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[[Image:382px-AQ00100.jpg|right|200px]]
'''Osama bin Laden''' is a radical [[Sunni]] [[Muslim]], and the leader of [[al Qaeda]], a worldwide [[terrorist]] group responsible for [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] and some other terrorist attacks on Americans in the 1990s, and other attacks on innocent civilians in Europe and Asia.
Bin Laden is an Arab from from a Yemeni family that made a fortune in construction in [[Saudi Arabia]]. His father Mohammed Awad bin Laden has disinherited him; indeed most of his family members are his enemies. He went to [[Afghanistan]] with his network of Arab allies to fight against the Soviets in the [[Soviet-Afghan War]]. He was never aided or funded by the U.S. or the CIA.
In bin Laden's declarations and writings, he asserts that American attacks against Muslims justify reciprocation by Muslims, including the killing of innocents as a part of militaristic [[jihad]]. He refers to Islamic states headed by individuals friendly to the United States as usurper states which are disloyal to [[Islam]].
Bin Laden and his followers were based in war-torn Sudan for most of the 1990s at the invitation of [[Hassan al-Turabi]], a powerful Sudanese political leader and terrorism supporter. In the late 1990s bin Laden issued two fatahs (declarations of holy war) against the United States for the basing of troops in the Arabian Peninsula to defend against external aggression by [[Saddam Hussein]] and because of the suffering of the Iraqi people under UN economic sanctions.<ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref>
In 1998, bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]], then leader of the Egyptian terrorist group called the [[Islamic Brotherhood]], announced the joining of al Qaeda and the [[Islamic Brotherhood]] to form the ''World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders''<ref> http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir011003_1_n.shtml</ref>. In 1998, the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were destroyed by suicide bombers; the United States later indicted both bin Laden and al-Zawahiri for the attacks which killed 224 people. In retaliation the United States launched [[cruise missile]]s, however, both terrorist leaders escaped. They then fled to Afghanistan, where al Qaeda set up camps that were protected by the [[Taliban]] government. When the Taliban refused to turn al Qaeda terrorists over to justice, NATO invaded and liberated Afghanistan in Oct. 2001. He was almost captured but escaped to Pakistan, where local warlords continue to harbor him. Occasionally he releases a recording giving new threats.
In the 1990s, bin Laden also gave funding to Chechen terrorists fighting against Russia<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DJ29Ag05.html]</ref>. These terrorists were later responsible for the [[Beslan school siege of 2004]]. Chechens also fought in Afghanistan against U.S. forces on behalf of the Taliban<ref>[http://muslimvillage.net/story.php?id=370]</ref>.
Bin Laden is cited by the United States government as the most wanted terrorist. He remains at large to this day despite seven years of the United States military and CIA searching for him. See [[Afghanistan War]].
== See also ==
*[[Afganistan War]]
*[[Terrorism]]
*[[FBI Most Wanted Terrorist List]]
==Further reading==
* Randal, Jonathan. ''Osama: The Making of a Terrorist'' (2004). 339 pp.
==References==
<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Laden, Osama}}
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category: al-Qaeda]]
[[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Afghanistan War]]