bin Laden, Osama

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{{Infobox Military Person
 
{{Infobox Military Person
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|name= '''Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin''' <br> ({{lang-ar|أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن}})
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|name= '''Osama bin Laden'''  
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|lived= {{birth date and age|1957|3|10|df=yes}}
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|lived= March 10, 1957 - May 2, 2011
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|birth= [[March 10]], [[1957]]
 
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|death= [[July 30]], [[2008]]
 
 
|placeofbirth= [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]]
 
|placeofbirth= [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]]
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|image=[[Image:Bin laden 12 27a.jpg|230px]]
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|placeofdeath =  [[Abbottābad]], [[Pakistan]]
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|caption=Osama bin Laden in the December, 2001 [[Al-Jazeera]] video.
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|image=[[Image:Usama bin laden.jpg|180px]]
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|status=Unknown
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|caption=Osama bin Laden from the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list
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|battles= [[Soviet war in Afghanistan|Afghan Jihad]] <br> [[War on Terrorism]]
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|status=unknown
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|battles= [[Soviet war in Afghanistan|Afghan Jihad]] <br/> 1998 U.S. embassy bombings <br/> [[September 11 attacks|2001 World Trade Center bombings]] <br/>[[War on Terrorism]]
 
}}
 
}}
  
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'''Osama bin Laden''' ({{ArB|أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن}} {{ArTranslit|'''Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin'''}}; with numerous variations) (born March 10, 1957) is the founder of militant Islamic [[Al-Qaeda]] movement, best known for masterminding the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] on the United States. A member of the prominent [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] [[bin Laden family]], bin Laden used his personal wealth the fund the development of Al-Qaeda and has been associated with numerous other mass casualty [[Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks|attacks]] against civilian targets.
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'''Osama bin Laden''' (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن) (March 10, 1957 - May 2, 2011) was a founder of the militant Islamist [[al-Qaeda]] movement, best known for masterminding the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] on the United States. A member of the prominent [[bin Laden family]] of [[Saudi Arabia]], Osama used his personal wealth to fund the development of al-Qaeda and has been associated with numerous mass-casualty [[Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks|attacks]] against civilian targets.
  
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Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the United States' [[War on Terrorism]]. Bin Laden and fellow Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding in the border region between [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]].  
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Bin Laden's name is [[transliteration|transliterated]] in several ways. Most [[English language|English-language]] [[mass media]] use ''Osama bin Laden''. However, most U.S. government agencies use either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin," both of which are abbreviated to ''UBL''.
  
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Bin Laden's name is [[transliteration|transliterated]] in several ways. The version often used by most [[English language|English-language]] [[mass media]] is ''Osama bin Laden''. However, most American government agencies, including the FBI and [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], use either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin", both of which are often abbreviated to ''UBL''.  
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Educated as a civil engineer, bin Laden joined the fight against the Soviet occupation of [[Afghanistan]] in 1979. There, he met the Egyptian Islamic [[fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] leader [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] and expanded his focus in an attempt to rid the entire [[Middle East]] of non-Islamic influences, beginning his career as a [[terrorism|terrorist]] in 1992 with the bombing of the [[Gold Mihor Hotel]] in [[Aden]]. Together with his al-Qaeda associates, he supported the [[Taliban]] regime in Afghanistan and carried out numerous attacks on civilian targets throughout the world in the late 1990s, culminating in the infamous attacks of September 11, 2001, in the [[United States]].
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Bin Laden and his organization were major targets of the United States' [[War on Terrorism]]. As of early 2009, he was believed to be still hiding in the border region between [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]]. However, on May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a covert operation authorized by U.S. President [[Barack Obama]].  
  
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==Childhood, education and personal life==
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==Childhood, education, and marriages==
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Osama bin Laden was born in [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]] on March 10 1957. His father, [[Mohammed bin Laden|Muhammed Awad bin Laden]], was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the [[Saudi royal family]]. The only son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, [[Hamida al-Attas]], Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born. Osama's mother then married Muhammad al-Attas, who worked at the bin Laden company. The couple had four other children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister.
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[[Image:Bin Ladin.jpg|thumb|250px|Bin Laden corporation building in [[Dubai, United Arab Emirates]]]]
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Osama bin Laden was born in [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]], on March 10, 1957. His father, [[Mohammed bin Laden|Muhammed Awad bin Laden]], was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the [[Saudi royal family]]. One of more than 50 children, he was the only son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, [[Hamida al-Attas]]. Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born, and his mother then married Muhammad al-Attas, who worked at the bin Laden company. The couple had four other children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister.
  
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Raised as a devout [[Sunni Muslim]], Osama studied [[economics]] and [[business administration]] at [[King Abdulaziz University]]. Some sources indicate that he earned a [[academic degree|degree]] in [[civil engineering]] in 1979, and/or a degree in [[public administration]] in 1981.<ref>[http://galenet.galegroup.com ''Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement''], Vol. 22. Gale Group, 2002</ref> Other describe him as having left university during his third year, without completing a college degree.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10855 |title=The Real Osama |publisher=American Prospect |date=19 January 2006 |author=Hug, Aziz}}</ref> At university, bin Laden's main interest seems to have been religion.
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Raised as a devout [[Sunni Muslim]], Osama studied [[economics]] and [[business administration]] at [[King Abdulaziz University]], where he received a degree in civil [[engineer]]ing. However, at university, bin Laden's main interest seems to have been [[religion]].
  
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In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife [[Najwa Ghanem]] at [[Latakia]] (Laodicea), [[Turkey]]. As of 2002 bin Laden had married four women and fathered roughly 25 children.<ref>[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/12/ltm.10.html CNN.com - Transcripts<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref>
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In 1974, at the age of 17, he married his first wife, [[Najwa Ghanem]], at [[Latakia]] (Laodicea), [[Turkey]]. By 2002, bin Laden had married four women and fathered over 20 children.
  
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==Beliefs and ideology==
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==Teachings==
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Bin Laden emphasizes that only the restoration of [[Sharia]] law will set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies&mdash;"[[pan-Arabism]], [[socialism]], [[communism]], [[democracy]]"&mdash;must be opposed. In his view, Afghanistan under the rule of [[Mohammed Omar|Mullah Omar]]'s [[Taliban]] was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. He has consistently dwelt on the need for external [[jihad]] ([[holy war]]) to right what he believes are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the [[United States]] and other non-Muslim states, the need to eliminate the state of [[Israel]], and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the [[Middle East]].<ref>''Messages to the World'', (2005), pp. xix, xx, editor Bruce Lawrence </ref> He has also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of [[fornication]] (and) [[homosexuality]], [[intoxicant]]s, [[gambling]], and [[usury]]," in an October 2002 letter.<ref>Oct. 6, 2002. Appeared in [[Al-Qala'a]] website and then the London Observer 24 November 2002.</ref>
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An adherent of the fundamentalist school of [[Salafism]], bin Laden taught that [[Islam]] was perfect and complete during the days of [[Muhammad]] and his companions, but that undesirable innovations have been added over the later centuries due to materialist and cultural influences. Salafism claims to seek a practice of Islam that more closely resembles the religion during the time of Muhammad. Like many [[Islamist]]s, bin Laden emphasized that only the restoration of [[Sharia]] law will set things right in the Muslim world. He rejected all other ideologies&mdash;"[[pan-Arabism]], [[socialism]], [[communism]], [[democracy]]"&mdash;must be opposed.
  
