Osama bin Laden Is Dead
Nearly ten years after Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden was killed in Pakistan.
By Rachael Dickson | Email the author | May 1, 2011
12:20 a.m. Update: CNN is reporting that the attack to capture bin Laden took about 40 minutes and was carried out by Navy Seals. They also reported that the compound where bin Laden was located had walls about 10-15 feet thick.
President Barack Obama announced Sunday night that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by a U.S. Team after months of investigation and work.
The news of bin Laden's death, which broke out earlier in the evening via Twitter and Facebook, had reports pouring in on the major news networks. Hundreds of people in Washington DC are running to the White House to celebrate the news with chanting and singing. We're hearing reports from George Mason University students on Twitter that the news is being shouted out of dorm windows on campus. The White House Twitter Feed has segments of President Obama's speech on it.
Bin Laden and al Qaeda were behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as the bombings of two U.S. embassies in 1998 and numerous other attacks. Obama stated that at his direction, the US launched a targeted operation in which bin Laden was killed after a firefight. He said that no Americans were harmed.
"His death does not mark the end of our efforts," Obama said. "We must – and we will - remain vigilant at home and abroad."
He emphasized that this fight was never about differences in religion.
“The US is not – and never will be – at war with Islam … bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims," he said. "His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."
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US forces kill Osama bin Laden
By Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich in Islamabad
Monday, 2 May 2011
Osama bin Laden was in a compound two hours outside of Islamabad
Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the attacks of September 11 and the man who ever since has remained an elusive, shadowy presence at the centre of perhaps the world’s greatest manhunt, has been killed by special forces troops at a compound two hours outside of Islamabad.
The al-Qa’ida leader was killed on Sunday during an operation north of the Pakistani capital led by helicopter-borne US special forces. A Pakistan government official told The Independent that it was a joint operation, led by the US but with crucial Pakistani involvement.
The killing of Bin Laden - his death apparently coming after the CIA had for months tracked two couriers who worked for the al-Qa’ida leader over many years – immediately raises as many issues as it does provide answers. Where had he been hiding all this time; who within Pakistan knew about his presence; what now for the relationship between US and the country it insists is a vital regional ally?
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As President Barack Obama delivered a televised address, revealing the news, crowds of Americans gathered to cheer and celebrate, not only outside of the White House but at Ground Zero in New York, the place that will forever be associated with Bin Laden and his network. “Justice has been done,” the president said. “His death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al-Qa’ida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant.”
Officials briefing in Washington told the Associated Press that a small team of special forces troops killed Bin Laden in a firefight on Sunday in the town of Abbottabad and took custody of his remains. American officials were quick to stress they were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition. They are also performing DNA tests on his remains to confirm his identity.
The remarkable end to the hunt for the world’s most elusive person – an operation that for many years appeared to have been sidelined - came just months before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centres and the Pentagon, orchestrated Bin Laden’s al-Qa’ida organisation, that killed more than 3,000 people.
Former President George W Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks and who later vowed to track down Bin Laden and catch him “Dead or alive”, issued a written statement hailing his death as a momentous achievement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said. For many years, Bin Laden had taunted Bush by his ability to evade capture.
President Obama said he ordered the operation after receiving undisclosed intelligence information. Senior administration officials said Bin Laden was found inside a custom-built compound with two security gates. They said it appeared to have been constructed to harbour one high-value target and that for undisclosed reasons, officials became convinced that it was that of Bin Laden. There was no word on the whereabouts of his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.
The fact that Bin Laden’s was found in Abbottabad, home of a major Pakistani military academy, is hugely intriguing. It is a good way from the wild tribal areas of North and South Waziristan where it was assumed for many years that Bin Laden was hiding. It is not one of the areas that have been at the centre of controversial drone attacks, which have been stepped up under the presidency of Mr Obama. Many questions will now be as to how he could have remained there undetected for so long.
A senior administration official told the Associated Press that the president gave the final order for US officials to go after Bin Laden on Friday. The raid occurred in the early morning hours Sunday.
Officials in Washington that, based statements given by US detainees, intelligence officials have known for years that Bin Laden trusted one al-Qa’ida courier in particular and they believed he might be living with him in hiding. In November, intelligence officials found out where he was living, a huge fortified compound. It was surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire. There were two security gates and no phone or Internet running into the house.
