The Yemeni government has just arrested a vast number of people and thrown them all in prison in the hope that the guilty would rise to the surface and they'd be able to give the Americans some of what it is that the U.S. appeared to want.

It was very, very intense during that period.

It was really a crescendo of us raising our game to try to disestablish al-Qaeda.

And Al-Qaeda, with the flush of success from 9-11, raising their game, drive us out of Yemen and to intimidate the Yemeni government.

Through that first year, it was very touch and go about which side was going to prevail.

And once again, all fingers point to al-Harati and his network.

The FBI was... gradually, methodically accumulating evidence.

The Yemeni government itself issued a white paper to the parliament during this period, which laid out a lot of the details of the terrorist activity, including the attack on the merchant vessel Limburg, the French oil tanker, and Abu Ali's fingerprints were on those operations.

And it's actually notable within the jihadi circles that while he was in prison, he certainly spoke to his interrogators about his network and facilitated the role of additional Islamists.

At a young age, he started to be very into Sayyid Qutb's teaching.

Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian intellectual.

Early on in his life, he did not show an indication of radicalization.

I think a lot of his views shifted after he traveled to the United States and studied in Colorado.

He had...

Not a lot of good things to say about the U.S., about the American culture.

And that's where the relationship starts to take place.

Uh, and it's actually notable within the jihadi circles that, uh, while he was in prison, he, he certainly spoke to his interrogators about his network, uh, and facilitated the role of additional Islamists.

At a young age, um, he, uh, started to be very into, uh, Sayyid Qutb's teaching.

Sayyid Qutb was, uh, an Egyptian intellectual.

Um, early on in his life, he did not, uh, show an indication of radicalization.

Uh, I think a lot of his, his views, uh, shifted after he, uh, traveled to the United States and studied in Colorado.

Um, he had, uh, not a lot of good things to say about the US, about American culture.

Um, and, uh, he believed that, uh, the US is a nation without values.

And that's where the relationship starts to take place.

Bin Laden then blames the United States and the West for backing those regimes and decides that it is the Western presence that needs to be expelled from Muslim lands.

When Osama bin Laden was in Sudan after he left Saudi Arabia, he started focusing his fight against the United States.

He was trying to find theological justification to attack the United States.

You know, in Afghanistan, it was easy.

The Soviets, the communists invaded a Muslim country.

You have to liberate Muslim lands in Afghanistan.

the case of Saudi Arabia, it was a little bit more complicated.

in terms of the U.S. footprint in the continent.

Bin Laden then blames the United States and the West for backing those regimes and decides that it is the Western presence that needs to be expelled from Muslim lands.

When Osama bin Laden was in Sudan after he left Saudi Arabia, he started focusing his fight against the United States.

He was trying to find theological justification to attack the United States.

In Afghanistan, it was easy.

The Soviets, the communists invaded a Muslim country.

You have to liberate Muslim lands in Afghanistan.

the case of Saudi Arabia, it was a little bit more complicated.

in terms of the U.S. footprint in the continent.

They were halfway across the harbor when a third boat came toward us.

On October 12 of 2000, a boat that was initially purchased and fitted to be used against the USS Sullivan, with two suicide bombers on board of it, came close to the USS Cole.

They salute the sailors who were on deck.

some of them were fueling the ship they waved the sailors waved back the sailors were not concerned about the boat coming close because so many people want so many times when you go to these ports many people come to get like food or candy or you know gifts from from the people on the ship.

So they thought they were coming for something like this.

And the boats came very close to the ship and then the two suicide bombers, after they waved and saluted the sailors, they blew themselves up.

Taliban.

They didn't like what they stand for.

This time, the turn is for the best.

On September 12th.

2001, the team get instructions to evacuate Yemen because Yemen is very, very dangerous.

So a colleague from the agency get a phone call that, you know, I need to call headquarters on a secure line.

So we had to, you know, get our gear out and put a secure satellite phone literally on the runway.

And I talked to headquarters and they said, hey, you have to stay.

Everybody comes back.

from Al-Qaeda and from terrorism.

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On September 12, 2001, the team get instructions to evacuate Yemen because Yemen is very, very dangerous.

So a colleague from the agency get a phone call that, you know, I need to call headquarters on a secure line.

So we had to, you know, get our gear out and put a secure satellite phone literally on the runway.

And I talked to headquarters and they said, hey, you have to stay.

Everybody comes back.

And...

So I think part of the problem was we really did underestimate the threat from Al-Qaeda and from terrorism.

leadership.

I thought Zawahiri would break the organization, and I think I was...

You know, right to believe that, because remember, ISIS was al-Qaeda, part of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

And it broke down, you know, it separated from Ayman Zawahiri and Ayman Zawahiri's leadership.

But the biggest mistake we could make is to be complacent that because we haven't had a major attack in the United States since 9-11, that we won't have one.

Today, al-Qaeda is in Yemen, al-Qaeda is in Syria, al-Qaeda is in Somalia, al-Qaeda is in the Sahara region, al-Qaeda is in Southeast Asia.

Remember, before 9-11, al-Qaeda was just in Kandahar, was a couple of safe houses in Yemen.

Now they have thousands of people who adhere to the ideology and to the narrative of Osama bin Laden.