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The most controversial part of bin Laden's ideology is his insistence that [[civilians]], including women and children, can be killed in jihad.<ref>''Messages'', (2005) p. 70. </ref> He has also delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery," he claims. "They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."<ref>''Messages'', (2005), p. 190. </ref> He lists [[Shia]] Muslims as "heretics" and one of the principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's [[Al-Qaeda]] organization.<ref> Wright, ''[[Looming Tower]]'' (2006), p.303</ref>
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Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for external [[jihad]] ([[holy war]]) to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the [[United States]] and other non-Muslim states. He also called for the elimination of the State of [[Israel]] and the necessity of forcing the U.S. to withdraw from the [[Middle East]]. During the 1990s, he began to teach publicly that his native [[Saudi Arabia]]—the site of Islam's holy cities of [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]]—had been corrupted by American influences and was guilty of serious crimes against Islam. He insisted that [[Afghanistan]], under the rule of [[Mohammed Omar|Mullah Omar]]'s [[Taliban]], was "the only Islamic country" in the world.
  
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Bin Laden alo opposes [[music]] on religious grounds. <ref>Wright,  (2006), p. 167</ref> His attitude toward [[technology]] is mixed. He studied civil engineering and is interested in "earth-moving [[machinery]] and [[genetic engineering]] of [[plant]]s", on the one hand, but rejects "chilled [[water]]" on the other.<ref>Wright, (2006), p. 172</ref>
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The most controversial part of bin Laden's [[ideology]] is his doctrine that [[civilian]]s, including women and children, can be killed in jihad.<ref>Bin Laden (2005), 70.</ref> He also delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery," he claims. "They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."<ref>Ibid., 190.</ref> Bin Laden also opposed [[music]] on religious grounds.<ref>Ibid., 167.</ref> He called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of [[fornication]] (and) [[homosexuality]], [[intoxicant]]s, [[gambling]], and [[usury]]."
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Bin Laden also listed [[Shi'a]] Muslims as "heretics" and one of the principal "enemies of Islam."<ref>Wright (2006), 303.</ref> This is one of the reasons that he encouraged al-Qaeda to put a major effort into undermining the new government of [[Iraq]], which emerged as a Shia-led coalition after the demise of the [[Sunni]]-dominated [[Saddam Hussein]] regime.
  
 
==Militant activity==
 
==Militant activity==
 
===Mujahideen in Afghanistan===
 
===Mujahideen in Afghanistan===
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After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden joined [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|Abdullah Azzam]] to fight the [[Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm|title=Who is Osama Bin Laden?|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2006-05-15}}</ref> and lived for a time in [[Peshawar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fufor.twoday.net/stories/2302873/|title=Photo: Zbigniew Brzezinski & Osama bin Laden"|accessdate=}} Retrieved on 2007-04-21.</ref>
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After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden joined militant Palestinian scholar [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|Abdullah Azzam]] to fight the [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]] and lived for a time in [[Peshawar]]. By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established the [[Maktab al-Khadamat]], known in English as the Afghan Services Bureau, which funneled money, arms and [[Afghan Arabs|Muslim fighters]] from around the Arab world into the Afghan war. Bin Laden's inherited family fortune and yearly income paid for travel, accommodations and administrative expenses of the Afghan fighters.
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By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established [[Maktab al-Khadamat]], which funneled money, arms and [[Afghan arabs|Muslim fighters]] from around the Arabic world into the Afghan war. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune<ref>Lawrence Wright estimates his "share of the Saudi Binladin Group" circa fall 1989 as "amounted to 27 million Saudi riyals - a little more than [US]$ 7 million." Wright, (2006), p.145)</ref> paid for air tickets and accommodation, dealt with paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihad fighters. During this time bin Laden met his future al-Qaeda collaborator [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]], who encouraged Osama to split away from Abdullah Azzam. Osama established a camp in Afghanistan, and with other volunteers fought the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]].
 
  
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===Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda===
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[[Image:Ayman al-Zawahiri 4th as-Sahab interview.PNG|left|thumb|200px|Bin Laden's associate [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]].]]
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By 1988, bin Laden had split from [[Maktab al-Khidamat]]; while Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main leading points to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was the insistence of Azzam that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming their separate fighting force.<ref>''The Osama bin Laden I Know'' by Peter L. Bergen, pp.74–88. ISBN 0-7432-7892-5</ref> Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion, "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union.<ref>Wright, Lawrence, ''Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11,'' by Lawrence Wright, NY, Knopf, 2006 p.146</ref> However, during this time [[Iraq]] invaded [[Kuwait]] and Laden met [[Sultan, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia]], and told him not to depend on non-Muslim troops and offered to help defend Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was rebuffed and publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the US military. Bin Laden's criticism of the [[Saudi monarchy]] led that [[Government of Saudi Arabia|government]] to attempt to silence him.
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During this time bin Laden met his future al-Qaeda collaborator, the Egyptian militant [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]]. Osama then established an operational and training camp in Afghanistan, and fought against the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]]. By 1988, at al-Zawahiri's urging, bin Laden had split from [[Maktab al-Khidamat]] and Azzam, determined to take a more directly military role in the struggle and insisting that Arab fighters form separate units rather than being integrated into native Afghan Taliban forces.<ref>Bergen (2001), 74–88.</ref>
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After the defeat of the Soviets, bin Laden returned to [[Saudi Arabia]] in 1990 as a hero of ''[[jihad]]''. However, his militancy soon alienated him from the Saudi elites. When [[Iraq]] invaded [[Kuwait]], bin Laden met [[Sultan, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia|Crown Prince Sultan]] and urged him not to cooperate with coalition forces opposed to [[Saddam Hussein]], offering to use his resources to help defend Saudi Arabia from any Iraqi aggression. When he was rebuffed, bin Laden publicly and bitterly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military, declaring that the Saudis had sinned against Islam.
  
 
===Sudan===
 
===Sudan===
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Bin Laden moved to [[Sudan]] in 1992 and established a new base for Mujahideen operations in [[Khartoum]]. Due to bin Laden's continuous verbal assault on King [[Fahd of Saudi Arabia]], on 5 March 1994 Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport. His family was persuaded to cut off his monthly stipend, the equivalent of [[$]]7 million a year.<ref>Wright, ''Looming Towers'' (2006), p.195</ref> By now bin Laden was strongly associated with [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]] (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad#Mubarak assassination attempt|attempted to assassinate]] Egyptian President [[Hosni Mubarak]]. The attempt failed and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.
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Bin Laden moved to [[Sudan]] in 1992, and established a new base for operations in [[Khartoum]]. Due to his continuous verbal assaults on King [[Fahd of Saudi Arabia]], in 1994, Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's [[passport]]. The bin Laden family was persuaded to cut off his monthly stipend, thought to amount to $7 million a year. By now bin Laden was strongly associated with [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]] (EIJ), which made up the core of [[al-Qaeda]]. In 1995, the EIJ [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad#Mubarak assassination attempt|attempted to assassinate]] Egyptian President [[Hosni Mubarak]]. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.
 
