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"THE SYSTEM WAS BLINKING RED"
261
The following is the text of an item from the Presidential Daily Brief received by
President George W. Bush on August 6, 2001.
37
Redacted material is indicated
by brackets.
Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin
since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US.
Bin Ladin
implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers
would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef
and "bring the fighting to America."
After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin
Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, accord-
ing to a [--] service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an [--] service
at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the oper-
ative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin
Ladin's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US.
Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived
the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin
Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate
the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was plan-
ning his own US attack.
Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.
Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US
Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares
operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks.
Bin Ladin
associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early
as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings
were arrested and deported in 1997.
Al-Qa'ida members--including some who are US citizens--have resided
in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a
support structure that could aid attacks.
Two al-Qua' da members found
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