Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden (1957-2011) was a Saudi engineer and terrorist, responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Born into a wealthy family that supported a radical interpretation of Islam, Osama bin Laden carried out attacks that killed thousands of innocent people.

After ten years of searching, American soldiers find him and he is killed on May 2, 2011.

The Twin Towers and bin Laden

Within the logic of fighting those who were considered enemies of Islam, Osama bin Laden begins to plan and finance an attack of great magnitude against the United States.

Instead of car bombs or the assassination of a politician, this time the aircraft would be used as weapons. Therefore, pilots were trained in American aviation schools in order to be able to control the planes. All this would be done with the money and carried out by members of the al-Qaida organization, led by Osama bin Laden.

The chosen targets represented American financial, military and political power. On September 11, 2001, four planes are hijacked in the United States and diverted from their route.

Two of them make their way to the Twin Towers, in New York, and complete their mission by crashing into the buildings.

Another plane headed for the Pentagon, headquarters of the Armed Forces, and knocked down one of the buildings.

The fourth aircraft was supposed to damage the Capitol in Washington, but the passengers rebelled and managed to stop the attack.

Death of Osama bin Laden

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States launched a major offensive to find the mastermind behind the attacks:Osama bin Laden. However, ten years would pass until this day came.

Because of this delay, there was a rumor that Osama bin Laden was dead or even hiding in some Western country. This news was always contradicted by al-Qaida members in press releases.

Osama bin Laden, was taking refuge in a house in Pakistan, in the city of Abbottabad. There he would live with two wives, several children and grandchildren. Accustomed to a simple life, he spent his days writing memos to his subordinates, teaching children, and watching videos reporting on the 9/11 attack.

After intense investigations, which included torture, US intelligence services were able to locate Osama bin Laden's residence. At dawn on May 1, 2011, US Army special forces invade the house and kill the world's most wanted terrorist.

His death was announced the same day by American President Barack Obama.

Life of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden's story begins when his father, Mohammed bin Laden, decides to move from Yemen to Saudi Arabia in the 1940s.

At that time, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was just a big desert, but with the will and money to modernize. With oil profits, there was enough capital for investment and the era of large construction begins.

Osama Bin Laden's father befriends the Saudi royal family and gets several contracts to carry out works such as roads, public buildings and even the expansion of the Mecca mosque.

His company, the Saudi Binladin Group, quickly became the most important construction company in Saudi Arabia. This allows Mohammed bin Laden to have multiple wives (four at a time) that will give him 54 children.

Osama was the 17th child of 25 sons, born on March 10, 1957. His mother was Syrian and considered the most “westernized” of the businessman's wives. The boy grew up in an extremely religious environment, as his father was a follower of strict Islam and demanded a lot from his sons.

Osama's father died when he was 11 years old in a plane crash. Later, at the age of twenty, he inherited 30 million dollars, his share of the inheritance.

He studied engineering and business administration in Saudi Arabia to prepare to take over the family business. Some point out that it was there that his radicalization took place, others claim that already at school he would have had a teacher who would have instilled radical ideas.

At the University, Osama would attend theological debates on jihad , Western world vs. Islamic world, but also about the moral corruption of Saudi princes who adopted a lifestyle considered by some to be non-Muslim.

The "jihad" it is commonly translated in Western languages ​​as the "holy war". However, like any theological concept, various interpretations can be made. For some, it would be a personal fight between the human being and everything that distances him from religion.

However, for others, it is a fight against external and concrete enemies who must physically perish.

Personality

Osama is described by his close friends as a shy, courteous and simple person. Very concerned about his family environment, with the values ​​of Islam and extremely religious.

Although some of his brothers adopted the Western way of life, Osama bin Laden never did. It is quite possible that he has never been to a Western country and his travels would be limited to Muslim countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Egypt.

Wars and Terrorist Attacks

Osama bin Laden believed that it was possible to build a great Muslim empire and this would be achieved by destroying the enemies of Islam.

For this reason, he gets involved in various armed conflicts and promotes terrorist attacks that have caused countless deaths and material losses.

War in Afghanistan

When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden thinks this is an intervention by the "infidels" in an Islamic country. That's why Osama bin Laden takes up arms and funds various radical groups to fight Soviet soldiers.

The United States comes to the aid of the Afghans to preserve their interests in the region. Several Afghan militia groups, including the one sponsored by Osama, receive military training from the CIA.

Thus, to claim that bin Laden was a "CIA agent" is a bit of an exaggeration, as many Afghans received the same training.

In any case, for his role in the War in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden becomes known among those who want to use violence to eliminate the so-called "enemies of Islam".

Taking advantage of the victory against the Soviets, in the late 1980s, he gathered these guerrillas and founded his own organization, Al-Qaeda, which means "the base" in Arabic.

Gulf War

The Gulf War was a conflict between Western coalition forces, led by the United States, against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The objective was to liberate Kuwait that had been invaded and also to prevent Iraqi troops from taking Saudi oil wells.

A friend of Saudi Arabia's royal family, Osama bin Laden demands that the king use only Muslim troops to fight the enemy. The king does not accept it, as he maintains very strong commercial and political relations with the Americans.

In this way, Osama bin Laden becomes an opponent of the Saudi royal family and is expelled from the country because of his criticisms. He goes to Sudan, where he contacts other radical Islamists willing to die and kill in the name of Islam.

Terrorist Attacks

Over two decades, Osama bin Laden would plan and sponsor several terrorist attacks against the United States.

The first attack, with a car bomb, was carried out against US embassies located in Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania), on August 7, 1988.

Another terrorist action would follow on October 12, 2000, when a speedboat loaded with explosives crashed into the American destroyer "USS Cole", in Aden, Yemen.

On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacks the United States in an unprecedented way.

In the following years, organizations sympathizing with or considering themselves to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda will carry out large-scale terrorist attacks.

These include the explosion of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002; or the detonation of four trains in Madrid on March 11, 2004.

Curiosities

• Osama bin Laden was Sunni and followed the Wahhabi current of Islam. As a Sunni this meant that he had the Shias as enemies, and as a Wahhabi he postulated that an Islamic country should be governed strictly by sharia, Islamic law.
• Osama bin Laden is known to have had five wives and an estimated 20 to 26 children.

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• Middle East
• Islamic State
• Islamism
• Sunnis and Shias
• Iraq War
• Arab Culture
• Muslim Culture
• Cold War Conflicts