   
 
   
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The [[9/11 Commission Report]] concludes, "In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. US officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, or both." The 9/11 Commission Report further states, "In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. US Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan’s minister of defense, Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch4.pdf |title=9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 4 |publisher=9/11 Commission}}</ref>
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In late 1995, Sudanese officials discussed with the Saudi government the possibility of deporting bin Laden to Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis, who had revoked his citizenship, refused. In May 1996, with Sudan under increasing pressure from Saudi Arabia, [[Egypt]], and the [[United States]], bin Laden returned to [[Afghanistan]] and forged a close relationship with Taliban leader Mullah [[Mohammed Omar]].
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In May 1996, under increasing pressure from Saudi Arabia, [[Egypt]] and the United States on Sudan, bin Laden returned to Afghanistan and forged a close relationship with Mullah [[Mohammed Omar]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550419.stm
 
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|title = Profile: Mullah Mohamed Omar |accessdate = 2006-09-28 |date = 2004-07-22 |work = The 9/11 Commission Report |publisher = [[BBC]] }}</ref> In Afghanistan, bin Laden and Al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI).<ref>Wright, ''Looming Towers'' (2006), p.250</ref>  When Bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened, despite his ambitions and organizational skills.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch2.pdf |title=9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 2 |publisher=9/11 Commission}}</ref>
 
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===Early attacks and aid for attacks===
 
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It is believed that the first [[bombing]] attack involving bin Laden was the 29 December 1992 bombing of the [[Gold Mihor Hotel]] in [[Aden]] in which two people were killed.<ref name="pbschronology">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html|title=who is bin laden?: chronology PBS|accessdate=2006-09-06}}</ref>
 
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It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by [[Mamdouh Mahmud Salim]], the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to [[Paradise]] if they were good Muslims and to [[hell]] if they were bad or non-believers.<ref>testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, US v. Usama bin Laden, et.al.</ref> The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.
 
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In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in [[Algeria]], Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, [[Qari el-Said]], with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the [[Algerian Civil War#Massacres and reconciliation|war]] that followed killed 150,000-200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government. Another unsuccessful effort by bin Laden was funding of the [[November 1997 Luxor massacre|Luxor massacre of November 17 1997]], <ref>Jailan Halawi, `bin Laden behind Luxor Massacre?` ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', May 20-26, 1999.</ref><ref>{{cite news
 
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|last = Plett
 
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|title = Bin Laden 'behind Luxor massacre'
 
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|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/343207.stm
 
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|publisher = BBC online network
 
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|date = 1999-05-13
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-24
 
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 
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|title = Profile: Ayman al-Zawahiri
 
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|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1560834.stm
 
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|publisher = BBC online network
 
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|date = 2004-09-27
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-24
 
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}}</ref> which killed sixty two civilians, but revolted the Egyptian public and turned it against Islamist terror. In mid-1997, the [[Northern Alliance]] threatened to overrun [[Jalalabad]], causing Bin Laden to abandon his [[Nazim Jihad]] compound and move his operations to [[Tarnak Farms]] in the south.<ref name="arkChark">Testimony of [[Abdurahman Khadr]] as a witness in the trial against Charkaoui, July 13, 2004</ref>
 
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A later effort that did succeed was an attack on the city of [[Mazar-e-Sharif]] in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his hosts the Taliban by sending several hundred of his Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand people [[Taliban#Ethnic massacres and persecution|overrunning]] the city.<ref>Rashid, ''Taliban'', p.139</ref>
 
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In 1998, Osama bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] co-signed a ''fatwa'' in the name of the [[World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders]] which declared the killing of
 
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the North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the [[al-Aqsa Mosque]] (in [[Jerusalem]]) and the holy [[mosque]] (in [[Mecca]]) from their grip".<ref>{{cite web
 
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|url = http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm
 
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|title = World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Initial "Fatwa" Statement
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-10
 
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|author = Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin
 
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|coauthors = Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, Fazlur Rahman
 
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|date = 1998-02-23
 
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|publisher = al-Quds al-Arabi
 
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|language = Arabic
 
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 
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|url = http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm
 
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|title = Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. World Islamic Front Statement
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-24
 
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|author = Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin
 
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|coauthors = Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, Fazlur Rahman
 
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|date = 1998-02-23
 
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|publisher = al-Quds al-Arabi
 
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}} English language version of the fatwa translated by the [[Federation of American Scientists]] of the [http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm original Arabic document published in the newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi (London, U.K.) on 23 February 1998, p.3]</ref> At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets." He told the attending [[journalist]]s, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."<ref>{{Cite journal
 
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  | last = Van Atta | first = Dale
 
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  | authorlink = Dale Van Atta
 
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  | title = CARBOMBS & CAMERAS - The Need for Responsible Media Coverage of Terrorism
 
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  | journal = Harvard International Review
 
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  | publisher = Harvard International Relations Council
 
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  | location = Cambridge, Mass.
 
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  | year = 1998
 
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  | volume = 20
 
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  | issue = 4
 
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  | pages = 66
 
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  | issn = 0739-1854
 
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  | isbn = 9780895264855
 
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  | url = http://www.allbusiness.com/public-administration/national-security-international/709509-1.html }}</ref>
 
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===September 11, 2001 attacks===
 
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{{See also|September 11 attacks}}
 
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{{Wikinewspar|Wikileaks obtains 10 years of messages, interviews from Osama bin Laden translated by CIA}}
 
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Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700687.html |title=Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings? |author=Eggen, Dan |publisher=The Washington Post |date=28 August 2006}}</ref><ref name="cbc-2004">{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2004/10/29/binladen_message041029.html |title=Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11 |publisher=CBC News |date=29 October 2004 |accessdate=2006-11-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1550477.cms |title=Osama claims responsibility for 9/11 |publisher=The Times of India |date=May 24 2006}}</ref> The attacks involved the hijacking of [[United Airlines Flight 93]], [[United Airlines Flight 175]], [[American Airlines Flight 11]], and [[American Airlines Flight 77]]; the subsequent destruction of those planes and the [[World Trade Center]] in [[New York City]], [[New York]]; severe damage to [[The Pentagon]] in [[Arlington, Virginia]];<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/25/moussaoui.trial/ |title= 9/11 jurors face complex life or death decisions |publisher=CNN |date=26 April 2006}}</ref> and the deaths of 2,974 people excluding the [[Organizers_of_the_September_11_attacks#List_of_the_hijackers|nineteen hijackers]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/25/moussaoui.trial/ |title=2006 9/11 Death Toll |date=April 2006|publisher=CNN|accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite news |url=http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/STATISTIC.asp|title=24 Remain Missing|date=2006, August 12 |publisher=September 11 Victims|accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page93.html |title=American Airlines Flight 11 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page100.html |title=United Airlines Flight 175 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page88.html |title=American Airlines Flight 77 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page96.html |title=American Airlines Flight 77 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=2006-09-07}}<br />*{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93mainstoryp7.asp |title=Flight 93: Forty lives, one destiny |publisher=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=October 2001|author=Roddy, Dennis B.|accessdate=2006-09-07}}</ref> In response to the attacks, the United States launched a [[War on Terrorism]] to depose the [[Taliban]] regime in [[Afghanistan]] and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks.
 
