在2001年9月11日恐怖袭击发生的三年前，美国远距离经历了一场未来灾难的预演：针对象征性目标的协同自杀式袭击。1998年8月7日，“基地”组织圣战分子在肯尼亚内罗毕和坦桑尼亚达累斯萨拉姆的美国大使馆外引爆了卡车炸弹。伤亡极为惨重，共造成224人死亡（其中包括12名美国人），数千人受伤。对于美国公众舆论而言，这一切听起来依然遥远而模糊，但总统比尔·克林顿的政府却感到忧心忡忡。
Three years before the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States experienced, from afar, a dress rehearsal for what was to come: coordinated suicide attacks on symbolic targets. On August 7, 1998, Al-Qaeda jihadists detonated truck bombs outside the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The toll was horrific, with 224 dead, including 12 Americans, and thousands injured. For American public opinion, all of this still felt distant and murky, but the administration of President Bill Clinton was worried.
1998年8月下旬，美方下令对阿富汗发动报复性打击，该恐怖组织当时在当地设有训练营。其领导人、沙特国籍的乌萨马·本·拉丹险些逃脱。
Retaliatory strikes were ordered in Afghanistan, where the terrorist organization operated training camps, in late August 1998. Its leader, Saudi national Osama bin Laden, narrowly escaped.
1998年9月24日，克林顿在白宫迎接了沙特阿拉伯摄政王、王储阿卜杜拉。就在前一天，他收到了国家安全顾问桑迪·伯杰提交的一份详细备忘录，其中列出了他将与沙特代表讨论的议题。本·拉丹的命运便是其中之一。“关于乌萨马·本·拉丹，我们一直施压沙特与我们合作，以切断他的活动和资金往来，”现已存档于比尔·克林顿图书馆的解密备忘录中写道。
On September 24, 1998, Clinton welcomed Crown Prince Abdullah, regent of Saudi Arabia, to the White House. The day before, he received a detailed memorandum from his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, outlining the topics he would raise with the kingdom's representative. The fate of Bin Laden was among them. "On Osama bin Laden, we have pressed the Saudis to cooperate with us in blocking his activities and financial dealings," the declassified memo, now archived at the Bill Clinton Library, states.
1998年9月24日，沙特阿拉伯摄政王、王储阿卜杜拉（左）与美国总统比尔·克林顿在白宫。
Crown Prince Abdullah, regent of Saudi Arabia (left), and US President Bill Clinton at the White House, September 24, 1998.
伯杰接着写道：“尽管沙特官员称他们已完全切断了他与家族的联系，但有报道称本·拉丹仍能动用家族资源，并且本·拉丹的一名关键同伙马达尼·纳吉布 [也被称为赛义德·塔伊布·马达尼或阿布·法德尔·马基，他在20世纪90年代曾担任‘基地’组织的财务主管] 目前住在该家族位于吉达的宅邸内。本·拉丹家族是王国中最富有的家族之一，与王室关系密切。到目前为止，沙特人（……）拒绝了我们提出的允许美国调查人员同他面对面质讯的要求。我们仍然需要这一点。”您还有该文章83.92%的内容未阅读。
Berger continued: "Although Saudi officials say they have cut him off from his family totally, there are reports that bin Ladin continues to have access to his family's resources, and a key bin Laden associate, Madani al-Tayyib [also known as Sayed Tayib al-Madani or Abu Fadhl al-Makkee, who served as Al-Qaeda's financial manager in the 1990s], lives on the family's compound in Jeddah. The bin Ladin family is one of the wealthiest in the Kingdom, with close ties to the royal family. The Saudis thus far have (...) rebuffed our efforts to allow US investigators to question him face-to-face. We still need that."
