JUST before his September 11 attacks on the US, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden sent a friendly invitation to the now imprisoned Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. "Greetings from Osama bin Laden," the extremist leader said in the invitation, apparently forwarded to Indonesia via Jemaah Islamiah ringleader Hambali. Known as al-Qaeda's linkman in Asia, Hambali was then in Afghanistan for unclear reasons. He passed the verbal message on to Mohammad Rais - a detained Jemaah Islamiah operative who was then heading to Indonesia. "Osama bin Laden invites Ustad Abu Bakar Bashir to come to Afghanistan if the conditions for Ustad...