Some interesting stuff here
Bin Laden was indeed shocked at America's reaction. He assumed a Bill Clinton response. Instead he got George Bush's.
The war in Afghanistan gutted al Qaeda. As expensive and unpopular as it was, it was effective.
And there's this gem about Biden...
Bin Laden was indeed shocked at America's reaction. He assumed a Bill Clinton response. Instead he got George Bush's.
Quote:
The letters were declassified by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 2017. Lahoud has been studying the documents 'line by line' for several years.
The scholar argued bin Laden was surprised at America's reaction to the series of airline hijackings that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.
'Al Qaeda did not anticipate that the United States would go to war,' Lahoud said of bin Laden's letters.
He reportedly thought the U.S. would respond with a 'limited airstrike,' but did not suspect it 'would go beyond that.'
She claims that as war ravaged in Afghanistan, bin Laden detailed how he had anticipated the American people to respond to the violent attacks.
'He thought that the American people would take to the streets, replicate the anti-Vietnam war protests and they would put pressure on their government to withdraw from Muslim majority states,' she explained.
The war in Afghanistan gutted al Qaeda. As expensive and unpopular as it was, it was effective.
Quote:
Lahoud claimed Al Qaeda was 'gutted by the war' and had become 'incapacitated'.'
'The weakness, failure, and aimlessness that befell us were harrowing. We Muslims were defiled and desecrated. Our state was ripped asunder, our lands were occupied, our resources were plundered,' a young Al Qaeda associated named Tawfiq wrote to bin Laden at the time.
'I'm gonna tell you the truth as it is. And I know that some of the brothers here are not telling you everything in detail because they don't want to upset you, particularly because of the delicate situations in which you find yourself with…'
Tawfiq was likely referring to the 'delicate situation' of bin Laden's life in hiding, Lahoud explained.
And there's this gem about Biden...
Quote:
It was previously revealed that the terrorist had urged followers to assassinate Obama as a way of disrupting the 2012 presidential election.
He also banned al Qaeda from assassinating Joe Biden because he believed the Democrat would become an incompetent president and 'lead the US into a crisis' if jihadists were successful in killing Barack Obama.
Bin Laden penned the 48-page missive in May 2010 to an aide identified as 'Brother Shaykh Mahmud', real name Atiyah Abd al-Rahman. In it, he discusses the need to direct resources away from terror attacks in other Muslim countries and instead focus on direct attacks against the U.S.
On page 36, he outlines his desire to form two hit squads - one in Pakistan and another in Afghanistan - whose job it will be to plot attacks against then-President Barack Obama and ex-CIA director David Petraeus, should they visit either country.
Giving his reasoning for attacking Obama, he says: 'Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make Biden take over the presidency for the remainder of the term, as it is the norm over there.
'Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the US into a crisis.'
