The CIA on Friday declassified more than 70 presidential intelligence notes relating to the jihadist group Al-Qaeda and its former leader Osama bin Laden, 25 years after the September 11 attacks.
The release brings “unprecedented transparency into America’s most sensitive intelligence file, covering the years before and the day after one of the darkest moments in our history,” the CIA said in a statement.
These documents “trace the history of CIA analysts’ fluctuating understanding of Al-Qaeda, and its efforts to shed light on Osama bin Laden’s attack plans, despite scant, unclear and imperfect information,” she continues.
Two notes from 1998 on Al-Qaeda plans
One of the notes, dated September 10, 1998, warns that Al-Qaeda “could crash a plane full of explosives into an American city.”
Another, dated December 4, 1998, indicates that Osama bin Laden “and his allies are preparing for attacks in the United States, including the hijacking of a plane.”
On September 11, 2001, the United States was the target of four coordinated suicide attacks, perpetrated by 19 members of the Islamist group Al-Qaeda and which left nearly 3,000 dead.
When passengers discovered the horror after September 11.
Tribute to the victims of the attacks
The United States paid tribute on Friday to the victims of the September 11 attacks, which occurred 25 years ago, notably through a ceremony in New York, without Donald Trump but with four of his predecessors.
At “Ground Zero”, the site of the former twin towers of the World Trade Center, relatives of the victims devoted the entire morning to the solemn reading of the names of the dead, in a district of southern Manhattan sealed off for the occasion.
While the speeches are usually very focused, two relatives of the missing took advantage of the platform to attack Saudi Arabia, where the majority of the hijackers came from as well as the instigator of the attacks, the leader of Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden, accusing the United States of complicity.
Donald Trump chose to speak from the Pentagon, headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, also targeted that day by a plane hijacked by hijackers from the jihadist organization.
Firefighters climb 110 stories to honor their colleagues who died during 9/11.
