Who Is Behind The Bombings?
Saudi Arabia used to be considered safe for Americans - at least as safe as Kenya and Tanzania, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Simon.
However, that changed quickly one day in 1995 when a car bomb exploded in the Saudi capitol of Riyadh, killing five Americans. In case that message was not received, a truck bomb went off six months later outside a barracks in Khobar, killing 19 U.S. servicemen.
The prime suspect in both bombings is a Saudi citizen named Osama bin Laden. He is worth at least $200 million, and is believed to be using his fortune as a trust fund for terrorism.
In the 1980s, he fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Then he started trying to topple the pro-American monarchy at home in Saudi Arabia. He fled to the Sudan in 1991 and when things got too hot for him there, he went back to Afghanistan where he is today.
His reach is believed to extend far beyond the Persian Gulf. The FBI thinks he bankrolled the bombing of the world trade center in 1993. When terrorist Ramsey Yousef was arrested in 1995, he was staying at a guest house paid for by Osama bin Laden.
What about a promise of revenge against Americans made this week by Egyptian Jihad?
The leader of that outfit is believed to be residing in Afghanistan right now, along with his colleague, Osama bin Laden.
In a news conference this May, Laden himself renewed his threat against Americans -- a threat taken so seriously that the State Department ordered security tightened at embassies throughout the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Of course, there seemed no reason to worry about Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
Reported by Bob Simon
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