Original subtitles

[gunfire]

[shouting in foreign language]

[speaking in foreign language]

[yelling]

[gunfire]

[horn blaring]

[men shouting]

Narrator: We know bin Laden as the terrorist,

the world's most evil man.

For those once closest to him his story is more complex.

Obaidullah Baheer: I worshipped everything about bin Laden,

how he had turned away from so much money,

to stand by his religious responsibility

towards our people, towards my people.

Aimen Dean: I was appalled by what happened,

it filled my heart with horror,

we are going into the path of endless, perpetual bloodshed.

Khaled Batarfi: I prayed secretly that he would die.

I mourned the person I knew and loved

but I didn't mourn the monster he turned out to be.

Tracy Walder: I worked at the CIA

on the operations side in the Counterterrorism Center

before, during, and after September 11th.

Afghanistan, even though yes, the Taliban were ruling it,

it was sort of the wild, wild west,

it was essentially, you know, a failed state,

which made it sort of a breeding ground for Al-Qaeda

[suspenseful music playing]

[gunfire]

Aimen Dean: It became clear to me

that something was happening, Afghanistan is becoming more

and more the training ground for many jihadists

from all across the world,

especially the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

One of them was Abdulaziz al-Omari,

one of the leaders of the hijackers in 9/11,

and many others.

This is where they were chosen for their talents,

and they were diverted to other camps

that are more or less secretive in order for them to be trained

for what was coming,

which was, of course, basically the 9/11 attacks.

[inaudible speech]

Translation: Men must send their children

to the fields of battle

so that they can acquire military training

to defend and support the religion of Muhammad"

[gunfire]

Obaidullah Baheer: With bin Laden's influence,

with his money,

they end up creating this platform

which is the base of jihad around the world.

And it did become that,

international jihad sprung from there.

Al-Qaeda start planning their next step

which is to become a think tank, or a brainstorming organisation

for how to bring the West to its knees.

And then they start doing that from that point onwards

Tracy Walder: A drone was flying over one of the camps

in Afghanistan,

and they noticed a very tall individual

dressed all in white,

surrounded by a security formation.

That's really the closest I have ever come

to seeing Osama bin Laden.

Wearing white I think really is a symbol of a spiritual leader.

I believe that bin Laden felt

that he was a prophet here in the physical form.

I 100% believe that bin Laden thought he was a prophet.

Narrator: As bin Laden's operations ramped up

so did his level of threat against the United States.

CNN Reporter: Mr bin Laden, can you tell us,

is the jihad directed against the US government

or the people of the United States?

It was obvious that he is now ready to go public...

..and speak directly to the American people

and threaten them.

He knew something is coming and he wanted to be sure

that he's taking responsibility for that thing that's coming.

And that will help him

because if he's now the enemy of the United States,

he's on the same level

of the United States in his mind,

and that will help him

to recruit more people in the Muslim world.

"The United States has been occupying the lands of Islam

"in the holiest of places,

"the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches,

"dictating to its rulers,

"humiliating its people,

"and terrorising its neighbours.

"The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies,

"civilians and military,

"is an individual duty for every Muslim

"who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.

"American history does not distinguish

"between civilians and military, not even women and children.

"They're the ones who used the bombs

"against Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

"The Fatwa applies to all those

"who assist and support in killing the sons of Muslims."

[gunfire]

Hamid Mir: I wrote some columns

in which I raised questions about that edict,

which is called 'Fatwa'.

So, I said, how can Osama bin Laden or any other...

..Muslim justify the killings

of innocent non-Muslims

in the light of Islamic teachings?

We travelled to Kandahar, that visit,

that was terrifying...

..because I saw them putting a watermelon on the head,

and Al-Qaeda fighters

are practicing and shooting the watermelon.

You see, it is terrifying. It is terrifying.

I closed down my eyes many times.

In my previous interview I asked him many tough questions

very easily.

This time, after watching all this,

and realising they were very dangerous people,

it was difficult for me to ask tough questions.

I am asking him, "Mr bin Laden, can you justify your edict?"

