TEXT OF EVIDENCE AGAINST BIN LADEN

LONDON (AP) -- The following is the full text of the summary of evidence
against Osama bin Laden in U.S. terrorist attacks, released Thursday by the
British government:

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE TERRORIST ATROCITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 11
SEPTEMBER 2001

INTRODUCTION

1. The clear conclusions reached by the government are:

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, the terrorist network which he heads, planned
and carried out the atrocities on 11 September 2001;

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida retain the will and resources to carry out
further atrocities;

the United Kingdom, and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were able to commit these atrocities because
of their close alliance with the Taliban regime, which allowed them to
operate with impunity in pursuing their terrorist activity.

2. The material in respect of 1998 and the USS Cole comes from indictments
and intelligence sources. The material in respect of 11 September comes
from intelligence and the criminal investigation to date. The details of
some aspects cannot be given, but the facts are clear from the intelligence.

3. The document does not contain the totality of the material known to Her
Majesty's Government, given the continuing and absolute need to protect
intelligence sources.

SUMMARY

4. The relevant facts show:

Background

Al-Qaida is a terrorist organization with ties to a global network, which
has been in existence for over 10 years. It was founded, and has been led
at all times, by Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have been engaged in a jihad against the
United States, and its allies. One of their stated aims is the murder of
U.S. citizens, and attacks on America's allies.

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have been based in Afghanistan since 1996, but
have a network of operations throughout the world. The network includes
training camps, warehouses, communication facilities and commercial
operations able to raise significant sums of money to support its activity.
That activity includes substantial exploitation of the illegal drugs trade
from Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and the Taliban regime have a close and mutually
dependent alliance. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida provide the Taliban regime
with material, financial and military support. They jointly exploit the
drugs trade. The Taliban regime allows bin Laden to operate his terrorist
training camps and activities from Afghanistan, protects him from attacks
from outside, and protects the drugs stockpiles. Osama bin Laden could not
operate his terrorist activities without the alliance and support of the
Taliban regime. The Taliban's strength would be seriously weakened without
Osama bin Laden's military and financial support.

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have the capability to execute major terrorist
attacks.

Osama bin Laden has claimed credit for the attack on U.S. soldiers in
Somalia in October 1993, which killed 18; for the attack on the U.S.
Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 which killed 224 and injured
nearly 5,000; and were linked to the attack on the USS Cole on 12 October
2000, in which 17 crew members were killed and 40 others injured.

They have sought to acquire nuclear and chemical materials for use as
terrorist weapons.

In relation to the terrorist attacks on 11 September

5. After 11 September we learned that, not long before, bin Laden had
indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. The detailed
planning for the terrorist attacks of 11 September was carried out by one
of Osama bin Laden's close associates. Of the 19 hijackers involved in 11
September 2001, it has already been established that at least three had
links with al-Qaida. The attacks on 11 September 2001 were similar in both
their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks undertaken by Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaida, and also had features in common. In particular:

Suicide attackers

1.Coordinated attacks on the same day

2.The aim to cause maximum American casualties

3.Total disregard for other casualties, including Muslim

Meticulous long-term planning

1.Absence of warning.

6. Al-Qaida retains the capability and the will to make further attacks on
the U.S. and its allies, including the United Kingdom.

7. Al-Qaida gives no warning of terrorist attack.

THE FACTS

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida

8. In 1989 Osama bin Laden, and others, founded an international terrorist
group known as "al-Qaida" (the Base). At all times he has been the leader
of al-Qaida.

9. From 1989 until 1991 Osama bin Laden was based in Afghanistan and
Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1991 he moved to Sudan, where he stayed until 1996.
In that year he returned to Afghanistan, where he remains.

The Taleban Regime

10. The Taleban emerged from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in the
early 1990s. By 1996 they had captured Kabul. They are still engaged in a
bloody civil war to control the whole of Afghanistan. They are led by
Mullah Omar.

11. In 1996 Osama Bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan. He established a
close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the
Taleban. Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban regime have a close alliance on
which both depend for their continued existence. They also share the same
religious values and vision.

12. Osama bin Laden has provided the Taliban regime with troops, arms and
money to fight the Northern Alliance. He is closely involved with Taliban
military training, planning and operations. He has representatives in the
Taliban military command structure. He has also given infrastructure
assistance and humanitarian aid. Forces under the control of Osama bin
Laden have fought alongside the Taliban in the civil war in Afghanistan.

13. Omar has provided bin Laden with a safe haven in which to operate, and
has allowed him to establish terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They
jointly exploit the Afghan drugs trade. In return for active al-Qaida
support, the Taliban allow al-Qaida to operate freely, including planning,
training and preparing for terrorist activity. In addition the Taliban
provide security for the stockpiles of drugs.

14. Since 1996, when the Taliban captured Kabul, the United States
government has consistently raised with them a whole range of issues,
including humanitarian aid and terrorism. Well before 11 September 2001
they had provided evidence to the Taliban of the responsibility of al-Qaida
for the terrorist attacks in East Africa. This evidence had been provided
to senior leaders of the Taliban at their request.

