Prior to
his death on May 2, 2011, the FBI listed bin Laden as one of the "
10 Most Wanted" in connection with several incidents including the
USS Cole bombing and the
1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa. The FBI's "
FBI Most Wanted Terrorists" poster does not specifically hang responsibility for 9/11 on bin Laden, instead it only states "Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world."
[56]
Immediately after September 11, 2001 bin Laden praised the attacks,
[57] but denied responsibility for them.
[58]
On September 16, 2001, an
Al Jazeera news presenter read a message purportedly signed by Osama bin Laden, in which the following words were stated:
I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation.
[58][59]
In an interview with Osama bin Laden, published in the Pakistani newspaper
Ummat Karachi on September 28, 2001, he stated: "I have already said that I am not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act."
[60] There was reportedly no way to prove the e-mail published in Pakistan came from bin Laden. The Taliban denied he had access to any communications.
[61][62]
In late October 2001,
Al Jazeera journalist
Tayseer Allouni conducted an interview with Osama bin Laden which was videotaped. Al-Jazeera refused to broadcast it
[63] and terminated its affiliation agreement with CNN
[64] due to CNN's broadcasting of the interview on January 31, 2002.
[65] In the interview, bin Laden addressed the September 11 attacks, saying
If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists ... We will work to continue this battle, God permitting, until victory or until we meet God before that occurs.
[66]
In November 2001, US forces recovered a
videotape from a bombed house in
Jalalabad, Afghanistan which showed a man purported to be Osama bin Laden talking to
Khaled al-Harbi. In the tape, bin Laden talks of planning the attacks. Translations from the tape include the following lines:
...we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all...We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on...Muhammad [Atta] from the Egyptian family [
meaning the al-Qaeda Egyptian group], was in charge of the group...The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.
[67]
In late November 2002, a letter attributed to
Osama bin Laden and translated by British Islamists surfaced, often called bin Laden's 'letter to America'. It states the motive behind the
September 11 attacks as being: "because you attacked us and continue to attack us" and justifies the selection of a civilian target. Itemizing a list of perceived Western wrongdoings, the letter concludes that "the oppressed have a right to return the aggression" and hinted at further attacks. Also included are a list of demands, advice, and a statement of grievances against the American government and its people.
[68]
On February 11, 2003,
Al Jazeera broadcast an audio tape purportedly from bin Laden.
[69]
Shortly before the US presidential election in 2004, in a
taped statement, bin Laden publicly acknowledged al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks on the US, and admitted his direct link to the attacks. He said that the attacks were carried out because "we are a free people who do not accept injustice, and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."
[70]
In an audio message that surfaced on the Internet in May 2006 the speaker, who is alleged to be Osama bin Laden, defends
Zacarias Moussaoui, who was undergoing a trial for his participation in the September 11 attacks. The voice in the audio message says
"I begin by talking about the honorable brother
Zacarias Moussaoui. The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11th, and I am certain of what I say, because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers—Allah have mercy upon them—with those raids, and I did not assign brother Zacarias to be with them on that mission."
[71]
