>> it's the shock being felt around the world. iraq invaded kuwait. >> it look less than two days. supported by more than 800

armored vehicles to overrun oil-rich kuwait. >> u.s. forces from the mat man of baghdad. they were infuriated that they were deployed in the land of the prophet. 991991, operation desert storm expels forces from kuwait. it was a defining moment for bin laden, now al qaeda and other terror groups set sights on a new target. >> you saw more of a movement, an identity from islamist extremism. it has some leadership. >> art cummings is the acting assistant director for counter terrorism. he has been tracking terrorism for 19 years. >> we didn't have a very particular easily defined

nationality. you could find asians or pakastanis. >> jihad basically made a ceasefire. they then redirected jihad. >> 26 february, 1993. a radical parts a van with 1200 pounds of explosives beneath the world trade center's north tower. >> the bombing, six were killed and thousands were injured. we put down a sign and the focus was on the o.j. simpson trial. they were telling us what they intended to do. we didn't want to listen. >> he is now 7ing a life sentence. >> he was being part of the afghan war. very skillful and intelligence and ruthless. >> the international intelligence community was very much at a disadvantage. >> the cia director from 1993 to

1995. >> information obtained by the bureau under the federal criminal procedure couldn't be shared outside prosecuting team. we had justice department instructions to keep intelligence and anything about that completely separate from law enforcement. >> a lot of the substance is looking into the connections that were not really shared with the foreign intelligence community. this is principally a law enforcement matter and seen that way at the time. just as it had been in the 80s. you had a broad movement with an identity, but we can't track it back. maybe sometimes we can to some degree, but more times than not, it's by al qaeda. >> can you say to the american people. here's what we need to be better at what we do. >> world trade center one. you invested a neighborhood where the bomb had been built.

they said it didn't belong here and they came in day and night. in the storage facility. the next question is did it occur to talk to somebody about that? >> the mid-1990s, al qaeda was competing for dominance. if are all of them, westerners were an ideal target. bin laden moved operations from saudi arabia to sudan. they expelled him in 1996, he fled to afghanistan. in 1998, he issued a full-fledged declaration of war against infidels and america in particular. >> we did not respond. congress did not meet. the president did not go to congress. there was something wrong with the jihadists marching and the victims were not responding. >> khalid shaikh mohammed was

part of his inner circle. >> he was the brains behind bin lad laden. terrorism in the united states will do us good. >> 7 august, 1998. two american embassies in kenya and tanzania are bombed and 4,000 are wounded and 2,000 killed, including 12 americans. plipt retaliated by launching missiles into afghanistan and sudan. >> i have responsibility to protect this country. tried and i failed to get bin laden. i regret it, but i tried. i did everything i thought i could responsibly could. >> al qaeda strikes in yemen. suicide bombers hit the harbor, killing another 17 americans. >> one of the great enemies is to have been able to blur the vision and the generations that came before us. that's how we were defeated in

the first phase of the war on terror. >> 19 suicide terrorists. 15 of them from saudi arabia. hijacked four u.s. airliners and crashed them into the twin towers of the world trade center, the pentagon and a farmer's field in pennsylvania. >> for the type of pilot to go over the pentagon and say the rugs hit us on september 11th, 2001, that's a problem. it means that somebody didn't inform the pilot that the cold war was over. that basically is an indicator that our education was not yet on top. >> all of a sudden inside the u.s., 3,000 americans killed in a couple of hours on a tuesday morning. >> yet even today, there seemed to be some that don't accept that we are at war. are we? >> we are at war, no question. not just after 9/11.

it's the technology. it's 9/11 with airplanes and nuclear weapons. we have our own cities. they equal all the wars we thought over 230 years. >> here in israel, the concrete wall is dramatically reduced the number of bombings by radical terrorists. what happens if it's the boy next door? how this teen from a goat ranch

>> in the 70s he changed his name and married a woman and moved to a goat ranch without running water or electricity. they home schooled their four children. >> i referred to them the goats next door. not face to tas obviously. >> the kids at a distance they looked the same and they had long hair. two of them were boys. are they are the ones who will end it. >> one of the boys was this man. he's the latest homegrown face of al qaeda and a long way from his youthful dreams that help the environment. >> his younger brother talked about him on the website you tube.

>> my brother is adam also known as saddam the american. i never due him as that, of course, but it's a bad light on my family. >> what is the status of him today? >> everything in the united states government can levee against him. all of our colleagues in the intelligence community. >> when adam is 17, he was into heavy metal music and lives here in santa ana, california. he wrote of that time on the internet. my grandmother, a computer wiz hooked up to america online. i begin to visit the religion folders and the news groups when i found islam to be the most intriguing. he attended this mosque and formally converted to islam in 1995. >> adam was radicalized at a young age and he found

charismatic leadership that can talk to them. >> it was here that adam punched out an imam and linked to pakistan and jordan. he introduced adam to bin laden. shortly after the death of his grandfather in 1998, adam disappeared in pakistan. a year later, he was arrested in pakistan and imprisoned in jordan, suspected of terrorist activities. back in california, his brother defended him, calling him a family man. he declined the request for an interview, but said his brother is dead and any questions won't help anything now. after being released in may 2001, some reports say he was killed for collaborating and others claim he was killed by soldiers in a raid in 2005.

