Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

==Late 1990s–2001: The Road to 9/11==
The rise of Al Qaeda and the global reach, facilitated in large part through covert funding from intelligence organizations facilitated it being named as the perpetrators of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The Terror Timeline provides a detailed chronology, noting that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an al Qaeda operative, proposed the plot in 1996, and bin Laden approved it by 1999 (Thompson, 2004, p. 189). Training for the hijackers occurred in Afghanistan and the U.S., with Ali Mohamed again playing a key role, as detailed in Triple Cross. Lance writes, “Mohamed’s 'penetration' of U.S. agencies ensured al Qaeda’s plans remained undetected” (Lance, 2006, p. 245).

Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner (2007) critiques the CIA’s intelligence failures, stating, “The CIA had no actionable intelligence on al Qaeda’s 9/11 plot, despite scattered warnings” (Weiner, 2007, p. 481). Similarly, The Secret History of the CIA by Joseph J. Trento (2001) notes internal dysfunction, with “rivalries between CIA and FBI hampering efforts to track al Qaeda” (Trento, 2001, p. 398).
Towers of Deception by Barrie Zwicker (2006) and Coverup by Peter Lance (2004) allege government complicity in failing to prevent 9/11, though they focus more on conspiracy theories than al Qaeda’s actions. Zwicker claims, “The 9/11 attacks were enabled by deliberate intelligence failures” (Zwicker, 2006, p. 156), while Lance argues, “The FBI’s mishandling of Ali Mohamed left the U.S. vulnerable” (Lance, 2004, p. 203).

The Pinochet File by Peter Kornbluh (2003) briefly references al Qaeda in the context of post-9/11 security policies, noting that “the Bush administration’s focus on al Qaeda shaped its approach to global counterterrorism” (Kornbluh, 2003, p. 480). This suggests al Qaeda’s centrality to U.S. policy after the attacks.