Intelligence officials believed the $1m home was custom-built to house a major terrorist. CIA experts analysed whether it could be anyone else, but time and again, they decided it was almost certainly bin Laden. Three adult males were also killed in Sunday’s raid, including one of Bin Laden’s sons, whom officials did not name. One of bin Laden’s sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qa’ida.
Mr Obama spoke with Bush and former President Bill Clinton on Sunday night to inform them of the developments. Under Bin Laden, al-Qa’ida was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.
On September 11 2001, al-Qa’ida operatives hijacked planes, flew one of them into one of New York City’s Twin Towers and then in to the one. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside. A third plane slammed into the Pentagon, badly damaging the symbol of America’s military might. A fourth crashed near the town of Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after passengers overpowered the hijackers and forced it down. It was believed the hijackers planned to fly that plane into the White House or else Capitol Hill.
Osama bin Laden dead - Obama
2011-05-02 05:40
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Washington - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, US President Barack Obama has announced, nearly 10 years after the September 11 attacks in a televised address.
CNN quoted sources as saying that bin Laden was killed in an operation based on actionable US intelligence targeting a mansion outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
US armed forces have been hunting the Saudi terror kingpin for years, an effort that was redoubled following the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon which killed 3 000 people in 2001.
But bin Laden always managed to evade US armed forces and a massive manhunt, and was most often thought to be hiding out in Pakistan and Afghanistan border areas.
The death of bin Laden will raise huge questions about the future shape of al-Qaeda and also have steep implications for US security and foreign policy 10 years into a global anti-terror campaign.
It will also raise fears that the United States and its allies will face retaliation from supporters of bin Laden and other Islamic extremist groups.
- SAPA
Read more on: security | al-qaeda | osama bin laden | barack obama
Osama bin LadenFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
"Osama" and "bin Laden" redirect here. For other uses, see Osama (disambiguation) and bin Laden (disambiguation).
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Osama bin Laden
أسامة بن لادن
March 10, 1957(1957-03-10) – c. May 1, 2011(2011-05-01) (aged 54)
Place of birth Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Place of death Abbottabad, Pakistan
Allegiance Al-Qaeda
Battles/wars Soviet war in Afghanistan
War on Terror:
War in Afghanistan
War in North-West Pakistan
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن, ʾUsāmah bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin; March 10, 1957 – c. May 1, 2011[1][2][3][4]) was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family and the founder of the jihadist terrorist[5] organization al-Qaeda, responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. As a result of his dealings in and advocacy of violent extremist jihad, Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship and was disowned by his billionaire family.[6]
Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists due to his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings.[7][8][9]
Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization had been major targets of the U.S. War on Terror. Bin Laden and fellow al-Qaeda leaders were believed to be hiding near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced on national television that bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by American military forces[3][10] and that his body was in U.S. custody.[4]
Contents 1 Variations of bin Laden's name
2 Childhood, education and personal life
3 Beliefs and ideology
4 Militant activity
4.1 Mujahideen in Afghanistan
4.2 Formation and structuring of Al-Qaeda
4.3 Sudan and return to Afghanistan
4.4 Early attacks and aid for attacks
4.5 Balkan wars
4.6 September 11 attacks
5 Criminal charges
6 Attempted capture by the United States
6.1 Clinton administration
6.2 Bush administration
6.3 Obama administration
7 Conflicting reports of his death and his survival since 9/11
7.1 Reports of whereabouts
8 Death
9 Criticism of Osama bin Laden
10 See also
11 Footnotes
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links
Variations of bin Laden's nameThere is no universally accepted standard in the West for transliterating Arabic words and names into English, so bin Laden's name is spelled in many different ways. The version translation most often used by English-language mass media is Osama bin Laden. Most American government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, use either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin", both of which are often abbreviated to UBL. Less common renderings include "Ussamah Bin Ladin" and "Oussama Ben Laden" (French-language mass media). The last two words of the name can also be found as "Binladen" or (as used by his family in the West) "Binladin". The spelling with "o" and "e" comes from a Persian-influenced pronunciation used in Afghanistan where he lived for a long time.
Strictly speaking, Arabic linguistic conventions dictate that he be referred to as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden", as "Bin Laden" is not used as a surname in the Western manner, but simply as part of his name, which in its long form means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of 'Awad, son of Laden". Still, "bin Laden" has become nearly universal in Western references to him.
Bin Laden's admirers commonly use several aliases and nicknames, including the Prince/Al-Amir, the Sheikh, Abu Abdallah, Sheikh Al-Mujahid, the Lion Sheik,[11] the Director.[12]
Childhood, education and personal lifeMain article: Childhood, education and personal life of Osama bin Laden
See also: Bin Laden family
Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[13] In a 1998 interview, he gave his birth date as March 10, 1957.[14] His father Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family.[15] Osama bin Laden was born the only son of Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas.[16] Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born; Osama's mother then married Mohammed al-Attas. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.[16]
Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim.[17] From 1968 to 1976 he attended the "élite" secular Al-Thager Model School.[16][18] Bin Laden studied economics and business administration[19] at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979,[20] or a degree in public administration in 1981.[21] Other sources describe him as having left university during his third year,[22] never completing a college degree, though "hard working."[23] At university, bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work.[24] He also wrote poetry.[25]
In 1974, at the age of 17, bin Laden married his first wife Najwa Ghanem at Latakia.[26] According to CNN national security correspondent David Ensore, as of 2002 bin Laden had married four women and fathered roughly 25 or 26 children.[27] Other sources report that he has fathered anywhere from 12 to 24 children.[28]
His father, Mohammed bin Laden, was killed in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.[29] His eldest half-brother and head of the bin Laden family, Salem bin Laden, was killed in 1988 when he accidentally flew a plane into powerlines near San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Beliefs and ideologyMain article: Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden
Bin Laden believed that the restoration of Sharia law will set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.[30] These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism.[31] He believed Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.[32] Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believes are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,[33] the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.[34]
Probably the most infamous part of Bin Laden's ideology was that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.[35][36] Bin Laden was antisemitic, 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."[37] Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.[38]
In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs,[39] bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds,[40] 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.[41]
His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a "terrorist" by scholars,[42][43] journalists from the New York Times,[44][45] the BBC,[46] and Qatari news station Al Jazeera,[47] analysts such as Peter Bergen,[48] Michael Scheuer,[49] Marc Sageman,[50] and Bruce Hoffman[51][52] and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.[53]
Militant activityMain article: Militant activity of Osama bin Laden
See also: CIA-Osama bin Laden controversy
Mujahideen in Afghanistan
Bin Laden with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in 1997.After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden joined Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan[54] and lived for a time in Peshawar.[55]
By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established Maktab al-Khadamat, which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the Arabic world into the Afghan war. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune[56] paid for air tickets and accommodation, dealt with paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihad fighters. Osama established a camp in Afghanistan, and with other volunteers fought the Soviets.
It was during his time in Peshawar that he began wearing camouflage-print jackets and carrying a captured Soviet assault rifle, which urban legends claimed he had obtained by killing a Russian soldier with his bare hands.[57]
Formation and structuring of Al-QaedaMain article: 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.[58] 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 (bayat) to follow one's superiors.[59]
According to Wright, the group's real name wasn't used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret."[60] His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, 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.[61] 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.[62] The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 had put the kingdom and its ruling House of Saud at risk. The world's most valuable oil fields were within easy striking distance of Iraqi forces in Kuwait, and Saddam's call to pan-Arab/Islamism could potentially rally internal dissent. bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Sultan, Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim troops, and offered to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen fighters. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the American offer to help repel Iraq from Kuwait was accepted, involving deploying U.S. troops in Saudi territory,[63] he publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military, as he 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 to attempt to silence him.
Shortly after Saudi Arabia permitted U.S. troops on Saudi soil, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the west. On November 8, 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair, an associate of al Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed, discovering a great deal of evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers, marking the earliest uncovering of al Qaeda plans for such activities outside of Muslim countries.[64] Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane 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.[65]
Sudan and return to AfghanistanIn Sudan, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations, in Khartoum.
Bin Laden 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 monthly stipend, the equivalent of $7 million a year.[66] By now bin Laden was strongly associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.
Sudan also began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states:
"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.[67] US Ambassador 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."[68]
The 9/11 Commission Report further 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, or both."
In May 1996, under increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden returned to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar.[69][70] When Bin Laden left Sudan, he and his organization were significantly weakened, despite his ambitions and organizational skills.[71] 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 .[72]
Early attacks and aid for attacksIt 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.[73]
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.[74] 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 war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.
Another effort by bin Laden was the funding of the Luxor massacre of November 17, 1997,[75][76][77] which killed 62 civilians, but so revolted the Egyptian public that it turned against Islamist terror. 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.[78]
A later effort that did succeed was an attack on the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his hosts the Taliban by sending several hundred of his Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.[79]
In 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".[80][81] 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."[82]
In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to the president that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the USA, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.[83]
At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a 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 and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer 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.[84]
Balkan warsSee 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.[85] In 1997, 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 USA.[86] 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.[87][88] He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.[89]
A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former mujahideen who are linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists who have lived in this area 60 miles (97 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.[90][91][92]
In 1999 it was revealed that Osama bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the Government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the 9/11 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.[90][91][92] The Bosnian daily Oslobođenje published in 2001 that three men, believed to be linked to Osama Bin Laden, were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three, one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri, were Egyptian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.[90]
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 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 at the urging of the CIA. It is believed that the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Africa occurred as retaliation for these arrests.[93]
September 11 attacksSee also: September 11 attacks and Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden
"Allah knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearable and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were 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 the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) 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[94]
After reports of repeated initial denials,[95] in 2004 Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.[96][97][98] The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft,[99] 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,[100] and the deaths of 2,974 people and the nineteen hijackers.[101] 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.[102]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified[103] evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable.[104] The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001, attacks although the government report notes that the evidence presented is insufficient for a prosecutable case.[105] 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.[106]
In a videotape recovered by US forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge.[107] 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."[108]
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.[97][109] 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 hijacking of the planes on September 11.[97]
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.[110]
In two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announces,
I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers ... I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers ... with the raids [5 minute audiotape broadcast May 23, 2006],[111]
and is seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006).[112]
Criminal chargesOn March 16, 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against Bin Laden and three other people for killing two German citizens in Libya on March 10, 1994, one of which is thought to have been a German counter-intelligence officer. Bin Laden was still wanted by the Libyan government.[113][114] 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 US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.[115]
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.[115] 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 US Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder US Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death[116] 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 U.S.[117]
Bin Laden became the 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 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.[118] 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.
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 attacks of 9/11, but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that 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. It wasn't until 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 US ending the bombing and providing evidence that Osama bin Laden was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This offer was rejected by George W Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable with Bush responding that "There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."[119]
Attempted capture by the United States
US propaganda leaflet used in AfghanistanClinton administrationCapturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton.[120] 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.[121] 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.[122] 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;[122] 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.[121]
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".[84]
Bush administrationAccording to The Washington Post, the US 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 US to commit enough US ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the US 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.[123]
The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing Osama was shut down in late 2005.[124]
US and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between 14–16 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 Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.[125]
Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, US government 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.[12][126] On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.[127]
The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association had offered an additional $2 million reward.[128]
Obama administrationU.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."[129]
Conflicting reports of his death and his survival since 9/11Shortly after the attacks of 9/11, then US president George W. Bush issued a statement that as a consequence of the 9/11 attacks, he now hoped to "kill or capture" Bin Laden. Subsequently, Bin Laden retreated further from public contact as an obviously defensive measure against potential US capture. Since that time, numerous speculative press reports had been issued concerning various hearsay stories about his whereabouts, and also about alleged evidence of his death. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda had continued to release time-sensitive and professionally-verified videos demonstrating Bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007.[130] Most recently, US General Stanley A. McChrystal had emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of Bin Laden, thus clearly indicating that the US high command continued to believe that Bin Laden was probably still alive. Some of the conflicting reports regarding both his his continued whereabouts and previous mistaken claims about his death have included the following:
Reports of whereaboutsMain article: Location of Osama bin Laden
Many claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden were made in the wake of 9/11, although none were ever definitively proven and some placed Osama in different locations during overlapping time periods. After military offensives in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 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.[131][132]
In 2009, a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as bin Laden's likely hideouts.[133]
In March 2009, the 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.[134]
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. But, the US has had no reliable information on the whereabouts of Bin Laden in years, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted on December 6, 2009.[135] Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden would be hiding within his country.[136]
On January 15, 2010, the FBI published digitally aged pictures of Osama bin Laden showing what he may look like after a decade of aging. Spanish newspaper El Mundo revealed that a picture of a Spanish politician, Gaspar Llamazares, was taken from Google images and used to create the image. The FBI has admitted to this and removed the image from its website. Llamazares has responded by stating that he was "stupefied by the FBI's decision to use his photograph to compose its latest image of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden" and that he is considering taking legal action if the FBI does not provide an explanation.[137] An internal investigation has been launched by the FBI to find out if this was done intentionally.[138][139]
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.[140] This condition was announced as the Afghan president Karzai arrived in the kingdom for an official visit, for a discussion of a possible Saudi role in his plan to reintegrate Taliban militants.[140]
On June 7, 2010, the Kuwaiti Al Siyassa reported that Bin Laden was hiding in the mountainous town of Savzevar, in north eastern Iran.[141] The Australian newspaper online published the claim on June 9.[142]
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.[143]
DeathMain article: Death of Osama bin Laden
This section documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
Wikinews has related news: Osama bin Laden dead, report US officials
On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was killed earlier that day by "a small team of Americans" acting under Obama's direct orders, in a covert operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, 32 miles (51 km) (or 93 miles (150 km) by road) north of Islamabad,[10][144] affirming earlier confirmation by US officials to the media. According to US officials a team of 20-25 US Navy SEALs under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA stormed bin Laden's compound in 2 helicopters. Bin laden and those with him were killed during a firefight.[145] The site is just a few kilometers from the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul.[146] DNA from bin Laden's body, compared with DNA samples on record from his dead sister,[citation needed] confirmed bin Laden's identity.[147] The body was recovered by the US military and is in its custody.[144]
Criticism of Osama bin LadenMain article: Criticism of Osama bin Laden
Salafist Muslims have criticized bin Laden for adherence to Qutbism (the ideology of Sayyid Qutb), takfir and Khaarijite deviance. Critics are said to include Muhammad Ibn Haadee al-Madkhalee, Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan and Muqbil bin Haadi al-Waadi'ee. In August 2010, Fidel Castro claimed that bin Laden was a spy employed by the United States.[148]
See alsoAfghan civil war
Fatawā of Osama bin Laden
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic mujahid movement
Islamic terrorism
Islamofascism
Osama bin Laden as destructive Cult leader
Osama bin Laden in popular culture
The Golden Chain
Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden
Footnotes1.^ "Obituary: Osama Bin Laden". BBC News. 1 May 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10741005.
2.^ Kate Zernike; Michael T. Kaufman (May 2, 2011). "The Most Wanted Face of Terrorism". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/02osama-bin-laden-obituary.html. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
3.^ a b "Bin Laden Dead, US Officials Say". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html.
4.^ a b "Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden 'dead'". BBC News. May 1, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676.
5.^ "Crowd in Washington celebrates news that bin Laden is dead". StarNews Online. May 1, 2011. http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110501/WIRE/110509987/-1/news06?Title=Terrorist-leader-Osama-bin-Laden-is-dead-President-Barack-Obama-says.
6.^ The Cost Of Being Osama Bin Laden Retrieved 15 March 2011
7.^ "FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives". FBI.gov. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080103044553/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
8.^ Dan Eggen (August 28, 2006). "Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings?". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700687.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
9.^ "'Most wanted terrorists' list released". CNN. October 10, 2001. http://articles.cnn.com/2001-10-10/us/inv.mostwanted.list_1_saif-al-adel-abdul-rahman-yasin-ahmed-khalfan-ghailani. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
10.^ a b "Osama bin Laden is dead, Obama announces". The Guardian. May 1, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/osama-bin-laden-dead-obama.
