EX-JIHADI SPEAKS

Bin Laden had 'No Clue' About 9/11 Retaliation





WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden had no idea the U.S. would hit al-Qaeda as hard as it has since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, says Noman Benotman, who was head of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in the summer of 2000. "I'm 100 percent sure they had no clue about what was going to happen."

Sitting on the floor at bin Laden's compound in Kandahar, Afghanistan during a meeting the summer before the attacks, Benotman shocked bin Laden and more than 200 other international jihadist leaders by telling the al-Qaeda leader his jihadi strategy was "a total failure."

"He asked for my help. Bin Laden asked me personally, you know. I responded immediately on the spot, 'No. I'm not going to help you.'"

Bin Laden was stunned.

Benotman says he spoke frankly because his reputation allowed him to . . . he was someone bin Laden respected.

"What happened after the 11th of September was beyond their imagination, " says Benotman, who adds that al-Qaeda thought the U.S. was a "paper tiger."

"I've spent more time in the front line engaging with the enemy than bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri and the entire group of al-Qaeda."

Zawahiri laughed when he warned those at the 2000 meeting that the U.S. response would be swift, hard and long. Zawahiri, according to Benotman, expected only a missile attack.

"When they attacked the embassies in East Africa, they estimated the U.S. launched 75 cruise missiles and eight people got killed. So they said this time, maybe they will launch 200 and they laughed about this."


Noman Benotman with gun.

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) also known as Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya is the most powerful radical faction waging Jihad in Libya against Colonel Moammar al-Qadhafi. Shortly after the 9-11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate of al-Qaeda) by the UN 1267 Committee.

This man's testimony rings true. Read the rest here.