I remember hearing about Bin Laden before 9/11, but I don't remember exactly where or when. My son was studying International Relations in High School and we had several discussions about extremist groups and countries that the U.S. considered extreme -- North Korea, Iraq, etc. I do remember that his name was associated with the Cole bombing and I remember chills going through me at that time that we could be breached so easily.

It was after 9/11, but I taped a show of a reporter, John Miller, who was meeting with Osama bin Laden in the Middle East. Osama was telling him how he would attack the USA by flying planes into buildings, demonstrating the flight with his hand. They were driving in a car. Is anyone else familiar with this video or film? I saw it in the same week of 9/11.

rosemarykassel@yahoo.com

The New York Times ran a rather comprehensive article about Osama bin Laden on August 21, 1998, in which I remember reading that his origins were in a part of Yemen that is ultra conservative. The article was chilling in its detail of bin Laden's fundamentalist views that called for death and carnage of infidel powers, namely "The West", in order to protect Islam and Muslim lands. Subsequent articles in the Times about Afghanistan under Taliban rule, well before 9/11/01, repeated the name of bin Laden.

When the events of September 11, 2001 occured, the name of Osama bin Laden and his radical ideology was already known to me.

I just registered and wanted to resend my comment. I didn't see Osama bin Laden before 9/11, but I did see an older show that was John Miller (formerly of Fox news?) interviewing OBL in a car about an attack. OBL was telling him how he would fly planes into buildings and demonstrating this with his hand. I was wondering what happened to this show and if it had been commented on before.

I had read an interview with Osama Bin Laden in a 1999 article in Esquire describing him as possibly the most dangerous man in the world. I'd seen photographs in other magazines in the late nineties showing Bin Laden having face-to-face interviews with well known American reporters and what made it particularly memorable for me was the fact that he was making clear threats to bring the kind of violence one sees in the middle east here to the United States. The idea of that stayed with me. That and the wonder I felt at his nonchalance in the presence of an American public figure. When 9/11 happened and Bin Laden's name was mentioned, my first thought was of that photograph of him calmly explaining his plans.

I first remember hearing about bin laden when Clinton lobbed the cruiseys at him and I thought"those are cool tools and how could we miss?" Then about 3 monthes later, I had a guy come into my scuba shop and buy a roller bag that doubled as a back pack and was all giddy because he said he had been granted an interview with bin laden. I asked where he was going and he said he wasn't quite sure but he was going to have to do a lot of flying and walking and that is why he wanted the bag. I think I have seen the guy and the interview on TV since. Possibly 60 minutes.

I couldn't find it online in Newsweek magazine archives, but I remember reading a few short paragraphs about bin Laden located on the first few pages of their magazine. It was at least a few years prior to 9/11. It showed a picture of bin Laden that I believe was like the familiar portrait we see today. It said he was one of the most dangerous men alive.

I was in France on vacation in August of 1998, when President Clinton ordered the bombing of Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for the Kenya/Tanzania bombings. Bin Laden was one of the targets. I'm sure I would have read his name in the American press if I had been here, but I was startled with the focus on him in the French press. The satirical French weekly "Charlie Hebdo" in particular was rife with cartoons of bin Laden. In retrospect, they were 10 years ahead of "The Family Guy." Just for nostalgia, here's a picture of a young Osama bin Laden in easier times.

Yes I deffinately recall hearing the name Bin Laden.
On a Sunday evening while watching 60 minutes, back in 1990. I recall hearing about how we (the U.S.) aided the Afghan resistance agianst the Soviets. In the news story, he was a major player in the region.

The Irony of the whole thing is that I was sitting in the crew living quarters aboard the newly commisioned USS Abraham Lincoln in Newport News Va.on the eve of Operation Desert Storm. If I recall correctly, Bin Ladin was interviewed by a reporter named John Miller. It seems that Rod Serling would have been the more appropriate person to interview Bin Ladin in light of what I consider the surreal convergence of the USS Abraham Lincoln, both George Bush Jr. & Sr., and a young sailor from New York City.
The year prior to these events then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheyney presided at the commisioning of the Abraham Lincoln.

Mission Accomplished.

I remember hearing about OBL during congressional testimony from Oliver North. He had been asked about why his elaborate security system had cost so much, and who it was that had him so badly spooked. He named OBL by name, but wasn't allowed to elaborate very much. You could see in Col. North's eyes, that he was quite serious.
I'm no fan of Ollie North, but I sensed that he was being honest, even if a bit irrational. There was my 'heads up", but I didn't pay any more attention until 9/11. At this point, my *opinion* seems to diverge from everyone else's, as to what the realities might be.

I think the Congressional hearings were concerning the Iran Contra affair, so that would have been the Regan years?

Remember very well. Clinton was at a Union Fundrasier in Chicago and came out to a podium and said, "I just ordered airstrikes on Ben Lay-den in Sudan". It was sureal because Clinton was reading from a paper and most of the time he would speak without notes. The point that stuck out was the "Ben Lay-den" pronuciation. Like it was the first time he heard the name. The airstike was a complete failure and cost taxpayers millions. All he blew up was an Advil factory and killed the nighttime janitor. A sad day in American use of force.

