Osama bin Laden

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Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden in Pakistan (c. 2010)
Born Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden
March 10, 1957(1957-03-10)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Died May 2, 2011 (aged 54)
Abbottabad, Pakistan
Cause of death Shot in the head and chest
Residence Abbottabad, Pakistan
Nationality Saudi Arabian
Ethnicity Arab
Occupation Leader of al-Qaeda
Known for Planning 9/11
Religion Islam
Children 20
Parents Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden,
Hamida al-Attas

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden[1] (10 March 1957, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – 2 May 2011, Abbottabad, Pakistan) was the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which has killed many people in attacks around the world.[2][3] He was a member of the very rich bin Laden family, whose origins are in Yemen.

Bin Laden admitted that he planned the 9/11 attack on the United States. A videotape of him talking about it was shown on TV. The terror network which he helped create (al-Qaeda) is amongst the deadliest in the world.

Bin Laden, and fellow al-Qaeda leaders Abu Hafiza and Ayman al-Zawahiri, were believed to be hiding in Pakistan, or near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

On May 1 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed at a mansion outside Islamabad,[4][5] and that the United States of America had his corpse.[6] His corpse was buried at sea at an undisclosed location.

Contents

Beliefs and ideology [change]

Bin Laden probably believed that the restoration of Sharia law would set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.[7] These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism.[8]

He believed Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.[9] Bin Laden had consistently talked about his belief in the need for violent jihad to make right what he believed are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,[10] the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He had also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication and homosexuality, intoxicants (e.g. alcohol), gambling, and usury" in an October 2002 letter.[11]

One of Bin Laden's most infamous beliefs was that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.[12][13] Bin Laden was antisemitic, and had delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next".[14] Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at the ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.[15]p303

In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs (the Saudi type of Islam),[16] bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,[15]p167 and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.[15]p172

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them led to him been designated as a terrorist by scholars,[17][18] journalists from the New York Times,[19][20] the British Broadcasting Corporation,[21] Qatari news station Al Jazeera,[22] analysts such as Peter Bergen,[23] Michael Scheuer,[24] Marc Sageman,[25] and Bruce Hoffman[26][27] and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.[28] He stayed in hiding until he was killed by the United States in Pakistan, in May 2011.

Names [change]

Osama bin Laden's name can be transliterated in several ways. Usāmah bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Lādin (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بنلادن), shortened to Usama bin Laden (أسامة بن لادن).

The form used here, Osama bin Laden, is used by most English-language mass media. This includes CNN and the BBC. The FBI and Fox News use Usama bin Laden. Often the name is abbreviated to UBL.

The bin Laden family (or "Binladin," as they like to be called) usually use the name as a surname in the Western style. The family company is known as the Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry. It is one of the largest corporations in Saudi Arabia.

Bin Laden had many aliases and nicknames, such as 'the Prince', 'the Emir', 'Abu Abdallah', 'Mujahid Shayekh', and 'the Director'.

Death [change]

White House staff wait for news

U.S. President Barack Obama launched a mission, "Operation Geronimo", where United States Special Operation forces raided bin Laden's hideout compound. At around 01:00 Pakistan Standard Time, 2 May 2011 (UTC 20:00, 1 May), bin Laden was killed by bullets to the chest and head. His body was buried at sea later that day so there would be no grave.

References [change]

  1. ↑ "Profile: Osama bin Laden". http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/OsamabinLaden.htm. Retrieved 3 May 2011. "His full name was Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden. ("Bin" means "son" in Arabic, so his name also tells his genealogy. Osama was the son of Muhammad bin Laden, who was the son of Awad, and so forth)." was an Islamic fundamentalist.
  2. ↑ "Bin Laden, Usama". Interpol. http://www.interpol.int/Public/Data/Wanted/Notices/Data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  3. ↑ "U.S. troops kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan". 2 May 2011. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/obama-to-make-statment-tonight-subject-unknown/. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  4. ↑ "Bin Laden Dead, US Officials Say". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html?_r=1&hp.
  5. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-dead-killed_n_856091.html
  6. ↑ "BBC News - Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden 'dead'". Bbc.co.uk. 2001-09-11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
  7. ↑ Messages, 2005, p. 218. "Resist the New Rome, audiotape delivered to al-Jazeera and broadcast by it on 2004-01-04.
  8. ↑ Dale C. Eikmeier (Spring 2007). "Qutbism: an ideology of Islamic-fascism". Parameters. pp. 85–98. http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  9. ↑ Messages, (2005), p. 143. from an interview published in Al-Quds Al-Arabi in London November 12, 2001 (originally published in Pakistani daily, Ausaf, Nov. 7.
  10. ↑ Messages to the World, (2005), pp. xix, xx, editor Bruce Lawrence.
  11. ↑ October 6, 2002. Appeared in Al-Qala'a website and then the London Observer 2002-11-24.
  12. ↑ Messages, 2005. p70. Al Jazeera interview, December 1998, after the Kenya and Tanzania embassy attacks.
  13. ↑ Messages, (2005), p. 119, October 21, 2001 interview with Taysir Alluni of Al Jazeera.
  14. ↑ Messages, (2005), p. 190. from 53-minute audiotape that was circulated on various websites, dated February 14, 2003. "Among a Band of Knights."
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Wright, Lawrence 2006. The looming tower : Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11. New York: Knopf.
  16. ↑ Klebnikov, Paul (September 14, 2001). "Who Is Osama bin Laden?". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914whoisobl.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  17. ↑ John Randal 2005. Osama: the making of a terrorist Tauris.
  18. ↑ A Capitol Idea Donald E. Abelson p. 208.
  19. ↑ Abby Goodnough (July 8, 2007). "Mysteries, legal and sartorial, at Padilla Trial". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/nationalspecial3/08padilla.html?_r=1&sq=islamist%20osama&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=7&adxnnlx=1214784198-I4IcWDM+QsboskeLb729pg. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  20. ↑ Michael R. Gordon (September 17, 2001). "After the attacks: the strategy; a new war and its scale". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/after-the-attacks-the-strategy-a-new-war-and-its-scale.html?sec=&spon=&&scp=7&sq=%22terrorist%20osama%20%22&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  21. ↑ "Is global terror threat falling?". BBC News. May 21, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7412036.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  22. ↑ "Osama bin Laden's operation" has "perpetrated the worst act of terrorism ever witnessed on US soil".
  23. ↑ Peter L. Bergen 2006. The Osama bin Laden I know: an oral history of al Quaeda's leader. New York: Free Press, 2006
  24. ↑ Michael Scheuer 2006. Through our enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, radical Islam, and the future of America Potomac Books.
  25. ↑ Marc Sageman 2008. Leaderless Jihad: terror networks in the twenty-first century University of Pennsylvania Press.
  26. ↑ Bruce Hoffman (Spring 2004). "Redefining Counterterrorism: the terrorist leader as CEO". RAND Review.
  27. ↑ Peter Brookes 2005. A devil's triangle: terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and rogue states Rowman & Littlefield.
  28. ↑ "Wanted: Usama Bin Laden". Interpol. http://www.interpol.int/Public/Data/Wanted/Notices/Data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp. Retrieved 2010-05-28.

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