"You're reading the full text of an open letter out of context!"

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The Observer Information
Removed: document
This page previously displayed a document
containing, in translation, the full text of
Osama bin Laden’s “letter to the American
people”, which was reported on in the
Observer on Sunday 24 November 2002.
The document, which was published here
on the same day, was removed on 15
November 2023.
The transcript published on our website
had been widely shared on social media
without the full context. Therefore we
decided to take it down and direct readers
instead to the news article that originally
contextualised it.