The Birth Of al-Qaeda

The 1988 birth of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization is carefully chronicled in a cache of remarkable documents seized last year during a raid on the Bosnian offices of an Illinois-based charity that covertly raised funds for the terrorist group. A description of the seized material is contained in a 106-page proffer unsealed this month by federal prosecutors in Chicago. The government filing was prepared in connection with the criminal case brought against Enaam Arnaout, the 41-year-old Syrian who headed Benevolence International Foundation, the alleged charitable front group (Arnaout pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge on February 10). Included in the seized material, the proffer discloses, were minutes from a three-day meeting in August 1988--held at bin Laden's home--during which al-Qaeda was hatched. The minutes note that future group members were required to be "listening and obedient" and had to possess "good manners." An excerpt from the government proffer follows. (4 pages)

Terrorism 101: bin Laden's barbaric how-to manual.