He was very hostile, you see.

He was trying to justify the killing of every American,

and he was using the name of Islam.

And I was telling him that, "You cannot justify your views

"in light of the teachings of Islam."

But he was trying, again and again, to convince me,

and I was not ready to agree.

And he was taking breaks again and again.

I realised he was also not fully equipped

by the religious knowledge,

and he was getting assistance

from some other scholars.

[car horn honking]

[chatter]

Man 1: He's alive. Man 2: He's alive!

[chatter]

[distant siren blaring]

[gunfire]

Aimen Dean: I was in the prayer hall

of Al Farouq camp

when I heard the celebratory gunfire outside

and people shouting, "Allahu Akbar!"

And so, I inquired what was happening.

And they said that, "Rejoice, everyone.

"The largest CIA station in Africa

"was raised to the ground, you know,

"with a big explosive device of the Mujahideen."

[chatter]

CIA station, wow!

The CIA was attacked in Africa?

Then the news of the casualties started to come,

that 12 Americans were killed.

And, well, hooray for that. That's how we reacted.

220-plus Africans were killed too.

Many of them were Kenyans and Somalis

who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Man: Move out the way!

- 5,000 people were wounded,

because the device was heavily laden with shrapnel

which basically maximised the casualties.

Ali Soufan: Many people in Washington,

and especially in FBI headquarters,

did not want to believe it was Osama bin Laden who did it

because, guess what?

They don't have any evidence that Osama bin Laden

ever conducted a terrorist attack like this before.

The first official assignment involving Al-Qaeda

and Osama bin Laden

happened after the East Africa embassy bombings.

I was one of the agents who were tasked

to see if bin Laden was involved in that attack.

Eventually, we found evidence on the ground in Nairobi

coming from one of the suicide bombers

who actually survived the attack

that he belongs to Osama bin Laden's network,

and he belongs to Al-Qaeda.

[children chanting]

Obaidullah Baheer: Till that point,

everything was defensive, you know?

Like, everything we were doing in Palestine, in Afghanistan,

whatever was happening in Chechnya,

all of that was reactionary jihad.

It was reactionary resistance, right?

For the first time, we had one Muslim leader or icon

step up and take the game to the opponent.

So, I remember at that time, we used to say

he was the first person to throw a punch back.

He swears to reign terror on the enemy.

That's when bin Laden actually became a legend to us.

- Changes were made today

on the FBI's '10 most wanted' list

Male Reporter: But before they can arrest him,

they have to find him.

The US continues to offer up to $5 million

for information leading to the capture

of America's most dangerous terrorist threat.

Aimen Dean: I still remember, it was late August

and Osama bin Laden already arrived in Al Farouq camp.

But he left just before sunset.

[inaudible chatter]

[missiles launching]

Aimen Dean: Many hours later,

in the early hours of the morning

I just saw many lights approaching

and then diving into the camp.

I think at least 20 missiles struck that day.

Even the tent where I was, there was casualties.

I felt extremely lucky to be alive.

It really hit home -

we are now going into the path

of endless, perpetual bloodshed.

[chatter]

Rahimullah Yusufzai: I received a phone call.

I heard a voice saying, "I am Dr Zawahiri,"

and he said that Sheikh -

they called Osama bin Laden 'Sheikh'.

He said, "Sheikh is sitting with me.

"I will talk to you about a message

"which we want to be broadcast."

So, then we had quick greetings... from Osama.

And then Dr Zawahiri gave me the message

saying that our camp was attacked by the Americans

with cruise missiles,

we survived.

In fact, he said, "We were 500 kilometres away."

He was making fun of American intelligence.

And he said, "Now the war has begun

"and we will reply in the same coin"

[car horn honking]

"We believe that the biggest thieves in the world

"are Americans

"and the biggest terrorists on earth are the Americans.

"The only way for us to fend off this assault

"is to use our armies.

"We do not differentiate between

"those dressed in military or civilian attire.

"They are all the targets in this Fatwa."

