Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

=== Late 1990s ===
[[File:Kenya bombing 1.jpg|left|thumb|upright|1998 [[1998 United States embassy bombings|Nairobi embassy bombing]]]]
{{Main|1998 United States embassy bombings|2000 millennium attack plots|USS Cole bombing}}
In 1996, bin Laden personally engineered a plot to assassinate United States President [[Bill Clinton]] while the president was in [[Manila]] for the [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]]. However, intelligence agents intercepted a message before the motorcade was to leave, and alerted the [[US Secret Service]]. Agents later discovered a bomb planted under a bridge.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Osama bin Laden came within minutes of killing Bill Clinton|first1=Tom|last1=Leonard|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=December 25, 2009|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/6867331/Osama-bin-Laden-came-within-minutes-of-killing-Bill-Clinton.html|access-date=December 25, 2009|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225150252/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/6867331/Osama-bin-Laden-came-within-minutes-of-killing-Bill-Clinton.html|archive-date=December 25, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

On August 7, 1998, al-Qaeda [[1998 U.S. embassy bombings|bombed the US embassies in East Africa]], killing 224 people, including 12 Americans. In retaliation, a barrage of [[cruise missile]]s launched by the US military devastated an al-Qaeda base in [[Khost]], Afghanistan. The network's capacity was unharmed. In late 1999 and 2000, al-Qaeda planned [[2000 millennium attack plots|attacks to coincide with the millennium]], masterminded by [[Abu Zubaydah]] and involving [[Abu Qatada al-Filistini|Abu Qatada]], which would include the bombing of Christian holy sites in Jordan, the bombing of [[Los Angeles International Airport]] by [[Ahmed Ressam]], and the bombing of the {{USS|The Sullivans|DDG-68}}.

On October 12, 2000, al-Qaeda militants in Yemen [[USS Cole bombing|bombed]] the [[Guided missile destroyer|missile destroyer]] ''[[USS Cole (DDG-67)|USS Cole]]'' in a suicide attack, killing 17 US servicemen and damaging the vessel while it lay offshore. Inspired by the success of such a brazen attack, al-Qaeda's command core began to prepare for an attack on the US itself.