[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022ds-1col clearfix\u0022\u003E\n\n  \n\n  \n  \u003Cp\u003EBeginning in 1999, Arabic satellite network Al Jazeera became the preferred media outlet for al-Qaeda to broadcast its interviews and video tape messages. In a January 1999 interview on the network, Bin Laden praised the bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003E\u201cTimeline of Al-Qaida Statements,\u201d NBC News, accessed March 15, 2015, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E In September 2000, Al Jazeera broadcast a videotape that showed Bin Laden, three Egyptian clerics, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and others demanding the release of Omar Abdul Rahman, the \u201cblind sheikh\u201d who is serving a life sentence for planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and several other unsuccessful attacks.\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003E\u201cTimeline of Al-Qaida Statements,\u201d NBC News, accessed March 15, 2015, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe network continued broadcasting al-Qaeda\u2019s videotapes for years after September 11, 2001, including on subsequent anniversaries of the attacks, allowing the group to claim responsibility for attacks, threaten future attacks, and provide proof to millions of viewers that its leaders were still alive.\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003E\u201cTimeline of Al-Qaida Statements,\u201d NBC News, accessed March 15, 2015, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the network did not simply act as a propaganda machine for al-Qaeda. As Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University, noted in 2006, Al Jazeera would bring in experts to discuss the tapes issued by Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri on air, which in one instance \u201ctransformed Zawahiri\u2019s lecture into a dialogue and denied him the monopoly on political discourse he so craved.\u201d In another instance when Bin Laden released a tape, the network \u201cinvited the able, Arabic-speaking American diplomat Alberto Fernandez to respond.\u201d\u003Cspan class=\u0022footnote\u0022\u003E\u201cTimeline of Al-Qaida Statements,\u201d NBC News, accessed March 15, 2015, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/4686034\/ns\/world_news-hunt_for_al_qaida\/t\/timeline-al-qaida-statements\/#.U4uMaSjOddg\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":"Broadcasting al-Qaeda\u2019s Message on Arab Satellite Television "}},{"command":"doFootnotes"}]