The provided text, an excerpt from the YouTube video transcript “Osama Bin Laden: From Billionaire’s Son To The Architect Of 9/11,” offers a comprehensive biographical and historical overview of Osama bin Laden. It begins by detailing his privileged upbringing in Saudi Arabia and his family’s connection to the powerful Saudi Bin Laden Group, tracing his early life, education, and marriage. Crucially, the text outlines his shift toward Pan-Islamist and anti-Western ideology, heavily influenced by the writings of Sayyid Qutb, which led to his involvement with the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The transcript then chronicles the formation of Al-Qaeda in 1988 and the increasing terrorist acts against American targets, culminating in a detailed account of the planning and execution of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the subsequent global war on terror that led to his death in 2011 in Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden: Life, Al-Qaeda, and 9/11
Osama Bin Laden (often referred to as Usama Bin Laden in the sources) was the founder and leader of the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda and the architect of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. He is considered arguably the most significant figure in the history of modern Islamic fundamentalism.
Early Life and Ideological Formation
Birth and Family Background Osama Bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957. While international police organizations previously believed his birthplace was Jeddah, it is now generally accepted he was born in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. His father was Muhammad bin Awad Bin Laden, who had migrated from Yemen and became a highly successful construction contractor, founding the enormously wealthy Saudi Bin Laden Group. By the 1960s, the Saudi Bin Laden Group was one of the most significant corporations in the Arab world, with extensive ties to the Saudi royal family and lucrative contracts, including managing repairs for mosques in Mecca and Medina.
Osama’s mother was Hamida al-Attas, a Syrian native. She married Muhammad, who was 48, in 1956 when she was 14; Osama was their only child. His father, who was a multi-millionaire, instilled in Osama much of his conservative religious fervor. Although his younger years had an air of normality—he was a football fan who followed Arsenal and showed interest in military history—his background was far from normal. He attended school in Jeddah and, in 1971, undertook an English language course at Oxford University in Britain.
Education and Early Influences In 1976, at age 19, Osama entered King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, intending to study economics and business administration, likely with a view toward joining the family business. However, reports indicate his primary interests were already religion, poetry, and Arab literature. He stood to inherit upwards of $10 million from his father’s estate.
During the mid-to-late 1970s, he began developing a pan-Islamist ideology, which advocates for the unification of Muslims worldwide to defend and promote their faith. This ideology was heavily committed to reducing or ending Western involvement in the Middle East.
A particularly strong influence was the Egyptian Islamic scholar Sayyid Qutb. Qutb’s extensive writings argued that Islamic Jihad (struggle against evil) was justifiable in the interests of creating a new Islamic caliphate, and that Sharia law should be imposed across all Muslim states. Qutb’s work contained virulent anti-Western sentiment, denouncing the United States as materialistic, godless, and lacking in spiritual values. Significantly, Qutb’s brother, Muhammad, promoted these ideas while teaching at Abdulaziz University when Osama was a student there in the late 1970s.
The Afghan War and the Birth of Al-Qaeda
The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Bin Laden finished his studies in 1979, coinciding with the turmoil caused by the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet Union’s effective invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Bin Laden traveled quickly to Pakistan and came under the guidance of Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian-born jihadist. Azzam encouraged Bin Laden to join the tens of thousands of Muslim men heading to Afghanistan to fight the “atheistic Soviet invaders”—these fighters were known as the mujahideen.
Financing the Mujahideen From 1980 onward, Bin Laden used his inherited fortune to recruit and train mujahideen in Pakistan before they headed into Afghanistan. In 1984, he and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat (MAH), an organization dedicated to raising funds from both the Arab and Western worlds to purchase weapons and train fighters. By 1986, MAH had trained hundreds of fighters based at Bin Laden’s base in eastern Afghanistan, known as al-Ma’sada (“The Lion’s Den”). Bin Laden gained a significant reputation among the mujahideen, particularly following the Battle of Jaji in 1987.
Founding Al-Qaeda As the Soviet war wound down in the late 1980s, Bin Laden, Azzam, and others, representing a more extremist wing of MAH, decided the organization should be transformed to continue the “expulsion of non-Arab powers from the Arab and Muslim world”.