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The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] has stated that evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/watson020602.htm |title="The Terrorist Threat Confronting the United States", Congressional Testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|author=Watson, Dale L., Executive Assistant Director, Counter terrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI |date=6 February 2002 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> The [[Her Majesty's Government|Government of the United Kingdom]] reached the same conclusion regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001, attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page3682.asp |title=Responsibility for the Terrorist Atrocities in the United States, 11 September 2001 |publisher=10 Downing Street, Office of the Prime Minister of the UK |date=November 2001|accessdate=2006-09-29}}</ref>
 
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Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]. On [[16 September]] [[2001]], bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by [[Qatar]]'s [[Al Jazeera]] satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.<ref>{{cite news | coauthors = Carl Cameron, Marla Lehner, Paul Wagenseil | author = Associated Press | title = Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border | url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34440,00.html | publisher = [[Fox News]] | date = 2001-08-16}}</ref>
 
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In a videotape recovered by US forces in November 2001 in [[Jalalabad, Afghanistan|Jalalabad]], bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with [[Khaled al-Harbi]] in a way indicating foreknowledge.<ref>{{cite news |title = Bin Laden on tape: Attacks 'benefited Islam greatly'|publisher = CNN|date = December 14, 2001|url = http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape/|accessdate = 2006-09-07}}</ref> The tape was broadcast on various news networks on [[13 December]] [[2001]]. Some have disputed this translation however. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20021218105636/www.wdr.de/tv/monitor/beitraege.phtml?id=379 |title="Bin-Laden-Video: Falschübersetzung als Beweismittel? |publisher=WDR, Das Erste, MONITOR Nr. 485 am 20.12.2001}}</ref>
 
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In the [[2004 Osama bin Laden video]], bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the 19 hijackers.<ref name="cbc-2004"/><ref>{{cite news |title = Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan|publisher = MSNBC |date=30 October 2004 |url = http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6363306/|accessdate = 2006-09-07}}—''"In the tape, bin Laden—wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a tan cloak—reads from papers at a lectern against a plain brown background. Speaking quietly in an even voice, he tells the American people that he ordered the September 11 attacks because “we are a free people” who wanted to "regain the freedom" of their nation."''</ref> In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.<ref name="cbc-2004"/>
 
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According to the tapes, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the [[1982 Lebanon War]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3966817.stm Excerpts: Bin Laden video]. BBC Online/</ref>
 
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In two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announces, <blockquote>I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers … I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers … with the raids [5 minute audiotape broadcast May 23, 2006],<ref>[http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wotape0524,0,4826927.story?coll=ny-leadworldnews-headlines] Newsday</ref></blockquote> and is seen with [[Ramzi Binalshibh]], as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]] and [[Wail al-Shehri]], as they make preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/09/07/al-qaeda-tape.html|title=Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired |publisher=CBC News |date=September 7 2006}}</ref>
 
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==Criminal charges==
 
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On March 16, 1998, [[Libya]] issued the first official international [[Interpol]] [[arrest warrant]] against Bin Laden and three other people for killing two [[Germany|German]] citizens in Libya on [[10 March]] [[1994]], one of which is thought to have been a German [[counter-intelligence]] officer. Bin Laden is still wanted by the [[Libyan government]]. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_56a.html
 
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|title=Was Libyan WMD Disarmament a Significant Success for Nonproliferation? |publisher=NTI}}</ref><ref>Interpol Arrest Warrant File No. 1998/20232, Control No. A-268/5-1998. Brisard Jean-Charles, Dasquie Guillaume. “Forbidden Truth.” (New York: Thunder Mouth Press, 2002), p. 156.</ref>  Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a [[grand jury]] indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two [[India]]ns in the November 14, 1995 truck bombing of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.<ref name="cron">{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |title="Osama bin Laden: A Chronology of His Political Life" |accessdate=2006-07-25 |author=Frontline |authorlink=Frontline (TV series) |coauthors= The [[New York Times]] and [[Rain Media]] |year=[2001?] |work=Hunting bin Laden: Who Is bin Laden? |publisher=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]] Educational Foundation}}</ref> Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.<ref name="cron"/>  Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack.  On November 4, 1998, Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]], on charges of Murder of US Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder US Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/binladen/usbinladen1.pdf |title=Indictment #S(9) 98 Cr. 1023 |publisher=United States District Court, Southern District of New York}}</ref> for his alleged role in the [[1998 United States embassy bombings]] in Kenya and Tanzania.  The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former Al Qaeda members and satellite phone records.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/14/embassy.bombing.02/index.html |title=Embassy bombing defendant linked to bin Laden |publisher=CNN |date=14 February 2001}}</ref>
 
  
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Bin Laden became the [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s|456th person listed]] on the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives|Ten Most Wanted Fugitives]] list, when he was added to the list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment along with others for [[Capital punishment|capital crimes]] in the 1998 embassy attacks.  Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the [[Taliban]] of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/217947.stm |title=Osama bin Laden 'innocent' |date=21 November 1998 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref> In 1999, US President [[Bill Clinton]] convinced the [[United Nations]] to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.  Years later, on October 10, 2001, bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists|Most Wanted Terrorists]], which was released to the public by the [[President of the United States]] [[George W. Bush]], in direct response to the attacks of 9/11, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of 13 fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.
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===Early terrorist attacks===
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[[Image:Flag of al-Qaeda.svg|thumb|225px|Al-Qaeda flag.]]
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It is believed that the first terrorist attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the [[Gold Mihor Hotel]] in [[Aden]] in which two people were killed.<ref>PBS, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html Who Is Osama Bin Laden?] Retrieved December 22, 2008.</ref> It was after this attack that al-Qaeda began to develop its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a ''[[fatwa]]''—issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public—by al Qaeda co-founder [[Mamdouh Mahmud Salim]], the killing of someone "standing near" the enemy is justified because any innocent bystanders will find their just reward in death, going to [[Paradise]] if they were true Muslims and going to [[hell]] if they were bad Muslims or [[infidel]]s.<ref>Testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, ''US v. Usama bin Laden,'' et. al.</ref>
  
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Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradict Osama Bin Laden.  It wasn't until after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial, in return for the US ending the bombing and providing evidence that Osama bin Laden was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This offer was rejected by George W Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable with Bush responding that "There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over], guardian.co.uk, Sunday October 14 2001</ref>
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In the 1990s, with bin Laden's money, al-Qaeda assisted jihadists financially and militarily in [[Algeria]], [[Egypt]], and [[Afghanistan]]. In 1992 or 1993, bin Laden sent an emissary, [[Qari el-Said]], with $40,000 to Algeria to aid Islamists there, urging armed struggle rather than negotiation with the government. The advice was heeded, but the [[Algerian Civil War#Massacres and reconciliation|civil war]] that followed killed 150,000-200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist forces surrendering to the government. Another attack funded by bin Laden was the [[November 1997 Luxor massacre|Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997]], in Egypt, which killed 62 civilians. This action disgusted the Egyptian public and turned it against bin Laden and his philosophy of Islamist terror.
  