Narrator: Aimen Dean was so disturbed

by bin Laden's targeting of civilians,

he decided to leave Al-Qaeda.

Aimen Dean: I remember when I left Afghanistan,

I was heading to Qatar

under the pretext of medical examination.

I was detained by the Qatari intelligence services.

That set in motion a series of events basically that,

in the end, led to me being recruited

by the British intelligence service.

My role was to debrief the UK security agencies

about Al-Qaeda,

about their camps, their safe houses,

their training locations,

as well as their training manuals,

including explosives, chemical weapons, poisons,

biological weapons, all of these things.

It's only few months into these debriefing sessions

that it became clear

that I could still return to Afghanistan

with an excellent cover story.

It means that I'm going there not as a member of Al-Qaeda

but as a spy, as a double agent.

Narrator: When Dean returned to Afghanistan,

he found security around bin Laden

had become much tighter.

Aimen Dean: Osama bin Laden

became more and more invisible to his followers.

It became very difficult to always confirm his location.

I've met many jihadist leaders in my life.

There is always one unique thing about these leaders,

is that they are determined to fight

as much as they are determined to die...

..but what they always wish for

is that they don't want their death to take place

unless they have caused the enemy maximum damage.

Narrator: Whilst bin Laden was less visible

to his acolytes,

he made sure the West did not forget him.

- It was broad daylight today

when the USS Cole began to tie up

in the port city of Aden in Yemen.

The small boat with two men in it

was apparently not seen as a threat.

Tonight, we know

that five American soldiers were killed,

and a dozen are unaccounted for, and 36 were wounded.

Ali Soufan: When I arrived on the scene in October of 2000

I was in charge of the investigation.

I looked at the harbour.

It was something that you will never forget.

Many of the victims fell when they were waiting in line

to go and eat in the cafeteria.

The metal rolled like a carpet...

..and their bodies were entangled in the metal.

The smell of death,

it's something that will continue with you forever.

Bin Laden did a video

where he was wearing a Yemeni dagger.

It was I think part of his son's wedding video.

At the time, I kind of said,

"Wow, we never saw him wearing a Yemeni dagger before."

- He wanted to basically send a message

against the might of the United States.

[men singing in foreign language]

Aimen Dean: The period

in which the East Africa bombings happened,

the USS Cole happened,

the traffic into Afghanistan at the time, in and out,

was quite significant.

People were coming and going.

I started to see the build-up of Al-Qaeda's jihadists

coming to be trained to carry out attacks

that would put terror and the fear of God, literally,

into the hearts of the enemy.

[car horn honking]

Narrator: Following the bombing of the USS Cole,

bin Laden and selected senior members of Al-Qaeda

were refining their plans

for an even more ambitious attack on America.

Aimen Dean: Al-Qaeda kept the plot

under an extreme veil of secrecy.

Years after the event,

when I met some senior members of Al-Qaeda later, they said

that two thirds of Al-Qaeda Sharia council members

never knew, you know,

about the attacks until a day or two beforehand.

One of the aspects of Islamic theology

that I taught myself about was dream interpretation.

Abdulaziz al-Omari,

one of the leaders of the 9/11 hijackers, came to me

and he said that he saw a dream.

He saw himself riding a giant green bird.

Just massive, the size of an aeroplane.

And that he was riding that bird,

flying towards a massive tower.

He knew that this tower was his target,

and then he smashed into it.

He said to me, "What does it mean?"

I said "Your death is going to happen in a faraway land."

When Abu Hafs al-Masri heard the outline of the dream,

he said, "Did anyone tell you anything about any plot,

"about any operation,

"about any attack we're planning?"

And he said, "No. No-one told me anything."

So, he took him to Osama bin Laden...

..and told him to repeat the dream to him.

So, Osama bin Laden said...

"We have to include you in an operation

"because if we include you,

"then we hope that your dream will be fulfilled."

I never told the intelligence services about it at the time

because I thought, it's just a dream.

Aimen Dean: The last time I ever met him,

he appeared, as always, calm, collected, determined.

