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{{Infobox person
|name = '''Osama bin Laden'''<br>{{lang|ar|أسامة بن لادن}}
|image = Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg
|caption = Osama bin Laden in 1997
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1957|3|10}}
|birth_place = [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|5|2|1957|3|10}}<!-- Date of death (May 2) is given in local (Pakistan) time, where Osama died -->
|death_place = [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan {{coord|34|10|9|N|73|14|33|E|type:event}}
|placeofburial = North [[Arabian Sea]]
|occupation =
|religion = [[Sunni Islam]] ([[Qutbism]]) <ref>Osama Bin Laden (2007) Suzanne J. Murdico</ref><ref name=Karen>{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Karen|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/jul/11/northernireland.july7|title=The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA.|work=[[guardian.co.uk]]|date=July 11, 2005|location=London}}</ref>
|years_active = 1979–2011
|death_cause = [[Ballistic trauma]]
|successor = [[Ayman Al-Zawahiri]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Ayman al-Zawahiri appointed as al-Qaeda leader|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13788594|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=25 June 2011|date=16 June 2011}}</ref>
|spouse(s) = Najwa Ghanhem<br>Khadijah Sharif<br>Khairiah Sabar<br>Siham Sabar<br>Amal Ahmed al-Sadah
|children = {{Collapsible list
| title = show all (20)
| [[Abdallah Laden|Abdallah]]
| [[Saad bin Laden|Saad]]
| [[Omar bin Laden|Omar]]
| [[Hamza bin Laden|Hamza]]
| Abdul Rahman
| Amer
| Osman
| Mohammed
| Fatima
| Iman
| Laden
| Rukhaiya
| Nour
| Ali
| Safiyah
| Aisha
| Kadhija
| Khalid
| Miriam
| Sumaiya
}}
|module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
|allegiance = [[Al-Qaeda]]
|branch =
|serviceyears = 1988–2011
|rank =
|battles = [[Soviet war in Afghanistan]]<br>[[War on Terror]]:
*[[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|War in Afghanistan]]
**[[Battle of Tora Bora]]
*[[War in North-West Pakistan]]
**[[Operation Neptune Spear]]
}}
}}
'''Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|oʊ|ˈ|s|ɑː|m|ə|_|b|ɪ|n|_|ˈ|l|ɑː|d|ən}}; {{lang-ar|أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن}}, ''{{transl|ar|DIN|ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin}}''; March 10, 1957{{ndash}} May 2, 2011{{ref|a|a}}) was the founder of [[Al-Qaeda]], the [[jihadist]] organization responsible for the [[September 11 attacks]] on the United States and numerous other [[Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks|mass-casualty attacks]] against civilian and military targets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mofa.gov.pk/Press_Releases/2011/May/PR_150.htm|accessdate=May 1, 2011|title=In an intelligence driven operation, Osama Bin Ladin was killed in the surroundings of Abbottabad in the early hours of this morning.}}</ref><ref name="DeathNYT">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html |title=Bin Laden Dead, US Officials Say |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | first1=Peter |last1=Baker |first2=Helene |last2=Cooper |first3=Mark |last3=Mazzetti |date=May 1, 2011}}</ref><ref name="bbcdead">Adam Brookes, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676 US forces kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan]", May 1, 2011, ''[[BBC News]]''. Accessed May 2, 2011.</ref> He was a member of the wealthy Saudi [[bin Laden family]], and an ethnic [[Yemen]]i [[Kindite]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Yemen still close to al-Qaeda's heart |author=Scheuer, Michael |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html |newspaper=Asia Times |date=February 7, 2008 |accessdate=May 6, 2011}}</ref>

Bin Laden was on the American [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s (FBI) lists of [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives|Ten Most Wanted Fugitives]] and [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists|Most Wanted Terrorists]] for his involvement in the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 U.S. embassy bombings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm |title=FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives |publisher=FBI.gov |accessdate=May 26, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080103044553/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm |archivedate=January 3, 2008}}</ref><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? |work=The Washington Post |author=Dan Eggen |date=August 28, 2006 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref><ref name="cnnterrorlist">{{cite news | url=http://articles.cnn.com/2001-10-10/us/inv.mostwanted.list_1_saif-al-adel-abdul-rahman-yasin-ahmed-khalfan-ghailani | title=Most wanted terrorists list released | accessdate=April 3, 2011 | date=October 10, 2001 | publisher=CNN}}</ref> From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the [[War on Terror]], with a {{US$|25 million|link=yes}} bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden |title=Fbi — Usama Bin Laden |publisher=Fbi.gov |date=1998-08-07 |accessdate=2011-05-15}}</ref>

After being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, bin Laden remained in hiding during three U.S. presidential administrations. On May 2, 2011, bin Laden [[Death of Osama bin Laden|was shot and killed]] inside a [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|private residential compound]] in [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan, by [[United States Navy SEALs|U.S. Navy SEALs]] and [[CIA]] operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President [[Barack Obama]]. Shortly after his death, bin Laden's body was buried at sea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/uss-carl-vinson-osama-bin-ladens-burial-sea/story?id=13510831 |title=USS Carl Vinson: Osama Bin Laden's Burial at Sea | work=DaABC | location=USA | accessdate=May 2, 2011|date=May 2, 2011}}</ref> Al-Qaeda acknowledged his death on May 6, 2011, vowing to retaliate.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384260/Al-Qaeda-confirm-Osama-Bin-Laden-death-vow-continue-US-terrorist-attacks.html|title=Your happiness will turn to sadness: Al Qaeda admits Bin Laden IS dead – but vows bloody revenge|work=Daily Mail |location=UK|accessdate=May 6, 2011|date=May 6, 2011|first=Rachel|last=Quigley}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
{{Main|Childhood, education and personal life of Osama bin Laden}}
{{See also|Bin Laden family}}

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ({{IPAc-en|icon|oʊ|ˈ|s|ɑː|m|ə|_|b|ɪ|n|_|m|oʊ|ˈ|h|ɑː|m|ɨ|d|_|b|ɪ|n|_|ə|ˈ|w|ɑː|d|_|b|ɪ|n|_|ˈ|l|ɑː|d|ən}}) was born in [[Riyadh]], Saudi Arabia,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |title=Frontline: Hunting Bin Laden: Who is Bin Laden?: Chronology |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] |accessdate=May 26, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060210192537/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |archivedate=February 10, 2006}}</ref> a son of [[Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden]], a wealthy businessman with close ties to the [[Saudi royal family]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html |title=Osama bin Laden infoplease |publisher=[[Infoplease]] |author=David Johnson |accessdate=May 26, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080120224312/http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html |archivedate=January 20, 2008}}</ref> and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, [[Hamida al-Attas]] (then called Alia Ghanem).<ref name="newyorker.com">{{Cite news|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact |title=Letter From Jedda: Young Osama- How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America |work=The New Yorker |author=Steve Coll |date=December 12, 2005 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> In a 1998 interview, bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.<ref>{{cite web|title=Osama bin Laden |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/osama_bin_laden.htm |work=GlobalSecurity.org |date=January 11, 2006 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref>

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and they are still together.{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} The couple had four children, and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.<ref name="newyorker.com" /> The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30 million.<ref>''[[The Economist]]'', "[http://www.economist.com/node/18648254 Osama bin Laden]", 7 May 2011, p. 93.</ref>

Bin Laden was raised as a devout [[Wahhabi]] Muslim.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Beyer |first=Lisa |url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html |work=Time |title=The Most Wanted Man In The World |date=September 24, 2001 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> From 1968 to 1976, he attended the élite secular [[Al-Thager Model School]].<ref name="newyorker.com" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006|pp=52}}</ref> He studied economics and [[business administration]]<ref>''[[Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden]]'', Verso, 2005, p. xii.</ref> at [[King Abdulaziz University]]. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in [[civil engineering]] in 1979,<ref>[http://galenet.galegroup.com/ ''Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement''], Vol. 22. Gale Group, 2002. (link requires username/password)</ref> or a degree in [[public administration]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html |title=A Biography of Osama Bin Laden |publisher=PBS Frontline |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> One source described him as "hard working",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10855 |title=The Real Osama |work=The American Prospect |date=January 19, 2006 |author=Aziz Hug |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.<ref name="gunaratna-22">{{Cite book|title=Inside Al Qaeda |author=Gunaratna, Rohan |publisher=Berkley Books |year=2003 |edition=3rd |page=22 |isbn=0231126921}}</ref> At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the [[Quran]] and [[jihad]]" and charitable work.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=79}}</ref> Other interests included writing poetry;<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7630934.stm |title=Analysing Osama's jihadi poetry |publisher=BBC News |author=Michael Hirst |date=September 24, 2008 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> reading, with the works of [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery]] and [[Charles de Gaulle]] said to be among his favorites; black [[stallion]]s; and [[association football]], in which he enjoyed playing at [[striker|centre forward]] and followed the fortunes of [[Arsenal F.C.]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC110505-0000060/Bodyguard-had-orders-to-kill-chief-if-captured |title=Bodyguard had orders to kill chief if captured |publisher=TODAYonline |date=May 5, 2011 |accessdate=May 6, 2011}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married [[Najwa bin Laden|Najwa Ghanem]] at [[Latakia]], [[Syria]];<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/13/news/mn-3564|title=Osama Kin Wait and Worry|author=Michael Slackman|date=November 13, 2001|work=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> they were divorced before September 11, 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1990s), Khairiah Sabar (married 1985), Siham Sabar (married 1987), and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/osama.many.wives/ |title=Bin Laden's wives – and daughter who would 'kill enemies of Islam' |publisher=CNN Edition: International |author=Brian Todd, Tim Lister |date=May 5, 2011 |accessdate=May 5, 2011}}</ref> Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/12/ltm.10.html |title=Osama's Women |publisher=CNN |date=March 12, 2002 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/OsamabinLaden.htm |title=Profile: Osama bin Laden |publisher=About.com |author=Amy Zalman, PhD |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and {{as of|lc=y|2010}} Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7897555/Osama-bin-Ladens-family-stranded-in-Iran-son-says.html Osama bin Laden's family 'stranded' in Iran, son says]. ''The Telegraph''. July 19, 2010</ref>

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544921,00.html |title=Interview with US Author Steve Coll: 'Osama bin Laden is Planning Something for the US Election' |work=Der Spiegel |accessdate=January 26, 2011}}</ref> Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, [[Salem bin Laden]], the subsequent head of the bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near [[San Antonio]], Texas, in the United States, when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.<ref>[http://www.woai.com/content/news/newslinks/story/Best-of-the-Web-Osamas-Brother-Died-in-San/fQByftuKL0WrEDALXrJ7EA.cspx Best of the Web: Osama's Brother Died in San Antonio, Red Velvet Onion Rings|WOAI: San Antonio News<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 6&nbsp;ft 4 in and 6&nbsp;ft 6 in (193–198&nbsp;cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75&nbsp;kg). Interviewer [[Lawrence Wright]], on the other hand, described him as quite slender, but not particularly tall.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006}}</ref> Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white [[turban]] and he had stopped wearing 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=June 8, 2006}}</ref> Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3570751.stm|title=I met Osama Bin Laden|publisher=BBC News |accessdate=May 15, 2006|date=March 26, 2004}}</ref>

==Name==
There is no universally accepted standard for [[transliteration|transliterating]] [[Arabic language|Arabic]] words and [[Arabic name]]s into English;<ref>{{cite web|last=Whitaker|first=Brian|title=Arabic words and the Roman alphabet|url=http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/roman1.htm|work=Al-Bab.com|accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref> bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden". The FBI and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin", both of which may be abbreviated as "UBL". Less common renderings include "Ussamah bin Ladin" and, in the French-language media, "Oussama ben Laden". Other spellings include "Binladen" or, as used by his family in the West, "Binladin". The decapitalization of ''bin'' is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions and articles uncapitalized in surnames; however, ''[[Arabic Name#Nasab نسب|bin]]'' means "son of" and is not strictly speaking a preposition or article. The spellings with ''o'' and ''e'' come from a [[Persian language|Persian]]-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, where bin Laden spent many years.

Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden". "Mohammed" refers to bin Laden's father [[Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden|Mohammed bin Laden]]; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a [[Kindite]] [[Hadhrami people|Hadhrami]] tribesman; "Laden" refers not to bin Laden's great-grandfather, who was named Aboud, but to a more distant ancestor.

The Arabic [[natural language|linguistic]] convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden" alone, as "bin Laden" is a [[patronymic]], not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Laden's son [[Omar bin Laden]], the family's hereditary surname is "al-Qahtani" ({{lang-ar|‎القحطاني}}, ''āl-Qaḥṭānī''), but bin Laden's father [[Mohammed bin Laden]] never officially registered the name.<ref>{{cite book |title=Growing up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World |last=bin Laden |first=Najwa |coauthors= [[Omar bin Laden|bin Laden, Omar]]; [[Jean Sasson|Sasson, Jean]] |authorlink=Najwa Ghanem |year=2009 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-56016-4 |page=301 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RcBwm5b8VbAC}}</ref>

Osama bin Laden had also assumed the ''[[kunya (Arabic)|kunyah]]'' "Abū ʿAbdāllāh" ("father of [[Abdallah Laden|Abdallah]]"). His admirers have referred to him by several [[nickname]]s, including the "Prince" or "[[Emir]]" (الالمجاهد, ''al-Amīr''), the "[[Sheikh|Sheik]]" (الشيخ, ''aš-Šayḫ''), the "[[Jihad]]ist Sheik" or "Sheik al-[[Mujahideen|Mujahid]]" (شيخ المجاهد, ''al-Muǧāhid Šayḫ''), "[[Hajj]]" (حج‎, ''Ḥaǧǧ''), and the "Director".<ref name="fbiwantednotice">{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm |title=Most Wanted Terrorist – Usama Bin Laden |publisher=FBI |accessdate=May 26, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060310055924/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm |archivedate=March 10, 2006}}</ref> The word ''ʾusāmah'' (أسامة) means "lion",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=english&lang_name=English&category=Names+Meanings&word=USAMA |title=Meaning of Usama |author= |year=2011 |work= English–Arabic Almaany Dictionary |publisher= |accessdate=May 9, 2011}}</ref> earning him the nicknames "Lion" and "Lion Sheik".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090700279.html|work=The Washington Post|title=In a New Video, Bin Laden Predicts U.S. Failure in Iraq |first=Joby |last=Warrick |date=September 8, 2007 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref>

==Beliefs and ideology==
{{Main|Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden}}

According to former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] analyst [[Michael Scheuer]], who led the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader was motivated by a belief that [[Foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East,<ref name="Scheuer 2004 9">{{cite book | last = Scheuer| first = Michael| authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Imperial Hubris| publisher = Brassey's, Inc.| year = 2004| location = Dulles, Virginia| page = 9| url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-9655139-4-4|quote= The focused and lethal threat posed to U.S. national security arises not from Muslims being offended by what America is, but rather from their plausible perception that the things they most love and value—God, Islam, their brethren, and Muslim lands—are being attacked by America.}}</ref> condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are."

Bin Laden also said only the restoration of [[Sharia]] law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as "[[pan-Arabism]], socialism, communism, democracy" must be opposed.<ref>''Messages'', 2005, p. 218. "Resist the New Rome", audiotape delivered to al-Jazeera and broadcast by it on January 4, 2004.</ref> This belief, in conjunction with violent [[jihad]], has sometimes been called [[Qutbism]] after being promoted by [[Sayyid Qutb]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm |title=Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism |publisher=[[Parameters (journal)|Parameters]] |author=Dale C. Eikmeier |pages=85–98 |date=Spring 2007 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref> Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of [[Mohammed Omar|Mullah Omar]]'s [[Taliban]], was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.<ref>''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)</ref> Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,<ref>''Messages to the World'', (2005), pp. xix–xx, editor Bruce Lawrence.</ref> the need to eliminate the state of [[Israel]], and the necessity of forcing the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of [[:wikt:fornication|fornication]], homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and [[usury]]", in an October 2002 letter.<ref>October 6, 2002. Appeared in Al-Qala'a website and then ''The Observer'' November 24, 2002.</ref>

Bin Laden's ideology included the idea that innocent civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.<ref>''Messages'', (2005) p. 70. ''Al Jazeera'' interview, December 1998, following Kenya and Tanzania embassy attacks.</ref><ref>''Messages'', (2005), p. 119, October 21, 2001, interview with Taysir Alluni of Al Jazeera.</ref> Bin Laden was [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], and 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."<ref>''Messages'', (2005), p. 190. from 53-minute audiotape that "was circulated on various websites" dated February 14, 2003. "Among a Band of Knights"</ref> [[Shia]] Muslims have been listed along with "[[heresy|heretics]], [...] America, and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=303 "From interview with [[Ali Soufan]] – a [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]] Sunni FBI agent"}}</ref>

Bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=167}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=172}}</ref>

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars,<ref>''Osama: The Making of a Terrorist'' John Randal I B Tauris & Co Ltd (October 4, 2005).</ref><ref>''A Capitol Idea'' Donald E. Abelson p. 208.</ref> journalists from ''The New York Times'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/nationalspecial3/08padilla.html |title=Mysteries, Legal and Sartorial, at Padilla Trial |work=The New York Times |author=Abby Goodnough |date=July 8, 2007 |accessdate=May 26, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/after-the-attacks-the-strategy-a-new-war-and-its-scale.html |title=After the attacks: the strategy; A New War And Its Scale |work=The New York Times |author=Michael R. Gordon |date=September 17, 2001 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref> the [[BBC]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7412036.stm |title=Is global terror threat falling? |publisher=BBC News |date=May 21, 2008 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref> and Qatari news station [[Al Jazeera]],<ref>{{cite web|title= "Osama bin Laden's operation" has "perpetrated the worst act of terrorism ever witnessed on U.S. soil.|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2008/08/20088161083773835.html|publisher=Aljazeera|date=August 17, 2008|accessdate=February 11, 2011}}</ref> analysts such as [[Peter Bergen]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006}}</ref> [[Michael Scheuer]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Scheuer|2002}}</ref> [[Marc Sageman]],<ref>''Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century'' [[Marc Sageman]] [[University of Pennsylvania Press]] January 3, 2008.</ref> and Bruce Hoffman<ref>{{Cite news|url= |title=Redefining Counterterrorism: The Terrorist Leader as CEO |publisher=RAND Review |author=Bruce Hoffman |date=Spring 2004 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>''A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And Rogue States'' Peter Brookes Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.</ref> and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in [[Madrid]], New York City, and [[Tripoli]].<ref name="interpol">{{cite web|url=http://www.interpol.int/public/data/wanted/notices/data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp|title=Wanted: Bin Laden, Usama|publisher=[[Interpol]]|accessdate=2011-09-03|archivedate=2004-11-12|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20041211102312/http://www.interpol.int/public/data/wanted/notices/data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp
}}</ref>

Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the [[Soviet Union]] and United States was to lure them into a long [[Attrition warfare|War of Attrition]] in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nation. Al-Qaeda manuals clearly outline this strategy.

==Militant activity==
{{Main|Militant activity of Osama bin Laden}}
{{See also|CIA-Osama bin Laden controversy}}

===Mujahideen in Afghanistan===
After leaving college in 1979, bin Laden went to Pakistan and joined [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|Abdullah Azzam]] to take part in the [[Soviet war in Afghanistan]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm |title=Who is Osama Bin Laden?|publisher=BBC News |date=September 18, 2001 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://fufor.twoday.net/stories/2302873/ |title=Photo: Zbigniew Brzezinski & Osama bin Laden |date=March 23, 2006 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref> During [[Operation Cyclone]] from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the [[mujahideen]] leaders<ref name="HOW-THE-CIA-CREATED-OSAMA-BIN-LADEN">{{cite news |title=How the CIA created Osama bin Laden |url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/2001/465/25199
|date=September 19, 2001 |publisher=[[Green Left Weekly]] |accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref> through Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI). Bin Laden met and built relations with [[Hamid Gul]], who was a [[three-star rank|three-star]] [[lieutenant general (Pakistan)|general]] in the [[Pakistan Army|Pakistani army]] and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the [[Pakistani Armed Forces]] and the ISI.

By 1984, bin Laden and Azzam established [[Maktab al-Khidamat]], which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=145 "Lawrence Wright estimates his share of the Saudi Binladin Group circa fall 1989 as amounted to 27&nbsp;million Saudi riyals – a little more than [US]$ 7&nbsp;million."}}</ref> paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] in Pakistan and used it to train volunteer fighters against the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]]. It was during his time in Pakistan that he began wearing [[camouflage|camouflage-print]] jackets and carrying a Russian-made [[assault rifle]].

===Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda===
{{Main|Al-Qaeda}}

By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006|pp=74–88}}</ref>
Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (''[[Bay'at|bayat]]'') to follow one's superiors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=133–134}}.</ref>

According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret".<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=260}}.</ref> His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]], [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|Abdullah Azzam]], and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=8EqWnqdsgZMC&pg=PA108&dq=August+11,+1988,+meeting+between+%22several+senior+leaders%22+of+Egyptian+Islamic+Jihad,+Abdullah+Azzam,+and+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Urban Terrorism : Myths And Realities|first=N. C|last=Asthana|page=108|publisher=Pointer Publishers|isbn=9788171325986|date=January 1, 2009}}</ref> Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama 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>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=146}}</ref>

The Iraqi [[invasion of Kuwait]] under [[Saddam Hussein]] on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the [[House of Saud]] at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with [[Fahd of Saudi Arabia|King Fahd]], and Saudi Defense Minister [[Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud|Sultan]], telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jehl |first=Douglas |title= A Nation Challenged: Holy war lured Saudis as rulers looked Away |work=The New York Times |date=December 27, 2001 |pages= A1, B4 |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref> Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military. Bin Laden believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" ([[Mecca]] and [[Medina]]) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the [[Saudi monarchy]] led that [[Government of Saudi Arabia|government]] to attempt to silence him.

Shortly after Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the West. On November 8, 1990, the FBI [[raid (military)|raid]]ed the [[New Jersey]] home of [[El Sayyid Nosair]], an associate of al-Qaeda operative [[Ali Mohamed]], discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |title=USA v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel-Rahman et al: 93-CR-181-KTD |publisher=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |accessdate=May 28, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080109221029/http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |archivedate=January 9, 2008}}</ref> Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]], and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi [[Meir Kahane]] in New York on November 5, 1990.

Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992, in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Abdullah Assam: The Man Before Osama Bin Laden|author=Steve Emerson|url=http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html|accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

===Sudan and return to Afghanistan===
In Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in [[Khartoum]]. He bought [[Osama bin Laden's house in Khartoum|a house]] on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at [[Soba (city)|Soba]] on the [[Blue Nile]].<ref name="Reeve2002">{{cite book|last=Reeve|first=Simon|title=The new jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the future of terrorism|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VQjpziNmoE4C&pg=PA172|accessdate=May 7, 2011|date=June 27, 2002|publisher=UPNE|isbn=9781555535094|page=172}}</ref><ref name="ShayLiberman2006">{{cite book|last1=Shay|first1=Shaul|last2=Liberman|first2=Rachel|title=The Red Sea terror triangle: Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Islamic terror|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=v2ss0vor_DkC&pg=PA43|accessdate=May 7, 2011|date=October 13, 2006|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412806206|page=43}}</ref> During his time in the country he heavily invested in the infrastructure and in agriculture and businesses.<ref name="Gallab2008">{{cite book|last=Gallab|first=Abdullahi A.|title=The first Islamist republic: development and disintegration of Islamism in the Sudan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=s1XdRfAJwLIC&pg=PA127|accessdate=May 7, 2011|year=2008|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=9780754671626|page=127}}</ref> He continued his verbal assault on King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, and in response, on March 5, 1994, Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport. His family was persuaded to cut off his $7&nbsp;million a year stipend.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=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.

As a result of his dealings in and advocacy of violent extremist [[jihad]], Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship in 1994 and was disowned by his billionaire family.<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html The Cost Of Being Osama Bin Laden] Retrieved March 15, 2011</ref>

Sudan also began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:<blockquote>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. CIA paramilitary officer [[Billy Waugh]] tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.<ref>Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism, 2004.</ref> U.S. Ambassador [[Timothy M. Carney|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 |format=PDF |title=Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults |publisher=9/11 Commission |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref></blockquote>

The [[9/11 Commission Report]] further states:<blockquote>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. U.S. 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.</blockquote>

In May 1996, under increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, [[Egypt]], and the United States, bin Laden returned to [[Jalalabad|Jalalabad, Afghanistan]] aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah [[Mohammed Omar]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/06/news/mn-12224 |title=Fighters Hunt Former Ally |work=Los Angeles Times |author=Megan K. Stack |date=December 6, 2001 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550419.stm
|title=Profile: Mullah Mohamed Omar |date=September 18, 2001 |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</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 |format=PDF |title=The Foundation of the New Terrorism |publisher=9/11 Commission |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

In August, 1996, bin Laden declared war against the United States. This [[fatwā]] was first published in [[Al Quds Al Arabi]], a London-based newspaper. The fatwā is entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html |title=Bin Laden's Fatwa |publisher=Pbs.org |date=1998-08-20 |accessdate=2011-06-25}}</ref> [[Saudi Arabia]] is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]], the two holiest places in [[Islam]]. The reference to occupation in the fatwā refers to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known as [[Operation Southern Watch]].

