Frontline
Hunting Bin Laden
E13 Apr 13, 1999 TV-MA
FRONTLINE's "Hunting Bin Laden," produced in collaboration with The New York Times, investigates Osama bin Laden, who is charged with masterminding the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa which killed 224 and injured over 5,000. A wealthy Saudi Arabian exile who is now believed to be hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan with a $5 million bounty on his head--this report explores who bin Laden is, offering intriguing background and insight into his life and motives: from his formative experience in the Afghan jihad, or holy war, against the Soviets, to his scathing attacks on the Saudi royal family and his campaign to drive American "infidel" troops out of Saudi Arabia, to his statements and fatwahs calling for the murder of innocent Americans. But is the U.S. fixation on bin Laden correct? While U.S. investigators have targeted him as the leader and financier of a complex terrorism network with active cells all over the world, some informed observers believe the U.S. has exaggerated his role and, in doing so, turned Osama bin Laden into a folk hero for the Muslim world. Interviewing a range of Muslim leaders and activists, "Hunting Bin Laden" also examines whether the bombings and bin Laden's vendettas reflect a widespread anger against the United States throughout the Islamic world. One example of this is the reaction of an American Muslim community to the presence of American forces in Saudi Arabia, the land of Islam's holy mosques. Almost universally they feel it is a profound religious insult. "The Africa embassy bombings is not the problem," says one of them, "Africa is the expression of the problem." This FRONTLINE/New York Times report also raises tough questions about the evidence used to justify Washington's retaliatory missile strikes in Sudan against bin Laden. Drawing on interviews and official documents, the report shows how U.S. officials have backed away from their original statements that the targeted Sudanese factory was linked to chemical
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