Cika wannan magana: Takardun hukumar sun nuna cewa an yi imanin cewa Osama bin Laden yana tallafawa 'yan tawayen Afghanistan da ke adawa da Tarayyar Soviet a shekarun 1980. A 1991, bin Laden ya koma kasarsa ta Saudiyya don nuna rashin amincewa da kasancewar sojojin, da kuma Operation Desert Storm. An kore shi daga kasar. A shekara ta 1996, CIA ta kafa wata kungiya don farautar bin Laden. Sun yi musayar bayanai da Sudan har sai, a kan maganar wata majiya wadda daga baya za a gano cewa mai ƙirƙirawa ne, CIA ta rufe tashar Sudan a ƙarshen wannan shekarar. A shekarar 1998, bin Laden zai ayyana yaƙi ga Amurka, kuma, a ranar 7 ga watan Agusta, zai kai hari a Tanzania da Nairobi. A ranar 12 ga Oktoba, 2000, Al Qaeda
ya yi wa jirgin ruwan USS "Cole" bam. A farkon kwanakin shugabancin George W. Bush, barazanar Al Qaeda ta kasance a ko'ina a cikin bayanan shugabancin CIA na yau da kullun, amma yana iya zama batun kuka da kyarkeci. Hasashen hukumar ya kasance mummunan amma ba shi da nauyi, kuma hankalin shugaban da ma'aikatan tsaro sun kasance a wani wuri. CIA ta shirya kama wadanda ake zargi da zama mambobin Al Qaeda ta hanyar hadin gwiwa da hukumomin kasashen waje, amma CIA ba za ta iya cewa tabbatacce abin da tasirin wadannan kame-kame ya yi ba, kuma ba zai iya samun ingantaccen bayani daga wadanda aka kama ba. Shugaban ya tambayi CIA idan Al Qaeda na iya shirya hare-hare a Amurka. A ranar 6 ga watan Agusta, Bush ya karbi rahoto na yau da kullum tare da taken, ba bisa ga halin yanzu ba, ingantaccen hankali, "Al Qaeda ya ƙuduri aniyar kai hari a cikin Amurka". Amurkawa sun farautar bin Laden tun 1996 kuma sun sami dama da yawa, amma ba Clinton, ko Bush sun so su yi kasada da taka rawar gani a cikin wani makircin kisan gilla, kuma cikakkiyar dama ba ta taɓa faruwa ba ga DCI wanda zai ba shi tabbacin da yake buƙata don ɗaukar nutsewa. A wannan rana, Richard A. Clarke ya aika da mai ba da shawara kan harkokin tsaro na kasa Condoleezza Rice ya yi gargadin hadarin, da kuma nuna rashin amincewa da CIA.