08/27/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10092

EMBASSY BOMBINGS ANNIVERSARY

On August 7^th, 1998, terrorist bombs exploded at the United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The blasts killed some two-hundred twenty civilians and wounded more than five-thousand others.

Three months later, on November 4^th, 1998, a U.S. federal court in New York City indicted Osama bin Laden, head of the al-Qaida terrorist network, and Muhammad Atef, al-Qaida’s military commander. They were charged with the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings and with conspiring to kill Americans outside the United States.

The indictment documented the lengths to which al-Qaida went in carrying out bin Laden’s orders to kill Americans around the world. The conspirators were accused of targeting U.S. military personnel. The indictment noted that Al-Qaida functioned both on its own and through allied terrorist groups.

The indictment also accused bin Laden of purchasing warehouses for storing explosives, transporting weapons, and setting up front companies to finance and provide cover for al-Qaida’s terrorist activities.

Thanks largely to the safe-haven afforded al-Qaida by Afghanistan's Taleban, Osama bin Laden, Muhammad Atef, and other al-Qaida managed to evade capture and kill several thousand people in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and

Pentagon last September 11^th. But the quick U.S. military response to those attacks brought justice to Atef, who reportedly died in U.S. air strikes. What is more, the removal of the Taleban regime deprived al-Qaida of its sanctuary in Afghanistan.

As President George W. Bush said, the United States is working closely with other governments to deny terrorists sanctuaries where they can train, hide, and raise funds. This effort, Mr. Bush said, will be a "long struggle," but necessary "for the good of the world, for peace in the world, and for freedom."