Osama bin Laden issues his second fatwa, or religious ruling. He calls for jihad against U.S. military and civilian targets anywhere in the world. The fatwa represents a shift from criticizing the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia.
Even with this fatwa, bin Laden’s name and the al Qaeda cause had been obscure outside of Saudi Arabia and Sudan. But bin Laden’s call enervates a new generation of fighters throughout the Middle East, in the madrassas in Pakistan, as well as in the Muslim west. “Publicity was the currency bin Laden was spending, replacing his wealth with fame, and it repaid him with recruits and donations,” writes Lawrence Wright in Looming Tower.