NOVEMBER 17, 1997 : (LUXOR, EGYPT MASSACRE, AL-GAMAA AL-ISLAMIYA, OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN, WHO IS LINKED TO - WTC BOMBING #1) massacre of 80 Western tourists near Cairo. Egypt's most powerful Islamic militant group -- al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya -- claimed responsibility Tuesday for the 70 deaths, which also included the attackers, police officers and several Egyptians. (There were some attacks on tourists prior to this as well.) In a statement faxed to AP press, the group said the tourists were killed Monday while its gunmen were trying to take them hostage in an attempt to secure the release of the group's spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman. The cleric is in a U.S. prison for conspiring to blow up New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center in 1993.
Another 1997 incident of note:
FEBRUARY 23, 1997 : (NY : PALESTINIAN KAMAL ATTACKS TOURISTS AT EMPIRE STATE BUILDING) An Islamic militant opened fire on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York on February 23, 1997 killing 1 tourist and seriously wounding six other Western tourists - "A Short History of World War IIIA Lesson of the Future.," by Sal Rosken, The Partial Observer , 2 March 2003 * Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher who arrived in the United States in December, 1996 on a tourist visa kills seven tourists with a 14 shot semiautomatic pistol at the Empire State Building before killing himself. He bought the gun in Florida despite federal law prohibiting sales to aliens who do not have at least 90 days of residency. Abu Kamal wrote that he was taking vengeance against enemies of the Palestinian people.
MARCH 1997 : (BIN LADEN CNN INTERVIEW) Bin Laden told CNN in March 1997 that he had trained the "Afghan Arabs" who helped to kill 18 American soldiers in Somalia in 1993
MARCH 1997 : (BIN LADEN, DECLARATION OF JIHAD AGAINST THE US ) CNN interviewed bin Laden. He said, in part, "We declared a jihad against the United States because it is unjust, criminal, and tyrannical." Without directly taking credit for the actions, he mentioned the 1995 killing of 7 US troops in Riyadh and the 1996 killing of 19 US troops in Dharan as examples of the jihad In interviews broadcast on US television in 1997 and 1998 Osama bin Laden referred to the terrorists who carried out the earlier attack on the world Trade Center in 1993 as "role models." He went on to exhort his followers "to take the fighting to America."
JULY 1997 : (NY CITY SUBWAY PLOT, PALESTINIAN GHAZI IBRAHIM ABU MEZER, PAKISTANI) Two Palestinians and a Pakistani are arrested on a tipoff to New York City police and are found to have suicide bombs and a note indicating they intend a terrorist attack in the city's subways. Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer, a Palestinian, entered the United States (in Washington state) illegally from Canada three times and was apprehended and returned to Canada. He entered Canada as a student, but requested and received political asylum. After his last U.S. entry the Canadians would not take him back because he had committed crimes in Canada. He applied for asylum, and a judge ordered a hearing for 1998 and released him. Abu Mezer said that he had been accused by the Israeli government of belonging to Hamas, a terrorist organization a claim denied by his family in Israel. On June 23, at a hearing on his asylum application, he withdrew it, and the judge gave him 60 days to depart the country. Lafi Khalil, the second terrorism suspect entered the country on a tourist visa and stayed on illegally. The Clinton Administration, represented by the INS and the State Department, support adoption on a permanent basis of the adjustment of status provision for illegal aliens — INA Section 245(i) — that facilitates legal residence status for persons entering without inspection or overstaying their visa without having to leave the United States for investigation of their possible ineligibility for immigrant status in their native country.
AUGUST 1997 : (STATE DEPARTMENT DELAYS LIST OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS REQUIRED BY ANTITERRORISM ACT) The State Department acknowledges that it still has not prepared the list of international terrorist organizations required by the Antiterrorism Act in 1996. A Dept. State spokesman says the report is overdue because any group designated as a terrorist organization will have the right to challenge that designation in U.S. courts. The designation will cause U.S. fundraising activities for the group to be cut off and members of the group will be barred from entering the United States.
(* My note : IF they get listed. If they don't, they can still rake in the cash.)
SEPTEMBER 18, 1997 : (EGYPT: MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISTS FIREBOMB A BUS, KILL 9 GERMAN TOURISTS) Nine German tourists killed when Muslim fundamentalists fire bombed and machine gunned a bus in central Cairo, Egypt. The following day a policeman was killed in southern Egypt in a gun attack.
OCTOBER 29, 1997 : (IRAQ BANS AMERICANS FROM INSPECTIONS) Iraq bans Americans in UNSCOM from making any inspections.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor