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Bin Laden is often described as lanky; the [[FBI]] describes him as tall and thin, being 6' 4" (193 cm) to 6' 5" (195 cm) tall and weighing about 160 pounds (75 kg). He has an olive complexion, is left-handed, and usually walks with a [[cane]]. He wears a plain white [[turban]] and no longer dons the traditional Saudi male headdress<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm|title=Most Wanted Terrorist - Usama Bin Laden|publisher=FBI|accessdate=2006-06-08}}</ref>.
Bin Laden is often described as lanky; the [[FBI]] describes him as tall and thin, being 6' 4" (193 cm) to 6' 5" (195 cm) tall and weighing about 160 pounds (75 kg). He has an olive complexion, is left-handed, and usually walks with a [[cane]]. He wears a plain white [[turban]] and no longer dons the traditional Saudi male headdress<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm|title=Most Wanted Terrorist - Usama Bin Laden|publisher=FBI|accessdate=2006-06-08}}</ref>.


In terms of personality, Bin Laden is described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man, <ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3570751.stm|title='I met Osama Bin Laden'|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2006-05-15}}</ref>; and despite his rhetoric, he is said to be charming, polite, and respectful. <!-- It is because of his quiet personality that many wonder how he could be the leader of a military organization. (good cite needed) -->
In terms of personality, Bin Laden is described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man, <ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3570751.stm|title='I met Osama Bin Laden'|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=2006-05-15}}</ref>; and despite being a murdering sycophant, he is said to be charming, polite, and respectful. <!-- It is because of his quiet personality that many wonder how he could be the leader of a military organization. (good cite needed) -->


He reportedly suffers from various medical conditions including [[Kidney#Diseases and disorders|kidney disease]].
He reportedly suffers from various medical conditions including [[Kidney#Diseases and disorders|kidney disease]].

Revision as of 04:13, 10 June 2006

This article is about Osama bin Laden. For the Saudi Family, see Bin Laden family.
File:Osama-med.jpg
Osama bin Laden

Usāmah bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Lādin (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن; born March 10, 1957 [1]), most commonly known as Osama bin Laden or Usama bin Laden (أسامة بن لادن) is an Islamic fundamentalist, a primary founder of the al-Qaeda Islamic organization and a member of the immensely wealthy bin Laden family.

Bin Laden and al-Qaeda have allegedly carried out a number of terrorist attacks worldwide and it is often believed that they were involved with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia and the failed hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, which killed at least 2,986 innocent people total and the collapse of both World Trade Center towers. In addition, they have been linked to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, the USS Cole bombing, the Bali nightclub bombings, the Madrid bombings, as well as bombings in the Jordanian capital of Amman and in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

According to a video tape released by Osama bin Laden, his main grievances against the West and especially the United States, include their support for Israel, their support for several dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, and the presence of United States military bases in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. withdrew from these bases in 2003, stating that they were no longer necessary for their campaign in Iraq.

On June 7, 1999 bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, following his indictment in the 1998 embassy attacks. Years later, on October 10, 2001 bin Laden topped the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President 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 thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that list for the 1998 attack. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive to ever be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.

The United States Department of State is offering a reward of 25 million US dollars for information leading to the capture or death of bin Laden. An additional reward of $2 million is being offered by the Air Line Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association[2].

Background

Family and childhood

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Muhammed Awad bin Laden, a wealthy businessman involved in construction and with close ties to the Saudi royal family. His family originally came from Hadhramaut, Yemen.

There is no definitive account of the number of children born to Muhammed bin Laden, but the number is generally put at 55. In addition, various accounts place Osama as his seventeenth son. Muhammed bin Laden was married 22 times, although to no more than four women at a time per Islamic law. Osama is the only son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas, who is reportedly of Syrian descent.

Bin laden was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. From 1968 to 1976, he attended the Al-Thager Model School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As a college student, bin Laden studied civil engineering and business administration. He earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979 and one in economics and public administration, in 1981; both are from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.

In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife, Najwa Ghanem. Although Bin Laden reportedly married four other women, he divorced one. Sudanese author, Kola Boof, claims she was kept in Morocco as a mistress for bin Laden in 1996 against her will, but Nadeem Quttub, a former diplomat of the Sudanese government who helped bin Laden build roads in Sudan, told the BBC that Kola Boof was with Bin Laden "willingly" and miscarried their child in May 1996. Bin Laden has fathered at least 24 children. His wife, Najwa, a Syrian and his mother's niece, reportedly had 11 children by bin Laden, including Abdallah, Omar, Saad and Muhammad. Omar and Abdallah reportedly organized the U.S. branch of the World Congress of Muslim Youth in Falls Church, Virginia during the 1990s.

In 1994 bin Laden's family publicly disowned him, shortly before the Saudi Arabian government revoked his citizenship. He attended his son's wedding in January 2001, but since September 11, he is believed only to have had contact with his mother on one occasion. His Saudi Arabian citizenship was revoked for anti-government activity [3].

File:Laden.gif
Osama bin Laden

Appearance and manner

Bin Laden is often described as lanky; the FBI describes him as tall and thin, being 6' 4" (193 cm) to 6' 5" (195 cm) tall and weighing about 160 pounds (75 kg). He has an olive complexion, is left-handed, and usually walks with a cane. He wears a plain white turban and no longer dons the traditional Saudi male headdress[4].

In terms of personality, Bin Laden is described as a soft-spoken, mild mannered man, [5]; and despite being a murdering sycophant, he is said to be charming, polite, and respectful.

He reportedly suffers from various medical conditions including kidney disease.

Usage variations of Osama's name

Osama's name is transliterated in many ways. Osama bin Laden is used by most English-language mass media. The FBI and Fox News use Usama bin Laden, which is often abbreviated to UBL. Less common renderings include Ussamah Bin Ladin and Oussama Ben Laden (French-language mass media). The latter part of the name can also be found as Binladen or Binladin.

Strictly speaking, under Arabic linguistic conventions, it is incorrect to use "bin Laden" in a similar manner as a Western surname. His full name means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of 'Awad, son of Laden". However, the bin Laden family (or "Binladin," as they prefer to be known) generally use the name as a surname in the Western style. Although Arabic conventions dictate that he be referred to as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", using "bin Laden" is in accordance with the family's own usage of the name and is the near-universal convention in Western references to him.

Bin Laden also has several commonly used aliases and nicknames, including the Prince, Al-Amir, Abu Abdallah, Sheikh Al-Mujahid the Director and Samaritan.[citation needed].

Military and militant activity

Afghan Jihad resisting the Russia invasion

His wealth and connections assisted his interest in supporting the mujahideen, Muslim guerrillas fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. By 1984, he had established an organization named Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK, Office of Order in English), which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the world into the Afghan war. (See: the History of Afghanistan).

Some have said that MAK was supported by the governments of Pakistan, the United States[6] and Saudi Arabia, and that the three countries channeled their supplies through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). This account is vehemently denied by the U.S. government, which maintains that U.S. aid went only to Afghan fighters, and that Afghan Arabs had their own sources of funding, an account also supported by Al Qaeda itself [7].

Robin Cook, former leader of the British House of Commons and Foreign Secretary from 1997-2001, wrote in The Guardian on Friday, July 8, 2005,

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s[,] he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally 'the database', was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians".[8]

For a while Osama worked at the Services Office working with Abdallah Azzam on Jihad Magazine, a magazine that gave information about the war with the soviets and interviewed mujahideen. As time passed, Aymen Al Zawahiri encouraged Osama to split away from Abdallah Azzam. Osama formed his own army of mujahideen and fought the soviets. One of his most significant battles was the battle of Jaji, which was not a major fight, but it earned him a reputation as a fighter.

Formation of al-Qaeda

By 1988, bin Laden had split from the MAK and established a new militant group which was later dubbed al-Qaeda by the U.S. government, which included many of the more militant MAK members he had met in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, and bin Laden was lauded as a mujahideen hero in Saudi Arabia.

