Washington (CNN) -- In Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa calling for violent jihad against the United States, a key part of the al Qaeda leader's first rationale for holy war is oil.
"For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples," bin Laden said.
In 2004, three years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, bin Laden summoned his followers to attack oil installations in the Middle East as a way to jack up gas prices and destabilize the American economy.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey has tried to call attention to the link between America's addiction to foreign oil and terrorism. He has repeatedly said U.S. taxpayers were paying for "both sides" in the war on terror, American soldiers on one end and the terrorists who receive support from oil-rich nations on the other.
On every fuel efficient vehicle he drives, he posts the same bumper sticker: "BIN LADEN HATES THIS CAR."
Woolsey's latest petro-sipping car bearing that sticker is a 2011 Chevy Volt which runs on both electricity and gas.
Another way to beat al Qaeda: Energy independence? - CNN.com
"For over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples," bin Laden said.
In 2004, three years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, bin Laden summoned his followers to attack oil installations in the Middle East as a way to jack up gas prices and destabilize the American economy.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey has tried to call attention to the link between America's addiction to foreign oil and terrorism. He has repeatedly said U.S. taxpayers were paying for "both sides" in the war on terror, American soldiers on one end and the terrorists who receive support from oil-rich nations on the other.
On every fuel efficient vehicle he drives, he posts the same bumper sticker: "BIN LADEN HATES THIS CAR."
Woolsey's latest petro-sipping car bearing that sticker is a 2011 Chevy Volt which runs on both electricity and gas.
Another way to beat al Qaeda: Energy independence? - CNN.com