Today, investigators say, bin Laden oversees a far-flung network of terrorist operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya, all devoted to attacking the United States and its interests around the globe. The trial that began in New York today is the US government's most sweeping legal attack yet against bin Laden and his network. The government's indictment charges the four men on trial with conspiring to bomb the two embassies, and for being part of bin Laden's worldwide terrorist conspiracy. Eighteen other men were indicted, but most of them, including bin Laden, are still fugitives or fighting extradition. Security at the federal district courthouse is tight, with dozens of armed US marshals and bomb sniffing dogs to check every vehicle.
Prosecutors expect the trial to last nine or ten months.
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