no one knows for sure. he is president of west coast islamic story and works for the state of california for the substances control. he said his brother's troubles haunts his family. just four days ago they charged adam with treason. >> it is not a crime only against the american people, but against america itself. >> the case is very important. he is now the spokesperson for al qaeda for north america. what happened at the conversion so that after the conversion he feels he has to go to this and join the jihadist. that is the big question. who is doing those conversions? we don't know who is bringing them and who is meeting them. these are the jihadists. >> and the leader puts himself at enormous personal jeopardy if

he stands up and speaks up. have you been threatened for speaking up? >> i have been threatened many times. >> they might be able to kill me, but my husband is already all over. >> interviewing the moderate voices of islam can be a challenge. we confirmed an interview and in "time" magazine he said the terrorists are the murderers and god will deal with them on judgment day. he canceled with less than 24 hours's notice. then imam agreed to sit down with him. he has been a guest at the white house twice. >> the imam supported this july 2005 spot signed by the canadian muslims that declares all acts of terrorism against civilians are forbidden in islam.

when we arrived, he told us he could no longer do the interview. he directed us to his deputy as an expert on the koran. >> there those who profess in the name of islam to justify flying planes into the world trade center and blow themselves up at a wedding in jordan and profess to do that to muslims, christians and jews. that's not the islam you described to me. >> they say fight those who fight you. the people who were in the airplane were not fighting. those who transgress. >> the egyptian born moved here and became an american citizen. >> the momentary operation now. it has been much criticized by islamic leaders all over the

world. >>. >> to prevend islam. >> if a young person came to you and wished to be a martyr, what would you say? >> help americans understand the peace that was cast in your life. >> finally imam decided he would answer some of those same questions. >> if a young person came to see you and said imam, i want to be a suicide bomber. i want to get on a bus in downtown washington and blow yourself up, what would you say? >> there should be no reason why anyone would want to commit suicide and drop bombs.

>> it's truly a global war. can the west prevail? that's next on war stories.

is this a war that we can win? >> i think it is a war we can win, but it may take 25 years. it's a war we have to stay at. >> the cia estimates at least 5,000 terrorists have been captured or killed in this jihad since september 11th, 2001. >> they are not looked@sports heroes or movie stars. they are looking at martyrdom. they can watch "american idol"

at night and the next morning put a suicide vest on. >> the hard core islamist hates the united states in part because we represent everything they hate. a kind of world that the true believer wants to create. it's not a world of tolerance and democracy and freedom of oppression. >> they are prepared to do everything they can do. they welcome death. young men and women. >> what promises are made to women? >> women in this part of the world feel threatened. in one of the most extreme or oppressions is you have sinned, you have been bad and you are going hell. this is a way to be better. >> she straps on the vest and blows herself up. >> given this mind set, with armed combat being waged in iran and afghanistan, can we win?

>> did either of those go against us, i think we will still be digging ourselves out from under a hole in 25 years. >> we have been successful with an afghanistan and pakistan and saudi arabia. we are making progress in iraq. the key is to get them to participate and we recruited hundreds of thousands of people in security services and armed forces to fight the bad guy. >> that's for the future and we withdraw before we have been able to get iraqis to be up and running. if that happens, we will be dealing with nuclear capabilities. >> what about the people of iran. do they want a confrontation with the west? >> you think they don't want to be jihadists. they want to wear jeans and watch mtv. >> imagine in your mind a scenario and a vision, a miracle

that it's the u.s. the whole mideast will look differently. can they stop the jihad? >> most people don't want to live under the thumb of the leaders be it islamic or buddhist or whatever. >> i want him to be exposed to more culture. so they can choose their own way of flying. >> what's the role in all of this? >> they were at the disposal of the extreme violence. they inhibited it and they don't need to convince them.

except for canada and norway, most of the exporters were dictatorships or autocratic kingdoms. >> they were going to support some of the causes. >> you know what will happen if we disengage. we have to be aggressive and have offense and eliminate the terrorists and those in response to terrorists. >> this is the struggle. >> i would compare it with 1940. then again we were engaged in a struggle. we can say that i felt more optimistic then than i do now. >> winston churchill will have to face the opposition that

president bush faces and i would have won his war. >> it will be a really, really difficult transition. after all, in 1945 at the end of world war ii, there were 20 democracies and today approximately 120. >> let me put it this way. either we destroy them or they destroy us. destroy us. >> there is more when war my "business" was going nowhere... so i built this kickin' new website with godaddy. building a website in under an hour is easy! 68% of people... ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too. type in your business or idea. pick your favourite design. personalize it with beautiful images. and...you're done!

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♪music ♪yea, you can be the greatest ♪you can be the best ♪you can be the king kong ♪bangin on your chest ♪you can beat the world you can beat the war♪ ♪you can talk to god while bangin on his door♪ ♪you can throw your hands up you can beat the clock♪ ♪you can move a mountain you can break rocks♪ ♪you can be a master don't wait for luck♪ ♪dedicate yourself and you can find yourself♪ ♪standin in the hall of fame ♪yea ♪and the world's gonna know your name, yea♪ ♪and you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame♪ ♪you can be a champion ♪be a champion ♪in the walls of the hall of fame♪ ♪be students, be teachers be politicians, be preachers♪

♪yea, yea ♪be believers, be leaders, be astronauts, be champions♪ ♪standin in the hall of fame >> as we have shown tonight, the struggle against jihad is unlikely to end soon. it's essential to combat it here in the mideast and around the globe. if you began the fight years ago and battle the threat today,

theirs is a war story that deserves to be told. from jerusalem, i'm oliver north. good night. tonight on war stories, reviled and revered, no middle ground when it came to this legendary military man. >> he said, gentlemen, i will be landing on the 15th of september or you will have a new commander. >> from those that worked with him -- >> i said relieved of your four commands. >> -- to those that loved him. >> always say that. the young ones. >> they're all part of the life and times of general douglas macarthur. that's next on "war stories." ♪