Osama bin Laden, Founder of Al-Qaeda, December 29, 1994

“We declared jihad against the U.S. government, because the U.S. government is unjust, criminal, and tyrannical… Due to its subordination to the Jews, the arrogance and haughtiness of the U.S. regime has reached such an extent that it occupied the qibla [direction of prayer, i.e. towards the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia] of the Muslims… For this and other acts of aggression and injustice, we have declared jihad against the U.S., because in our religion it is our duty to make jihad so that God’s word is the one exalted to the heights and so that we drive the Americans away from all Muslim countries.”Bruce Lawrence, trans., Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden (London: Verso, 2005), 47.