In Afghanistan, bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad", and from the Pakistani [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI) to establish more training camps for Mujahideen fighters.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=250}}</ref>

Bin Laden effectively had hijacked [[Ariana Afghan Airlines]], which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of bin Laden's terrorist network.<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/18/news/mn-5593 Long Before Sept. 11, Bin Laden Aircraft Flew Under the Radar]. ''Los Angeles Times''. November 18, 2001.</ref>
[[Viktor Bout]] helped to run the airline, maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, concluded that Ariana was being used as a "terrorist taxi service".<ref>Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible (2007), pp. 138–140</ref>

===Early attacks and aid for attacks===
[[File:Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Pakistani]] journalist [[Hamid Mir]] with Osama bin Laden in 1997]]
It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 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 |publisher=PBS |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

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 ''[[Jannah]]'' (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to ''[[Jahannam]]'' (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.<ref>testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et al.</ref> The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

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.

Bin Laden funded the [[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 |first = Barbara |last = Plett |title = Bin Laden 'behind Luxor massacre' |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/343207.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=May 13, 1999 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title = Profile: Ayman al-Zawahiri |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1560834.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=September 27, 2004 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref> which killed 62 civilians, but outraged the Egyptian public. 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>

Another successful attack was carried out in the city of [[Mazar-e-Sharif]] in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundreds of Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand [[Hazaras]] overrunning the city.<ref>Rashid, ''Taliban'', p. 139.</ref>

In February 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 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|url = http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm|title = World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Initial "Fatwa" Statement|author=Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin|coauthors = Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, Fazlur Rahman|date=February 23, 1998 |work=al-Quds al-Arabi |language = Arabic |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm|title = Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. World Islamic Front Statement|author=Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin|coauthors = Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, Fazlur Rahman|date=February 23, 1998|publisher=al-Quds al-Arabi|accessdate=May 28, 2010}} 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, UK) on 1998-02-23, p. 3].</ref> At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."<ref>{{Cite journal|last = Van Atta|first = Dale|authorlink = Dale Van Atta|title = Carbombs & cameras: the need for responsible media coverage of terrorism|journal=Harvard International Review|publisher=Harvard International Relations Council|location = Cambridge, Mass.|year = 1998|volume = 20|issue = 4|page = 66|issn = 0739-1854|isbn = 9780895264855|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/public-administration/national-security-international/709509-1.html|accessdate=May 28, 2010|ref = harv}}</ref>

In December 1998, the [[Director of Central Intelligence]] Counterterrorist Center reported to President [[Bill Clinton]] that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the United States of America, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.<ref>{{cite web|title = Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack U.S. Aircraft and Other Attacks|date=December 4, 1998|accessdate=May 28, 2010|publisher=[[Director of Central Intelligence]]|url = http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001110635/0001110635_0001.gif}}</ref>

Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24, 1998.<ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/5rOeSEaw1 Russian Secret Services' Links With Al-Qaeda]. ''Axis Globe''. 18.07.2005.</ref>

The [[1998 U.S. Embassy bombings]] were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous [[truck bomb]] explosions at the United States [[embassy|embassies]] in the major East African cities of [[Dar es Salaam]], Tanzania and [[Nairobi]], Kenya. The attacks were linked to local members of the [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]], brought Osama bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] to the attention of the United States public for the first time, and resulted in the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] placing bin Laden on its [[FBI ten most wanted fugitives|Ten Most Wanted]] list.

At the end of 2000, [[Richard A. Clarke|Richard Clarke]] revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a [[2000 millennium attack plots|triple attack on January 3, 2000]] which would have included bombings in [[Jordan]] of the [[Radisson SAS Hotel]] in [[Amman]] and tourists at [[Mount Nebo (Jordan)|Mount Nebo]] and a site on the [[Jordan River]], the sinking of the destroyer [[USS The Sullivans|USS ''The Sullivans'']] in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of [[Ahmed Ressam]].<ref name="post2"/>

===Yugoslav Wars===
{{See also|Bosnian mujahideen}}

A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, after it was revealed that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20011015&slug=bosnia15 |title=Bosnia – base for terrorism |work=The Seattle Times |author=Craig Pyes, Josh Meyer and William C. Rempel |date=October 15, 2001 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> In 1997, ''[[Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)|Rzeczpospolita]]'', one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish [[SFOR]] Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near [[Maglaj]] in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory, a compound with a hospital and prayer hall.

According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in [[Sudan]]. Among them was [[Karim Said Atmani]] who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States of America.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/50933336.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+11%2C+2000&author=R.+Jeffrey+Smith&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.01&desc=A+Bosnian+Village%27s+Terrorist+Ties%3B+Links+to+U.S.+Bomb+Plot+Arouse+Concern+About+Enclave+of+Islamic+Guerrillas |title=A Bosnian Village's Terrorist Ties |work=The Washington Post |author=R. Jeffrey Smith |date=March 11, 2000 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> He is a former roommate of [[Ahmed Ressam]], the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.<ref name="csisAlmrei">[[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]], Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Hassan Almrei, February 22, 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last = Baravalle|first = Giorgio|title = Rethink: Cause and Consequences of September&nbsp;11|publisher=de-MO|year = 2004|page = 584|isbn = 0970576862}}</ref> He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20050817121245.htm |title=Jihadists find convenient base in Bosnia |publisher=Assyrian International News Agency |author=Sherrie Gossett |date=August 17, 2005 |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20051217231929/http://www.aina.org/news/20050817121245.htm |archivedate=December 17, 2005}}</ref>

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area {{convert|60|mi|km}} north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. [[Khalil al-Deek]], was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama bin Laden. In its June 26, 1997, report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ''The New York Times'' noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.<ref name="Bin Laden's Balkan Connections">{{cite web|url=http://www.balkanpeace.org/index.php?index=/content/analysis/a09.incl |title=Bin Laden's Balkan Connections |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Bin Laden was granted Bosnian passport, Agence France Presse September 24, 1999.</ref><ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/23/world/outsiders-bring-islamic-fervor-to-the-balkans.html |title=Outsiders Bring Islamic Fervor To the Balkans |work=The New York Times |author=Chris Hedges |date=September 23, 1996 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

In 1999 it was revealed that bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and [[Bosnian passport]]s in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the September 11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in [[Turkey]] and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.<ref name="Bin Laden's Balkan Connections"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="query.nytimes.com"/> The Bosnian daily ''[[Oslobođenje]]'' published in 2001 that three men, believed to be linked to bin Laden, were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three, one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri, were [[Egypt]]ian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.<ref name="Bin Laden's Balkan Connections"/>

In 1998 it was reported that bin Laden was operating his al-Qaeda network out of [[Albania]]. ''[[The Charleston Gazette]]'' quoted Fatos Klosi, the head of the [[SHISH|Albanian intelligence service]], as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of [[Kosovo]]. Confirmation of these activities came from Claude Kader, a French national who said he was a member of bin Laden's Albanian network.

By 1998 four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.<ref>Jane Mayer, ''The Dark Side'', Doubleday. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-385-52639-5 (0-385-52639-3).</ref>

===September 11, 2001 attacks===
{{See also|September 11 attacks|Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden}}

{{quotation|"God knows it did not cross our minds to attack [[World Trade Center|the Towers]], but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-[[Israel]]i alliance against our people in [[Palestine]] and [[Lebanon]]—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were [[1982 Lebanon War|that of 1982]] and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the [[U.S. Sixth Fleet]]. As I watched [[Siege of Beirut|the destroyed towers in Lebanon]], it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."|Osama bin Laden, 2004<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/30/alqaida.september11 |title=God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers |date=October 30, 2004 |work=The Guardian |location=London |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref>}}

[[File:UA Flight 175 hits WTC south tower 9-11 edit.jpeg|thumb|[[United Airlines Flight 175]] crashes into the south tower]]

After his denial,<ref>[[n:Wikileaks obtains 10 years of messages, interviews from Osama bin Laden translated by CIA|CIA translations of bin Laden messages and interviews]] at Wikinews, September 15, 2008</ref>{{full}} Osama bin Laden finally claimed responsibility for the 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States in 2004.<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 |work=The Washington Post |date=August 28, 2006 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</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=October 29, 2004 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20080701092211/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1550477.cms |title=Osama claims responsibility for 9/11 |work=The Times of India |date=May 24, 2006 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft,<ref>[[United Airlines Flight 93]], [[United Airlines Flight 175]], [[American Airlines Flight 11]], and [[American Airlines Flight 77]].</ref> 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 |author=Phil Hirschkorn |date=April 26, 2006 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> and the deaths of 2,974 people and the [[Hijackers in the September 11 attacks|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=September 7, 2006}}<br>*INCORRECT URL FOR THIS TITLE-->
{{Cite news|url=http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/STATISTIC.asp |title=11&nbsp;September 2001 Victims |date=August 22, 2006 |publisher=September 11 Victims |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060822065313/http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/STATISTIC.asp |archivedate=August 22, 2006}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070225002233/www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/index.html |title=World Trade Center |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page88.html |title=Pentagon |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20061007052917/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page88.html |archivedate=October 7, 2006}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page93.html |title=American Airlines Flight 11 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060910182819/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page93.html |archivedate=September 10, 2006}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20061102153706/www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page96.html |title=American Airlines Flight 77 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070225040159/www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page98.html |title=United Airlines Flight 93 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070204011658/www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-location/page100.html |title=United Airlines Flight 175 |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}
*{{Cite news|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93mainstoryp7.asp |title=Flight 93: Forty lives, one destiny |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=October 28, 2001 |author=Dennis B. Roddy |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20031008115441/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93mainstoryp7.asp |archivedate=October 8, 2003}}</ref> In response to the attacks, the United States launched a [[War on Terror]] to depose the [[Taliban]] regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's [[Special Activities Division]] was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.<ref>CIA Secret Program: PM Teams Targeting Al Qaeda, Greg Miller, ''Los Angeles Times'', July 14, 2009, A1.</ref>

The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] has stated that classified<ref>{{cite web | url = http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-4.html | title = President Freezes Terrorists' Assets | accessdate = 2011-06-26 | date = September 24, 2001 | work = The White House}}</ref> evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.representativepress.org/FBITestimony.html|title=FBI Testimony about 9/11 terrorists' motives |author=Watson, Dale L., Executive Assistant Director, Counter terrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI |date=February 6, 2002 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation – (RepresentativePress)|accessdate=February 11, 2011}}</ref> The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report notes that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient for a prosecutable case.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/number10.gov.uk/archive/2003/05/september-11-attacks-culpability-document-3682 |title=Responsibility for the Terrorist Atrocities in the United States, September&nbsp;11, 2001 |publisher=10 Downing Street, Office of the Prime Minister of the UK |date=May 15, 2003 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 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 |agency=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=September 16, 2001 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

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 that indicates 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=May 28, 2010}}</ref> The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. 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 |date=December 20, 2001 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

[[File:2001-12-13-frame-grab-DoD.jpg|thumb|2001 video of bin Laden]]

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 nineteen hijackers.<ref name="cbc-2004"/><ref>{{Cite news|title = Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan |publisher=MSNBC |date=October 30, 2004 |url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6363306/ |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}—"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 [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacking]] of the planes on September 11.<ref name="cbc-2004"/>

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>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3966817.stm |title=Excerpts: Bin Laden video |publisher=BBC News |date=October 29, 2004 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. [...] I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers [...] with the raids" (May 23, 2006).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12939961/ns/us_news-security/|title=Osama bin Laden tape transcript |date=May 23, 2006|publisher=MSNBC|accessdate=February 11, 2011}}</ref> In the tapes he was seen with [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]] and [[Wail al-Shehri]], as they made 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 |accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</ref>

Identified [[motivations of the September 11 attacks]] include the [[Israel – United States military relations|support of Israel by the United States]], [[Operation Southern Watch|presence of the U.S. military]] in the Kingdom of [[Saudi Arabia]], and the U.S. enforcement of [[Iraq sanctions|sanctions against Iraq]].

==Criminal charges==
{{Infobox FBI Ten Most Wanted
| name = Usama Bin Laden
| image =
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| charge = * Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States
* Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States
* Attack on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death
| reward = $25 million
| alias = * Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Ladin
* Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin
* the Prince
* the Emir
* Abu Abdallah
* Mujahid Shaykh
* Hajj
* the Director
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1957
| birth_place = Saudi Arabia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|5|2|1957|3|10}}
| death_place = [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan
| cause = [[Ballistic trauma]]
| nationality = [[Saudi Arabian]]
| race =
| gender = Male
| height = 6'4" to 6'6"
| weight = Approximately 160 pounds
| occupation = Unknown
| parents =
| siblings =
| spouse =
| children =
| conviction =
| conviction_penalty =
| conviction_status =
| added_date = June 7, 1999
| caught_date =
| remove_date = May 2, 2011
| number = 456
| status = Killed/Captured
}}
On March 16, 1998, [[Libya]] issued the first official [[Interpol]] [[arrest warrant]] against bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution]], in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on March 10, 1994.<ref name="interpol" />
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcrunch.com/untold-story-gaddafis-hunt-osama-bin-laden/2963|title=The Untold Story Of Gaddafi's Hunt For Osama Bin Laden|publisher=[[Die Welt]]/Worldcrunch|accessdate=2011-09-03|last=Flade|first=Florian|date=2011-05-02}}</ref> Bin Laden was still wanted by the [[Libyan government]] at the time of his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_56a.html|title=Was Libyan WMD Disarmament a Significant Success for Nonproliferation? |author=Sammy Salama |publisher=NTI |date=September 2004|accessdate=May 28, 2010}}</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 Indians in the November 14, 1995, truck bombing of a U.S.-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=July 25, 2006 |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 U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder U.S. 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 |format=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, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent [[Ziyad Khaleel]] in the United States.<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=February 14, 2001}}</ref>

Bin Laden became the [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s|456th person listed]] on the [[FBI 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=November 21, 1998 |publisher=BBC News |author=William Reeve |accessdate=May 27, 2010}}</ref> In 1999, U.S. 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 top 22 [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists]], which was released to the public by the President of the United States [[George W. Bush]], in direct response to the September 11 attacks, 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 latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.

Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. They did however offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days 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 United States ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by President Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable, with Bush responding "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 |title=Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over |work=The Guardian |date=October 14, 2001 |accessdate=May 27, 2010 |location=London}}</ref>

On June 15, 2011, federal prosecutors of the United States of America officially dropped all criminal charges against Osama Bin Laden following his death in May.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304453304576391563524482274.html |title = U.S. Formally Drops Charges Against bin Laden |work = Wall street Journal | date = June 17, 2011 |first=Chad |last=Bray}}</ref>

==Attempted capture by the United States==
[[File:US PsyOps leaflet.jpg|thumb|left|300px|U.S. propaganda leaflet used in Afghanistan, with bin Laden second from the left]]

===Clinton administration===
Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html |title=Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden |publisher=CNN |date=September 25, 2006 |accessdate=May 27, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20061005001828/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html |archivedate=October 5, 2006}}</ref> Shortly after the [[September 11 attacks]] it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the [[CIA]] (and specifically their elite [[Special Activities Division]]) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the [[1998 United States embassy bombings]] in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized.<ref name="cbs"/> On August 20, 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the [[Arabian Sea]] struck bin Laden's training camps near [[Khost]] in Afghanistan, narrowly missing him by a few hours.<ref name="post"/> In 1999 the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the [[1999 Pakistani coup d'état]];<ref name="post">"[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800629.html CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot]", ''[[The Washington Post]]'', October 3, 2001.</ref> in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a [[rocket-propelled grenade]] at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was riding.<ref name="cbs">"[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/16/national/main311490.shtml Report: Clinton Targeted Bin Laden]", [[CBS News]], September 16, 2001.</ref>

In 2000, prior to the September 11 attacks, [[Paul Bremer]] characterized the [[Clinton administration]] as "correctly focused on bin Laden", while [[Robert Oakley]] criticized their "obsession with Osama".<ref name="post2">{{Cite news|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/65601030.html?dids=65601030:65601030&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+24%2C+2000&author=Vernon+Loeb&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.02&desc=Planned+Jan.+2000+Attacks+Failed+or+Were+Thwarted%3B+Plot+Targeted+U.S.%2C+Jordan%2C+American+Warship%2C+Official+Says |title=Planned Jan. 2000 Attacks Failed or Were Thwarted; Plot Targeted U.S., Jordan, American Warship, Official Says |work=The Washington Post |author=Vernon Loeb |date=December 24, 2000 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}} ([http://www.powmadeak47.com/terror/dzterr001224bs.html mirrored here]; retrieved May 25, 2010.)</ref>

===Bush administration===
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, U.S. government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25&nbsp;million for information leading to his capture or death.<ref name="fbiwantednotice" /><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=November 5, 2003 |accessdate=May 27, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080109080055/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov03/laden110503.htm |archivedate=January 9, 2008}}</ref> On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50&nbsp;million.<ref name="BBCJuly07">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6898075.stm |title=Senate doubles Bin Laden reward |publisher=BBC News |date=July 13, 2007 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> The [[Airline Pilots Association]] and the [[Air Transport Association]] offered an additional $2&nbsp;million reward.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Katie Turner, Pam Benson, Peter Bergen, Elise Labott and Nic Robertson |publisher=CNN |date=September 24, 2006 |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html |title=Officials, friends can't confirm Bin Laden death report}}</ref>

According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the U.S. 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 United States to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the United States 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=April 17, 2002 |accessdate=May 25, 2010 |work=The Washington Post}}</ref>

''The Washington Post'' also reported that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400375.html |work=The Washington Post |title=CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit |agency=Associated Press |date=July 4, 2006 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> Bush had previously defended this scaling back of the effort several times, saying, "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/11/13_Laden.html|title=Bush Quotes about Bin Laden|publisher=BuzzFlash|accessdate=2011-06-25}}</ref>

U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in [[Tora Bora]] between August 14–16, 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>{{Cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21000298/ |title=Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces |publisher=MSNBC |author=Justin Balding, Adam Ciralsky, Jim Miklaszewski and Robert Windrem |date=September 26, 2007 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

===Obama administration===
[[File:Obama and Biden await updates on bin Laden.jpg|thumb|[[The Situation Room (photograph)|Members of the Obama administration track the mission that killed bin Laden]]]]

On October 7, 2008, in the second presidential debate, on foreign policy, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged, "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."<ref name=ToraBora>{{cite news|last=Arena|first=Kelli|title=Obama administration to ratchet up hunt for bin Laden|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-12/politics/binladen.hunt_1_tora-bora-bin-intelligence-officials?_s=PM:POLITICS|publisher=CNN|accessdate=November 15, 2008|date=December 28, 2001}}</ref> Upon being elected, then President-elect Obama expressed his plans to "renew U.S. commitment to finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers" in an effort to ratchet up the hunt for the terrorist.<ref name=ToraBora /> President Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on bin Laden that "conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to Hamas to Hezbollah," replacing it with "with a covert, laserlike focus on al-Qaeda and its spawn."<ref>{{cite news|last=Serwer |first=Adam |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-killing-of-bin-laden-does-not-represent-continuity-with-bush/2011/03/04/AFJbo3YG_blog.html |title=No, killing of Bin Laden does not represent `continuity’ with Bush - The Plum Line |publisher=The Washington Post |date=2011-02-07 |accessdate=2011-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Newlin |first=Eliza |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/vantage-point/obama-s-war-against-al-qaida-20110505 |title=Obama’s War - Thursday, May 5, 2011 |publisher=NationalJournal.com |date= |accessdate=2011-05-15}}</ref>

U.S. Secretary of Defense [[Robert Gates]] said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later, General [[Stanley McChrystal]], the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader, Osama bin Laden, is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world", and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed", McChrystal said of bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8402138.stm |title=Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat|publisher=BBC News|date=December 9, 2009 |accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref>

In April 2011, President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 1, 2011, the White House announced that [[United States Navy SEALs|U.S. Navy SEALs]] had carried it out, [[Death of Osama bin Laden|killing him]] in his [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan compound.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13256791 |title=BBC News – Osama Bin Laden dead, US President Obama confirms |publisher=bbc.co.uk|date= May 2, 2011|accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

==Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks==
{{Main|Location of Osama bin Laden}}
{{spacing|date=August 2011}}
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush stated that he now hoped to "kill or capture" bin Laden. Subsequently, bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Since that time, numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally-verified videos demonstrating bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007.<ref>{{cite web|date=September 6, 2007|url = http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_EKAnlECgMVCrglrdYA5IqvQ6hQ|title= Experts warn of attack clues in Bin Laden video|accessdate=May 25, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080408035426/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_EKAnlECgMVCrglrdYA5IqvQ6hQ |archivedate=April 8, 2008}} Bin Laden video release authenticity discussed.</ref>

Most recently, U.S. Army General [[Stanley A. McChrystal]] had emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden, thus clearly indicating that the U.S. high command continued to believe that bin Laden was probably still alive. Some of the conflicting reports regarding both his continued whereabouts and previous mistaken claims about his death have included the following:

Many claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden were made in the wake of the September 11 attacks, although none were ever definitively proven and some placed bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods. After military offensives in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks failed to uncover his whereabouts, Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place.

A December 11, 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 |title=Letter Gives Glimpse of Al-Qaeda's Leadership |work=The Washington Post |author=Karen DeYoung|date=October 2, 2006 |accessdate=May 20, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf|format=PDF |title=Letter Exposes New Leader in Al-Qa`ida High Command (PDF) |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=September 25, 2006 |accessdate=May 20, 2010 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070808182757/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf |archivedate=August 8, 2007}}</ref>

In 2009, a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and [[John A. Agnew]] of [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in [[Parachinar]] as bin Laden's likely hideouts.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Gillespie, Thomas W. ''et al.'' |title=Finding Osama bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery |url=http://web.mit.edu/mitir/2009/online/finding-bin-laden.pdf |journal=MIT International Review |format=PDF |year=2009 |accessdate=May 20, 2010|ref=harv}}</ref>

In March 2009, the New York ''[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]'' reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the [[Chitral District]] of Pakistan, including the [[Kalam Valley]]. According to the report, author [[Rohan Gunaratna]] states that captured al-Qaeda leaders have confirmed that Chitral is where bin Laden is hiding.<ref>Meek, James Gordon, "Tighten The Net On Evil", ''[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]'', 2009-03-15, p. 27.</ref>

In the first week of December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee said that in January or February (of 2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen bin Laden about 15 to 20 days earlier in Afghanistan. However, on December 6, 2009. [[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]] [[Robert Gates]] stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8397684.stm No Bin Laden information in years, says Gates]. Retrieved May 20, 2010.</ref> Pakistan's Prime Minister [[Yousaf Raza Gillani|Gillani]] rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/pakistan.bin.laden/index.html Bin Laden not in Pakistan, PM says]. Retrieved May 20, 2010.</ref>

On February 2, 2010, an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban would sever ties with extremists and expel Osama bin Laden.<ref name=Expel/> This condition was announced as the Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai|Karzai]] arrived in the kingdom for an official visit, for a discussion of a possible Saudi role in his plan to reintegrate Taliban militants.<ref name=Expel>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/ML-Saudi-Afghan/2010/02/02/id/348703|title=Saudi Arabia Wants Taliban to Expel Bin Laden|date=February 2, 2010|publisher=Newsmax|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=February 11, 2011}}</ref>

On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti Al Siyassa reported that bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of [[Savzevar]], in north eastern [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=4338&param=GJN |title=Kuwaiti Daily 'Al-Siyassa': Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri Guarded by Iranian Troops in Iranian Territory |publisher=Memrijttm.org |date=June 7, 2010 |accessdate=January 26, 2011}}</ref> The Australian newspaper online published the claim on June 9.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/bin-laden-aides-hiding-in-iran/story-fn3dxity-1225877288776|title=Bin Laden, aides 'hiding in Iran'}}</ref>

On October 18, 2010, an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden was "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8070836/Osama-bin-Laden-living-comfortably-in-Pakistan.html|title=Osama bin Laden 'living comfortably in Pakistan' |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|first=Rob|last=Crilly|date=October 18, 2010}}</ref>

On April 16, 2011, a leaked [[Al Jazeera]] report claimed that bin Laden had been captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://rmc2011.net/2011/04/16/al-jazeera-leak-osama-bin-laden-captured/|title=Al-Jazeera: LEAK: Osama Bin Laden Captured |work=The RMC News page | first=Sarah|last=Qari|date=April 16, 2011}}</ref>

===Whereabouts prior to his death===
In April 2011, various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint [[Osama bin Laden's hideout compound|bin Laden's suspected location]] near [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan. It was originally believed that bin Laden was hiding near the border between [[Afghanistan]] and Pakistan's [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]], but he was found {{convert|100|mi|km}} away in a [[Osama bin Laden's Hideout Compound|three-story mansion in Abbottabad]] at {{coord|34|10|9.63|N|73|14|33.33|E|scale:10|display=inline}}.<ref name="ZengerleBull">{{cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/02/us-binladen-compound-idUSTRE7411NX20110502|title=Bin Laden was found at luxurious Pakistan compound|last=Zengerle|first=Patricia|coauthors=Bull, Alister|agency=Reuters |accessdate=May 2, 2011|date=May 2, 2011}}</ref><ref name=ZengerleBull/><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/osama-bin-laden-pakistan-locals-flock-house Osama bin Laden death: Pakistan locals flock to see villain's lair] Declan Walsh ''[[The Guardian]]'' May 5, 2011</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/02/world/asia/abbottabad-map-of-where-osama-bin-laden-was-killed.html|title=Map of Where Osama bin Laden Was Killed – Map |work=The New York Times |accessdate=May 2, 2011|date=May 2, 2011}}</ref> Bin Laden's mansion was located {{convert|0.8|mi|km}} southwest of the [[Pakistan Military Academy]], the country's "[[West Point]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330 |title=BBC News – Osama Bin Laden killed: How it happened |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Osama bin Laden, the face of terror, killed in Pakistan |publisher=CNN |date=May 2, 2011 |accessdate=May 2, 2011 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bin.laden.obit/index.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/spitzer-what-role-did-pakistan-play-in-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden/ |title=Spitzer: What role did Pakistan play in the killing of Osama bin Laden? – In the Arena |publisher=CNN |accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/osama-bin-laden-death-prompts-celebrations-security-alerts/story?id=13507836 |title=President Obama Praises Troops Who Killed Osama bin Laden |publisher=ABC news|accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref> Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001, but was present on images taken in 2005.

==Death==
{{Main|Death of Osama bin Laden}}
{{See also|Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden|Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories}}
[[File:Osama Bin Laden marked deceased on FBI Ten Most Wanted List May 3 2011.jpg|thumb|Website of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] listing bin Laden as deceased on the [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives|Most Wanted List]] on May 3, 2011]]

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan on May&nbsp;2, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m. local [[Pakistan Standard Time|time]]<ref name="waposurveil"/><ref>{{cite news|author=Cooper, Helene|title=Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden|date=May 1, 2011|url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-dead-u-s-official-says/|work=[[The New York Times]]|accessdate=May 1, 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]] from the [[United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group]] (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the [[Joint Special Operations Command]], 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 |newspaper=[[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> The raid on [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|bin Laden's compound]] in [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan was launched from Afghanistan.<ref name="aftermath">{{cite web |url=http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/04/the_bin_laden_aftermath_the_us_shouldnt_hold_pakistans_military_against_pakistans_c |title=The bin Laden aftermath: The U.S. shouldn't hold Pakistan's military against Pakistan's civilians |author=C. Christine Fair |date=May 4, 2011 |work=[[Foreign Policy]]|accessdate=May 10, 2011}}</ref> 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 name="ref-5"/>

{{main|Allegations of support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden}}
Critics accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://detnews.com/article/20110503/NATION/105030368/Levin-questions-Pakistan's-role#ixzz1LGfVnAVd|title=Levin questions Pakistan's role|author=Marisa Schultz|work=The Detroit News}}</ref> For example, Mosharraf Zaidi, a leading Pakistani columnist, stated, "It seems deeply improbable that bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0502/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-near-Pakistan-s-West-Point.-Was-he-really-hidden|title=Osama bin Laden killed near Pakistan's West Point. Was he really hidden?|work=The Christian Science Monitor|accessdate=2011-06-25}}</ref> Pakistan's president [[Asif Ali Zardari]] denied that his country's security forces sheltered bin Laden,<ref>{{cite web|last=Toosi |first=Nahal|url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ie6QSATOQYI1N-xQfy-6VPRGhm2w?docId=6739650 |title=The Canadian Press: Pakistan's president dismisses suspicions that his country was sheltering bin Laden |publisher=Google |date=September 11, 2001 |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}{{dead link|date=June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Your name: |url=http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/zardari-defends-pakistan-over-bin-laden-intel-2011-05-03-1.388294 |title=Zardari defends Pakistan over bin Laden intel |publisher=Emirates 24/7 |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref> and called any supposed support for bin Laden by the Pakistani government "baseless speculation".

It was speculated that the issue might further strain U.S. ties with Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_pakistan-admits-it-wasn-t-part-of-us-operation-to-kill-osama-bin-laden_1538828 |title=Pakistan admits it wasn't part of US operation to kill Osama bin Laden – DNA |publisher=Dnaindia.com |date=September 11, 2001 |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Perlez |first=Jane |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014941260_osamapakistan03.html |title=Nation & World, Bin Laden's death casts more suspicion on Pakistan, Seattle Times Newspaper |publisher=Seattletimes.nwsource.com |date=September 11, 2001 |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref> Bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for five years.<ref>{{cite news|author=Peter Walker and agencies |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/06/osama-bin-laden-lived-two-rooms |title=Osama bin Laden lived in two rooms for five years, wife says &#124; World news &#124; guardian.co.uk |work=Guardian |date= May 6, 2011|accessdate=2011-05-12 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Associated |first=The |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-bin-laden-hid-in-pakistan-compound-for-over-three-years-before-capture-1.359578 |title=Report: Bin Laden hid in Pakistan compound for more than three years |work=Haaretz |location=Israel |date=April 2, 2008 |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref> It was an expensive compound located less than a mile from Pakistan's version of [[West Point]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html|title=Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid|publisher=Telegraph Media Group |accessdate=May 3, 2011|location=London|first=Philip|last=Sherwell}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/06/world/la-fg-osama-builder-20110506/2 |title=Death of Osama bin Laden: Mystery shrouds the quiet man who built Bin Laden's compound - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=2011-05-06 |accessdate=2011-05-12 |first=Alex |last=Rodriguez}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/140534/20110503/interesting-facts-about-osama-bin-laden-s-compound.htm |title=Interesting Facts About Osama bin Laden's Compound – International Business Times |publisher=Au.ibtimes.com |accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref> probably built for him<ref>{{cite news|last=Westhead |first=Rick |url=http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/984289--questions-about-bin-laden-embarrassing-to-pakistan?bn=1 |title=Questions about bin Laden embarrassing to Pakistan |work=Toronto Star |date=April 1, 2011 |accessdate=May 3, 2011 |location=Toronto}}</ref> and less than 100 kilometers' drive from the capital.

The Pakistani government's foreign office issued a statement that "categorically denies" any reports by the media that the country's leadership, "civil as well as military, had any prior knowledge of the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden".<ref>{{cite web|last=Ross|first=Brian|title=Osama Bin Laden Killed: U.S. Intelligence Probes Possible Pakistani Support System|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed-us-probes-pakistan-support/story?id=13516775|publisher=[[ABC News]]|accessdate=May 3, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.rediff.com/news/report/osama-raid-took-pakistan-army-by-surprise/20110726.htm 'Osama raid took Pakistan Army by surprise'], July 26, 2011, rediff.com</ref>

Pakistan's United States envoy, ambassador [[Husain Haqqani]], promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound, just a few hours drive from Islamabad, and stated that "obviously bin Laden did have a support system; the issue is, was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110502/wl_afp/usattacksbinladenlivereport;_ylt=AtkVnLoCPtSNzXEm27D9w94Bxg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTMyNWRwdTlkBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDUwMi91c2F0dGFja3NiaW5sYWRlbmxpdmVyZXBvcnQEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDZGVhdGhvZmJpbmxh|title=Death of Bin Laden: Live report|publisher=Yahoo!}}{{dead link|date=June 2011}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal box|Biography|Saudi Arabia|Sudan|Pakistan|Afghanistan|Terrorism|United States}}
{{Div col}}
*[[Afghan civil war]]
*[[Childhood, education and personal life of Osama bin Laden]]
*[[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden]]
*[[Islamic fundamentalism]]
*[[Islamic mujahid movement]]
*[[Islamic terrorism]]
*[[Osama bin Laden in popular culture]]
*[[Pakistan and state terrorism]]
*[[The Golden Chain]]
*[[War against Islam]]
{{Div col end}}
{{-}}