I mean no-one detected any visible change, you know,

that will tell you that something out of the ordinary,

something extraordinary is about to happen.

[ominous music playing]

[traffic noise]

- Just hours before the 9/11,

My receptionist told me, "There's somebody from Kabul.

"He is here to see you."

They put him on the phone, and he said,

"I'm here with the message from the Sheikh."

Obaidullah Baheer: I was 11 years old...

..and I remember getting out of class

and suddenly everyone's gathered in front of the TV.

Aimen Dean: I was coming to London

for debriefing with the UK intelligence services.

I went to Oxford Street,

I saw a group of people around Dixons.

There were so many TVs,

and I saw so many people congregating around the screens.

Then I saw the World Trade Center.

The first thing that came to my mind - "This is it."

So, he was looking towards the TV set...

..and there was a breaking news.

I said, "What happened?"

He said, "There is a plane crash. Plane crash."

I said, "This is just an accident.

"Why are you dancing?"

So, he gave me a piece of paper.

There was a small statement written

in Arabic language,

and he was looking towards the TV again and again,

again and again,

and he was saying... [foreign language]

"The second one, the second one, the second one."

[crowd yelling]

Obaidullah Baheer: I remember at that point,

we were jumping up and down,

we were throwing fists in the air.

Woman: Holy shit!

[indistinct chatter]

Hamid Mir: When the second plane crashed in the Twin Towers,

and the person started smiling, I collapsed on my chair.

Khaled Batarfi: I saw the towers burning

and at that time, I remember praying to God...

..please don't make Muslim mujahideen who did this,

because it will turn bad

for Islam and Muslims everywhere.

[sirens]

Hamid Mir: The statement said that,

"I am not directly responsible

"for what happened in America, but...

.."I praise their action."

That was the statement.

Reporter: You can see the two towers.

- [explosion] - A huge explosion, now!

We better get out of the way!

[woman screaming]

Woman: Oh my god!

Woman 2: Oh no!

[crying and shrieking]

Khaled Batarfi: I prayed that Al-Qaeda

has nothing to do with it,

but my prayers were not answered.

From that point on,

I prayed secretly that he would die.

[sinister music playing]

Obaidullah Baheer: After 9/11 bin Laden because our idol,

he was the hero.

If you ever asked us how the death of countless civilians

in New York City made sense,

we would be like, "Well, does the death of Palestinian people

"make sense to you?"

Now, we realised that an eye for an eye

would leave us with a blind world.

- Tonight, the United States of America

makes the following demands on the Taliban.

Deliver to United States authorities

all the leaders of Al-Qaeda who hide in your land.

They will hand over the terrorists...

..or they will share in their fate.

[bird cawing]

Translation: What America's living through today

is nothing compared to what we have been living through

for decades.

Our nation has been living for more than 80 years

with this kind of oppression.

But now God blessed a group of Muslims

and opened His doors before them,

so they were able to destroy America...

..and I hope God will exalt them and welcome them in His heaven.

[suspense music playing]

Hamid Mir: Americans were trying their level best

to hunt him down.

They were bombing Kabul very aggressively.

[distant explosions]

Narrator: Hamid Mir is taken to meet Osama bin Laden

for the third time.

Hamid Mir: It was early morning and I was blindfolded.

His son, Abdul Rahman, had a digital camera

and he was acting as my cameraman.

I started my interview.

He was full of hatred against President George W Bush.

At one moment, he said that if the Americans

will use chemical or nuclear weapons

against Afghanistan,

we can respond back in the same manner.

So, I asked him a follow-up question

and he said that, he claimed that,

"Yes, I have these kind of weapons as a deterrence."

And then somebody rushed in and he said,

"We need to leave this place as soon as possible."

So, there was panic in the room.

They left from the back door, I left from the front door.

After my last interview with bin Laden...

..I lost contact with him.

I tried to meet him again,

but I never got any information about his whereabouts.

- We had intelligence

that bin Laden was in the mountains of Tora Bora...

..which is a very difficult area to get to.

It's very, very mountainous.

