1995:ÊFor the first time, though not the last, the government of Sudan offers the US all of its files on bin Laden and al-Qaeda.ÊThe US turns down the offer.Ê Bin Laden had been living in Sudan since 1991, because there were no visa requirements to live there. Sudan was surveilling him, collecting a "vast intelligence database on Osama bin Laden and more than 200 leading members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network... [The US was] offered thick files, with photographs and detailed biographies of many of his principal cadres, and vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests in many parts of the globe."ÊAfter 9/11, a US agent who has seen the files on bin Laden's men in Khartoum says some were "an inch and a half thick." [Guardian, 9/30/01]

April 1996:ÊIn continuing negotiations between the US and Sudan, the US again rejects Sudan's offer to turn over voluminous files about bin Laden and al-Qaeda (see 1995).ÊAnother American involved in the secret negotiations later says that the US could have used Sudan's offer to keep an eye on bin Laden, but that the efforts were blocked by another arm of the federal government. "I've never seen a brick wall like that before.ÊSomebody let this slip up," he says.Ê"We could have dismantled his operations and put a cage on top.ÊIt was not a matter of arresting bin Laden but of access to information.ÊThat's the story, and that's what could have prevented September 11. I knew it would come back to haunt us."Ê[Village Voice, 10/31/01, Washington Post, 10/3/01]ÊAround this time Sudan also offers their al-Qaeda intelligence to MI6, the British intelligence agency, and are also rebuffed.ÊSudan makes a standing offer: "If someone from MI6 comes to us and declares himself, the next day he can be in [the capital city] Khartoum." A Sudanese government source later adds, "We have been saying this for years."ÊThe offer is not taken up until after 9/11. [Guardian, 9/30/01]

May 2000:ÊThe CIA and FBI sends a joint investigative team to Sudan to investigate if that country is a sponsor of terrorism.ÊIt determines that it is not, but the US doesn't take Sudan off its official list of terrorist states.ÊSudan offers again (see 1995 and April 1996) to hand over their voluminous files on al-Qaeda, and the offer is again turned down. [Guardian, 9/30/01]