This resulted in the founding of Al-Qaeda (meaning “the base” or “the foundation”) in 1988. Al-Qaeda’s goal from its inception was to wage Jihad against non-Muslims across the traditional Muslim world. Its ideological framework centered on removing American influence from the Middle East and destroying the state of Israel, which it viewed as a Western enclave. The group also viewed moderate Muslims as having wavered from traditional Islam and sought to establish rigid Islamic rule based on Sharia law.
Anti-Americanism, Exile, and Escalation
Rift with Saudi Arabia Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia where he initially received a hero’s welcome. He began working with the Saudi Bin Laden Group to leverage its economic might and ties to grow Al-Qaeda.
A fatal conflict arose when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, and the Saudi government agreed to allow US troops to assemble in Saudi Arabia as a staging post for the liberation of Kuwait (Operation Desert Storm). Bin Laden was outraged. He met with King Fahd, requesting that American troops be prohibited from assembling and offering his own “Arab Legion” (formed in Afghanistan) to defend the border. This offer was rejected. Bin Laden began a public propaganda campaign, denouncing the royal family for inviting “Western infidels” into the kingdom that housed the holiest sites in Islam, Mecca and Medina. This resulted in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991.
Exile in Sudan After his expulsion, Bin Laden headed to Sudan, settling there in 1992. Sudan, having implemented Sharia law, offered him refuge. He established a well-defended compound near the capital, Khartoum, and set up new training bases. Because Sudan harbored Bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalists, the US designated it a state sponsor of international terrorism and monitored his activities closely. By 1996, US sanctions had considerably damaged Sudan’s economy, and Bin Laden was forced to leave.
Return to Afghanistan and the 1990s Attacks In 1996, Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan as the personal guest of Mullah Muhammad Omar, the first leader of the newly established Taliban government. Upon his return, he quickly issued a declaration of war against the United States in August 1996, citing the US occupation of Saudi Arabia via military bases since 1990 and its support for Israel.
Al-Qaeda began stepping up its terrorist actions. Attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda or affiliates in the 1990s include:
- The 1992 bombing of the Golden Meor Hotel in Aden, Yemen.
- The 1993 truck bombing outside the North Tower of the World Trade Center, led by Al-Qaeda affiliate Ramsey Yussef.
- The 1997 Luxor massacre in Egypt, where 62 people, mostly Western tourists, were killed.
- The August 7, 1998, US Embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These were complex, simultaneous truck bombings outside the US embassies that killed 213 people in Nairobi and 85 in Dar es Salaam, injuring thousands more.
Following the embassy bombings, Bin Laden was immediately placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.
The September 11, 2001, Attacks
Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda turned their focus toward an even more substantial attack on American soil. In late 1998 or early 1999, Bin Laden approved the initiative to target the World Trade Center, a plan originally proposed by Khaled Sheikh Muhammad in 1996.
Planning and Execution Nineteen hijackers were selected and established in terrorist cells in the US. The final targets were selected in early 2001: the Twin Towers (the two Central buildings of the World Trade Center), the Pentagon in Virginia, and plans were believed to exist for a fourth plane to hit the US Capitol building.
The date chosen, September 11, 2001, was likely symbolic, chosen because it was the date in 1683 when the Siege of Vienna was broken, marking the conclusion of Ottoman expansion in southern Europe. Bin Laden chose this date to signify a “new turning of the tide back in favor of Islam”.
On the morning of September 11, four commercial airline planes were hijacked:
- American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the WTC at 8:46 a.m..
- United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m..
- American Airlines Flight 77 struck the West Wall of the Pentagon.
- United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to regain control.
The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., followed by the North Tower 29 minutes later. The attacks resulted in the deaths of over 2,700 people in the towers, on the ground, and in the planes. The 9/11 attacks were the most devastating terrorist attacks in world history, causing an unparalleled psychological impact due to global media coverage.
Bin Laden initially denied involvement but later, in a 2004 video released by Al Jazeera, he unequivocally stated that he was responsible for directing the 19 hijackers.
The Manhunt and Death
Post-9/11 and Hiding in Pakistan Following the attacks, the US, under President George W. Bush, authorized the use of force against those responsible. As the Taliban had sheltered Bin Laden, American and British aircraft began bombing strategic targets in Afghanistan in October 2001.