I felt like, "September 11th happened,

"this is my way that I can contribute

"to the thousands of lives that were lost

"and that I can kill the person that did this."

Reporter: At Tora Bora today

US fighter planes and B52s dropped their payloads

as part of their continuing quest to destroy Al-Qaeda.

[distant explosions]

[indistinct radio chatter]

[explosion]

[indistinct radio chatter]

Tracey Walder: In those mountain regions,

it's very difficult to capture or kill one person

with only bombs.

[explosion]

Unfortunately, there was a decision

that was made that was clearly way above my pay grade

to not send ground troops into that area.

[men shouting]

Obaidullah Baheer: It was a fight between religions,

it was a fight between right, wrong -

it was that black and white for us back then.

My grandfather sent Hezb-e Islami fighters

to extract bin Laden from Tora Bora

and probably saved his life.

Tracy Walder: We believe that bin Laden

went into the Afghan-Pak border region.

We sort of felt like we had this moment,

that we could vindicate what had been done to us.

Then to see that slip away, that was very frustrating.

We lost him.

Narrator: Bin Laden and his family are fugitives.

Hunted by the world's most sophisticated

and technologically-advanced spy agencies.

[computer trilling]

[tense rhythmic music playing]

Tracy Walder: I personally did not know where he was,

but a lot of times we would sit around and talk about it.

I know that seems like a strange conversation

but sometimes it was just something we did.

I visited Afghanistan, I was covering elections there

and I came to know he is hiding in Kunar mountains.

So, I went to Kunar, and when I reached there...

..he'd left the place.

- How it is possible that when entire US intelligence...

..and other intelligence agencies

are trying to find out Osama bin Laden,

nobody is able to find Osama bin Laden.

Narrator: The intelligence agencies

would eventually discover

that, aided by old friends and associates,

bin Laden had crossed the Afghan border

into Pakistan...

..moving from safe house to safe house.

Moving in Pakistan

was not some difficult thing for Osama bin Laden.

He changed his appearance, he was moving freely.

He used to travel in the vans

he would always used to move along his family.

In Pakistan whenever you are moving with the women

at security check points,

they are lenient about you.

One or two times,

he was also stopped by the security people,

but he was having a different appearance

and he was allowed to go.

Narrator: In 2005, Osama bin Laden and his family

moved to a city in eastern Pakistan.

Azaz Syed: Most of the people

who would live around the compound of Osama bin Laden,

they are middle-class people.

This was a very unusual house.

14-foot-high walls

with the barbed wires on the top of the walls.

The balconies were also covered.

So, there was no apparent window

which anybody could use

to see inside who's living there.

Narrator: This compound became a settled home

for bin Laden, his wives and children.

Ali Soufan: We always knew

he was most probably hiding in Pakistan,

but my God, I never thought he will be just over the fence

of the biggest military academy in the country.

That was very interesting on so many different levels.

[birds twittering]

[girl laughing]

[speaking foreign language]

[inaudible chatter]

[serene music playing]

Azaz Syed: The children would play in the compound.

They were having lambs, they were having rabbits.

They were having pets over there.

[poultry chirping and squawking]

[playful screams]

[playful screams and chatter]

[serene music continues]

[firearm discharges]

He would play with the small children,

but most of the time

he would spend watching television.

[TV playing in foreign language]

Narrator: During his 10 years in hiding

bin Laden closely followed world events.

[crowds chanting]

"What we are witnessing these days

"of consecutive revolutions is a grand and glorious event.

"The exit of Muslims from being under the control of the USA.

"And the Americans worry about that,

"which is great."

[crowds chattering and singing]

[crowds yelling]

[crowds chanting]

[yelling]

[gunfire]

Narrator: Bin Laden communicated to his followers

via videos

delivered by a trusted courier.

[bin Laden speaking Arabic]

Translation: We fight because we are free men

who don't sleep under repression.

Just as you lay waste to our nation

so shall we lay waste to yours.

Tracy Walder: His followers, I guess,

were satisfied with sort of, you know, a TV appearance

once every six months or so.