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==Attempted capture by the United States==
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In mid-1997, the anti-Taliban [[Northern Alliance]] threatened to overrun [[Jalalabad]], causing bin Laden to abandon his compound in [[Nazim Jihad]] and move his operations to [[Tarnak Farms]] in the south. In 1998, Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his Taliban hosts by sending several hundred of his Arab fighters to help the Taliban in an infamous attack on the city of [[Mazar-e-Sharif]]. More than 8,000 non-combatants were reported killed, many of them through systematic slaughter, in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan.
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[[Image:US PsyOps leaflet.jpg|right|thumb|300px|US leaflet used in Afghanistan.]]
 
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According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the US government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the [[Battle of Tora Bora]], Afghanistan in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the US to commit US ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the US in the war against al Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gellman|first1=Barton|last2=Ricks|first2=Thomas E.|title=U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62618-2002Apr16|date=2002-04-16|accessdate=2007-02-25}}</ref>
 
  
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''The Washington Post'' also reported that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] unit dedicated to capturing Osama was shut down in late 2005.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400375.html CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref>
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In the same year, bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] co-signed a ''fatwa'' in the name of the [[World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders]], declaring that the killing of Americans and their allies was an "individual duty for every Muslim." At the public announcement of the fatwa, bin Laden announced that Americans are "very easy targets," boasting to attending [[journalist]]s that, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."<ref>Dale Van Attam, 66.</ref>
  
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US and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in [[Tora Bora]] between [[14 August]] and [[16 August]] [[2007]]. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-[[Ramadan]] meeting held by al Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Osama bin Laden or [[Ayman al Zawahiri]].<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21000298/ Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref>
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===Criminal charges===
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[[Image:Kenya bombing 1.jpg|thumb|200px|Aftermath of the U.S. embassy bombings in [[Nairobi, Kenya]].]]
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On March 16, 1998, [[Libya]] issued the first official international [[Interpol]] [[arrest warrant]] against bin Laden and three other people for killing two [[Germany|German]] citizens in Libya on March 10, 1994, one of whom is thought to have been a German [[counter-intelligence]] officer. Bin Laden was first indicted by the [[United States]] on June 8, 1998, when a [[grand jury]] charged him with killing five Americans and two [[India]]ns in the November 14, 1995 truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh. He was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States," with being the head of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, and with being a major financial backer of Islamic terrorists worldwide. Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack.
  
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'''Bounty''': Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] officials named bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda organization as the prime [[suspect]]s and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov03/laden110503.htm |title=Five Years Ago Today - Usama bin Laden: Wanted for Murder |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |date=5 November 2003}}</ref><ref name="fbiwantednotice" /> On [[13 July]] [[2007]], this figure was doubled to $50 million.<ref name="BBCJuly07">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6898075.stm|title="Senate doubles Bin Laden reward"|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=2007-07-13|accessdate=2007-07-14}}</ref>
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On November 4, 1998, after the U.S. embassy bombings in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]], bin Laden was indicted by a federal grand jury in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] on charges of murdering U.S. nationals outside the U.S., conspiracy, and attacks on a federal facility resulting in death. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and [[satellite phone]] records. Bin Laden first appeared on the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives|Ten Most Wanted Fugitives]] list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment for [[Capital punishment|capital crimes]] in the 1998 embassy attacks.
  
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The [[Airline Pilots Association]] and the [[Air Transport Association]] are offering an additional $2 million reward.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html |title=Officials, friends can't confirm Bin Laden death report |publisher=CNN |date=24 September 2006}}</ref>
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In 1999, U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] convinced the [[United Nations]] to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an unsuccessful attempt to force the Taliban regime to extradite him.
  
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==Current whereabouts==
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===September 11 attacks===
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{{main|Location of Osama bin Laden}}
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[[Image:National Park Service 9-11 Statue of Liberty and WTC fire.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The World Trade Center towers after being hit.]]
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Claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden have been made since December 2001, although none have been definitively proven and some have placed Osama in different locations during overlapping time periods.
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[[Image:6-wtc-photo.jpg|thumb|250px|Aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks]]
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The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] has stated that evidence linking [[al-Qaeda]] and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11, 2001, is clear and irrefutable, and bin Laden himself has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The attacks involved the [[hijacking]] of [[United Airlines Flight 93]], [[United Airlines Flight 175]], [[American Airlines Flight 11]], and [[American Airlines Flight 77]]; the subsequent destruction of those planes and the twin towers of the [[World Trade Center]] in [[New York City]], [[New York]]; severe damage to [[The Pentagon]] in [[Arlington, Virginia]]; and the deaths of at least 2,974 people, excluding the [[Organizers_of_the_September_11_attacks#List_of_the_hijackers|nineteen hijackers]]. In response to the attacks, the United States demanded that the Taliban withdraw its protection of bin Laden and his terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and launched a [[War on Terrorism]] to depose the [[Taliban]] regime in [[Afghanistan]] when the government refused to cooperate in the capture of bin Laden and other al-Qaeda operatives.
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{{readout||right|250px|Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement in the infamous [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] on the United States}}
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However, bin Laden initially denied involvement in the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]. On  September 16, 2001, he read a statement later broadcast by [[Qatar]]'s [[Al Jazeera]] satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack. Then, in a [[videotape]] recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001, in [[Jalalabad, Afghanistan|Jalalabad]], bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with [[Khaled al-Harbi]] in a way indicating foreknowledge. The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. In a 2004 video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements, boasting that he had personally directed the 19 hijackers.<ref>MSNBC, [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6363306/ Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan, MSNBC, October 30, 2004.] Retrieved December 24, 2008.</ref> In the video, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to attack the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the [[1982 Lebanon War]]. In two other tapes aired by ''[[Al Jazeera]]'' in 2006, Osama bin Laden also claimed credit for the attacks.
  
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An [[11 December]] [[2005]], letter from [[Atiyah Abd al-Rahman]] to [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] indicates that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the [[Waziristan]] region of [[Pakistan]] at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military's Combating Terrorism Center at [[West Point]], "Atiyah" instructs Zarqawi to "send messengers from your end to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership … I am now on a visit to them and I am writing you this letter as I am with them…" Al-Rahman also indicates that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "weak" and "have many of their own problems." The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials, according to ''the Washington Post''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101083.html?nav=rss_world/mideast/iraq |title=Letter Gives Glimpse of Al-Qaeda's Leadership |publisher=Washington Post |author=Karen DeYoung |date=2 October 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf |title=Letter Exposes New Leader in Al-Qa`ida High Command (PDF) |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=25 September 2006}}</ref>
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==Fugitive==
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[[Image:US PsyOps leaflet.jpg|right|thumb|300px|U.S. leaflet used in Afghanistan.]]
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Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] officials named bin Laden and the [[al-Qaeda]] organization as the prime [[suspect]]s and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death. U.S. military officials believe that bin Laden was present during the [[Battle of Tora Bora]], [[Afghanistan]] in late 2001, but was able to escape.  
  
