Few can neglect George W Bush standing amid the rubble of the World Trade Centre, borrowing the bullhorn of a firefighter to answer the chants of “USA, USA”.
“I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you,” he stated. “And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
That was September 14 2001, simply three days after Al-Qaeda hijackers flew 4 planes into targets in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania, killing virtually 3,000 folks.
Just weeks later, on October 7, the US and the UK launched, what was deemed Operation Enduring Freedom, and began its navy invasion of Afghanistan. The plan was to kill the Al-Qaeda management, and topple the Taliban authorities that had sheltered Osama Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, and their Islamist fighters who had gut-punched a superpower with little greater than a handful of craft-knives and two-dozen volunteers believing they had been acquiring martyrdom.
In the times and weeks that adopted, the faces of the Saudi Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric now revealed to have been killed by a US drone strike in Afghanistan, would occupy the creativeness of Western leaders. Their faces turned a part of an ever-present iconography.
Each time there was a brand new improvement within the operation towards Al-Qaeda or the Taliban — be it particulars of the battle at Tora Bora, after which Bin Laden and his followers had been in a position to slip away into Pakistan or one thing else — their faces would fill our tv screens, and newspapers.
As Bush continued his so-called struggle on terror, exploiting America’s feeling of insecurity and lies about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programme to invade Iraq, they’d be there once more. As questions had been requested about what had occurred to them and their organisation, whilst a type of shards changed into Isis, the faces of Bin Laden and his deputy appeared unchanging.
As the Associated Press has famous of their reporting, within the early photos of the pair from the Nineties, they’d typically be sitting collectively: the skinny angular Bin Laden beside his stockier deputy seated on a rug or the bottom, the background typically nondescript.
Their bond was cast within the late Eighties, when al-Zawahri, a health care provider, reportedly handled the Saudi millionaire bin Laden within the caves of Afghanistan as Soviet bombardment shook the mountains round them. At that point, Bin Laden was combating the Soviets with the assist of Pakistan and the CIA. Two a long time later, he would use the identical mountain hideaways to supervise the plot to assault the West.
In these years after 9/11 when Bin Laden disappeared, deep in hiding, it will be the face of al-Zawahri, who sometimes flashed as much as ship new threats towards the West, or to rally supporters.
He would maintain a microphone, or wag his finger, or each. He was on FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist checklist, and had a $25 million bounty on his head for any info that may very well be used to kill or seize him.
Bin Laden additionally carried such a bounty. In May 2011, the thriller of his whereabouts was dropped at an finish when the US killed him in a raid by particular forces. He had been hiding at a compound in Abbottabad for years.
Al-Zawahri, it seems, had most lately been in Afghanistan.
Reports on Monday stated he was killed there by a drone strike within the capital, Kabul. The strike occurred slightly below a 12 months after the US withdrew its navy, and evacuated tens of 1000’s of individuals because the Taliban retook the nation.
The Taliban, apparently as soon as once more host to the Al-Qaeda chief, confirmed the airstrike, however didn’t point out al-Zawahri or another casualties.
It stated it “strongly condemns this attack and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement,” the 2020 US pact with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal of American forces.
In an announcement, the Taliban added: “Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan, and the region.”
When the US withdrew its forces, President Joe Biden, extensively condemned for the haphazard, harmful nature of the withdrawal, insisted the US would proceed to have “over the horizon capability” that will enable us to maintain our eyes firmly fastened on any direct threats to the United States within the area, and act shortly and decisively if wanted”.
Few in all probability believed him.
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk