Born inRiyadh to the aristocraticbin Laden family, he studied at Saudi and foreign universities until 1979, when he joined themujahideen fighting against the Soviet invasion ofAfghanistan. In 1984, he co-foundedMaktab al-Khidamat, which recruited foreignmujahideen into the war. As the Soviet war in Afghanistan came to an end, Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda in 1988 to carry out worldwidejihad. In theGulf War, Bin Laden's offer of support to Saudi Arabia againstIraq was rejected by theSaudi royal family, which instead soughtAmerican aid.
Bin Laden organized the September 11 attacks, whichkilled nearly 3,000 people, mostly civilians. This resulted in theU.S. invading Afghanistan and launching thewar on terror. Bin Laden became the subject of a nearly decade-longinternational manhunt led by the U.S. During this period, he hid in the mountains of Afghanistan and later escaped to neighboringPakistan. On 2 May 2011, Bin Ladenwas killed by U.S. special operations forces athis compound inAbbottabad. His corpse was buried in theArabian Sea and he was succeeded by his deputyAyman al-Zawahiri on 16 June 2011. During his lifetime, Bin Laden became a symbol of terrorism and was reviled in the United States and elsewhere as a mass murderer due to his orchestration of numerous attacks and bombings.
Bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered as "Osama bin Laden". TheFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) andCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or the accepted transliteration "Usama bin Ladin".
Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden".[6] "Mohammed" refers to Bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a KinditeHadhrami tribesman. Aboud's father was Ali, whose father was Omar. The family includes many individuals over anumber of generations.
He was namedUsama, meaning "lion", afterUsama ibn Zayd, one of thecompanions ofMuhammad.[7] Osama bin Laden had assumed thekunya (teknonym)Abū ʿAbdallāh, meaning "father ofAbdallah" The Arabiclinguistic 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 one of his sonsOmar, the family's hereditary surname isāl-Qaḥṭānī, but Bin Laden's father,Muhammad bin Ladin, never officially registered the name.[8]
Osama bin Laden was born on 10 March 1957 inRiyadh, Saudi Arabia.[9][10] His father wasMuhammad bin Ladin,[11][12] aYemeni-born billionaire construction magnate with close ties to theSaudi royal family,[13] and his mother was Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife,SyrianHamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem).[14][15] Despite it being generally accepted that Bin Laden was born in Riyadh, his birthplace was listed asJeddah in the initial FBI andInterpol documents.[16]
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.[17] The couple had four children, and Bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.[14] The Bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30 million.[18]
At university, Bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting theQuran andjihad" and charitable work.[27] Other interests included writing poetry; reading, with the works of Field MarshalBernard Montgomery andCharles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; blackstallions; andassociation football, in which he enjoyed playing atcentre forward and followed the English clubArsenal.[28][29] During his studies in Jeddah, Bin Laden became a pupil of the influential Islamist scholarAbdullah Yusuf Azzam and avidly read his treatises. He also read the writings of severalMuslim Brotherhood leaders and was highly influenced by the Islamic revolutionary ideas advocated bySayyid Qutb.[30]
At age 17 in 1974, Bin Laden marriedNajwa Ghanem atLatakia, Syria;[31] however, they were later separated and she left Afghanistan on 9 September 2001, two days before the 9/11 attacks.[32] His other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1993); Khairiah Sabir (married 1985); Siham Sabir (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.[33] Bin Laden fathered 24 children with his wives.[34] Many of Bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks, and as of 2010[update] Iranian authorities closely controlled them there.[35]
Nasser al-Bahri, who was Bin Laden's personal bodyguard from 1997 to 2001, details Bin Laden's personal life in his memoir. He describes him as a frugal man and strict father, who enjoyed taking his large family on shooting trips and picnics in the desert.[36]
Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot Jim Harrington[37] misjudged a landing.[38] Bin Laden's eldest half-brother,Salem bin Laden, the subsequent head of the Bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 nearSan Antonio, Texas, in the U.S., when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.[39]
The FBI described Bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) and 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) in height and weighing about 73 kilograms (160 lb),[40] although authorLawrence Wright, in his book onal-Qaeda,The Looming Tower, writes that a number of Bin Laden's close friends confirmed that reports of his height were greatly exaggerated, and that he was actually "just over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall".[41] After his death, he was measured to be roughly 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in).[42] Bin Laden had anolive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain whitekeffiyeh. At one point, he stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male keffiyeh and instead wore the traditional Yemeni male keffiyeh.[43] He was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.[44]
According to former CIA analystMichael Scheuer, who led the CIA's hunt for Bin Laden, Bin Laden was motivated by a belief thatU.S. foreign policy has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East.[45] As such, the threat to U.S. national security arises not from al-Qaeda being offended by what the U.S. is but rather by what the U.S. does, or in the words of Scheuer, "They (al-Qaeda) hate us (Americans) for what we do, not who we are."[46] Nonetheless, Bin Laden criticized the U.S. for itssecular form of governance, calling upon Americans to convert to Islam and reject the immoral acts offornication,homosexuality,intoxicants,gambling, andusury, in a letter published in late 2002.[47]
Bin Laden believed that the Islamic world was in crisis and that the complete restoration ofSharia law would be the only way to set things right in the Muslim world. He opposed such alternatives as secular government,[47] as well aspan-Arabism,socialism,communism, anddemocracy.[48] He subscribed to theAthari (literalist) school ofIslamic theology.[49]
These beliefs, in conjunction with violentjihad, have sometimes been calledQutbism after being promoted bySayyid Qutb.[50] Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule ofMullah Omar'sTaliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.[51] Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violentjihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the U.S. and sometimes by other non-Muslim states.[52] In hisLetter to the American People published in 2002, Bin Laden described the formation of theIsraeli state as "a crime which must be erased" and demanded that the United States withdraw all of its civilians and military personnel from theArabian Peninsula, as well as from allMuslim lands.[53][54]
Bin Laden supported the targeting of American civilians, in retaliation against U.S. troops indiscriminately attacking Muslims. He asserted that this policy could deter U.S. troops from targeting Muslim women and children. Furthermore, he argued that all Americans were complicit in the crimes of their government due to majority of them electing it to power and paying taxes that fund the U.S. military.[67] According toNoah Feldman, Bin Laden's assertion was that "since the United States is a democracy, all citizens bear responsibility for its government's actions, and civilians are therefore fair targets."[68]
"According to my information, if the enemy occupies an Islamic land and uses its people ashuman shields, a person has the right to attack the enemy. ... The targets of September 11 were not women and children. The main targets were the symbol of the United States: their economic and military power. OurProphet Muhammad was against the killing of women and children. When he saw the body of a non-Muslim woman during a war, he asked what the reason for killing her was. If a child is older than thirteen and bears arms against Muslims, killing him is permissible."[69]
Bin Laden's overall strategy for achieving his goals against much larger enemies such as theSoviet Union and U.S. was to lure them into a longwar of attrition in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead toeconomic collapse of the enemy countries, by "bleeding" them dry.[70] Al-Qaeda manuals express this strategy. In a2004 tape broadcast by Al Jazeera, Bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy".[71]
A number of errors and inconsistencies in Bin Laden's arguments have been alleged by authors such asMax Rodenbeck andNoah Feldman. He invoked democracy both as an example of the deceit and fraudulence ofWestern political system—American law being "the law of the rich and wealthy"[72]—and as the reason civilians are responsible for their government's actions and so can be lawfully punished by death.[73] He denounced democracy as a "religion of ignorance" that violates Islam by issuing man-made laws, but in a later statement compares the Western democracy of Spain favorably to the Muslim world in which the ruler is accountable. Rodenbeck states, "Evidently, [Bin Laden] has never heard theological justifications for democracy, based on the notion that the will of the people must necessarily reflect the will of an all-knowing God."[74]
Bin Laden was heavilyanti-Semitic, stating that most of the negative events that occurred in the world were the direct result of Jewish actions. In a December 1998 interview with Pakistani journalistRahimullah Yusufzai, Bin Laden stated thatOperation Desert Fox was proof thatIsraeli Jews controlled the governments of the U.S. and the United Kingdom, directing them to kill as many Muslims as they could.[75] In a letter released in late 2002, he stated that Jews controlled the civilian media outlets, politics, and economic institutions of the United States.[47] In a May 1998 interview withABC News, Bin Laden claimed that the Israeli state's ultimate goal was to annex the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East into its territory and enslave its peoples, as part of what he called a "Greater Israel".[76] He stated that Jews and Muslims could never get along, that war was "inevitable" between them, and accusing the U.S. of stirring upanti-Islamic sentiment.[76] He claimed that theU.S. State Department andU.S. Department of Defense were controlled by Jews, for the sole purpose of serving the Israeli state's goals.[76] He often 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."[77]Shia Muslims have been listed along withheretics, the United States, and Israel as the four principal enemies of Islam at ideology classes of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.[78]
Bin Laden was opposed to music on religious grounds,[79] and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in earth-moving machinery andgenetic engineering of plants, while rejecting the use ofchilled water.[80] He also believedclimate change to be a serious threat and penned a letter urging Americans to work with U.S. presidentBarack Obama to make a rational decision to "save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny".[81][82]
After leaving college in 1979, Bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Yusuf Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help themujahideen resistance in theSoviet–Afghan War.[83] He later told a journalist: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan."[84] From 1979 to 1992, the U.S. (as part ofCIA activities in Afghanistan, specificallyOperation Cyclone), Saudi Arabia, andChina provided between $6–12 billion worth of financial aid and weapons to tens of thousands ofmujahideen through Pakistan'sInter-Services Intelligence (ISI).[85]
British journalistJason Burke wrote: "[Bin Laden] did not receive any direct funding or training from the U.S. during the 1980s. Nor did his followers. The Afghanmujahideen, via Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, received large amounts of both. Some bled to the Arabs fighting the Soviets but nothing significant."[86] Bin Laden met and built relations withHamid Gul, who was athree-stargeneral in thePakistani 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 thePakistan Armed Forces and the ISI.[87] According to Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, the person in charge of the ISI's Afghan operations at the time, it was a strict policy of Pakistan to prevent any American involvement in the distribution of funds or weapons or in the training of themujahideen, and the CIA officials stayed in the embassy inIslamabad, never entering Afghanistan or meeting with the Afghan resistance leaders themselves.[88] According to some CIA officers, beginning in early 1980, Bin Laden acted as a liaison between the SaudiGeneral Intelligence Presidency (GIP) and Afghan warlords; no evidence of contact between the CIA and Bin Laden exists in the CIA archives.Steve Coll states that although Bin Laden may not have been a formal, salaried GIP agent, "it seems clear that Bin Laden did have a substantial relationship with Saudi intelligence."[89] Bin Laden's first trainer wasU.S. Special Forces commandoAli Mohamed.[90]
By 1984, Bin Laden and Azzam establishedMaktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms, and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, Bin Laden's inherited family fortune[91] paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for thejihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps insideKhyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet-backed regime, theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan. Between 1986 and 1987, Bin Laden set up a base in eastern Afghanistan for several dozen of his own Arab soldiers.[92] From this base, Bin Laden participated in some combat activity against the Soviets, such as theBattle of Jaji in 1987.[92] Despite its little strategic significance, the battle was lionized in the mainstream Arab press.[92] It was during this time that he became idolized by many Arabs.[93]
In May 1988, responding to rumours of a massacre of Sunnis by Shias, large numbers of Shias from in and aroundGilgit, Pakistan were killed in a massacre.[94] Shia civilians were also subjected to rape.[95] The massacre is alleged byB. Raman, a founder of India'sResearch and Analysis Wing,[96] to have been in response to a revolt by the Shias of Gilgit during the rule of military dictatorZia-ul Haq.[97] He alleged that the Pakistan Army induced Osama bin Laden to lead an armed group of Sunni tribals, from Afghanistan and theNorth-West Frontier Province, into Gilgit and its surrounding areas to suppress the revolt.[98]
By 1988,[99] 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.[100] Notes of a meeting of Bin Laden and others on 20 August 1988, indicate that 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 (bayat) to follow one's superiors.[101]
According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because its existence was still a closely held secret.[102] His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an 11 August 1988, meeting between several senior leaders ofEgyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), Azzam, and Bin Laden, where it was agreed to join Bin Laden's money with the expertise of the EIJ and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after theSoviets withdrew from Afghanistan.[103] Others argue that the organization was founded earlier and already existed when the leaders met on 11 August 1988.[104][105]
Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero ofjihad.[106] Along with his Arab legion, he was thought to have brought down the mighty superpower of the Soviet Union.[107] After his return to Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden engaged in opposition movements to the Saudi monarchy while working forhis family business.[106] He offered to send al-Qaeda to overthrow the Soviet-alignedYemeni Socialist Party government inSouth Yemen, but was rebuffed by PrinceTurki bin Faisal. He then tried to disrupt theYemeni unification process by assassinating YSP leaders, but was halted by Saudi Interior Minister PrinceNayef bin Abdulaziz after PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh complained toKing Fahd.[108] He was also angered by the internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans.[93] However, he continued working with theSaudi GID and thePakistani ISI. In March 1989, Bin Laden led 800 Arab foreign fighters during the unsuccessfulBattle of Jalalabad.[109][110][111] Bin Laden led his men in person to immobilize the 7thSarandoy Regiment but failed doing so leading to massive casualties. He funded the1990 Afghan coup d'état attempt led by hardcore communist GeneralShahnawaz Tanai.[111] He also lobbied theParliament of Pakistan to carry out an unsuccessfulmotion of no confidence against Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto.[110]
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Gulf war
TheIraqi invasion of Kuwait underSaddam Hussein on 2 August 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the royal family at risk. With Iraqi forces on theSaudi border, Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism was potentially inciting internal dissent. One week after King Fahd agreed toU.S. Secretary of DefenseDick Cheney's offer of American military assistance, Bin Laden met with King Fahd and Saudi Defense MinisterSultan bin Abdulaziz, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the U.S. and others and offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. When Sultan asked how Bin Laden would defend the fighters if Saddam usedIraqi chemical and biological weapons against them, he replied, "We will fight him with faith."[112] Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory.[113]
Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. forces, arguing that it was indignity that the kingdom was being defended by an army of American unbelievers.[114] Bin Laden tried to convince the Saudiulama to issue a fatwa condemning the American military deployment but senior clerics refused out of fear of repression.[115] Bin Laden's continued criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to put him under house arrest, under which he remained until he was ultimately forced to leave the country in 1991.[116] The U.S.82nd Airborne Division landed in the north-eastern Saudi city ofDhahran and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.[93]
Meanwhile, on 8 November 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home ofEl Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed. They discovered 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.[117] Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the1993 World Trade Center bombing and, years later, admitted guilt for the murder of RabbiMeir Kahane in New York City on 5 November 1990.
In 1991, Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia by its government after repeatedly criticizing the Saudi alliance with the United States.[106][118] He and his followers moved first to Afghanistan and then relocated to Sudan by 1992,[106][118] in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.[119] Bin Laden's personal security detail consisted of bodyguards personally selected by him. Their arsenal includedSA-7,Stinger missiles, AK-47s,RPGs, andPK machine guns.[120] Meanwhile, in March–April 1992, Bin Laden tried to play a pacifying role in the escalatingcivil war in Afghanistan, by urging warlordGulbuddin Hekmatyar to join the othermujahideen leaders negotiating a coalition government instead of trying to conquerKabul for himself.[121]
It is believed that the first bombing attack involving Bin Laden was the 29 December 1992, bombing of theGold Mohur Hotel inAden in which two people were killed.[106]
In the 1990s, Bin Laden's al-Qaeda assistedjihadis 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. Thewar that followed caused the deaths of 150,000 to 200,000 Algerians and ended with the Islamists surrendering to the government.[122]
In Sudan, Bin Laden established a new base formujahideen operations inKhartoum. He boughta house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat atSoba on theBlue Nile.[123][124] During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses.[125] He was the Sudan agent for the British firmHunting Surveys,[126] and built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people.[127][128] He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. In response, in 1994, Fahd stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7 million a year stipend.[11][129][130]
By that time, Bin Laden was being linked with EIJ, which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995, the EIJattempted to assassinate the Egyptian presidentHosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and Sudan expelled the EIJ. After this bombing, al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued byMamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find a proper reward in death, going toJannah (paradise) if they were good Muslims and toJahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.[131] The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.
The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being asponsor of international terrorism and Bin Laden of operating terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. However, according to Sudan officials, this stance became obsolete as the Islamist political leaderHassan al-Turabi lost influence in their country. The Sudanese wanted to engage with the U.S., but American officials refused to meet with them even after they had expelled Bin Laden. It was not until 2000 that the State Department authorized U.S. intelligence officials to visit Sudan.[126]
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 officerBilly Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.[132] US AmbassadorTimothy 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 against Bin Laden in any country.[133]
In January 1996, the CIA launched a new unit of itsCounterterrorism Center (CTC) called theBin Laden Issue Station, code-named "Alec Station", to track and to carry out operations against his activities. Bin Laden Issue Station was headed by Michael Scheuer, a veteran of the Islamic Extremism Branch of the CTC.[122] U.S. intelligence monitored Bin Laden in Sudan using operatives to run by daily and to photograph activities at his compound, and using an intelligence safe house andsignals intelligence to surveil him and to record his moves.[134]
Return to Afghanistan
The 9/11 Commission Report states:
In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. US officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by theCIA.
Due to the increasing pressure on Sudan from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, Bin Laden was permitted to leave for a country of his choice. He chose to return toJalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight on 18 May 1996; there he forged a close relationship with Mullah Omar.[135][136] The expulsion from Sudan significantly weakened Bin Laden and his organization.[137] Some African intelligence sources have argued that the expulsion left Bin Laden without an option other than becoming a full-time radical, and that most of the 300 Afghan Arabs who left with him subsequently became terrorists.[126] Various sources report that he lost between $20 million[138] and $300 million[139] in Sudan; the government seized his construction equipment, and he was forced to liquidate his businesses, land, and even his horses.
In August 1996, Bin Ladenissued afatawā titled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places", which was published byAl-Quds Al-Arabi, a London-based newspaper. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina. The reference to occupation in thefatwā referred to U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known asOperation Southern Watch.[140] Despite the assurance of PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there. Bush cited the necessity of dealing with the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime (which Bush had chosen not to destroy). Bin Laden's view was that "the 'evils' of the Middle East arose from America's attempt to take over the region and from its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia had been turned into anAmerican colony".[141]
"Terrorising you, while you are carrying arms on our land, is a legitimate and morally demanded duty. It is a legitimate right well known to all humans and other creatures... [our] youths are different from your soldiers. Your problem will be how to convince your troops to fight, while our problem will be how to restrain our youths.. The youths hold you responsible for all of the killings and evictions of the Muslims and the violation of the sanctities, carried out by yourZionist brothers in Lebanon; you openly supplied them with arms and finance. More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression (sanction) imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the USA, together with the Saudi regime are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children. Due to all of that, what ever treaty you have with our country is now null and void."[142]
"All these American crimes and sins are a clear proclamation of war against God, his Messenger, and the Muslims. Religious scholars throughout Islamic history have agreed thatjihad is an individual duty when an enemy attacks Muslim countries. This was related by theImamibn Qudama in "The Resource," by Imamal-Kisa'i in "The Marvels," byal-Qurtubi in his exegesis, and by the Sheikh of Islam when he states in his chronicles that "As for fighting to repel an enemy, which is the strongest way to defend freedom and religion, it is agreed that this is a duty. After faith, there is no greater duty than fighting an enemy who is corrupting religion and the world.""[144][143]
At the public announcement, Bin Laden said that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."[145] It also claimed the "individual duty for every Muslim "was to liberateAl-Aqsa inJerusalem and theGrand Mosque in Mecca from their grip.[146][147]
Late 1990s attacks
In Afghanistan, Bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from donors from the days of the Afghanjihad, and from the Pakistani ISI to establish more training camps formujahideen fighters.[148] Bin Laden effectively took overAriana 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.[149] The arms smugglerViktor 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.[150]
It has been claimed that Bin Laden funded theLuxor massacre of 17 November 1997,[151][152][153] which killed 62 civilians, and outraged the Egyptian public. TheSwiss Federal Police later determined that bin Laden had financed the operation.[154] In mid-1997, theNorthern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing him to abandon hisNajim Jihad compound and move his operations toTarnak Farms in the south.[155]
Another successful attack was carried out in the city ofMazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundred Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousandHazaras overrunning the city.[156]
Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on 24 June 1998.[157] The1998 U.S. embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on 7 August 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneoustruck bomb explosions at the U.S. embassies in the major East African cities ofDar es Salaam, Tanzania, andNairobi, Kenya.[158] The attacks were linked to local members of the EIJ, and brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the U.S. public for the first time. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the bombings.[158]
In retaliation for the embassy bombings, U.S. presidentBill Clinton ordered aseries of cruise missile strikes on Bin Laden-related targets in Sudan and Afghanistan on 20 August 1998.[158] In December 1998, the CIA reported to Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the U.S., including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.[159] On 7 June 1999, the FBI placed Bin Laden on itsTen Most Wanted list.[160][161][162][163][141] On October 15, 1999, the United Nations designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization throughUN Security Council Resolution 1267. This resolution aimed to impose sanctions on individuals and entities associated with al-Qaeda, including freezing assets and imposing travel bans.[164]
In late 2000,Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by Bin Laden had planned atriple attack on 3 January 2000, which would have included bombings inJordan of theRadisson SAS Hotel inAmman, tourists atMount Nebo, and a site on theJordan River, as well as the sinking of the destroyerUSS The Sullivans in Yemen, and 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 ofAhmed Ressam.[165]
A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 describedBosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, and asserted that militant elements of the formerSarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Bin Laden.[166]
According to Middle East intelligence reports, Bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them wasKarim 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.[167] He is a former roommate ofAhmed Ressam, the man arrested at theCanada–United States border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.[168][169] He was convicted of colluding with Bin Laden by a French court.[170]
A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other formermujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area 100 km (60 mi) 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 Bin Laden. In its 26 June 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 Muslim forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Bin Laden.[171][172][verification needed]
In 1999, the press reported that Bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship andBosnian passports in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. The Bosnian government denied this information 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 he was at the time.[171][172][verification needed]
The head of Albania's State Intelligence Service (SHISH), Fatos Klosi, said that Bin Laden was running a terror network inAlbania to take part in theKosovo War under the guise of a humanitarian organization and it was reported to have been started in 1994. Claude Kader, who was a member, testified its existence during his trial.[173] By 1998, four members of EIJ were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.[174] Themujahideen fighters were organized by Islamic leaders in Western Europe allied to him and al-Zawahiri.[175]
During his trial at theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, former Serbian presidentSlobodan Milošević quoted from a purported FBI report that al-Qaeda had a presence in the Balkans and aided theKosovo Liberation Army. He claimed Bin Laden had used Albania as a launchpad for violence in the region and Europe. He claimed that they had informedRichard Holbrooke that KLA was being aided by al-Qaeda but the US decided to cooperate with the KLA and thus indirectly with Osama despite the U.S. embassy bombings earlier. Milošević had argued that the U.S. aided the terrorists, which culminated in its backing of the 1999NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.[176][177][178][179]
Criminal charges
On 16 March 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpolarrest warrant against Bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany's domestic intelligence service, theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on 10 March 1994.[66][180] Bin Laden was still wanted by theLibyan government at the time of his death.[181][182] He was first indicted by agrand jury of the U.S. on 8 June 1998, on a charges of conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the U.S. and prosecutors further charged that Bin Laden was the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.[183]
During the Clinton administration, capturing Bin Laden had been an objective of the U.S. government.[184] Shortly after the September 11 attacks, it was revealed that Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (specifically, their eliteSpecial Activities Division) to apprehend Bin Laden and bring him to the U.S. to stand trial for the 1998 embassy attacks; if taking him alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized.[185] On 20 August 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by U.S. Navy ships in theArabian Sea struck Bin Laden's training camps nearKhost in Afghanistan, missing him by a few hours.[186]
On 4 November 1998, Bin Laden was indicted by aFederal Grand Jury in theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges ofMurder of US Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder US Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death[187] for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy attacks. 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 agentZiyad Khaleel in the U.S.[188][189] However, the Taliban ruled not to extradite Bin Laden on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence published in the indictments and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims.[190]
Bin Laden became the456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added on 7 June 1999, following his indictment along with others forcapital 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 before the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.[191] In 1999, US president Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.[192]
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 the1999 Pakistani coup d'état;[186] in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired arocket-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.[185]
God knows it did not cross our minds to attackthe Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people inPalestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly werethat of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by theUS Sixth Fleet. As I watchedthe 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.
U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush received an intelligence report on 6 August 2001, titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."[194] On 11 September 2001 (the "September 11 attacks" or "9/11"), the U.S. was attacked by al-Qaeda, who used four commercial airplanes as missiles against various targets. Two planes,American Airlines Flight 11 andUnited Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South Twin Towers of theWorld Trade Center in New York City.American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed into thePentagon.United Airlines Flight 93 did not reach its intended destination, as its passengers overtook the plane, which crashed in Pennsylvania. The Twin Towers eventuallycollapsed. At least 2,750 people died from the attacks.[195]On the day of the attacks, theNational Security Agency intercepted communications that pointed to Bin Laden's responsibility,[196] as didGerman intelligence agencies.[197] At 11:30 p.m., Bush wrote in his diary: "ThePearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today... We think it's Osama bin Laden."[198] The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified[199] evidence linking al-Qaeda and Bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.[200] The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report noted that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient to prosecute the case.[201] Identifiedmotivations of the September 11 attacks include the support of Israel by the United States, presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq.
Image from the video of Bin Laden released on 13 December 2001
Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On 16 September 2001, he read a statement, later broadcast by Al Jazeera, denying responsibility for the attack.[202] In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, Bin Laden was seen discussing the attack withKhaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge.[203] The tape was broadcast on various news networks on 13 December 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."[204]
In the2004 video, Bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it, he said he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers.[205][206] In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, Bin Laden accused George W. Bush of negligence in thehijacking of the planes on September 11.[205] He said was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching thedestruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the1982 Lebanon War.[207] Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. ... I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers ... with the raids" (23 May 2006).[208] In the tapes, he was seen withRamzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers,Hamza al-Ghamdi andWail al-Shehri, as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast 7 September 2006).[209]
Manhunt and activities after the September 11 attacks
A leaflet made by theCentral Intelligence Agency which was distributed in Afghanistan, showing a bounty for Bin Laden
In response to the attacks, the United States launched thewar 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'sSpecial Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing Bin Laden.[210] U.S. officials named Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.[211][212] On 13 July 2007, the Senate voted to double the reward to $50 million, although the amount was never changed.[213] TheAirline Pilots Association and theAir Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward.[214]
While referring to Bin Laden in aCNN film clip on 17 September 2001, then-president George W. Bush stated, "I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or alive'".[215] Subsequently, Bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death; some placed Bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods.
On 10 October 2001, Bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by the George W. Bush administration and based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of 13 fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 attack. He remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.[citation needed] Despite these multiple indictments, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. However, they did 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 U.S. ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by George W. Bush, stating that this was no longer negotiable: "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."[216]
Delta Force GIs disguised as Afghan civilians, while they searched for Bin Laden in November 2001
Bin Laden andAyman al-Zawahiri in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2001
Bin Laden was believed to be hiding in theWhite Mountains (Spin Ghar) in Afghanistan's east, near thePakistani border.[217][218] According toThe Washington Post, the US government concluded that Bin Laden was present during theBattle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the U.S. to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the U.S. in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials assembled what they believed 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.[219]
On 11 December 2005, a letter fromAtiyah Abd al-Rahman toAbu Musab al-Zarqawi indicated that Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in theWaziristan region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military'sCombating Terrorism Center atWest Point, Atiyah instructs al-Zarqawi to send messengers to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership. 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 toThe Washington Post.[220][221]
The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing Bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.[222]
U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves inTora Bora between 14 and 16 August 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.[223]
Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally verified videos demonstrating Bin Laden's continued survival, including in August 2007.[224] He claimed sole responsibility for the September 11 attacks and specifically denied any prior knowledge of them by the Taliban or the Afghan people.[225]
Obama administration
On 7 October 2008, in thesecond debate of that year's U.S. presidential election, 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."[226] Upon being elected, Obama expressed his plans to renew and ramp up the U.S. search for Bin Laden.[226] Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on Bin Laden that conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda toHamas toHezbollah, replacing it with a covert, narrow focus on al-Qaeda and its direct affiliates.[227][228]
In 2009, a research team led byThomas Gillespie andJohn A. Agnew ofUCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds inParachinar as Bin Laden's likely hideouts.[229] In March 2009, theNew York Daily News reported that the hunt for Bin Laden had centered in theChitral District of Pakistan, including theKalam Valley. AuthorRohan Gunaratna stated that captured al-Qaeda leaders had confirmed that Bin Laden was hiding in Chitral.[230] Pakistan's prime ministerGillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.[231]
Early in December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan that year; he said that in January or February 2009, he met a trusted contact who had seen Bin Laden in Afghanistan about 15 to 20 days earlier.[232] However, on 6 December 2009, U.S. Secretary of DefenseRobert Gates stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of Bin Laden in years.[232][233] On 9 December, GeneralStanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said that al-Qaeda would not be defeated unless Bin Laden were captured or killed, thus indicating that the U.S. high command believed that he was still alive. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said that 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. He said 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.[233][234]
In a 2010 letter, Bin Laden chastised followers who had reinterpretedal-tatarrus—an Islamic doctrine meant to excuse the unintended killing of non-combatants in unusual circumstances—to justify routine massacres of Muslim civilians, which had turned Muslims against the extremist movement. Of the groups affiliated with al-Qaeda, Bin Laden condemnedTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan for an attack on members of a hostile tribe, declaring that the operation is not justified, as there were casualties of noncombatants. Bin Laden wrote that thetatarrus doctrine needs to be revisited based on the modern-day context and clear boundaries established. He asked a subordinate to draw up a jihadist code of conduct that would constrain military operations in order to avoid civilian casualties. In Yemen, Bin Laden urged his allies to seek a truce that would bring the country stability, or would at least show the people that they were careful in keeping Muslims safe on the basis of peace. In Somalia, he called attention to the extreme poverty caused by constant warfare, and he advisedal-Shabab to pursue economic development. He instructed his followers around the world to focus on education and persuasion rather than entering into confrontations with Islamic political parties.[235]
On 2 February 2010, Afghan presidentHamid Karzai arrived in Saudi Arabia for an official visit. The agenda included a discussion of a possible Saudi role in Karzai's plan to reintegrate Taliban militants. During the visit, an anonymous official of theSaudi Foreign Affairs Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled Osama bin Laden.[236] On 7 June 2010, the Kuwaiti newspaperAl-Seyassah reported that Bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town ofSabzevar, in northeastern Iran.[237] On 9 June,The Australian's online edition repeated the claim.[238] This report turned out to be false.
On 18 October 2010, an unnamedNATO official suggested that Bin Laden was alive, well, and living comfortably in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said that the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the U.S.[239]
The raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad was launched from Afghanistan.[258] After the raid, reports at the time stated that U.S. forces had taken Bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for positive identification, thenburied it at sea, in accordance with Islamic law, within 24 hours of his death.[259] Subsequent reporting has called this account into question—citing, for example, the absence of evidence that there was an imam on board theUSS Carl Vinson, where the burial was said to have taken place.[260] On 15 June 2011, U.S. federal prosecutors officially dropped all criminal charges against Bin Laden.[261]
Pakistani authorities later demolished the compound in February 2012[262] to prevent it from becoming a neo-Islamist shrine.[263] In February 2013, Pakistan announced plans to build aPKR 265 million (US$30 million) amusement park in the area, including the property of the former hideout.[264] In an interview in 2019, Pakistani prime ministerImran Khan claimed that Pakistani intelligence led the CIA to Osama bin Laden.[265]
It was widely reported by the press that Bin Laden was fatally wounded byRobert J. O'Neill; however, it has also been widely discredited by witnesses, who claim that Bin Laden was possibly already dead by the time O'Neill arrived, having been injured by an anonymous SEAL Team Six member referred to under the pseudonym "Red".[266][267] According to Navy SEALMatt Bissonnette, Bin Laden was struck by two suppressed shots to the side of the head from around ten feet away after leaning out of his bedroom doorway to survey Bissonnette and a point man. Once the Navy SEALs entered the bedroom, his body began convulsing and Bissonnette along with another SEAL responded by firing multiple shots into his chest.[268]
On 29 March 2012, Pakistani newspaperDawn acquired a report produced by Pakistani security officials, based on interrogation of his three surviving wives, that detailed his movements while living underground in Pakistan.[269]
Allegations of Pakistan support and protection of Bin Laden
Bin Laden was killed within the fortified complex of buildings that were probably built for him,[270] and had reportedly been his home for at least five years.[271][272] The compound was located less than 2 kilometres (1 mi) from thePakistan Military Academy and less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Pakistan's capital.[255][273] While the United States and Pakistan governments both claimed, and later maintained, that no Pakistani officials, including senior military leaders, knew Bin Laden's whereabouts or had prior knowledge of the U.S. strike,[274][275]Carlotta Gall, writing inThe New York Times Magazine in 2014, reported that ISI Director GeneralAhmad Shuja Pasha knew of Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad.[276] In a 2015London Review of Books article, investigative reporterSeymour M. Hersh asserted—citing U.S. sources—that Bin Laden had been a prisoner of the ISI at the Abbottabad compound since 2006; that Pasha knew of the U.S. mission in advance, and authorized the helicopters delivering the SEALs to enter Pakistani airspace; and that the CIA learned of Bin Laden's whereabouts from a former senior Pakistani intelligence of Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who was paid an estimated $25 million for the information.[260] Both stories were denied by U.S. and Pakistani officials.
Mosharraf Zia, 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."[277] Pakistan's U.S. envoy,AmbassadorHusain Haqqani, promised a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services could have failed to find Bin Laden in a fortified compound so close to Islamabad. "Obviously Bin Laden did have a support system", he said. "The issue is, was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan, or within the society of Pakistan?"[278]
Others argued that Bin Laden lived in the compound with a local family, and never used the internet or a mobile phone, which would have made him much easier to locate.[279] Pakistan's presidentAsif Ali Zardari denied that his country's security forces sheltered Bin Laden, and called any supposed support for Bin Laden by the Pakistani government baseless speculation.[280][281] Government officials said that the country's limited resources had been committed to its war against thePakistan Taliban, and other insurgents who posed an active threat to it, rather than to finding or sheltering Bin Laden.[282] Coll states that as of 2019 there is no direct evidence showing Pakistani knowledge of Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad. Documents captured from the Abbottabad compound generally show that Bin Laden was wary of contact with Pakistani intelligence and police, especially in light of Pakistan's role in the arrest ofKhalid Sheikh Mohammed.[283]
The U.S. military, utilizing one of Palantir Technologies' core software platforms,Gotham, described as an "Operating System for Defense Decision Making," successfully located Osama bin Laden in his hideout in 2011.[284][285]
The FBI Most Wanted webpage for Bin Laden in late 2011
During the early 2000s, despite condemnations from U.S-allied governments in the Arab world, anti-American protestors from Pakistan toPalestinian territories used his portraits during their protests, speeches and public campaigns.[286] His popularity in the Muslim world reached its apex through the course of theIraq War; during which opinion polls conducted in some countries gave him 50% – 60% favourable ratings.[287][286][288][289] However, at his death, Arab reaction was described as "muted", overshadowed by the beginning of theArab Spring.[290] ThePew Research Center found in 2011 that support for Bin Laden and al-Qaeda had declined steadily across a number of Muslim countries, and was as low as 1% in Lebanon, describing him as "discredited".[291]Latin American political leaders expressed opposition to Bin Laden, with Peruvian presidentAlan García calling him "demonic"; however, at his death, some leftist Latin American leaders also denounced the United States for violating Pakistani sovereignty to target Bin Laden.[292] His death was celebrated in India, and the fact that he was found in Pakistan was regarded as cause for concern due to the complexIndo-Pakistani relationship.[293] During a June 2020 Pakistani parliament session, Prime MinisterImran Khan denounced Bin Laden's killing, labelling it as "an embarrassing moment" in their country's history, and also praised Bin Laden as aShaheed (martyr).[294][295][296]
Bin Laden is a reviled figure in the Western world, where he is regarded as a terrorist and mass murderer.[297][298] His obituary in theNew York Times referred to him as "the North Star" of global terrorism, seen by Americans as equivalent to "Hitler orStalin."[298]Mark Hosenball wrote:
In history's long list of villains, bin Laden will find a special place. He ha[d] no throne, no armies, not even any real territory, aside from the rocky wastes of Afghanistan. But he ha[d] the power to make men willingly go to their deaths for the sole purpose of indiscriminately killing Americans—men, women and children. He [was] an unusual combination in the annals of hate, at once mystical and fanatical—and deliberate and efficient.
^Depending on the time zone, the date of his death may be different locally.
References
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^Davies, William D.; Dubinsky, Stanley (2018).Language Conflict and Language Rights: Ethnolinguistic Perspectives on Human Conflict. Cambridge University Press. p. 74.ISBN978-1-107-02209-6.
^Klausen, Jytte (2021).Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History (1st ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 44, 45.ISBN978-0-19-887079-1.
^Slackman, Michael (13 November 2001)."Osama Kin Wait and Worry".Los Angeles Times.Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved26 May 2010.
^Najwa bin Laden,Omar bin Laden, Jean Sasson.Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World. p. 414.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^The 24 children are listed accurately in Peter L. Bergen,The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2021, pp. x-xi, the first 20 of them are listed in Najwa bin Laden, Omar bin Laden and Jean Sasson,Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama’s Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010, pp. 294-300, and 19 of them are also detailed in various places in Cathy Scott-Clark & Adrian Levy,The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight, New York: Bloomsbury, 2017, as can be seen in the index on pp. 601-604, including the four missing from the Sasson book.
^Scheuer, Michael (2004).Imperial Hubris. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's, Inc. p. 9.ISBN978-0-9655139-4-4.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.
^Scheuer, Michael (2004).Imperial Hubris. Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's, Inc. p. 256.ISBN978-0-9655139-4-4.Because Muslim leaders—with bin Laden in the van—repeatedly have told us that they hate Americans for what we do and not for what we think, look like, talk about...
^Messages, (2005), p. 143. from an interview published inAl-Quds Al-Arabi in London, 12 November 2001 (originally published in Pakistani daily,Ausaf, 7 Nov.)
^Messages to the World, (2005), pp. xix–xx, editor Bruce Lawrence.
^Bin Laden, Osama (2005). "Declaration of Jihad". In Lawrence, Bruce (ed.).Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. 6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG: Verso. pp. 70, 119.ISBN1-84467-045-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Bin Laden, Osama (2005). "Declaration of Jihad". In Lawrence, Bruce (ed.).Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. 6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG: Verso. p. 140.ISBN1-84467-045-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Wright 2006, p. 145 "Lawrence Wright estimates his share of the Saudi Binladin Group circa fall 1989 as amounted to 27 million Saudi riyals – a little more than [US]$7 million."
^Hunzai, Izhar."Conflict Dynamics in Gilgit-Baltistan"(PDF). United States Institute of Peace.Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 May 2017. Retrieved5 July 2017.In 1988, a rumor alleging a Sunni massacre at the hands of Shias resulted in an attack by thousands of armed tribesmen from the south, the killing of nearly four hundred Shias
^Raman, B (7 October 2003)."The Shia Anger".Outlook.Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved31 December 2016.Because they have not forgotten what happened in 1988. Faced with a revolt by the Shias of the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), under occupation by the Pakistan Army, for a separate Shia State called the Karakoram State, the Pakistan Army transported Osama bin Laden's tribal hordes into Gilgit and let them loose on the Shias. They went around massacring hundreds of Shias – innocent men, women, and children.
^Raman, B (26 February 2003)."The Karachi Attack: The Kashmir Link".Rediiff News.Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved31 December 2016.A revolt by the Shias of Gilgit was ruthlessly suppressed by the Zia-ul Haq regime in 1988, killing hundreds of Shias. An armed group of tribals from Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province, led by Osama bin Laden, was inducted by the Pakistan Army into Gilgit and adjoining areas to suppress the revolt.
^United States v. Usama bin Laden et al., S (7) 98 Cr. 1023, Testimony of Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl (SDNY 6 February 2001), archived from the original.
^abColl, Steve (2004).Ghost wars : the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to 10 September 2001. New York: Penguin Press.ISBN1-59420-007-6.OCLC52814066.
^Jacobsen, Annie (2019).Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins. New York: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 281–288.
^Stack, Megan K. (6 December 2001)."Fighters Hunt Former Ally".Los Angeles Times.Archived from the original on 19 September 2009. Retrieved28 May 2010.
^Bruce Lawrence, ed. (2005).Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. 6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG: Verso. pp. 60, 61.ISBN1-84467-045-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^Pyes, Craig; Meyer, Josh; Rempel, William C. (15 October 2001)."Bosnia – base for terrorism".The Seattle Times.Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved25 May 2010.
^Watson, Dale L., Executive Assistant Director, Counter terrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI (6 February 2002)."FBI Testimony about 9/11 terrorists' motives". Federal Bureau of Investigation – (RepresentativePress).Archived from the original on 5 May 2011. Retrieved11 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan". NBC News. 30 October 2004.Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved28 May 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."
^The War Lab. By: Kyiv, Vera Bergengruen |, Dickstein, Leslie, Shah, Simmone, TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 2/26/2024, Vol. 203, Issue 5/6
^DONALD TRUMP, PALANTIR, AND THE CRAZY BATTLE TO CLEAN UP A MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR MILITARY PROCUREMENT SWAMP. By: Brill, Steven, Fortune, 00158259, 4/1/2017, Vol. 175, Issue 5
^abJ. Cull, Culbert, Welch, Nicholas, David, David (2003).Propaganda and mass persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present. Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911, USA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. pp. 20, 222.ISBN1-57607-820-5.While many Middle Eastern countries have condemned.. Al Qaeda and have shown support to the United States, Bin Laden's reputation has reached cult status among some Arabs, who see him as the hero of the resistance against Western domination... In the wider Middle Eastern region, Bin Laden became a folk hero to the poor and disenfranchised: his picture appeared in bazaars in Pakistan and was placed in the hands of demonstrators in the Gaza strip. No Arab leader had commanded such popular appeal since Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) in the 1950s.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Klausen, Jytte (2021). "2: The Founder".Western Jihadism: A Thirty-Year History. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 69.ISBN978-0-19-887079-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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