Bin Laden had 'no clue' about Sept. 11 retaliation

WTOP ^ | April 27, 2010 | J.J. Green

[Yo-Yo]

WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden had no idea the U.S. would hit al-Qaida as hard as it has since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a former bin Laden associate tells WTOP in an exclusive interview.

"I'm 100 percent sure they had no clue about what was going to happen," says Noman Benotman, who was head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the summer of 2000.

"What happened after the 11th of September was beyond their imagination, " says Benotman, who adds that al-Qaida thought the U.S. was a "paper tiger."

Sitting on the floor at bin Laden's compound in Kandahar, Afghanistan during a meeting the summer before the attacks, Benotman shocked bin Laden and more than 200 other international jihadist leaders by telling the al-Qaida leader his jihadi strategy was "a total failure."

Benotman, a highly regarded associate of bin Laden's at the time, says he surprised him again by rebuffing a plea for help.

"He asked for my help. Bin Laden asked me personally, you know. I responded immediately on the spot ...'No. I'm not going to help you.'"

Bin Laden was stunned.

"Because he used to like to sit next to me, you know. My right hand side," Benotman says.

The seating location meant he was someone bin Laden respected.

Benotman says he spoke frankly because his reputation allowed him to.

"I've spent time in the front line engaging with the enemy more than bin Laden and [Ayman Al-]Zawahiri and the entire group of al-Qaida."

Zawahiri laughed when he warned those at the 2000 meeting that the U.S. response would be swift, hard and long, Benotman says.

Benotman attributes al-Qaida's overconfident attitude to the United States' response to al-Qaida attacks on its in embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.

Zawahiri, according to Benotman, expected only a missile attack.

"When they attacked the embassies in East Africa, they estimated the U.S. launched 75 cruise missiles and eight people got killed. So they said this time, maybe they will launch 200 and they laughed about this."

Benotman's assessment is backed up by a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, who was active in the fight against al-Qaida.

The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says "several captured terrorists have said publicly that al-Qaida never expected the towers to fall. Their goal was to frighten people and impact the U.S. economy, so they really didn't plan for the massive response the U.S. launched."

Bin Laden got more than one warning, says Benotman.

"I told him several times before the Sept. 11th attacks that if you do this, the U.S. is going to retaliate in a very harsh way. At least twice I reminded him about the serious orders he was given by Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban to stop fighting the U.S., and he disobeyed the order."

Now living in London and openly campaigning against organizations like al-Qaida, Benotman - according to some - is simply trying to avoid going to jail in his native Libya.

"I would like to believe that bin Laden was shocked and dismayed by what we did after 9/11, but I come hard up against an awful lot of evidence that that's exactly what he wanted," says Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit.

Scheuer questions whether Benotman is speaking out freely.

"Clearly, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is holding a hammer over his head," Scheuer says, noting some of Benotman's ex-LIFG colleagues are in prison and Benotman still has relatives in Libya.

Benotman, who still believes in the commitment Jihad requires, laughs at the notion he's afraid of being arrested.

"I'm not afraid of the Americans or any other country. My speaking out is a conscious decision and it's based on my entire experience and understanding of jihadism."

Not only does Benotman reject al-Qaida's ideology, but he says "killing civilians is a crime. I don't care if it's Jews, Christians, Muslims or anyone. It's a crime and we shouldn't help them (al Qaida)."

(Copyright 2010 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

[The Great RJ]

"...the U.S. response would be swift, hard and long..."

That was then with George Bush in the White House. Today with the appeaser in chief in charge, a US response to a terror attack on our soil will be neither swift, hard nor long.

[Captain Kirk]

Now living in London and openly campaigning against organizations like al-Qaida, Benotman - according to some - is simply trying to avoid going to jail in his native Libya.

This guy is not to be taken seriously. Bin Laden said on multiple occasions that his goal was to dry U.S. troops into a quagmire and spread us thin.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

No-Man Be-Not-Man
Even the name sounds phony!

[Just A Nobody]

We (Bush) did it right.

Are we allowed to say that here? The attacks begin in 10...9...8...

And Congress was with him all the way...

For at least a couple of weeks!

[fightinJAG]

Now THIS you can blame Bush for.

Thank you, George.

[Just A Nobody]

Today with the appeaser in chief in charge, a US response to a terror attack on our soil will be neither swift, hard nor long.

Much like the 11-5-09 treasonous terrorist attack on Fort Hood. Where is Major Hasan today?

[TomGuy]

I found this comment via a Google search:

Confirmation that U.S. intelligence had been successfully monitoring Al-Qaeda’s communications right through to the aftermath of 11th September came from Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, a conservative Republican with wide contacts in the national security establishment. On the day of the attacks, Hatch stated that the U.S. government had been monitoring Osama bin Laden’s communications electronically, and had thus intercepted two bin Laden aides celebrating the attacks: “They have an intercept of some information that included people associated with bin Laden who acknowledged a couple of targets were hit.”[23]

ABC News further reported that shortly before 11th September, the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted “multiple phone calls from Abu Zubaida, bin Laden’s chief of operations, to the United States.” The information contained in these intercepted phone calls has not been disclosed.[24]

---

[23] Associated Press, ‘World Trade Center collapses in terrorist attack,’ 11 September 2001. In an interview with ABC News the same day, Hatch elaborated that both CIA and FBI officials had informed him of the same. In response, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denounced the report as an unauthorised release of classified information. The White House later cited the leak as good reason to withhold information concerning U.S. counterterrorist actions from Congress.

--

http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq36.html

--

[I remember Hatch making those comments to the live news media. I thought it was Sept 12, however. IIRC, Senator Shelby also got chastized for giving some classified info about the same time. Loose lips, etc.]

[denydenydeny]

Articles like this remind me how many THOUSANDS of people knew about the attacks in advance, and I get furious at the CIA all over again.

[Grizzled Bear]

"What happened after the 11th of September was beyond their imagination, " says Benotman, who adds that al-Qaida thought the U.S. was a "paper tiger."

Hmmm... Our enemies attack us when they believe we are weak...

Has anyone informed the democrats about this?

[rollo tomasi]

Bin Laden has done a fine job of warping politicians/civic leaders minds into conformity.

In order to “understand” Islam, we must start to conform/assimilate their culture into ours (In some cases override us). You see, overcompensation is needed to suppress all those “reactionist” simpletons who think all Muslims are out to kill them. If we all welcome and embrace Islam, those Bin Laden types will quit attacking us, so says the “religion of peace” types.

[Sacajaweau]

Can you say Gorelick??

[kabar]

Thanks for the information and clarification.