11.^ Warrick, Joby (September 8, 2007). "In a New Video, Bin Laden Predicts U.S. Failure in Iraq". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090700279.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
12.^ a b "Most Wanted Terrorist – Usama Bin Laden". FBI. Archived from the original on March 10, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060310055924/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
13.^ "Frontline: Hunting Bin Laden: Who is Bin Laden?: Chronology". PBS. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060210192537/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
14.^ "Osama bin Laden". GlobalSecurity.org. January 11, 2006. http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/osama_bin_laden.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
15.^ David Johnson. "Osama bin Laden infoplease". Infoplease. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080120224312/http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
16.^ a b c Steve Coll (December 12, 2005). "Letter From Jedda: Young Osama- How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
17.^ Beyer, Lisa (September 24, 2001). "The Most Wanted Man In The World". Time. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
18.^ Bergen, Peter. The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader. Free Press, 2006, p. 52
19.^ Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, Verso, 2005, p. xii.
20.^ Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 22. Gale Group, 2002. (link requires username/password)
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22.^ Gunaratna, Rohan (2003). Inside Al Qaeda (3rd ed.). Berkley Books. p. 22. ISBN 0231126921.
23.^ Aziz Hug (January 19, 2006). "The Real Osama". The American Prospect. http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10855. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
24.^ Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p. 79.
25.^ Michael Hirst (September 24, 2008). "Analysing Bin Laden's jihadi poetry". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7630934.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
26.^ Michael Slackman (November 13, 2001). "Bin Laden Kin Wait and Worry". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/13/news/mn-3564. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
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30.^ Messages, 2005, p. 218. "Resist the New Rome, audiotape delivered to al-Jazeera and broadcast by it on 2004-01-04.
31.^ Dale C. Eikmeier (Spring 2007). "Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism". Parameters. pp. 85–98. http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
32.^ 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.
33.^ Messages to the World, (2005), pp. xix, xx, editor Bruce Lawrence.
34.^ October 6, 2002. Appeared in Al-Qala'a website and then the London Observer 2002-11-24.
35.^ Messages, (2005) p. 70. Al Jazeera interview, December 1998, following Kenya and Tanzania embassy attacks.
36.^ Messages, (2005), p. 119, October 21, 2001 interview with Taysir Alluni of Al Jazeera.
37.^ Messages, (2005), p. 190. from 53-minute audiotape that "was circulated on various websites." dated February 14, 2003. "Among a Band of Knights."
38.^ from interview with Ali Soufan – a Lebanese Sunni FBI agent – by Wright, Wright, Looming Tower (2006), p. 303.
39.^ Klebnikov, Paul (September 14, 2001). "Who Is Osama bin Laden?". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914whoisobl.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
40.^ Wright, Looming Tower (2006), p. 167.
41.^ Wright, Looming Tower (2006), p. 172.
42.^ Osama: The Making of a Terrorist John Randal I B Tauris & Co Ltd (2005-10-04).
43.^ A Capitol Idea Donald E. Abelson p. 208.
44.^ Abby Goodnough (July 8, 2007). "Mysteries, Legal and Sartorial, at Padilla Trial". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/nationalspecial3/08padilla.html?_r=1&sq=islamist%20osama&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=7&adxnnlx=1214784198-I4IcWDM+QsboskeLb729pg. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
45.^ Michael R. Gordon (September 17, 2001). "AFTER THE ATTACKS: THE STRATEGY; A New War And Its Scale". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/after-the-attacks-the-strategy-a-new-war-and-its-scale.html?sec=&spon=&&scp=7&sq=%22terrorist%20osama%20%22&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
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47.^ ""Osama bin Laden's operation" has "perpetrated the worst act of terrorism ever witnessed on US soil.". Aljazeera. August 17, 2008. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2008/08/20088161083773835.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
48.^ The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader, Peter Bergen Free Press 2006-08-08.
49.^ Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America Michael Scheuer Potomac Books Inc. 2006-01-15.
50.^ Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century Marc Sageman University of Pennsylvania Press 2008-01-03.
51.^ Bruce Hoffman (Spring 2004). "Redefining Counterterrorism: The Terrorist Leader as CEO". RAND Review.