After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, bin Laden offered to help defend Saudi Arabia (with 12,000 armed men) but was rebuffed by the Saudi government. Bin Laden publicly denounced his government's dependence on the U.S. military and demanded an end to the presence of foreign military bases in the country. According to reports (by the BBC and others), the 1990/91 deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia in connection with the Gulf War profoundly shocked and revolted bin Laden and other Islamist militants because the Saudi government claims legitimacy based on their role as guardians of the sacred Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina. After the Gulf War, the establishment of permanent bases for non-Muslim U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia continued to undermine the Saudi rulers' legitimacy and inflamed anti-government Islamist militants, including bin Laden. Bin Laden's increasingly strident criticisms of the Saudi monarchy led the government to expel him to Sudan in 1991.

Assisted by donations funneled through business and charitable fronts such as Benevolence International, established by his brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Sudan to disseminate Islamist philosophy and recruit operatives in Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Bin Laden also invested in business ventures, such as al-Hajira, a construction company that built roads throughout Sudan, and Wadi al-Aqiq, an agricultural corporation that farmed hundreds of thousands of acres of sorghum, gum Arabic, sesame and sunflowers in Sudan's central Gezira province. Bin Laden's operations in Sudan were protected by the powerful Sudanese government figure Hassan al Turabi. The funding from these ventures was used to run several training camps on his farmland, where Islamist militants received, from former Afghan mujahideen, instruction in firearms use and the use of explosives .

Around this time, bin Laden and his associates began developing and executing a series of meticulously-planned terrorist attacks. In 1995, the Saudi Arabian government stripped bin Laden of his citizenship after he claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. and Saudi military bases in Riyadh and Dahran.

Refuge in Afghanistan

Sudanese officials, whose government was under international sanctions offered to extradite bin Laden to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1990s. However, Saudi Arabia refused because of the political difficulties of accepting such a controversial figure into their custody. Consequently, in May 1996, under increasing pressure from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States, Sudan expelled bin Laden to Afghanistan. He chartered a plane and flew to Kabul before settling in Jalalabad after being invited by leading Afghan Mujaheddin figure, Abdul Rasuul Sayyaf. After spending a few months in the border region hosted by local leaders, bin Laden forged a close relationship with some of the leaders of Afghanistan's new Taliban government, notably Mullah Mohammed Omar. Bin Laden supported the Taliban government with financial and paramilitary assistance and, in 1997, he moved to Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold.

Bin Laden is suspected of funding the 1997 massacre of 62 tourists in Luxor, Egypt conducted by Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an Egyptian militant Islamist group. The Egyptian government convicted bin Laden's colleague, one of the leaders of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, and sentenced him to death in absentia for the massacre.

Attacks on United States targets

Bin Laden's first strike against United States citizens was the December 29, 1992, bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden, Yemen, which killed a Yemeni hotel employee and an Austrian national and seriously injured the Austrian's wife. About 100 U.S. soldiers, part of Operation Restore Hope, had been staying at the hotel for two weeks but had left two days earlier for Somalia. U.S. investigations have allegedly established financial and logistical links between bin Laden and Ramzi Yousef, prime suspect of the February 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Bin Laden is also connected to the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu that killed 18 U.S. troops in Somalia and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar military complex in Saudi Arabia that left 21 U.S. soldiers dead.

It is widely believed that Al-Qaeda was responsible for plots in Asia orchestrated by Ramzi Yousef, who was later arrested in Pakistan, brought to the United States and convicted in November 1997 for masterminding the World Trade Center bombing. The plots in Asia, including those to assassinate the Pope, during his late 1994 visit to the Philippines, and President Clinton, during his visit there in early 1995, all failed; also included among the plots were those to bomb the US and Israeli embassies in Manila in late 1994 and to bomb US flights across the Pacific in 1995. Bin Laden and the Indonesian militant, known as Hambali, allegedly funded, then aborted the Operation Bojinka conspiracy when police discovered the plot in Manila, Philippines on January 6, 1995.