15. The United States government had made it clear to the Taliban regime
that al-Qaida had murdered US citizens, and planned to murder more. The US
offered to work with the Taliban to expel the terrorists from Afghanistan.
These talks, which have been continuing since 1996, have failed to produce
any results.

16. In June 2001, in the face of mounting evidence of the al-Qaida threat,
the United States warned the Taliban that it had the right to defend itself
and that it would hold the regime responsible for attacks against U.S.
citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.

17. In this, the United States had the support of the United Nations. The
Security Council, in Resolution 1267, condemned Osama bin Laden for
sponsoring international terrorism and operating a network of terrorist
camps, and demanded that the Taliban surrender Osama bin Laden without
further delay so that he could be brought to justice.

18. Despite the evidence provided by the U.S. of the responsibility of
Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida for the 1998 East Africa bombings, despite the
accurately perceived threats of further atrocities, and despite the demands
of the United Nations, the Taliban regime responded by saying no evidence
existed against Osama bin Laden, and that neither he nor his network would
be expelled.

19. A former Government official in Afghanistan has described the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden as "two sides of the same coin: Osama cannot exist in
Afghanistan without the Taliban and the Taliban cannot exist without Osama."

Al-Qaida

20. Al-Qaida is dedicated to opposing 'un-Islamic' governments in Muslim
countries with force and violence.

21. Al-Qaida virulently opposes the United States. Osama bin Laden has
urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most
unequivocal terms.

22. On 12 October 1996 he issued a declaration of jihad as follows:

"The people of Islam have suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice
imposed by the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators...

It is the duty now on every tribe in the Arabian peninsula to fight jihad
and cleanse the land from these Crusader occupiers. Their wealth is booty
to those who kill them.

My Muslim brothers: your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two
Holy Places (i.e. Saudi Arabia) are calling upon your help and asking you
to take part in fighting against the enemy the Americans and the Israelis.
They are asking you to do whatever you can to expel the enemies out of the
sanctities of Islam."

Later in the same year he said that

"terrorizing the American occupiers (of Islamic Holy Places) is a religious
and logical obligation."

In February 1998 he issued and signed a 'fatwa' which included a decree to
all Muslims:

"...the killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is a
religious duty for each and every Muslim to be carried out in whichever
country they are until Al Aqsa mosque has been liberated from their grasp
and until their armies have left Muslim lands."

In the same 'fatwa' he called on Muslim scholars and their leaders and
their youths to

"launch an attack on the American soldiers of Satan."

and concluded:

"We with God's help call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to
be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill Americans and plunder their
money whenever and wherever they find it. We also call on Muslims . . . to
launch the raid on Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying
with them, and to displace those who are behind them."

When asked, in 1998, about obtaining chemical or nuclear weapons he said

"acquiring such weapons for the defense of Muslims (was) a religious duty."

In an interview aired on Al Jazira (Doha, Qatar) television he stated:

"Our enemy is every American male, whether he is directly fighting us or
paying taxes."

In two interviews broadcast on US television in 1997 and 1998 he referred
to the terrorists who carried out the earlier attack on the World Trade
Center in 1993 as "role models". He went on to exhort his followers "to
take the fighting to America."

23. From the early 1990s Osama bin Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and
chemical materials for use as weapons of terror.

24. Although U.S. targets are al-Qaida's priority, it also explicitly
threatens the United States' allies. References to "Zionist-Crusader
alliance and their collaborators," and to "Satan's U.S. troops and the
devil's supporters allying with them" are references which unquestionably
include the United Kingdom.

25. There is a continuing threat. Based on our experience of the way the
network has operated in the past, other cells, like those that carried out
the terrorist attacks on 11 September, must be assumed to exist.

26. Al-Qaida functions both on its own and through a network of other
terrorist organizations. These include Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other
north African Islamic extremist terrorist groups, and a number of other
jihadi groups in other countries including the Sudan, Yemen, Somalia,
Pakistan and India. Al-Qaida also maintains cells and personnel in a number
of other countries to facilitate its activities.

27. Osama bin Laden heads the al-Qaida network. Below him is a body known
as the Shura, which includes representatives of other terrorist groups,
such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-Zawahri and prominent
lieutenants of bin Laden such as Abu Hafas al-Masri. Egyptian Islamic Jihad
has, in effect, merged with al-Qaida.

28. In addition to the Shura, al-Qaida has several groups dealing with
military, media, financial and Islamic issues.

29. Mohamed Atef is a member of the group that deals with military and
terrorist operations. His duties include principal responsibility for
training al-Qaida members.

30. Members of al-Qaida must make a pledge of allegiance to follow the
orders of Osama bin Laden.

31. A great deal of evidence about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida has been
made available in the US indictment for earlier crimes.