Yes, I remember hearing about bin Laden right after the first WTC bombing. I also remember walking around the WTC in July of 2001 thinking to my self that the concrete barriers and other "precautions" wouldn't stop someone from trying to bring them down.

Bin Laden's name was one that maintained a low grade hum in the media for a long time. USS Cole, Oklahoma City(act of terror not a direct connection) and Nairobi kept his name buzzing around my head. I would even make jokes about him with friends. If you don't remember bin Laden you were more than likely not paying attention. The 90's were filled with all sorts of news and non-news filling the air.

Remember just before 9/11 most Americans were busy worrying about "Shark Attacks" and Gary Condit/Chandra Levy.

It doesn't surprise me that in a day and age when people live in 60 second news and have a 90 second memory that it took a major tragedy for them to remember a name like bin Laden.

I guess it was in '97 (although it feels to me much earlier) when he gave a tv interview wherin he declared war on the U.S. and negated boundaries between government and civilian targets.

I remember being rather engrossed with the interview and feeling a profound sense of fear and foreboding knowing this man would not be taken seriously.

I absolutely remember the first time I heard Bin Laden's name. It was when Oliver North was testifying before the congress. He said something to the effect that everyone in the world was naive when it came to tyrants like Bin Laden! I had no idea of who he was.. but I got the distinct impression that he was the ultimate in people to be feared; most capable of torture and devastation. I've always wondered if I was the only one in the world who heard him say it... and was impacted by the concern someone with North's experience had over him.

When I heard about the first jet crashing into the WTC, I thought it might be a freak accident. When the second one hit, I immediately thought, "Osama Bin Laden!" I had seen a PBS/Frontline documentary on him, some months earlier. Based on that documentary, he was the most obvious suspect.

It's funny that Family Guy was mentioned in the program. That was the first time that I heard about him. Only it wasn't during that episode, it was an earlier one that has been edited since 9/11. The scene was of the baby (Stewie) attempted to smuggle some weapons onto a plane and distracted security by singing "The Good Ship Lolly-pop". After grabbing his bag, he said, "Let's hope that Osama bin Laden doesn't know any show tunes!". The camera then turned to an Osama bin Laden singing a song (from the Music Man?) to distract security as a suitcase filled with knives went unnoticed through the x-ray machine.

I remember first hearing about bin Laden after the embassy bombings in 1998, when I was in high school, and I remember reading a story about his suspected involvement in plots to kill the Pope and President Clinton in sniper or bomb attacks. I particularly remember a video of him, shot at night, walking across the sand with a small group of his followers, which was used as file footage. I thought, he doesn't look frightening, but this man is clearly one of the most dangerous people alive today. After the report, I said to my family that the USA should spend however much time and money was required to track down this man and his lieutenants, and either kill or capture them. After the USS Cole bombings, I became even more convinced of that.

After 9/11, I heard a story on ABC News about a woman who had talked to Mohammad Atta some time before the attacks. He came into her office, and started talking to her about his desire for modified crop-dusting airplanes, expressed interest in an aerial photo of D.C., and talked about Osama bin Laden as the greatest man in the world. She had no idea who he was talking about. I remember being so angry after hearing that interview. Why didn't she remember all of the bombings, and why didn't she make the connection and a phone call? It's unfair to expect that, I suppose, but it's just one more missed connection, and one more reason to pay attention to the news.

Yes. Sometime after the Saudi Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 which killed US troops, and the US Embassies in Africa Bombings in 1998. Around that time AlQu'aida declared war on the USA and I remember hearing about Osama BinLaden being this rich Saudi-Yemeni recluse organizing things from Afghanistan and being an enemy of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the Saudis blocked and still block the US from investigating the Khobar Towers bombing. At least Clinton bombed the camps in Afghanistan, but his bombing the pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum was strange, but we also bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, so we were making lots of weird mistakes then. I thought we weren't taking these threats seriously enough. I didn't understand why Congress didn't declare war on this group that declared war on us, or why after nearly 15 years of this we don't have Arabic capabilities in 'Intelligence.' I also thought Bush dropped the ball on the USS Cole bombing in October 2000, which he ignored once our investigation confirmed Alqu'aida's involvement in late 2000. And then we counted Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as our allies. I don't get any of this. When the Twin Towers were first hit, I called it on BinLaden. I was more surprised that the Pentagon and NYC would be unprotected by the military and Bush would be on the run all the day.... curiouser and curiouser.

Mid 2000, in Robert Young Pelton's 4th edition of "The World's Most Dangerous Places". A fantastic book! After he was named as the mastermind, and people said "Just put a million dollar bounty on his head. He'll be gone in a week." I could point to page 294 and show that there's BEEN a $5 million bounty on his head for years, and no one can get near him.