2004 Osama bin Laden video

On October 29, 2004, Al Jazeera broadcast a video statement of Osama bin Laden, then-leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda, to the people of the United States. This was the first time he unambiguously accepted responsibility for al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks against the U.S., which he had until then only spoken about vaguely or cryptically.

In the video, bin Laden describes his motive for 9/11, which included revenge against the U.S. on behalf of Muslims for supporting Israel in the 1982 Lebanon War, when Israel destroyed buildings in Muslim-majority Lebanon. Thus, he says, he destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City on 9/11. He also condemns U.S. president George W. Bush's response to 9/11, which included invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslim nations; bin Laden threatens the U.S. to leave the Islamic world alone, lest another attack like 9/11 occur.

Amidst the international manhunt for bin Laden as he was hiding in Pakistan, the video demonstrated that he was still alive by mid-2004; he mentions U.S. Senator John Kerry, who was elected in July as the Democratic nominee for the presidential election on November 2. Kerry's main opponent in the election was Bush; political analysts theorize that the timing of the video's release, four days before the election, may have partially led to Bush's victory in it.