Why did bin Laden declare a “fatwa,” or religious decree, against the United States?
U.S. intelligence officials believe bin Laden began to turn against the United States in the mid-1980s — a time when mujaheddin still accepted aid and training from the CIA, which was then helping bin Laden and other Islamic groups fight the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. The CIA funneled its aid through the Pakistani secret service, the ISI, to various cells in Afghanistan, one of them known as the MAK. In 1984, bin Laden broke with the MAK and formed a separate, more radical splinter group that espoused a harsh, fundamentalist version of Islam that was dedicated to the liberation of Islamic nations from any foreign influences. Particularly infuriating to him was America’s cozy relationship with the Saudi Royal family since the Gulf War. But bin Laden’s first public “fatwa” came only after the Gulf War. Specifically, he railed against the presence of American and European troops on the soil of the Arabian Peninsula, site of Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. Since then, U.S. intel