Bin Laden was believed to be hiding in the White Mountains near the border with Pakistan. He was present during the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, but he narrowly avoided apprehension, escaping over the southern border into Pakistan. Bin Laden became the most wanted man in the world, with a bounty that increased from $25 million to $50 million by 2007.
He spent the vast majority of the 2000s in Pakistan, often in Waziristan near the Afghan border, with “tacit support of powerful elements within Pakistan’s politics and Security Services”. Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda remained active during this period, notably involved in the counterinsurgency against US forces in Iraq, where they sought to sow divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
Death in Abbottabad Bin Laden eventually moved into a new, purpose-built, high-security compound in the city of Abbottabad in Northern Pakistan, likely beginning around 2006. The compound was designed for security, featuring 5 1/2 meter high concrete fences, barbed wire, few windows, and screens to block vision of the interior.
US intelligence identified the compound in 2010 after tracking Abu Ahmed Al Kuwaiti, a close confidant and courier for Bin Laden. Based on substantial circumstantial evidence, US President Barack Obama authorized Operation Neptune Spear on May 1, 2011.
In the early morning of May 2, 2011, two Blackhawk helicopters carrying Navy Seals landed at the compound. Following a brief firefight with his followers, the Navy Seals proceeded into the main compound. Bin Laden was found and killed on the third floor shortly after midnight. His body was placed in a body bag and transported out of the compound.
A decision was made to dispose of Bin Laden’s body quickly somewhere where his resting place would never be identified and turned into a shrine. His body was taken to an undisclosed location at sea and disposed of there within 24 hours to comply with Islamic tradition.
Legacy
While Bin Laden’s death was a success for the US, it did not end the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalists. His violent extremism and the subsequent wars resulting from 9/11 contributed to the rise of even more extreme movements.
By the 2010s, Al-Qaeda was being eclipsed by groups like the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI, later ISIL), which eventually split entirely from Al-Qaeda after being viewed as too brutal. Islamic State, under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, brought Islamic Jihad to a new level of brutality, seizing vast territories in Syria and Iraq. The world was changed immeasurably by Bin Laden’s violent extremism, resulting in heightened security, prolonged wars, and a massive migrant crisis.
The Foundation and Formation of Al-Qaeda
The formation of Al-Qaeda (meaning “the base” or “the foundation”) was a direct outgrowth of the organization Maktab al-Khidamat (MAH) during the Soviet-Afghan War, spearheaded by Osama Bin Laden and his mentor, Abdullah Azzam.
Context: The Soviet-Afghan War and the Mujahideen
Osama Bin Laden, who had developed a pan-Islamist ideology centered on unifying Muslims to defend their faith and ending Western involvement in the Middle East, finished his studies in 1979, coinciding with the Soviet Union’s effective invasion of Afghanistan in December of that year. Bin Laden quickly traveled to Pakistan, where he met Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian-born jihadist, who encouraged him to join the thousands of Muslim men (known as the mujahideen) heading to Afghanistan to fight the “atheistic Soviet invaders”.
Starting in the early 1980s, Bin Laden used his inherited fortune (which stood to be upwards of $10 million from his father’s estate) to recruit and train mujahideen in Pakistan before they headed into Afghanistan.
The Precursor: Maktab al-Khidamat (MAH)
In 1984, Bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat (MAH).
- Purpose: MAH was established to raise funds from both the Arab world and the Western world to continue financing the fight against the Soviets, purchasing weapons, and training mujahideen.
- Operations: By 1986, MAH had trained hundreds of fighters who operated from Bin Laden’s base in eastern Afghanistan, known as al-Ma’sada (“The Lion’s Den”).
- Reputation: Bin Laden gained a significant reputation among the mujahideen and within the wider Arab world following the Battle of Jaji in 1987.
Formation of Al-Qaeda
As the Soviet-Afghan War began to wind down in the late 1980s (Peace Accords were signed in 1988, and Soviet troops were withdrawn in 1989), internal discussions arose regarding the future of MAH.
