Updated June 19, 2012
Osama bin Laden's messages reached his followers and his opponents through multiple media channels. The following links compile audio, video, and text by the date they were distributed, as well as photographs, videos, background, and additional resources about the former leader of al-Qaeda.
Research Links on Messages and Interviews of Osama bin Laden are divided into:
Note: the first link to the FBIS report contains the majority of speeches and interviews from 1994-2004 and is especially for translated statements that originally appeared in Arabic, Urdu, and Pashto sources, as well as the full text of documents that are only found partially elsewhere. Original media sources and transcripts mentioned in FBIS report are linked to directly when found.
The majority of interviews, statements, messages, and writings by Osama bin Laden are translated in this document.
Bin Laden's first interview with a Western journalist.
Second Robert Fisk interview with bin Laden. See complete text in FBIS report (first link), page 11, and in Fisk's book (Further Reading).
PBS translation. Bin Laden's first fatwa against Americans.
(Guardian article published in 2001, but interview took place in 1996, after bin Laden's first fatwa.) excerpt of interview by Abdul Bari Atwan (more of the interview in Atwan's book (Further Reading) and in second Guardian article (Background).
Section of third Fisk interview.
Introduction to third Fisk interview.
Third Fisk interview "A pilgrimage through a broken and dangerous land of death."
Federation of American Scientists translation (links to scan of the original article in Arabic). Second fatwa against Americans.
Posted on Free Republic (not findable on ABC page). Report by John Miller, from footage aired on ABC on September 18, 2001.
Report by Jamal Ismail. Appeared in the BBC Monitoring Service in September 22, 2001.
Richard Pyle compares Bin Ladin's conflicting statements about his involvement in U.S. embassy bombings , in separate TIME and Newsweek interviews.
By Jamal Ismail. Excerpts of 22 December 1998 interview, where bin Laden denies ties with U.S. embassy bombings.
By Rahimullah Yusufzai. bin Laden claims ties with U.S. Embassy bombings.
(Video available by purchase) report by Richard Roth. See complete text in FBIS report (first link), pages 102-103.
Report by John Miller.
Video excerpts and analysis by CIAO.
Videos compiled and messages summarized by Simon Jeffery; links to the Guardian's original reporting of each message.
Interactive chronology of summaries of bin Laden's since September 11, with links to CNN reports.
Summaries and some translated quotations only, no links to full text.
(PDF) translation prepared by George Michael, Diplomatic Language Services and Dr. Kassem M. Wahba, Johns Hopkins University.
Translated by International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
Translation of al-Jazeera broadcast of message.
Aired on al-Jazeera on January 19, 2006, translated by Associated Press (unable to find full text on their sites).
Partial transcript on KavKaz Center; al Jazeera aired only part of the hour long message.
"Exploration and contextualization..." of 17 de-classified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid; includes links to original documents and English translations,
(PDF) translated by SITE Intelligence Group.
Translation by NEFA Foundation.
Translation by NEFA Foundation. condemns Arab governments for not helping Palestinians.
Translation by NEFA Foundation; "The American People Will Reap What the White House Leaders Are Sowing."
Posted by World Analysis.
(December 27, 2011) An insight into Osama bin Laden's life through the eyes of people who knew him and met him.
Additional details surrounding Abdel Bari Atwan's November 1996 interview.
Family and personal background
How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America.
2008 study on "how Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups use the Internet to spread their message of global jihad."
Daily transcripts of the USA v. Usama bin Laden et al trial, collected from Court Reporters office.
June 10, 1999. Al-Jazeera program that supplements Jamal Isma'il's December 1998 interview with bin Laden. (page may load slowly)
"Photographs in the life of Osama bin Laden - from Soviet-occupied Afghanistan to death in Pakistan. (Pictures: Getty/Reuters)"
Profiles and history of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, their ideology, government documents, news, and radical Islam in context.
Original clips and translations from "Arabic, Persian, Urdu-Pashtu, and Turkish media," and special reports and analysis. Free registration to view materials 2 months and older.
Non-profit, research organization that "strives to help prevent future tragedies in the U.S. and abroad by exposing those responsible for planning, funding, and executing terrorist activities."
Below are links to previews of books that contain primary source materials on bin Laden, which can be searched online, but not read in full. See also Foreign Affairs Reading List on bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
Preview on Google books; Chapter 4: "Usama bin Ladin and his movement" covers primary sources August 1996-2000.
Review of book that contains complete December 1998 interview with bin Laden.
Preview on Google Books. includes details of Fisk's interviews with bin Laden.
Preview on Google Books. 24 statements,from December 29, 1994 ("first of his public pronouncement intended for a wider audience") to December 16, 2004.
Includes U.S. government memos and profiles about bin Laden.
Preview on Google Books. Includes statements by bin Laden and those who taught and met him: "Chronological record of what is known about bin Laden from his birth in 1957 to 2005."
Search text through Amazon Preview. Table of Contents summarizes each letter and statement.
Preview on Google Books, chapter: Inside the Lair: With bin Laden at Tora Bora
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