The U.S. government has consistently blamed me for being behind every occasion its enemies attack it. I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks [9/11], which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons. I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders’ rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations.
Osama bin Laden (Founder of al-Qaeda) quoted in “Bin Laden says he wasn’t behind attacks”, CNN, September 17, 2001 (Only later, in 2004, did bin Laden publicly acknowledge al-Qaeda’s involvement in the attacks)