- Ideological Split: Some members wished for MAH to remain a moderate organization focused on the initiative against the Soviets. However, Bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and others, representing a more extremist wing of the movement, opposed this view.
- Transformation: This extremist wing believed that MAH should be transformed into a larger organization to “continue the expulsion of non-Arab powers from the Arab and Muslim world”.
- Founding: This resulted in Bin Laden and Azzam establishing the new organization, Al-Qaeda, in 1988.
Goals and Ideological Framework
Al-Qaeda’s establishment in 1988 was driven by a commitment to waging holy war, or Jihad, against non-Muslims across the traditional Muslim world.
Its core ideological goals included:
- Removing American influence from the Middle East.
- Destroying the state of Israel, which Al-Qaeda perceived as a Western enclave in the Levant.
- Waging Jihad in the traditional Muslim world, encompassing the Middle East, North Africa (the Maghreb), lower Central Asia, and peripheral areas like Somalia and Indonesia.
- Establishing a rigid form of Islamic rule across the Muslim world, based on Sharia law and a literal interpretation of the Quran.
- Opposition to moderate Muslims, who were viewed as having wavered from traditional Islam.
The organization initially aimed to incite a major war against the United States to radicalize the Muslim world against the kafir (non-Muslims). Since the organization could not engage in outright conflict early on, its modus operandi during its early years would be terrorist tactics.
Al-Qaeda eventually became the largest jihadist organization in the world, notorious globally for its violent extremism, particularly the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
The Roots of Bin Laden’s Anti-Western Ideology
The development and promotion of anti-Western ideology were central to the life and actions of Osama Bin Laden and the foundation of Al-Qaeda, driven by specificThe development and promotion of anti-Western ideology were central to the life and actions of Osama Bin Laden and the foundation of Al-Qaeda, driven by specific geopolitical events and radical Islamic scholarship.
Roots of Anti-Western Sentiment
Bin Laden’s ideological views began to take shape during the mid-to-late 1970s, a period he described as formative in his life. He developed a pan-Islamist ideology, which advocates for the unification of Muslims worldwide to defend and promote their faith. Central to this pan-Islamism during the 1960s and 1970s was a commitment to reducing and, if possible, ending Western involvement in the Middle East.
The region Bin Laden grew up in had been dominated by the British and French following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, and the United States was becoming an increasingly influential party as British and French influence declined. Furthermore, the creation and continued existence of the state of Israel—a state “backed strongly by the United States”—which was frequently at war with its Muslim neighbors (such as the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973), intensified this anti-Western atmosphere.
Influence of Sayyid Qutb
A particularly strong influence on Bin Laden in the 1970s was the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian Islamic scholar. Qutb’s extensive writings, which were widely taught in the Muslim world, contained a strain of “virulent anti-Western sentiment”.
Qutb specifically denounced the United States as:
- Materialistic.
- Godless.
- Lacking in spiritual values of any kind.
This anti-Western ideology, promoted by Qutb, was arguably the “defining influence on Bin Laden’s ideological beliefs” during the 1960s and 1970s.
Al-Qaeda’s Anti-Western Focus
When Bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam established Al-Qaeda in 1988, its goal was to wage Jihad against non-Muslims across the traditional Muslim world.
The ideological framework of Al-Qaeda was heavily focused on anti-Western goals:
- Removing American influence from the Middle East.
- Destroying the state of Israel, which the organization perceived as a “Western Enclave in the Levant”.
The group believed it needed to incite a “major war against the United States” to radicalize the Muslim world against the kafir (non-Muslims).
Escalation and Grievances Against the United States
Bin Laden’s anti-American stance solidified and intensified following the Gulf War (1990-1991). When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the Saudi government allowed US troops to assemble in Saudi Arabia to stage the liberation of Kuwait (Operation Desert Storm).
- Public Denunciation: Bin Laden was outraged by this decision, calling it an invitation for “Western infidels into the kingdom which was the defender of the holiest sites in Islam, Mecca and Medina”.
- Expulsion: This hostile propaganda campaign resulted in a “fatal breach” between Bin Laden and the Saudi government, leading to his expulsion from the country in 1991.