==References==
;Footnotes
{{Reflist|30em}}
;Additional notes
#{{note|a}} The date according to [[Pakistan Standard Time]] ([[UTC+05:00]]).
;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
*{{Cite book |last = Bergen |first = Peter|year =2006 |title =The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader|url = http://books.google.com/?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn= 0743295927|ref = harv |postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
*{{Cite book |last =Wright |first =Lawrence |year =2006 |title =The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11 |url =http://books.google.com/?id=RNkj-mO-Nt8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Looming+Tower:+Al-Qaeda+And+The+Road+To+9/11#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=New York: Knopf |isbn= 1400030846 |ref =harv |postscript =<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
*{{Cite book|last =Scheuer |first =Michael |year =2002 |title =Through Our Enemies' Eyes |url =http://books.google.com/?id=sK0n1UoN9gAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Through+Our+Enemies%27+Eyes#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Washington, D.C.: Brassey's|isbn= 1574885537|ref =harv|postscript =<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{Cite book |last = Berner|first = Brad K|year = 2007|title = Quotations from Osama Bin Laden|url =http://books.google.com/?id=ytwlNcIqYs0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Peacock Books |isbn=8124801134|ref = harv |postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
*{{Cite book |last =Bin Laden |first =Osama |coauthor= Bruce Lawrence|year = 2005|title =Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden |url =http://books.google.com/?id=3_fRlEZoaioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Verso |isbn= 1844670457|ref =harv |postscript =<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
*{{Cite book |last = Scheuer |first = Michael|year =2011 |title =Osama Bin Laden |url =http://books.google.ca/books?id=Vt-a30Z4_UUC&lpg=PP1&dq=Osama%20bin%20Laden&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199738661 |ref = harv |postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}
*Foreign Broadcast Information Service (2006) – [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004]
*{{cite book|last=Ibrahim|first=Raymond|title=The Al Qaeda Reader|year=2007|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=9780767922623|page=318|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Tdx3M-bHj34C&dq=raymond+ibrahim&hl=en&ei=_EsCTtq3KYOwuAPQkfj1DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Osama bin Laden|s=Author:Osama bin Laden}}
*{{Aljazeeratopic|person/osama-bin-laden}}
*[http://www.dawn.com/osamabinladen Osama bin Laden] collected news and commentary at ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]''
*{{Guardiantopic|world/osamabinladen}}
*{{NYTtopic|people/b/osama_bin_laden}}
*{{Worldcat id|lccn-n98-940446}}
*{{JURISTtopic|binladen.php}}
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'], ''[[The Observer]]'', November 24, 2002
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/ Hunting Bin Laden], ''[[PBS Frontline]]'', (November 2002)
*[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact?currentPage=all Young Osama], Steve Coll, ''[[The New Yorker]]'', December 12, 2005
*[http://www.life.com/gallery/59991/how-the-world-sees-osama-bin-laden#index/0 How the World Sees Osama bin Laden], slideshow by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]''
*[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/index.htm The Osama bin Laden File] from [[The National Security Archive]], posted May 2, 2011

{{Osama bin Laden}}
{{Al-Qaeda}}
{{AQChiefs}}
{{War on Terror}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2011}}

{{Persondata
|NAME=Osama bin Laden
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden (full name); أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن (Arabic); Laden, Osama bin (alternate form); Bin Laden, Usama (alternate transliteration); UBL (common referent); Bin Ladin, Ussamah (alternate transliteration); Ben Laden, Oussama (alternate transliteration); Binladen, Osama (alternate transliteration); Binladin, Osama (alternate transliteration); Al-Amir (alias); Abu Abdallah (alias); Mujahid, Sheikh Al- (alias)
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Al-Qaeda leader
|DATE OF BIRTH=March 10, 1957
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]]
|DATE OF DEATH=May 2, 2011
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Abbottabad]], [[Pakistan]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laden, Osama Bin}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century criminals]]
[[Category:21st-century criminals]]
[[Category:Abdullah Yusuf Azzam]]
[[Category:Afghan Civil War]]
[[Category:Al-Qaeda founders]]
[[Category:Al-Qaeda propagandists]]
[[Category:Bin Laden family]]
[[Category:Burials at sea]]
[[Category:Civil engineers]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Pakistan]]
[[Category:FBI Most Wanted Terrorists]]
[[Category:FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorism]]
[[Category:Osama bin Laden| ]]
[[Category:People from Abbottabad]]
[[Category:People of the Soviet war in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:People of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)]]
[[Category:Salafis]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabia expatriates]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian expatriates in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian anti-communists]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabian poets]]
[[Category:September 11 attacks]]
[[Category:Stateless persons]]
[[Category:War on Terror]]
[[Category:People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee]]

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[[cs:Usáma bin Ládin]]
[[cy:Osama bin Laden]]
[[da:Osama bin Laden]]
[[pdc:Osama bin Laden]]
[[de:Osama bin Laden]]
[[et:Usāmah ibn Lādin]]
[[el:Οσάμα μπιν Λάντεν]]
[[es:Osama bin Laden]]
[[eo:Usama bin Laden]]
[[ext:Osama bin Laden]]
[[eu:Osama bin Laden]]
[[fa:اسامه بن لادن]]
[[hif:Osama bin Laden]]
[[fo:Osama bin Laden]]
[[fr:Oussama ben Laden]]
[[fy:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ga:Osama bin Laden]]
[[gl:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ko:오사마 빈라덴]]
[[hy:Ուսամա բեն Լադեն]]
[[hi:ओसामा बिन लादेन]]
[[hr:Osama bin Laden]]
[[io:Osama bin Laden]]
[[id:Usamah bin Ladin]]
[[ia:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ie:Osama bin Laden]]
[[os:Усама бен Ладен]]
[[is:Osama bin Laden]]
[[it:Osama bin Laden]]
[[he:אוסאמה בן לאדן]]
[[jv:Osama bin Laden]]
[[kn:ಒಸಾಮಾ ಬಿನ್ ಲಾಡೆನ್]]
[[ka:ოსამა ბინ ლადენი]]
[[kk:Осама бен Ладен]]
[[sw:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ku:Usama bin Ladin]]
[[la:Usama bin Ladin]]
[[lv:Osama bin Ladens]]
[[lb:Osama Bin Laden]]
[[lt:Osama bin Ladenas]]
[[li:Usâmah bin Lâdin]]
[[lmo:Osama bin Laden]]
[[hu:Oszáma bin Láden]]
[[mk:Осама бин Ладен]]
[[mg:Osama Bin Laden]]
[[ml:ഉസാമ ബിൻ ലാദൻ]]
[[mt:Osama Bin Laden]]
[[mr:ओसामा बिन लादेन]]
[[mzn:اسامه بن لادن]]
[[ms:Osama bin Laden]]
[[mwl:Osama bin Laden]]
[[my:အိုစမာ ဘင်လာဒင်]]
[[nl:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ne:ओसामा बिन लादेन]]
[[ja:ウサーマ・ビン・ラーディン]]
[[no:Osama bin Laden]]
[[nn:Osama bin Laden]]
[[oc:Osama bin Laden]]
[[mhr:Усама бин Ладен]]
[[uz:Usoma bin Lodin]]
[[pnb:اسامہ بن لادن]]
[[pap:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ps:اسامه بن لادن]]
[[pms:Osama bin Laden]]
[[nds:Osama bin Laden]]
[[pl:Usama ibn Ladin]]
[[pt:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ro:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ru:Усама бен Ладен]]
[[sco:Osama bin Laden]]
[[sq:Bin Laden]]
[[scn:Osama bin Laden]]
[[simple:Osama bin Laden]]
[[sk:Usáma bin Ládin]]
[[sl:Osama bin Laden]]
[[szl:Usama ibn Ladin]]
[[so:Usaama bin Laadin]]
[[ckb:ئوسامە بن لادەن]]
[[sr:Осама бин Ладен]]
[[sh:Osama bin Laden]]
[[fi:Osama bin Laden]]
[[sv:Usama bin Ladin]]
[[tl:Osama bin Laden]]
[[ta:உசாமா பின் லாதின்]]
[[te:ఒసామా బిన్ లాదెన్]]
[[th:อุซามะห์ บิน ลาดิน]]
[[tr:Usame bin Ladin]]
[[uk:Осама бен Ладен]]
[[ur:اسامہ بن لادن]]
[[vi:Osama bin Laden]]
[[zh-classical:拉登]]
[[war:Osama bin Laden]]
[[yi:אסאמא בין לאדען]]
[[yo:Osama bin Laden]]
[[zh-yue:賓拉登]]
[[diq:Usama bın Ladın]]
[[bat-smg:Osama bin Ladens]]
[[zh:奥萨马·本·拉登]]

Revision as of 00:53, 21 September 2011

Osama|bin Laden is a mother fucker

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