2004 Osama bin Laden video
On October 29, 2004, at 21:00 UTC, Al Jazeera broadcast excerpts allegedly from a videotape of Osama bin Laden addressing the people of the United States; in this video, he accepts responsibility for the September 11 attacks, condemns the Bush government's response to those attacks, and presents those attacks as part of a campaign of revenge and deterrence motivated by his witnessing of the destruction in the Lebanese Civil War in 1982. News analysts speculated that the release of the video was timed to influence the 2004 U.S. presidential election, which would take place four days later.
George W. Bush delivered a short statement to the media in front of Air Force One at Toledo, Ohio Express Airport, hours after the tape was broadcast.
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Bin Laden is most widely known as the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Bin Laden c. 1998
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden in 1997. The AKS-74U in the background is a symbol of the mujahidin's victory over the Soviets, since these weapons were captured from Spetsnaz forces.
United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower.
Image from 2001 video of Bin Laden