Following his exile and return to Afghanistan in 1996, Bin Laden issued a formal declaration of war against the United States. His central complaints included:
- US Occupation of Saudi Arabia: He argued that the US had “occupied Saudi Arabia through its military bases since 1990”. His foremost complaint regarding the US presence was its “proximity to the holiest places of Islam, Mecca and Medina”. In 1998, Al-Qaeda stated that “for 7 years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of place”.
- Support for Israel: He cited US support for Israel in the region.
- Support for Oppressive Regimes: He included US support for regimes that persecuted Muslims, citing examples like Russia’s crackdown on Chechnya, the Philippine government’s attacks on the Muslim Moro population, and India’s oppression of Muslims in the Kashmir region.
This anti-Western ideology culminated in the September 11, 2001, attacks, which Bin Laden chose for the symbolic date (September 11, the date the Siege of Vienna was broken in 1683), intending it to mark a “new turning of the tide back in favor of Islam”.
Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and the Soviet-Afghan War
The Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) was a pivotal event that shaped the early career of Osama Bin Laden, led to the formation of Al-Qaeda, and dramatically increased his profile within the Arab world.
Onset and Context of the War
The war began following a period of political chaos in Afghanistan.
- Political Instability: In 1978, the Marxist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power and began establishing a socialist, non-religious state.
- Soviet Ties: The PDPA had long-standing ties with the Soviet Union. When Islamist groups and other opponents began revolts against the new government in 1978 and 1979, the Marxist regime called on Moscow for assistance.
- Soviet Invasion: As the situation for the PDPA deteriorated, the Soviet Union effectively invaded Afghanistan in the final days of December 1979. By early 1980, thousands of Soviet tanks and tens of thousands of soldiers had been deployed, and Moscow occupied the main cities of the country.
Bin Laden’s Involvement and Role
Osama Bin Laden became involved in the conflict immediately after finishing his studies at King Abdulaziz University in 1979.
- Early Guidance: Bin Laden traveled quickly to Pakistan, a country that often tolerated Islamic fundamentalism due to its long-running cold war with India. Upon arrival, he came under the wing of Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian-born jihadist.
- Recruitment and Financing (Mujahideen): Azzam encouraged Bin Laden to join the tens of thousands of Muslim men heading to Afghanistan to fight the “atheistic Soviet invaders”. These fighters were known as the mujahideen (a term that translates roughly as one who engages in holy war or Jihad). From 1980 onwards, Bin Laden used his inherited fortune to recruit and train mujahideen in Pakistan before they headed into the mountainous regions of Afghanistan.
- US and Saudi Support: Bin Laden’s personal financing, however, paled in comparison to the “billions of dollars” spent by the United States and Saudi Arabian governments in equipping and training anti-Soviet forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- Establishing MAK and Al-Ma’sada: Throughout the early 1980s, Bin Laden moved between Pakistan and mujahideen strongholds in the Hindu Kush mountains.
- In 1984, he and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat (MAH), an organization designed to raise funds from both the Arab world and the Western world to purchase weapons and train mujahideen.
- By 1986, MAH had trained hundreds of fighters based at Bin Laden’s base in eastern Afghanistan, known as al-Ma’sada (“The Lion’s Den”).
- Gaining Reputation: Bin Laden led mujahideen action against the Soviets and the Marxist regime at the Battle of Jaji in 1987. Although the battle lacked strategic significance in the wider war, it gained Bin Laden a “significant reputation amongst the mujahidin and within the wider Arab world”.
Nature of the Conflict
The Soviet-Afghan War developed as a brutal conflict based largely on guerrilla warfare.
- Military Landscape: While the Soviets committed 80,000 troops by the end of 1980 and possessed far superior weaponry, they were largely confined to occupying and holding the main cities to prop up the Marxist PDPA. Mujahideen groups, which included both moderate and fundamentalist branches, controlled the regions outside the cities.
- Guerrilla Warfare: The Hindu Kush mountains provided ideal territory for guerrilla warfare. The fighting became extremely bloody, as the Soviets used indiscriminate bombing and destruction of rural villages to try to root out the insurgents.