32. Since 1989, Osama bin Laden has conducted substantial financial and
business transactions on behalf of al-Qaida and in pursuit of its goals.
These include purchasing land for training camps, purchasing warehouses for
the storage of items, including explosives, purchasing communications and
electronics equipment, and transporting currency and weapons to members of
al-Qaida and associated terrorist groups in countries throughout the world.

33. Since 1989 Osama bin Laden has provided training camps and guesthouses
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of
al-Qaida and associated terrorist groups. We know from intelligence that
there are currently at least a dozen camps across Afghanistan, of which at
least four are used for training terrorists.

34. Since 1989, Osama bin Laden has established a series of businesses to
provide income for al-Qaida, and to provide cover for the procurement of
explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of al-Qaida
operatives. The businesses have included a holding company known as 'Wadi
Al Aqiq', a construction business known as 'Al Hijra', an agricultural
business known as 'Al Themar Al Mubaraka', and investment companies known
as 'Ladin International' and 'Taba Investments'.

Osama bin Laden and previous attacks

35. In 1992 and 1993 Mohamed Atef traveled to Somalia on several occasions
for the purpose of organizing violence against United States and United
Nations troops then stationed in Somalia. On each occasion he reported back
to Osama bin Laden, at his base in the Riyadh district of Khartoum.

36. In the spring of 1993 Atef, Saif al Adel, another senior member of
al-Qaida, and other members began to provide military training to Somali
tribes for the purpose of fighting the United Nations forces.

37. On 3 and 4 October 1993 operatives of al-Qaida participated in the
attack on US military personnel serving in Somalia as part of the operation
'Restore Hope.' Eighteen U.S. military personnel were killed in the attack.

38. From 1993 members of al-Qaida began to live in Nairobi and set up
businesses there, including Asma Ltd, and Tanzanite King. They were
regularly visited there by senior members of al-Qaida, in particular by
Atef and Abu Ubadiah al Banshiri.

39. Beginning in the latter part of 1993, members of al-Qaida in Kenya
began to discuss the possibility of attacking the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi
in retaliation for U.S. participation in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
Ali Mohamed, a U.S. citizen and admitted member of al-Qaida, surveyed the
US Embassy as a possible target for a terrorist attack. He took photographs
and made sketches, which he presented to Osama bin Laden while bin Laden
was in Sudan. He also admitted that he had trained terrorists for al-Qaida
in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, and that those whom he trained included
many involved in the East African bombings in August 1998.

40. In June or July 1998, two al-Qaida operatives, Fahid Mohammed, Ali
Msalam and Sheik Ahmed Salim Swedan, purchased a Toyota truck and made
various alterations to the back of the truck.

41. In early August 1998, operatives of al-Qaida gathered in 43, New Runda
Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

42. On 7 August 1998, Assam, a Saudi national and al-Qaida operative, drove
the Toyota truck to the U.S. embassy. There was a large bomb in the back of
the truck.

were naming the date for action as on or around 11 September.

Since 11 September we have learned that one of bin Laden's closest and most
senior associates was responsible for the detailed planning of the attacks.

There is evidence of a very specific nature relating to the guilt of bin
Laden and his associates that is too sensitive to release.

63. Osama bin Laden remains in charge, and the mastermind, of al-Qaida. In
al-Qaida, an operation on the scale of the 11 September attacks would have
been approved by Osama bin Laden himself.

64. The modus operandi of 11 September was entirely consistent with
previous attacks. Al-Qaida's record of atrocities is characterized by
meticulous long term planning, a desire to inflict mass casualties, suicide
bombers, and multiple simultaneous attacks.

65. The attacks of 11 September 2001 are entirely consistent with the scale
and sophistication of the planning which went into the attacks on the East
African Embassies and the USS Cole. No warnings were given for these three
attacks, just as there was none on 11 September.

66. Al-Qaida operatives, in evidence given in the East African Embassy bomb
trials, have described how the group spends years preparing for an attack.
They conduct repeated surveillance, patiently gather materials, and
identify and vet operatives, who have the skills to participate in the
attack and the willingness to die for their cause.

67. The operatives involved in the 11 September atrocities attended flight
schools, used flight simulators to study the controls of larger aircraft
and placed potential airports and routes under surveillance.

68. Al-Qaida's attacks are characterized by total disregard for innocent
lives, including Muslims. In an interview after the East African bombings,
Osama bin Laden insisted that the need to attack the United States excused
the killing of other innocent civilians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

69. No other organization has both the motivation and the capability to
carry out attacks like those of the 11 September only the al-Qaida network
under Osama bin Laden.

Conclusion

70. The attacks of the 11 September 2001 were planned and carried out by
al-Qaida, an organization whose head is Osama bin Laden. That organization
has the will, and the resources, to execute further attacks of similar
scale. Both the United States and its close allies are targets for such
attacks. The attack could not have occurred without the alliance between
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, which allowed bin Laden to operate freely
in Afghanistan, promoting, planning and executing terrorist activity.