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==Reports of his death==
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Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were believed to be based in the [[Waziristan]] region of [[Pakistan]] in 2005. In 2007, [[Al Qaeda]] issued a video of bin Laden in which his beard was noticeably shorter than in previous videos. In January 2009, an audio tape purportedly from bin Laden announced that he would test the administration of President [[Barack Obama]] and hinted at another terrorist attack against the U.S.
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'''April 2005''': The ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]'' stated "Dr Clive Williams, director of terrorism studies at the [[Australian National University]], says documents provided by an Indian colleague suggested bin Laden died of massive organ failure in April last year … 'It's hard to prove or disprove these things because there hasn't really been anything that allows you to make a judgment one way or the other,' Dr. Williams said."<ref>"[http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Expert-says-bin-Laden-could-be-dead/2006/01/16/1137259967843.html Expert says bin Laden could be dead]", by [[Australian Associated Press]], [[16 January]] [[2006]], in the [[Sydney Morning Herald]].</ref>
 
  
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'''August 2006''': On [[23 September]] [[2006]], the French newspaper ''[[L'Est Républicain]]'' quoted a report from the French secret service ([[Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure|DGSE]]) stating that Osama bin Laden had died in Pakistan on [[23 August]] [[2006]], after contracting a case of [[typhoid fever]] that paralyzed his lower limbs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Officials, friends can't confirm Bin Laden death report|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=2006-09-23|accessdate=2008-04-27}}</ref> According to the newspaper, Saudi security services first heard of bin Laden's alleged death on [[4 September]] [[2006]].<ref>{{cite news
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==Death==
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|publisher=[[Reuters]]
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In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, [[Pakistan]] in a three-story mansion.
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|url=http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-23T075358Z_01_L23801953_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-BINLADEN-FRANCE.xml
 
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|title=French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan
 
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|date=2006-09-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 
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|first = Laïd
 
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|last = Sammari
 
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|title = Oussama Ben Laden serait mort
 
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|url = http://www.estrepublicain.fr/zoom/2006092300222348.html
 
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|publisher = L'Est Républicain
 
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|date = 2006-09-23
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-23
 
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|language = French
 
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 
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|first =
 
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|last =
 
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|title = Chirac says no evidence bin Laden has died
 
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|url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302/
 
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|publisher = MSNBC.com/[[Associated Press|AP]]
 
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|date = 2006-09-23
 
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|accessdate = 2006-09-23
 
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}}</ref>
 
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The alleged death was reported by the [[Saudi Arabia]]n secret service to its government, which reported it to the French secret service. The French defense minister [[Michèle Alliot-Marie]] expressed her regret that the report had been published while [[President of the French Republic|French President]] [[Jacques Chirac]] declared that bin Laden's death had not been confirmed.<ref>{{cite news
 
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|publisher=[[Le Monde]]/[[Agence France-Presse]]
 
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|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-28276934@7-37,0.html
 
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|title=Information sur la mort de ben Laden: Washington ne confirme pas
 
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|date=2006-09-23
 
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|language = French}}</ref> [[United States|American]] authorities also cannot confirm reports of bin Laden's death,<ref>{{cite news
 
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|author=[[Anna Willard]] and [[David Morgan]]
 
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|publisher=[[Reuters]]
 
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|url=http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldnews&storyID=2006-09-23T223316Z_01_L23793153_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-BINLADEN.xml
 
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|title=France, US, unable to confirm report bin Laden dead
 
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|date=2006-09-23
 
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}}</ref> with [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]] saying only, "No comment, and no knowledge."<ref name=AFP>The Age (2006). [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/doubts-over-bin-laden-death/2006/09/24/1159036399252.html Doubts over bin Laden death]. Retrieved on [[24 September]] [[2006]].</ref> Later, CNN's Nic Robertson said that he had received confirmation from an anonymous Saudi source that the Saudi intelligence community has known for a while that bin Laden has a [[water-borne illness]], but that he had heard no reports that it was specifically typhoid or that he had died.<ref>{{cite news
 
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|publisher=[[CNN]]
 
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|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html
 
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|title=Conflicting reports: Bin Laden could be dead or ill
 
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|date=2006-09-23
 
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}}</ref>
 
  
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'''November 2007''': In an interview with political interviewer [[David Frost]] taken on [[November 2]], [[2007]], the [[Pakistan]]i politician and [[Pakistan Peoples Party]] chairwoman [[Benazir Bhutto]] claimed that bin Laden had been murdered by [[Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh|Omar Sheikh]]. During her answer to a question pertaining to the identities of those who had previously attempted her own assassination, Bhutto named Sheikh as a possible suspect while referring to him as "the man who murdered Osama bin Laden." Despite the weight of such a statement, neither Bhutto nor Frost attempted to clarify it during the remainder of the interview.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=oIO8B6fpFSQ|title="Frost over the World - Benazir Bhutto - 02 Nov 07 "|accessdate=2008-01-15}}</ref> Omar Chatriwala, a journalist for Al Jazeera English, claims that he chose not to pursue the story at the time because he believes Bhutto misspoke, meaning to say Sheikh murdered [[Daniel Pearl]] and not Osama Bin Laden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shardmedia.com/syntheticjungle/?p=319|title="Bhutto and Bin Laden in the rumor mill"|accessdate=2008-01-18}}</ref> The [[BBC]] drew criticism when it rebroadcast the Frost/Bhutto interview on its website, but edited out Bhutto's statement regarding Osama Bin Laden. Later the BBC apologized and replaced the [http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/homepage/int/news/-/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi?redirect=fs.stm&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&news=1&nol_storyid=7075843 edited version] with the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIO8B6fpFSQ complete interview].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/01/post_8.html|title="BBC News: Editing Interviews"|accessdate=2008-01-23}}</ref> Bhutto's statement regarding Bin Laden conflicts with an earlier statement in October 2007, where Bhutto stated in an interview that she would cooperate with the American military in targeting Osama bin Laden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/10/02/bhutto_would_take_us_aid_against_bin_laden/|title="Bhutto would take US aid against bin Laden"|accessdate=2008-01-18}}</ref>
+
Bin Laden was killed in his Abbottabad mansion in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local [[Pakistan Standard Time|time]]<ref>Helene Cooper, [http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-dead-u-s-official-says/ Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden] ''The New York Times'', May 1, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.</ref> by a United States [[special forces]] military unit. The operation, code-named '''Operation Neptune Spear''', was ordered by [[United States]] [[President of the United States|President]] [[Barack Obama]] and carried out in a U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) operation by a team of [[United States Navy SEALs]] with support from CIA operatives on the ground.<ref name="deadlyraid">{{cite news |title=Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid |author=Philip Sherwell |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=May 7, 2011 |accessdate=May 9, 2011 |location=London}}</ref><ref name="CIAled">{{cite news|last=Dilanian |first=Ken |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-osama-bin-laden-cia-20110502,0,6466214.story |title=CIA led U.S. special forces mission against Osama bin Laden |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 2, 2011 |accessdate=May 14, 2011}}</ref> In the late evening of May 1, 2011, (EDT), President Obama appeared on major television networks and announced that bin Laden had been killed. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to [[Afghanistan]] for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.<ref>BBC, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676 Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead - Barack Obama] News US & Canada, May 2, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.</ref>
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==Criticism==
 
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{{main|Criticism of Osama bin Laden}}
 
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Among [[Salafism|Salafist]] Muslims who have criticized bin Laden for adherence to [[Qutbism]] (the ideology of [[Sayyid Qutb]]), [[takfir]] and [[Kharijites|Khaarijite]] deviance, are said to include Muhammad Ibn Haadee al-Madkhalee, [[Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz]], Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan and [[Muqbil bin Haadi al-Waadi'ee]].
 