- Casualties and Displacement: By the mid-1980s, upwards of four million people (out of a population of 14 million) had been displaced, with hundreds of thousands becoming refugees in Iran and Pakistan. The conflict resulted in at least half a million deaths, and perhaps as many as three times that amount. The war became known as the Soviet equivalent of the American Vietnam War, as the Russians faced an enemy they could not defeat.
Conclusion of the War and Aftermath
By the late 1980s, the war was winding down.
- Soviet Withdrawal: Mikhail Gorbachev, upon becoming the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, publicly stated his intention to end Soviet involvement. The US, under the Ronald Reagan administration, contributed to the Soviet defeat by continuing to send significant military and financial aid to the mujahideen, notably supplying Stinger missiles which allowed the guerrillas to shoot down Soviet helicopters. Peace Accords were signed in 1988, and the last Soviet troops were withdrawn in 1989.
- Founding of Al-Qaeda: As the war concluded, the more extremist wing of MAH, led by Bin Laden and Azzam, successfully argued that the organization should be transformed to continue the “expulsion of non-Arab powers from the Arab and Muslim world”. This resulted in the establishment of Al-Qaeda in 1988, marking a shift toward a wider program of Islamic fundamentalism committed to Jihad against non-Muslims globally.
- Afghan Civil War: Following the Soviet withdrawal, the Marxist regime eventually collapsed in 1992, but the various mujahideen groups turned on each other, resulting in four years of Civil War before the Taliban emerged victorious in 1996.
- Bin Laden’s Return: After the Soviet defeat, Bin Laden initially returned to Saudi Arabia in 1989, receiving a hero’s welcome for his role in ousting the Russians. This brief respite was followed by a “fatal breach” with the Saudi government over the presence of US troops during the Gulf War, leading to his expulsion in 1991.
The Planning and Execution of 9/11
The September 11, 2001, attacks (often referred to as the 9/11 attacks) were the most devastating terrorist attacks in world history and were orchestrated and directed by Osama Bin Laden and his jihadist organization, Al-Qaeda.
Planning and Rationale
Decision to Attack American Soil After launching the sizable US Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998, Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda turned their attention to an even more substantial attack, this time on American soil. They decided to target the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City, which Al-Qaeda affiliates had previously attempted to attack with a truck bomb in 1993.
Approval and Selection of Targets
- Approval: Late in 1998 or early 1999, Bin Laden gave his approval to the WTC initiative, a plan first proposed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Khaled Sheikh Muhammad in 1996.
- Hijackers: Candidates to carry out the attacks were screened in Afghanistan during the remainder of 1999. A prerequisite for the leaders was that they needed to speak English and be familiar with Western society. Nineteen individuals, including Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah, were selected and established in terrorist cells across the United States, operating in Arizona, Florida, and California by 2000.
- Final Targets: Final targets were selected in early 2001, with the intent being to hijack commercial airline planes and fly them into buildings in suicide terrorist attacks.
- The Twin Towers (the two central buildings of the WTC) were the primary targets.
- The Pentagon in Virginia was also a target.
- It is believed there were also plans to fly a fourth plane into the US Capitol building, the seat of government in Washington D.C..
Choosing the Date The date fixed for the simultaneous attacks was September 11, 2001. Bin Laden chose this symbolic date because it was the day in 1683 that the Siege of Vienna by the Turkish Ottoman Empire was broken by King John Sobieski III of Poland. Bin Laden selected this date as a statement that the 2001 attacks would “Mark a new turning of the tide back in favor of Islam”.
Stated Purpose for Targeting the WTC Bin Laden later stated that his purpose in targeting the Twin Towers was to seek symbolic revenge for the destruction of numerous towers and multi-story buildings in Beirut in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Execution of the Attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the 19 hijackers operating in independent cells implemented their orders.
FlightDeparture Time (A.M.)Route/OriginHijackersImpact Time/LocationAmerican Airlines Flight 117:59Boston (Logan) to Los Angeles58:46 a.m. – Crashed into the North Tower of the WTC.United Airlines Flight 1758:14 (approx.)Boston (Logan) to Los Angeles59:03 a.m. (17 minutes later) – Crashed into the South Tower of the WTC.American Airlines Flight 778:20Washington Dulles to Los Angeles59:37 a.m. (just over a half hour later) – Hit the West Wall of the Pentagon in Virginia.United Airlines Flight 938:42New York (Newark) to San Francisco4Missed its target; crashed into a field in Pennsylvania as passengers were attempting to regain control from the hijackers.Casualties and Collapse of the Towers
The collapse of the towers marked the beginning of the carnage. When the planes struck the Twin Towers, well over 10,000 people were already inside, beginning their day’s work.
