A Humvee from Louisiana's 256th Brigade is decorated as a float for a Mardi Gras parade at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Feb. 6, 2005. The National Guard soldiers celebrated Mardi Gras two days early so that the maximum number of soldiers could participate. The parade was followed by a meal of chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice and King cake. (AP Photo/Chris Tomlinson) Ran on: 02-07-2005 Ran on: 02-07-2005
Osama bin Laden is seen at an undisclosed location in this television image broadcast in this Oct. 7, 2001 file photo. Bin Laden praised God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and swore America "will never dream of security" until "the infidel's armies leave the land of Muhammad," in a videotaped statement aired after the strike launched Sunday by the U.S. and Britain in Afghanistan. Graphic at top right reads "Exclusive to Al-Jazeera." At bottom right is the station's logo which reads "Al-Jazeera." At top left is "Recorded." Bottom left is "Urgent news." At bottom center is "Osama bin Laden, Leader of the al-Qaida." (AP Photo/Al Jazeera, File)
Taking cover in a foxhole, an Afghan anti-Taliban fighter bursts into laughter as their tanks and U.S. airplanes strike al-Qaida positions in the White Mountains near Tora Bora, Afghanistan, Friday, Dec 14, 2001. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
Listening to Osama bin Laden’s voice crackling over a walkie-talkie ended his mystique for me.
I’d followed al-Qaida’s leader since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Dar-Es-Salaam and Nairobi, a city I called home for eight years. I had lived in New York before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and I’d admired the World Trade Center before taking the 7 train to the Associated Press’s headquarters at Rockefeller Center.
![houstonchronicle logo](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="100" height="100"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
Website
e-Edition
App
