Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
The Tora Bora tunnel kingdom that wasn't: lessons in fake news
Bin Laden's underground mountain network with hydroelectric power and 1,000 fighters has been forgotten since it dominated the news in 2001 — because it never existed. SOLOMON HUGHES drops a bunker buster on a classic incidence of war propaganda
Ayman al-Zawahri, centre left, and Osama bin Laden, centre, hold a news conference in Afghanistan in 1998

THE anniversary of September 11 is prompting media reminiscenses about the War on Terror — so let’s also look back at media’s misinformation in that war.

Bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorists were based in Afghanistan, which was ruled by the Islamist Taliban government.

In October 2001, US and British planes began bombing Afghanistan aiming at both al-Qaida and Taliban “targets” because the Taliban had not agreed to hand over Bin Laden to the US.



The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Google
Features / 3 October 2025
3 October 2025

The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he hosts a VJ Day commemorative reception in the garden of 10 Downing Street, London, August 14, 2025
Features / 5 September 2025
5 September 2025

Keir Starmer’s hiring Tim Allan from Tory-led Strand Partners is another illustration of  Labour’s corporate-influence world where party differences matter less than business connections, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Defence Secretary John Healey (third left) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu (second left) view a long-range air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile, during a visit to MDBA in Hertfordshire, July 9, 2025
Features / 22 August 2025
22 August 2025

MBDA’s Alabama factory makes components for Boeing’s GBU-39 bombs used to kill civilians in Gaza. Its profits flow through Stevenage to Paris — and it is one of the British government’s favourite firms, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
RESILIENCE: (Right) Stand Up To Racism protest on October 26
Features / 31 December 2024
31 December 2024
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year
Aboubakar Traore
Global Routes / 2 December 2024
2 December 2024
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs
Unrecorded Taino artist, Boinayel the Rain Giver figure, c.
Exhibition review / 24 October 2024
24 October 2024
ROGER McKENZIE recommends an exhibition that explores the colonial plunder hidden in the collection, and the questions it raises