15496. BIN LADEN AND THE AL QAEDA TERRORIST NETWORK. A profile of the terrorist group believed to be responsible for the September 11th attacks. The analysis includes a review of the history of Al Qaeda and its leader, including an exploration of the group's origins, general motivations, organization/strength and previous actions against the U.S. and U.S. interests abroad. The analysis considers the evidence linking Al Qaeda to the September 11th attacks and examines the organization's purposes in making the attack. Finally, the analysis examines how the U.S. has responded to-date by the threat posed by Al Qaeda. The concluding section makes suggestions about strategies that might be useful in fighting this organization. KEYWORDS: osama bin laden terrorists al qaeda al qaida terrorism terrorist cells networks. 14 pages, 42 footnotes, 31 bibliographic references. 4,114 words.