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==See also==
 
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*[[Messages of Osama bin Laden]]
 
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*[[Messages of Ayman al-Zawahiri]]
 
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*[[Afghan Arabs]]
 
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*[[Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden]]
 
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*[[Afghan Civil War]]
 
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*[[Clearstream]] scandal (Bin Laden's [[Bahrain]] International Bank used this [[clearing house (finance)|clearing house]] for its financial activities).
 
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*[[Bin Laden Issue Station]] (The CIA's bin Laden tracking unit, 1996-2005)
 
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*[[The Golden Chain]]
 
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*[[Islamic fundamentalism]]
 
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*[[Islamist terrorism]]
 
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*[[Islamofascism]]
 
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*[[Fatāwā of Osama bin Laden|Ladenese epistle]]
 
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*[[Mujahideen]]
 
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*[[Destructive cult#Terrorism|Osama bin Laden as destructive Cult leader]]
 
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*[[Osama bin Laden in popular culture]]
 
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*[[Saleh Abdullah Kamel]]
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
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{{Reflist|3}}
+
<references/>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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*Peter L. Bergen, ''The Osama bin Laden I Know'': New York: Free Press, 2006
+
* Bergen, Peter L. ''Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden''. New York, NY: Free Press, 2001. ISBN 9780743205023.
−
*Michael Scheuer, ''Through Our Enemies' Eyes'', Washington, D.C. : Brassey's, c2002
+
* Bergen, Peter L. ''The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaeda's Leader.'' New York, NY: Free Press, 2006. ISBN 9780743278911.
−
*Wright, Lawrence, ''The Looming Tower : Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11,'' New York : Knopf, 2006.
+
* Bin Laden, Osama, and Bruce B. Lawrence. ''Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden''. London: Verso, 2005. ISBN 9781844670451.
 +
* Scheuer, Michael. ''Through Our Enemies' Eyes.'' Washington, DC: Potomac Books Inc, 2007. ISBN 9781597971621.
 +
* Van Attam, Dale. "Carbombs & Cameras- The Need for Responsible Media Coverage of Terrorism." In ''Harvard International Review.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard International Relations Council, 1998. ISBN 9780895264855.
 +
* Wright, Lawrence, ''The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11.'' New York, NY: Knopf, 2006. ISBN 9780375414862.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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{{sisterlinks|Osama bin Laden|s=Author:Osama bin Laden}}
+
All links retrieved November 17, 2022.
 +
 
 
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/ Hunting Bin Laden] - PBS Frontline
 
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/ Hunting Bin Laden] - PBS Frontline
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*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm Who is Osama bin Laden] - BBC News
 
 
*[http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf FBIS Report, Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994-January 2004]
 
*[http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf FBIS Report, Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994-January 2004]
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*[http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives poster]
+
*[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/index.htm The Osama bin Laden File] - The National Security Archive
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*[http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/051212fa_fact New Yorker article on Osama's youth]
+
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America']  
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[[category:biography]]
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[[category:history and biography]]
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[[category:history of the Middle East]]
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[[category:Islam]]
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[[category:politics]]
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[[category:politicians and reformers]]
 
{{credit|259482477}}
 
{{credit|259482477}}

Latest revision as of 04:35, 18 November 2022

Osama bin Laden
March 10, 1957 - May 2, 2011
Usama bin laden.jpg
Osama bin Laden from the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list
Place of birth Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Place of death Abbottābad, Pakistan
Battles/wars Afghan Jihad
1998 U.S. embassy bombings
2001 World Trade Center bombings
War on Terrorism

Osama bin Laden (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن) (March 10, 1957 - May 2, 2011) was a founder of the militant Islamist al-Qaeda movement, best known for masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. A member of the prominent bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia, Osama used his personal wealth to fund the development of al-Qaeda and has been associated with numerous mass-casualty attacks against civilian targets.

Bin Laden's name is transliterated in several ways. Most English-language mass media use Osama bin Laden. However, most U.S. government agencies use either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin," both of which are abbreviated to UBL.

Educated as a civil engineer, bin Laden joined the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. There, he met the Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and expanded his focus in an attempt to rid the entire Middle East of non-Islamic influences, beginning his career as a terrorist in 1992 with the bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden. Together with his al-Qaeda associates, he supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and carried out numerous attacks on civilian targets throughout the world in the late 1990s, culminating in the infamous attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States.

Bin Laden and his organization were major targets of the United States' War on Terrorism. As of early 2009, he was believed to be still hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, on May 2, 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by U.S. Navy SEALs in a covert operation authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Childhood, education, and marriages

Bin Laden corporation building in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 10, 1957. His father, Muhammed Awad bin Laden, was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family. One of more than 50 children, he was the only son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas. Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born, and his mother then married Muhammad al-Attas, who worked at the bin Laden company. The couple had four other children, and Osama lived in the new household with three stepbrothers and one stepsister.

Raised as a devout Sunni Muslim, Osama studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University, where he received a degree in civil engineering. However, at university, bin Laden's main interest seems to have been religion.

In 1974, at the age of 17, he married his first wife, Najwa Ghanem, at Latakia (Laodicea), Turkey. By 2002, bin Laden had married four women and fathered over 20 children.

Teachings

An adherent of the fundamentalist school of Salafism, bin Laden taught that Islam was perfect and complete during the days of Muhammad and his companions, but that undesirable innovations have been added over the later centuries due to materialist and cultural influences. Salafism claims to seek a practice of Islam that more closely resembles the religion during the time of Muhammad. Like many Islamists, bin Laden emphasized that only the restoration of Sharia law will set things right in the Muslim world. He rejected all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.

Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for external jihad (holy war) to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and other non-Muslim states. He also called for the elimination of the State of Israel and the necessity of forcing the U.S. to withdraw from the Middle East. During the 1990s, he began to teach publicly that his native Saudi Arabia—the site of Islam's holy cities of Mecca and Medina—had been corrupted by American influences and was guilty of serious crimes against Islam. He insisted that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the world.

The most controversial part of bin Laden's ideology is his doctrine that civilians, including women and children, can be killed in jihad.[1] He also delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery," he claims. "They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."[2] Bin Laden also opposed music on religious grounds.[3] He called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury."

Bin Laden also listed Shi'a Muslims as "heretics" and one of the principal "enemies of Islam."[4] This is one of the reasons that he encouraged al-Qaeda to put a major effort into undermining the new government of Iraq, which emerged as a Shia-led coalition after the demise of the Sunni-dominated Saddam Hussein regime.

