Osama Bin Laden Essay, Research Paper
Osama BIN LADEN
WHO IS HE AND WHY HAS HE RAINED TERROR ON AMERICA?
+ MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES;
CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED
STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL FACILITY RESULTING IN
DEATH
+ USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE
AUGUST 7, 1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES
EMBASSIES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA AND NAIROBI,
KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED OVER 200 PEOPLE.
CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
Usama Bin Laden….who is he? What is his anger towards America based on? Is he even mad at America??
HIS INFO…..
Usama Bin Muhammad Bin Laden was born in the year 1957 in the desert city of Saudi Arabia. Born of around 50 children he was among the top 20 births. Bin Laden s father dominates the biggest oil company in the Saudi lands…his net worth is in the billions. With that in mind , every male in Bin Laden s family has acquired at least $500 million dollars. In 1979 Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to fight the war in Afghanistan against the soviet union. While he was there he founded the Maktab which recruited fighters from around the world also importing weapons equipment for the battle against the soviet. After the soviet left Afghanistan these Arab Afghans turned there fire on the U.S. in the middle east. This was a shock to the U.S. because they were the ones, ALSO ,helping the Afghans fight the soviet. After which Bin Laden went back to Saudi Arabia to help his family s buisness but was exiled from the country because of his radicalistic activities. He then fled to Sudan for five years in which the U.S. pressured the country to exile him too, which he finally was. From Sudan he went to Afghanistan…
HIS HISTORY…
Bin Laden , a wealthy and private man has been granted a safe haven by Afghanistan s ruling Taleban movement. During his time in hiding he has called for holy war against the American people. He is reported to be able to rally at LEAST 3,000 fighters. Also he has been suspected to be able to set up training centers to prepare soldiers to fight in Chechnya and other parts of the former Soviet Union.
Attacks leading to Bin Laden:
1993 World Trade Center Bombing
1996 Killing of 19 U.S. soldiers in Saudi Nairobi and Dar es Salaam Bombing.
2000 Attack on USS Cole in Yemen
2001 Attack on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon totaling a possible 30, 000 deaths.
Experts say he is part of an international Islamic front, bringing together Saudi, Egyptian and other groups. Their rallying cry is the liberation of Islam s three holiest places:
Mecca
Medina
Jerusalem
His organization is almost unique in the way that it is not a tightly knit group with a clear command structure but a loose coalition of groups operating across continents. This makes it hard for investigators to crumble his group because one group failing a mission doesn t nessecairly reflect the other…meaning they don t hold each other up like a building holds itself up. These groups are one together but many apart. These groups are also believed to be spread well over at least 40 countries. Bin Laden s organization is so secretive that U.S. nationals are now noticing that large amounts of his money are stored in the U.S. itself. Bin Laden s popularity has him moving at least every three days around Afghanistan. He is said to have only visited the Taleban three times. He is also one of the many great dictators that has reined in our history. He has given Arabs and muslims alike the most strong sense of Nationalism felt in years. As I believe his purposes are justified his actions are not. He has sent many of his people scattering across lands and fleeing their homes.
He has his people frightened not proud. Even though his people have fled the Afghan nation to avoid hurt from America s retaliation they wont stop believing in their religion. And although they still believe in there religion they now have to believe in it in fear like so many of US Americans do now… Are ANY of us as safe as we thought we were? The future will only tell.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_155000/155236.stm (27-Sep-2001)
http://www.biographies.com/osama+bin+laden (24-Sep-2001)
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwanted (23-Sep-2001)
Costell, Jayson. Terrorists of Infamy. New York: Pocket Books, 1994.
Works Consulted
Thompson, Robert S. A Time For War. New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1991.
Amake M. Venesrer, Terrorism in the World, 1995. 75 mins.