attacks because of their close alliance with the Taliban, which allowed them to pursue their activities with impunity.

It also states as "relevant facts":

Immediately before the attacks, known associates of bin Laden were naming the 11th as the date for action.

No organisation other than al-Qa'eda had the motivation and the capability to conduct such an operation.

It sought to acquire nuclear and chemical materials for use as terrorist weapons.

The document, separate from material presented to Nato and elsewhere by the Americans as their evidence, said there was "evidence of a very specific nature" relating to the guilt of bin Laden and his associates that was too sensitive to release.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said it was not a legal document but was "the best explanation we are able to give under the constraints within which we have to operate".

The dossier carried a disclaimer stating: "This does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against Osama [sic] bin Laden in a court of law. But on the basis of all information available, Her Majesty's Government is confident of its conclusions as expressed in the document."

Material relating to the September 11 attacks has come from "intelligence and the criminal investigation to date".

Britain had only learned after the September 11 attacks that bin Laden had previously indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. However, in June 2001, the United States warned the Taliban that it had the right to defend itself and it would hold the regime responsible for attacks against American citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.

The American government had already made it clear to the Taliban regime that al-Qa'eda, founded in 1989, had murdered American citizens and planned to murder more. Before September 11, America had provided evidence to the Taliban of the responsibility of al-Qa'eda for the terrorist attacks in East Africa.

"This evidence had been provided to senior leaders of the Taliban at their request."

The document listed the similarities between the September 11 attack and others involving al-Qa'eda as:

Use of suicide attackers

Total disregard for other casualties, including Muslims

Meticulous long-term planning

Absence of any warning

The co-ordinated nature of the attacks

"Al-Qa'eda retains the capability and the will to make further attacks on the United States and its allies, including the United Kingdom," the document said.

Evidence also showed that bin Laden had been able to kill up to 6,000 people in the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon only because of his close ties with the Taliban.

While bin Laden and his group were based in Afghanistan, the network ran operations around the world including training camps, warehouses, communication facilities and commercial operations used to raise money. That activity included substantial exploitation of the illegal drugs trade.

"From the early 1990s, Osama bin Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons of terror. Although United States targets are al-Qa'eda's priority, it also explicitly threatens the United States' allies."

References to "Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators" and to "Satan's US troops and the Devil's supporters allying with them" - made by bin Laden in a 1996 declaration of jihad - were references which unquestionably include Britain.

"There is a continuing threat. Based on our experience of the way the network has operated in the past, other cells, like those that carried out the terrorist attacks on September 11, must be assumed to exist."

The report argued that al-Qa'eda did not operate in isolation. "It functions both on its own and through a network of other terrorist organisations.

"These include Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other North African Islamic extremist terrorist groups and a number of other jihadi groups in other countries including the Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and India.

"Al-Qa'eda also maintains cells and personnel in a number of other countries to facilitate its activities. Osama bin Laden heads the al-Qa'eda network.

"Below him is a body known as the Shura, which includes representatives of other terrorist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahiri and prominent lieutenants of bin Laden such as Abu Hafs al-Masri. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with al-Qa'eda.

"In addition to the Shura, al-Qa'eda has several groups dealing with military, media, financial and Islamic issues.

"Mohamed Atef is a member of the group that deals with military and terrorist operations. His duties include principal responsibility for training al-Qa'eda members.

"Since 1989, Osama bin Laden has provided training camps and guest houses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of al-Qa'eda and associated terrorist groups.

"We know from intelligence that there are currently at least a dozen camps across Afghanistan, of which at least four are used for training terrorists." According to the dossier: "Since 1989, Osama bin Laden has established a series of businesses to provide income for al-Qa'eda and to provide cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of operatives.

"The businesses have included a holding company known as `Wadi al Aqiq', a construction business known as `Al Hijra', an agricultural business known as `Al Themar Al Mubaraka', and investment companies known as `Ladin International' and `Taba Investments'.

"In the months before the September 11 attacks, propaganda videos were distributed throughout the Middle East by al-Qa'eda, in which Osama bin Laden and others were shown encouraging Muslims to attack American and Jewish targets.

"Similar videos, extolling violence against the United States and other targets, were distributed before the East African embassy attacks in August, 1998."

The dossier quotes a Qatar television interview with bin Laden in which he said: "Our enemy is every American male, whether he is directly fighting us or paying taxes."

Asked by Time magazine in December 1998 what America could expect of him, bin Laden is quoted as saying: "The United States knows I have attacked it, by the grace of God, for more than 10 years now.

"God knows that we have been pleased by the killing of American soldiers (in Somalia in 1993). This was achieved by the grace of God and the efforts of the mujahideen. Hostility towards America is a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded for it by God.

"I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America."

In December 1999, a terrorist cell linked to al-Qa'eda was discovered trying to carry out attacks inside America.

An Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, was stopped at the American-Canadian border and more than 100lb of bomb-making material was found in his car.

"Ressam admitted he was planning to set off a large bomb at Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Day. He said he had received terrorist training at al-Qa'eda camps in Afghanistan and then been instructed to go abroad and kill US civilians and military personnel.

"On Oct 12, 2000, the Cole was struck by an explosive-laden boat while refuelling in Aden harbour. Seventeen crew were killed and 40 injured.

"Several of the perpetrators, mostly Yemenis and Saudis, were trained at bin Laden camps in Afghanistan. Two commanders of the attack on the Cole participated in the planning and preparation for the East African embassy bombings."

Mr Blair's spokesman described publication of the document as "exceptional" and dismissed descriptions of it as a political rather than judicial piece of work. "There is an iron determination to bring those responsible to justice. Bin Laden is obviously at the head of the al-Qa'eda organisation but we have made clear that this is not just about one individual. It is about a network of terror.

"Obviously this is not a situation that we have found ourselves in before. But it would have been perfectly possible to have released absolutely nothing and for us to have made the case as we have done against bin Laden and al-Qa'eda."

Asked whether the Government knew where bin Laden was, Mr Blair's spokesman said simply: "We believe he is in Afghanistan."

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Blair presents the `proof' that bin Laden is guilty

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001