Bin Laden Son-in-Law on 9/11: He Told Me 'We Did It'

Osama wondered about US response
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2014 2:59 AM CDT
Bin Laden Son-in-Law Describes 9/11 Cave Meeting
In this courtroom sketch, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, right, testifies at his trial in New York.   (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

On the night of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden summoned his future son-in-law to a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan to tell him, "We are the ones who did it," and seek his opinion on what would happen next, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith told a Manhattan courtroom yesterday. Ghaith says he told bin Laden that "America, if it was proven that you were the one who did this, will not settle until it accomplishes two things: to kill you and topple the state of Taliban," the New York Times reports.

Ghaith testified that bin Laden told him he was being "too pessimistic." The 48-year-old Kuwaiti cleric, who is married to bin Laden's daughter, Fatima, surprised the court with his decision to testify, CBS reports. He testified that in the months before the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden had invited him to preach at al-Qaeda training camps. Under cross-examination, he admitted that he had heard talk that "something big" was going to happen. Ghaith, who became an al-Qaeda spokesman in the weeks after 9/11, is charged with aiding terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans. He faces life in prison if convicted. (More Sulaiman Abu Ghaith stories.)

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