In 1998, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, (a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad), co-signed a fatwa (binding religious edict) in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, declaring:

"[t]he ruling to kill the Americans and their allies civilians and military - is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Makka) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'". [9]

In response to these attacks, President Bill Clinton ordered a freeze on assets linked to bin Laden. Clinton also signed an executive order, authorizing bin Laden's arrest or assassination. In August 1998, the U.S. launched an attack using cruise missiles. The attack failed to harm bin Laden but killed 19 other people. The U.S. offered a US $25 million reward for information leading to bin Laden's apprehension or conviction and, in 1999, convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.

The September 11, 2001 Attacks

Immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the United States government named bin Laden as the prime suspect. However, Osama denied responsibility for the attacks, and in an interview for the Karachi-based Pakistani daily newspaper Ummat, published on September 28 2001, he stated the following:

"I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle........The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself ..... there are dozens of well-organized and well-equipped groups capable of causing such large-scale destruction. " In December 2001, U.S. forces in Afghanistan captured a videotape during a raid on a house in Jalalabad, which allegedly shows bin Laden discussing the September 11th attacks with a group of followers. However, the quality of the tape is poor, and the authenticity is disputed by many researchers.

In a closed door session in October 2001, the U.S. presented evidence to NATO of bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks. NATO's general secretary, George Robertson, described the evidence as clear and decisive and led the organization to invoke, for the first time in its history, article 5 in the NATO pact. Article 5 states that any attack on a member state is considered an attack against the entire alliance. The evidence presented to NATO was never made available to the public [10], and no evidence that could be cited in a court of law, has ever been produced to back up the claim of the American government that Osama orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.

Rumored death December 2001

According to rumors reported in the Pakistani press, Bin Laden died in December 2001 of pulmonary complications incident to catastrophic kidney failure, in the absence of available hygienic dialysis. His death was speculated on by the Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf [1] and by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan [2].

The Egyptian opposition party newspaper al-Wafd published an article dated Wednesday, December 26, 2001 (Vol 15 No 4633) describing bin Laden's supposed funeral:

News of Bin Laden's Death and Funeral 10 days ago
ISLAMABAD - A prominent official in the Afghan Taleban movement announced yesterday the death of Osama bin Laden, the chief of al-Qa'da organization, stating that binLaden suffered serious complications in the lungs and died a natural and quiet death. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, stated to The Observer of Pakistan that he had himself attended the funeral of bin Laden and saw his face prior to burial in Tora Bora 10 days ago. He mentioned that 30 of al-Qa'da fighters attended the burial as well as members of his family and some friends from the Taleban. In the farewell ceremony to his final rest guns were fired in the air. The official stated that it is difficult to pinpoint the burial location of bin Laden because according to the Wahhabi tradition no mark is left by the grave. He stressed that it is unlikely that the American forces would ever uncover any traces of bin Laden.

Whereabouts

Claims of sightings of Osama bin Laden have been made since December 2001, however these sources are typically not verifiable, and have even put Osama in different locations in overlapping time periods.

Osama Bin Laden is believed to be residing with the fortified caves of the rugged Tora Bora region that straddles the border between Pakistan and Afganistan. The latest reported claim regarding his location occurred on May 24,2006, when ABC News reported on rumors that Bin Laden was sighted in the Kumrat Valley in the Kohistan District of Pakistan. [3]. The region is 40 miles east of the Afghan–Pakistani border.

See also

Video tapes

Given the Wikipedia:Verifiability guidelines, these sources are considered controversial as references for the main biography article:

References

  1. ^ "Wanted: Usama Bin Laden". Interpol. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  2. ^ "Most Wanted Terrorist - Usama Bin Laden". FBI. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  3. ^ "Who is Osama Bin Laden?". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  4. ^ "Most Wanted Terrorist - Usama Bin Laden". FBI. Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  5. ^ "'I met Osama Bin Laden'". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  6. ^ "Bin Laden comes home to roost". MSNBC. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  7. ^ "The United States did not create Osama bin Laden". US Department of State. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  8. ^ Cook, Robin. "The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2005-07-08.
  9. ^ "Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans". Retrieved 2006-05-15.
  10. ^ "What is Article 5?" (Cached HTML). NATO.

Profiles

Other

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