52.^ A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And Rogue States Peter Brookes Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
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55.^ "Photo: Zbigniew Brzezinski & Osama bin Laden". March 23, 2006. http://fufor.twoday.net/stories/2302873/. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
56.^ 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." Wright, (2006), p. 145.)
57.^ Katz, Samuel M. "Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists", 2002.
58.^ The Osama bin Laden I Know by Peter L. Bergen, pp. 74–88. ISBN 0-7432-7892-5.
59.^ Wright 2006, pp. 133–134.
60.^ Wright 2006, p. 260.
61.^ Wright 2008.
62.^ Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, by Lawrence Wright, NY, Knopf, 2006 p. 146.
63.^ Jehl, Douglas (December 27, 2001). "A Nation Challenged: Holy war lured Saudis as rulers looked Away". The New York Times. pp. A1, B4. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
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92.^ a b Chris Hedges (September 23, 1996). "Outsiders Bring Islamic Fervor To the Balkans". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9805E0DA103DF930A1575AC0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
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94.^ "God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers". London: The Guardian. October 30, 2004. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/30/alqaida.september11. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
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102.^ CIA Secret Program: PM Teams Targeting Al Qaeda, Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2009, A1.
103.^ President Bush, Secretary of the Treasury O'Neill and Secretary of State Powell, White House news release, September 24, 2001.
104.^ Watson, Dale L., Executive Assistant Director, Counter terrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI (February 6, 2002). "FBI Testimony about 9/11 terrorists' motives". Federal Bureau of Investigation - (RepresentativePress). http://www.representativepress.org/FBITestimony.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
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106.^ "Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border". Associated Press. Fox News. September 16, 2001. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34440,00.html. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
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109.^ "Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan". MSNBC. October 30, 2004. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6363306/. Retrieved 2010-05-28. —"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."
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117.^ "Embassy bombing defendant linked to bin Laden". CNN. 2001-02-14. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/14/embassy.bombing.02/index.html.
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119.^ "Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over". London: guardian.co.uk. October 14, 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
120.^ "Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden". CNN. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on October 5, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061005001828/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
121.^ a b "Report: Clinton Targeted Bin Laden", CBS News, 2001-09-16.
122.^ a b "CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot", Washington Post, 2001-10-03.
123.^ Gellman, Barton; Ricks, Thomas E. (April 17, 2002). "U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62618-2002Apr16. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
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135.^ No Bin Laden information in years, says Gates. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
136.^ Bin Laden not in Pakistan, PM says. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
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ReferencesBergen, Peter (2006). The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743295927. http://books.google.ca/books?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden&hl=en&ei=gSK-TbzJNOTV0QGV9eirCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Lawrence, Wright (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11. New York: Knopf. ISBN 1400030846. http://books.google.ca/books?id=RNkj-mO-Nt8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Looming+Tower:+Al-Qaeda+And+The+Road+To+9/11&hl=en&ei=lh6-TcfuOajV0QG00rm4BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Scheuer, Michael (2002). Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's. ISBN 1574885537. http://books.google.ca/books?id=sK0n1UoN9gAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Through+Our+Enemies%27+Eyes&source=bl&ots=z8bzznSJ-z&sig=t6uVoQr5-8og__hX3IIVQ0J3Oq4&hl=en&ei=ex6-TZfaMubr0QHiv43nBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Further readingBerner, Brad K (2007). Quotations from Osama Bin Laden. Peacock Books. ISBN 8124801134. http://books.google.ca/books?id=ytwlNcIqYs0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden&hl=en&ei=LCK-TcnaFqb00gGlroi9BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Bin Laden, Osama; Bruce Lawrence (2005). Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden. Verso. ISBN 1844670457. http://books.google.ca/books?id=3_fRlEZoaioC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Osama+bin+Laden&hl=en&ei=FiG-TdX_Asjj0gG-qZjnBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Scheuer, Michael (2011). Osama Bin Laden. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199738661. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Vt-a30Z4_UUC&lpg=PP1&dq=Osama%20bin%20Laden&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service Report - Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004
External linksFind more about Osama bin Laden on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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Hunting Bin Laden – PBS Frontline (Nov. 2002)
New Yorker article on Osama's youth, December 12, 2005
Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America', 24 November 2002
Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary, guardian.co.uk
Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The New York Times
