The following is an edited version of the case against Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation he heads and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It was published yesterday by 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister's office.
In 1989 Osama bin Laden, and others, founded an international terrorist group known as "Al Qaeda" (the Base). 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 Taliban 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.
In 1996 Osama bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan. He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the Taliban. Bin Laden and the Taliban regime have a close alliance on which both depend for their continued existence.
Since 1996, when the Taliban captured Kabul, the US government has consistently raised with them a whole range of issues, including humanitarian aid and terrorism. Well before September 11th 2001, they had provided evidence to the Taliban of the responsibility of Al Qaeda for the terrorist attacks in East Africa.
The US had made it clear to the Taliban regime that Al Qaeda 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.
In June 2001, in the face of mounting evidence of the Al Qaeda threat, the US warned the Taliban that it had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the regime responsible for attacks against US citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.
Al Qaeda is dedicated to opposing "un-Islamic" governments in Muslim countries with force and violence. Al Qaeda virulently opposes the US. Osama bin Laden has urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most unequivocal terms.
On October 12th 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. 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."
When asked, in 1998, about obtaining chemical or nuclear weapons he said "acquiring such weapons for the defence of Muslims [was] a religious duty".
In an interview aired on Al Jazira (in Doha and 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 Centre in 1993 as "role models".
From the early 1990s Osama bin Laden has sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as weapons of terror.
Although US targets are Al Qaeda's priority, it also explicitly threatens the United States' allies. References to "Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators", and to "Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with them" are references which unquestionably include the UK.
Al Qaeda functions both on its own and through a network of other terrorist organisations. 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.
Below him is a body known as the Shura, which includes representatives of other terrorist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahiri and prominent lieutenants of bin Laden such as Abu Hafs Al-Masri. Egyptian Islamic Jihad has, in effect, merged with Al Qaeda.
In addition to the Shura, Al Qaeda has several groups dealing with military, media, financial and Islamic issues. Mohamed Atef is a member of the group that deals with military and terrorist operations. His duties include principal responsibility for training Al Qaeda members.
A great deal of evidence about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda has been made available in the US indictment for earlier crimes. Since 1989, Osama bin Laden has conducted substantial financial and business transactions on behalf of Al Qaeda 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 Qaeda and associated terrorist groups in countries throughout the world.
Since 1989 Osama bin Laden has provided training camps and guest houses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya for the use of Al Qaeda 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.
Osama bin Laden has also established a series of businesses to provide income for Al Qaeda, and to provide cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of Al Qaeda 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.
Nineteen men have been identified as the hijackers September 11th 2001. At least three of them have been positively identified as associates of Al Qaeda. One has been identified as playing key roles in both the east African embassy attacks [in August 1998] and the USS Cole attack [in October 2000]. Investigations continue into the backgrounds of all the hijackers.
From intelligence sources, the following facts have been established subsequent to September 11th; for intelligence reasons, the names of associates, though known, are not given.
In the run-up to September 11th, bin Laden was mounting a concerted propaganda campaign among like-minded groups of people - including videos and documentation - justifying attacks on Jewish and American targets; and claiming that those who died in the course of them were carrying out God's work.
We have learned, subsequent to the attacks, that bin Laden himself asserted shortly before September 11th that he was preparing a major attack on America. In August and early September, close associates of bin Laden were warned to return to Afghanistan from other parts of the world by September 10th.
Immediately prior to September 11th, some known associates of bin Laden were naming the date for action as on or around September 11th. Since September 11th, 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.
Osama bin Laden remains in charge, and the mastermind, of Al Qaeda. In Al Qaeda, an operation on the scale of the September 11th attacks would have been approved by Osama bin Laden himself.
The modus operandi of September 11th was entirely consistent with previous attacks. Al Qaeda's record of atrocities is characterised by meticulous long term planning, a desire to inflict mass casualties, suicide bombers, and multiple simultaneous attacks.
Al Qaeda 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. The operatives involved in the US atrocities attended flight schools and placed airports under surveillance.
No other organisation has both the motivation and the capability to carry out attacks like those of the September 11th - only the Al Qaeda network under Osama bin Laden.
A full transcript of the British government's evidence against bin Laden may be read on the Irish Times website, ireland.com