The story of the first interview with Osama bin Laden ...A simple question and an even simpler answer, but!
Messenger
Whatsapp
Threads
Email
Print
X
Facebook
CNN published details about the late renowned journalist Peter Arnett’s first interview with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, including the question Arnett asked and bin Laden’s response.
On a freezing night in March 1997, inside a mud hut high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan and surrounded by heavily armed al-Qaeda fighters, Peter Arnett asked bin Laden a simple question: "What are your future plans?"
Osama bin Laden replied, "You will see and hear about them in the media, God willing."
This was bin Laden’s first television interview, and he and his team specifically selected Peter Arnett and CNN to conduct it.
The following year, bin Laden carried out near-simultaneous attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing more than 200 people. In 2000, his operatives targeted the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors. This was followed by the September 11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives and triggered the "Global War on Terror."
Arnett asked bin Laden why he had declared jihad against the United States. Bin Laden replied at length, criticizing U.S. support for Israel and its allies in the Middle East.