And as long as they had proof of life,

I think they were satisfied in continuing his mission still.

[electronic trilling]

[suspenseful music playing]

Tracy Walder: The breakthrough was the courier.

We had information that led us to one of his couriers.

The courier was travelling to a house

and that house looked very suspicious and strange

for the area.

You know, we would have no way of knowing

that he was actually there.

And so, I think, you know, a lot of it was hypothesis.

They took a huge risk.

- I'm Robert J O'Neil,

I was a Navy SEAL for almost 17 years.

They brought us into a room,

and he said, "Alright, guys, the reason you're here

"is this is as close as we've ever been

"to Osama bin Laden."

We went to the helicopters,

and we did our last thing, you know, pee in the bush,

have a smoke, do whatever you do,

and instead of handshakes, we gave each other hugs.

And it's kinda like,

"Alright, see you on the ground, have a good fight."

So, at 80 minutes in, we bank to the south

and that's when the aircrew guys open the door

and you look out the window.

There's already a gunfight,

there's a couple bombs going off.

I look to the left, there's bin Laden's house.

We went in through the bottom

and there's a long hallway with doors on each side.

On that stairwell was Khalid bin Laden,

he's like 20 years old.

That's one of Osama bin Laden's sons.

The guy in front out-manoeuvred him, shot him.

Killed Khalid bin Laden and we went up those stairs.

Now, we were on the second floor,

there's one more stairwell to go.

We went up the stairs, and there's Osama bin Laden

standing there three feet away.

I remember thinking, "He's taller than I thought."

He was taller than me. He's skinnier than I thought.

His wife Amal is right in front of him.

He's got his hands on her shoulders

and I don't know what he's doing but he's not surrendering

and I'm assuming he is a suicide bomber.

"I have sworn to live in freedom.

"Even if I find bitter the taste of death...

.."I don't want to die humiliated or deceived."

He has a second to convince me not to kill him.

He didn't do it.

I treated him as a suicide bomber,

and I shot him in the face twice.

He fell down and I shot him again.

- Tonight, I can report to the American people

that the United States has conducted an operation

that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda...

..and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder

of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

I didn't feel ecstatic.

I didn't feel...

..excited. I just felt like...

.."OK, that's... he's done."

Just because Osama bin Laden is dead,

it does not mean that it's the end.

He might be more valuable for the organisation

dead than alive.

[crowd shouting]

My first reaction was relief.

It was an absolute sense of relief.

I did not feel the sense of either happiness,

or gloating.

He was always warm and kind to me.

It was just a sense of relief for everyone

that this man's misguided quest is over.

[majestic music playing]

Female Reporter: Taliban forces entered the heart

of the Afghan capital, Kabul, today,

the culmination of a rapid advance

and retaking of control

almost exactly two decades

after they were ousted from power.

[crowds yelling]

Obaidullah Baheer: The US lost this war

because democracy and their liberating mission

ended up becoming one and the same thing.

A liberating mission that meant

that they didn't care for our culture,

for our history, for our religion.

That they were here to replace it

and that reinforced everything

that bin Laden had talked about.

[chatter]

Ali Soufan: He is the son of a billionaire

who left everything behind...

..in order to declare war...

..that can bring the glory of Islam back.

That's how they view him, that's how they look upon him.

That's how Osama bin Laden will probably, would like...

..to be remembered.

The only problem with that,

that you have thousands and thousands of people who died

in the process.

Innocent people.

Muslims and non-Muslims.

People that had nothing to do with his wars.

That's not leadership.

So, towards the end I think it's one of these things

where the passion of the heart

blew out the candle of the brain.

Hamid Mir: Now, 20 years passed since 9/11,

and about 10 years passed since his death...

..but the world is still not very safe.

And I fear that maybe not me

but some other young journalist,

will see another bin Laden

because the situation in Afghanistan,

the situation in Palestine, the situation in Kashmir,

and in other parts of the world actually created bin Laden.

I fear we may see more bin Ladens.

Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv

[ominous theme music playing]