[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022ds-1col clearfix\u0022\u003E\n\n  \n\n  \n  \u003Cp\u003ESince the early 1990s, when Osama Bin Laden was the mujahedin darling of the Afghan war, the media-savvy former al-Qaeda leader agreed to conduct interviews with numerous Western journalists. Eventually, his interviews with these journalists became platforms for him to communicate his message of \u003Cem\u003Ejihad\u003C\/em\u003E to the masses around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn late 1993, Robert Fisk of \u003Cem\u003EThe Independent\u003C\/em\u003E, ostensibly conducted the first interview with Bin Laden by a Western journalist while he was living in Sudan and overseeing construction and agricultural projects. In Fisk\u2019s article, Bin Laden denied that he had any ambitions for leading a global \u003Cem\u003Ejihad\u003C\/em\u003E. Instead, he claimed that Arab media and Western embassies were falsely reporting that his troops from the Afghan war were preparing for their next battles in Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Bin Laden told Fisk, \u201cI am a construction engineer and an agriculturalist. If I had training camps here in Sudan, I couldn\u2019t possibly do this job.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003ERobert Fisk, \u201cAnti-Soviet Warrior Puts His Army on the Road to Peace: The Saudi Businessman Who Recruited Mujahedin Now Uses Them for Large-Scale Building Projects in Sudan. Robert Fisk Met Him in Almatig,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EIndependent\u003C\/em\u003E (London), December 6, 1993, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Fisk interviewed Bin Laden again in 1996, Bin Laden had been exiled from Sudan and was back in Afghanistan. There, he was also no longer just a construction engineer and agriculturalist, but already an enemy of the United States, Europe, and Arab governments, especially Saudi Arabia. The interview was conducted 10 days after a bombing in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia killed 19 U.S. soldiers, and though responsibility for that attack has been attributed to both al-Qaeda and Iran, Bin Laden told Fisk that, \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean declaring war against the West and Western people \u2013 but against the American regime which is against every American\u2026The explosion in al-Khobar did not come as a direct reaction to the American occupation, but as a result of American behavior against Muslims, its support of Jews in Palestine, and of the massacres of Muslims in Palestine and Lebanon\u2026\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003ERobert Fisk, \u201cA Close Encounter with the Man Who Shook the World,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EIndependent\u003C\/em\u003E (London), May 3, 2011, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/commentators\/fisk\/robert-fisk-a-close-encounter-with-the-man-who-shook-the-world-2278035.html\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/commentators\/fisk\/robert-fisk-a-close-encounter-with-the-man-who-shook-the-world-2278035.html\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAmerican television networks first interviewed Bin Laden in 1997, and again in 1998. Both interviews, conducted by \u003Cem\u003ECNN and ABC \u003C\/em\u003Erespectively, were wide-ranging discussions about the reasons for Bin Laden\u2019s Declaration of \u003Cem\u003EJihad\u003C\/em\u003E, his vision for overthrowing unjust Arab regimes, and his connections various \u201cIslamic movements\u201d in Chechnya, Kashmir, and the Arab World.\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003EPeter Arnett, \u201cTranscripts of Osama Bin Ladin Interview by Peter Arnett,\u201d Information Clearing House, accessed March 15, 2015, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article7204.htm\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article7204.htm\u003C\/a\u003E; John Miller, \u201cGreetings, America. My Name Is Osama Bin Laden.,\u201d \u003Cem\u003EEsquire\u003C\/em\u003E, February 1, 1999, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.esquire.com\/features\/ESQ0299-FEB_LADEN\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.esquire.com\/features\/ESQ0299-FEB_LADEN\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n","dialogOptions":{"minWidth":850,"resizable":true,"modal":true,"title":"Bin Laden Interviews with Western Media"}},{"command":"doFootnotes"}]