Militant activity

Mujahideen in Afghanistan

After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden joined militant Palestinian scholar Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and lived for a time in Peshawar. By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established the Maktab al-Khadamat, known in English as the Afghan Services Bureau, which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the Arab world into the Afghan war. Bin Laden's inherited family fortune and yearly income paid for travel, accommodations and administrative expenses of the Afghan fighters.

Bin Laden's associate Ayman al-Zawahiri.

During this time bin Laden met his future al-Qaeda collaborator, the Egyptian militant Ayman al-Zawahiri. Osama then established an operational and training camp in Afghanistan, and fought against the Soviets. By 1988, at al-Zawahiri's urging, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat and Azzam, determined to take a more directly military role in the struggle and insisting that Arab fighters form separate units rather than being integrated into native Afghan Taliban forces.[5]

After the defeat of the Soviets, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad. However, his militancy soon alienated him from the Saudi elites. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, bin Laden met Crown Prince Sultan and urged him not to cooperate with coalition forces opposed to Saddam Hussein, offering to use his resources to help defend Saudi Arabia from any Iraqi aggression. When he was rebuffed, bin Laden publicly and bitterly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military, declaring that the Saudis had sinned against Islam.

Sudan

Bin Laden moved to Sudan in 1992, and established a new base for operations in Khartoum. Due to his continuous verbal assaults on King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, in 1994, Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport. The bin Laden family was persuaded to cut off his monthly stipend, thought to amount to $7 million a year. By now bin Laden was strongly associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995, the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.

In late 1995, Sudanese officials discussed with the Saudi government the possibility of deporting bin Laden to Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis, who had revoked his citizenship, refused. In May 1996, with Sudan under increasing pressure from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden returned to Afghanistan and forged a close relationship with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Early terrorist attacks

Al-Qaeda flag.

It is believed that the first terrorist attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.[6] It was after this attack that al-Qaeda began to develop its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa—issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public—by al Qaeda co-founder Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone "standing near" the enemy is justified because any innocent bystanders will find their just reward in death, going to Paradise if they were true Muslims and going to hell if they were bad Muslims or infidels.[7]

In the 1990s, with bin Laden's money, al-Qaeda assisted jihadists financially and militarily in Algeria, Egypt, and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993, bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid Islamists there, urging armed struggle rather than negotiation with the government. The advice was heeded, but the civil war that followed killed 150,000-200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist forces surrendering to the government. Another attack funded by bin Laden was the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997, in Egypt, which killed 62 civilians. This action disgusted the Egyptian public and turned it against bin Laden and his philosophy of Islamist terror.

In mid-1997, the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing bin Laden to abandon his compound in Nazim Jihad and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south. In 1998, Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his Taliban hosts by sending several hundred of his Arab fighters to help the Taliban in an infamous attack on the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. More than 8,000 non-combatants were reported killed, many of them through systematic slaughter, in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan.

In the same year, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, declaring that the killing of Americans and their allies was an "individual duty for every Muslim." At the public announcement of the fatwa, bin Laden announced that Americans are "very easy targets," boasting to attending journalists that, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."[8]

Criminal charges

Aftermath of the U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya.

On March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official international Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden and three other people for killing two German citizens in Libya on March 10, 1994, one of whom is thought to have been a German counter-intelligence officer. Bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8, 1998, when a grand jury charged him with killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14, 1995 truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh. He was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States," with being the head of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, and with being a major financial backer of Islamic terrorists worldwide. Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack.

On November 4, 1998, after the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, bin Laden was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges of murdering U.S. nationals outside the U.S., conspiracy, and attacks on a federal facility resulting in death. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records. Bin Laden first appeared on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on June 7, 1999, following his indictment for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks.

In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an unsuccessful attempt to force the Taliban regime to extradite him.

September 11 attacks

The World Trade Center towers after being hit.
Aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11, 2001, is clear and irrefutable, and bin Laden himself has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The attacks involved the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 11, and American Airlines Flight 77; the subsequent destruction of those planes and the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York; severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and the deaths of at least 2,974 people, excluding the nineteen hijackers. In response to the attacks, the United States demanded that the Taliban withdraw its protection of bin Laden and his terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and launched a War on Terrorism to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan when the government refused to cooperate in the capture of bin Laden and other al-Qaeda operatives.

Did you know?
Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement in the infamous September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States

However, bin Laden initially denied involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks. On September 16, 2001, he read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack. Then, in a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001, in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way indicating foreknowledge. The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. In a 2004 video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements, boasting that he had personally directed the 19 hijackers.[9] In the video, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to attack the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War. In two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden also claimed credit for the attacks.

Fugitive

U.S. leaflet used in Afghanistan.

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, US government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death. U.S. military officials believe that bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001, but was able to escape.

Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were believed to be based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan in 2005. In 2007, Al Qaeda issued a video of bin Laden in which his beard was noticeably shorter than in previous videos. In January 2009, an audio tape purportedly from bin Laden announced that he would test the administration of President Barack Obama and hinted at another terrorist attack against the U.S.

Death

In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan in a three-story mansion.

Bin Laden was killed in his Abbottabad mansion in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local time[10] by a United States special forces military unit. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama and carried out in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation by a team of United States Navy SEALs with support from CIA operatives on the ground.[11][12] In the late evening of May 1, 2011, (EDT), President Obama appeared on major television networks and announced that bin Laden had been killed. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Bin Laden (2005), 70.
  2. ↑ Ibid., 190.
  3. ↑ Ibid., 167.
  4. ↑ Wright (2006), 303.
  5. ↑ Bergen (2001), 74–88.
  6. ↑ PBS, Who Is Osama Bin Laden? Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  7. ↑ Testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, US v. Usama bin Laden, et. al.
  8. ↑ Dale Van Attam, 66.
  9. ↑ MSNBC, Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan, MSNBC, October 30, 2004. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
  10. ↑ Helene Cooper, Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden The New York Times, May 1, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
  11. ↑ Philip Sherwell. "Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid", The Daily Telegraph, May 7, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ Dilanian, Ken, "CIA led U.S. special forces mission against Osama bin Laden", Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2011. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  13. ↑ BBC, Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead - Barack Obama News US & Canada, May 2, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden. New York, NY: Free Press, 2001. ISBN 9780743205023.
  • Bergen, Peter L. The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaeda's Leader. New York, NY: Free Press, 2006. ISBN 9780743278911.
  • Bin Laden, Osama, and Bruce B. Lawrence. Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden. London: Verso, 2005. ISBN 9781844670451.
  • Scheuer, Michael. Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Washington, DC: Potomac Books Inc, 2007. ISBN 9781597971621.
  • Van Attam, Dale. "Carbombs & Cameras- The Need for Responsible Media Coverage of Terrorism." In Harvard International Review. Cambridge, MA: Harvard International Relations Council, 1998. ISBN 9780895264855.
  • Wright, Lawrence, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11. New York, NY: Knopf, 2006. ISBN 9780375414862.

External links

All links retrieved November 17, 2022.

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