Dire Prediction From Osama's Bodyguard

This story originally aired on April 2, 2006.
Since 9/11, our only knowledge of Osama bin Laden has come from the tapes he releases now and again. The rest is all speculation.

Al Qaeda operatives who have been close to bin Laden don't give interviews on television. That is, until one of them did, last March.

60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon traveled to Yemen, at the tip of the Arabian peninsula, to meet a man who, for a long time, was bin Laden's personal bodyguard.

Abu Jandal was the name by which he was known in al Qaeda. He is 33 years old and was with bin Laden in Afghanistan for four years, from 1996 to 2000. He did not speak to 60 Minutes to confess the errors of his ways. Abu Jandal is not a reformed terrorist. He believes today, as he did a decade ago, that al Qaeda is the way and Osama bin Laden is the man.

"I had my own gun, but there was also a special gun to be used if Sheikh Osama bin Laden was attacked and we were unable to save him, in which case I would have to kill him," Abu Jandal explains.

Asked under what circumstances he would have shot bin Laden, Abu Jandal said, "If he was going to be captured, Sheikh Osama preferred to be killed than to be captured."

Abu Jandal says he had eight rounds in his gun and tells Simon he was the only guard with instructions to kill bin Laden. "I was the only one who had the gun," he explains.

60 Minutes interviewed Abu Jandal for four hours, an interview that was interrupted for prayers. Simon met him in downtown Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, and one of the purest Islamic cities in the world. The mud-brick towers in the city look like they are carved out of the surrounding hills. They hold memories of the days when Muslims ruled much of the world, memories which still drive al Qaeda today.

Abu Jandal does not fight for al Qaeda any more, at least not with a gun, and he's finding adjustment to civilian life not easy after a decade as jihadist in Bosnia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Asked if he misses his years with al Qaeda, Abu Jandal replied: "Yes, I do miss them. I especially miss being close to Sheikh Osama bin Laden."

Abu Jandal calls bin Laden "sheikh" as a sign of respect. And he says there was one thing this man, this proponent of global terrorism, wouldn't tolerate.

"If anyone used bad words, he was severely punished," he explains.

Abu Jandal says he once used the wrong word and was suspended from guard duty for three days.

"That's a hell of a punishment! He gave you three days off ..." Simon remarks.

"For me, it's not time off because I served God with this job. So when you deprive me of serving God, you deprive me of God's reward," Abu Jandal replies.

On a satellite photo, Abu Jandal showed 60 Minutes where bin Laden lived inside Tarnak Farms, the compound outside Kandahar in Afghanistan. This was home to al Qaeda's leadership before 9/11. He pointed to where al Qaeda had built tunnels in case of attack.

The American who was planning those attacks at the time was Mike Scheuer, head of the bin Laden unit at the CIA. He has never met Abu Jandal, but knows him well.

"I do think he is who he says he is," says Scheuer, referring to Abu Jandal. "What he says about events, people, al Qaeda, meshes very thoroughly with what we know, from both, from unclassified sources and from classified intelligence."

Abu Jandal says America's best chances to kill bin Laden came and went before 9/11. Paramount among them, August 1998, right after bin Laden bombed two U.S. embassies in East Africa. The al Qaeda leaders knew the Americans would retaliate, so they left their compound at Tarnak Farms and drove north.

"There was a fork in the road. One road leading to Khost and training camps, and another one leading to Kabul," Abu Jandal recalls. "I was with Sheikh Osama in the same vehicle with three guards, so he turned to us and said, 'What do you think? Khost or Kabul?' We told him, 'Let's just visit Kabul.' So Sheikh Osama said, 'OK, Kabul.' "

Kabul it was. The next evening, 75 American cruise missiles slammed into the training camp near Khost, the road not taken. The CIA had intelligence that bin Laden was going to be at the training camp that night.

"Kinda makes you wonder whose side God's on, doesn't it?" Scheuer says.

"Did you ever find out who betrayed Osama bin Laden that night?" Simon asks Abu Jandal.

"It was the Afghan cook," he replies.

Abu Jandal says the cook was not punished. "Sheikh Osama decided to let him go, so we let him go home. Sheikh Osama even gave him money and told him, 'Go provide for your children.' "

"Would you have liked to have killed the cook yourself?" Simon asks.

"Of course," Abu Jandal replies.

Asked how he would have done that, Abu Jandal said, "With a bullet in the head, and that would be the end of the story."

Once Abu Jandal established himself as the No. 1 bodyguard, bin Laden gave him other responsibilities as well.

In early 2000, bin Laden sent Abu Jandal back to Yemen on a sensitive mission. He told Abu Jandal that if the Taliban kicked al Qaeda out of Afghanistan they would need a new refuge, a new base of operations. Yemen would do just fine. So, bin Laden wanted a Yemeni wife. That, he said, would help him gain acceptance here. He gave Abu Jandal $5,000 in dowry money and told him to make it happen. Which Abu Jandal did.

He brokered bin Laden's marriage to his fourth wife, a villager. She was 17 years old. Later that year, Abu Jandal just happened to be in Yemen, he says, when the USS Cole was bombed in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen American sailors were killed.

Abu Jandal says he didn't know anything about the attack before it happened, saying, "these operations are very secret."

But he says he knew the people who were involved.

Asked what kind of people they were, Abu Jandal replies, "Well, they are more than excellent."

In the wake of the bombing, the Yemeni authorities rounded up the al Qaeda operatives in the country. One month later, in November 2000, Abu Jandal was arrested at Sana'a's airport.

He tells Simon he was going to Afghanistan.

Abu Jandal was thrown in prison in Sana'a. The Yemeni authorities didn't charge him with anything but they held him for almost two years, most of the time in solitary confinement. One week after 9/11, he was taken from his cell and brought to an interrogation room. He says there were three guys waiting for him there. They were from the United States, from the FBI and they had questions.

"They asked about al Qaeda's capabilities, whether it had chemical weapons labs, whether it had other operations, where are its sleeper cells," Abu Jandal recalls.

And Abu Jandal says he told the FBI he was still committed to al Qaeda.

Abu Jandal didn't hear about 9/11 when it happened. He was in jail and only found out about it days later from his FBI interrogators.

"If you had been asked to participate in the attacks on Sept. 11, would you have done it?" Simon asks.

"At that time, yes," Abu Jandal replies.

Abu Jandal remembers seeing Mohamed Atta in Afghanistan. But he was surprised when he learned that Atta was the leader on 9/11. Atta, Abu Jandal thought, was too inexperienced for such a big job.

"What's your reaction when you see pictures on 9/11, when you see the video of the Twin Towers and the people falling out of the windows and people dying and shouting out in pain?" Simon asks Abu Jandal.

"I compare it to the images from the bombing of a shelter in Baghdad, to the killings of Muslims in Iraq by air strikes," he replies. "It reminds me of the pictures of those missiles fired on the Iraqi people with 'Happy Ramadan' written on them."

Abu Jandal says he admires American civilization, but will fight America until it gets out of the Middle East. He was released from prison in 2002. The Yemeni government made a deal with him: don't plot against Yemen, don't try to leave the country and we'll leave you alone.

Why did he talk to 60 Minutes? Because he can. He's proud of what al Qaeda has done and, in Yemen, is out of America's reach.

If it were up to him, Mike Scheuer says Abu Jandal would be locked up somewhere. "Anyone who is as dedicated as he is and clearly desires to be a martyr, we ought to be taking care of him one way or another."

"As far as value goes, how does he compare to most of the prisoners in Guantanamo?" Simon asks.

"Oh, I think he's probably far more important than anybody we've got in Guantanamo. Because he had direct exposure to Osama bin Laden. He's very, very knowledgeable about the organization worldwide," Scheuer replies.

Simon asked Abu Jandal for his take on bin Laden's last audiotaped message. In January, bin Laden offered the Americans a truce. If Washington doesn't take him up on it, he said, there will be consequences.

"He made a similar proposal to the Europeans. He warned them and gave them six months," Abu Jandal says. "When there was no response, he started with the Madrid bombing, then London. So I believe Osama bin Laden is planning a new attack inside the United States. This is certain."

Asked if he is sure Osama is preparing a new attack, Abu Jandal said, "When Sheikh Osama promises something, he does it."

Abu Jandal hasn't seen bin Laden since the summer of 2000, but he says there is no question as to where he is hiding: Afghanistan.

"Not Pakistan. I know the Pakistani tribe along the border very well," says Abu Jandal. "Yes, they can be trustworthy and faithful to their religion and ideology, but they are also capable of selling information for nothing."

Abu Jandal says bin Laden would have no trouble living in the Afghan mountains. He may be a billionaire, but his lifestyle has always been Spartan, almost monastic.

"Osama bin Laden can live on bread and water. Osama bin Laden can live on dates. He is a man who prepared himself to live with the minimum available means of survival," says Abu Jandal.

Abu Jandal is aware that the Americans expect bin Laden's health to do him in. He says that's another American illusion.

"A lot of Americans think bin Laden suffers from a kidney problem and that he might even need a dialysis. When you were with him, were there any indications that he had any health problems?" Simon asks.

"Never. The only problem Sheikh Osama suffered from is with his vocal chords," Abu Jandal replies. "He was affected by missiles that contained some chemicals during the Jihad against the Soviets. Only his vocal chords were affected."

Scheuer, who now works for CBS News, agrees that bin Laden is not a bad insurance risk. If his kidneys won't be his downfall, America's chances of getting to him are diminishing all the time.

"Your job was to get Osama bin Laden. Abu Jandal's job was to protect Osama bin Laden. Who do you think had the tougher job?" Simon asks.

"I think he had the tougher job. Osama bin Laden should be yesterday's news," Scheuer replies. "He should have been splattered across the southern desert of Afghanistan when we had the opportunity to do it in '98, '99. Abu Jandal was behind the curve and we were ahead of it. Now it's the other way around."

Abu Jandal isn't sure he's ahead of the curve today. He won't rule out working for Osama bin Laden again in the future. But for now, he's unemployed, with a growing tribe of three kids. His daughters stay at home while his son, Habib, goes to a private school. He may be learning English today.

But his first taste of life was offered by Osama bin Laden. When Habib was born, Abu Jandal says Osama took a bite from a date and put it in Habib's mouth. That was before Habib began feeding from his mother's breast.

"He's got Osama in his blood," says Abu Jandal.

Habib says he wants to be an engineer when he grows up. Abu Jandal has other ideas for his only son.

"I have great hopes for him and pray to God that he will finish what his father was not able to finish. I pray that he will become a martyr," Abu Jandal says. "Frankly, I hope that my son gets killed and becomes a martyr for the sake of God Almighty."

"You're sitting here, but you're not ready to see your daughter killed for America. I, on the other hand, am ready to see my son get killed for the sake of Islam," he adds.

"That's the difference between you and me …" Simon says.

"True ..." Abu Jandal replies.

Produced By Draggan Mihailovich