- The elevators were crippled by the damage and fires devastated the upper floors, slowing evacuation efforts.
- The South Tower, which had been hit second, collapsed at 9:59 a.m..
- The North Tower followed 29 minutes later.
In total, it is believed that 2,606 people lost their lives in the towers and on the ground, along with 147 passengers and crew on the two planes. At the Pentagon, 125 people died on the ground, along with 59 crew and passengers. The 40 crew and passengers on Flight 93 also lost their lives. The overall death toll exceeded 2,700 people.
Aftermath and Response
The psychological impact of the 9/11 attacks was unparalleled as an act of terrorism due to media outlets covering the story within minutes and footage of the planes striking the towers quickly surfacing.
Responsibility and Declaration of War
- Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the 9/11 attacks in a statement broadcast by Al Jazeera on September 16, 2001.
- However, in 2004, Al Jazeera released a new video in which Bin Laden unequivocally stated that he had been responsible for directing the 19 hijackers. Further admissions followed in 2006.
- In response, on September 18, 2001, the US administration of President George W. Bush moved quickly to pass a joint Congressional resolution authorizing the use of force against those deemed responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Invasion of Afghanistan Since the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had sheltered Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda since 1996 and refused to hand him over, the regime was deemed a target. American and British aircraft began bombing strategic targets in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and the principal land invasion by US troops and allied contingents began on October 19.
The 9/11 attacks resulted in life changing in many ways, leading to additional security measures being imposed across the Western World and initiating prolonged wars in the Middle East. Though the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan resulted in a swift initial victory, the invasion failed to bring Bin Laden to justice, as he narrowly escaped apprehension during the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, making his way into Pakistan. The manhunt for the architect of the 9/11 attacks continued for nearly a decade until Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.
Osama Bin Laden: From Billionaire’s Son To The Architect Of 9/11
The Man known to history as Osama Bin Laden was born on the 10th of March 1957 his birthplace is a matter of dispute with International police organizations believing for years that he was born in the city of jeda in Western Arabia but it is now generally accepted that he was born in the Saudi Capital Riyad his father father was Muhammad bin aad Bin Laden who was born in Yemen in 1908 when he was a child his family had immigrated from Yemen North to the red coast of Western Arabia in a region which now forms part of Saudi Arabia but which was at the time disputed between the Ottoman Empire and the Royal House of sa in the 1930s he had emerged as a successful construction contractor working for the first ruler of Saudi Arabia Abdul aiz IBN saoud under the patronage of the royal family the company he founded the Saudi Bin Laden Group emerged as an enormously successful and Wealthy construction company in the fledgling Nation even as it became the world’s largest oil exporter and an extremely wealthy Nation for successful families such as the bin ladans usama’s mother was Hamida alatas a native Syrian who came from a family of successful Citrus Farmers operating around the port city of Latakia she became Muhammad’s 10th wife in 1956 when she married the 48-year-old millionaire when she was just 14 years of age a year later Osama was bornn he was their only child and Muhammad and Hamida separated soon afterwards this has caused speculation that they never actually married and Hamida was just briefly Muhammad’s concubine osama’s Youth and upbringing was one of privilege by the time he was born his father was a multi-millionaire though his wealth would have stretched into the billions if adjusted for inflation today shortly after his parents divorce usama’s mother remarried to a business associate of Muhammad Bin Laden Muhammad alatas they had four children together in the 1960s three boys and one girl Osama was sent to live with them and so he grew up in his mother’s and stepfather’s household with several step siblings but it would be wrong to suggest that he was estranged from his father Muhammad Bin Laden played a major role in his son’s development instilling in him much of his conservative religious fervor beginning in 1968 Osama attended the alaga model School a secondary school in jeda in 1971 he gained direct experience of the Western World when he was sent to Oxford University in Britain to undertake an English language course Beyond this he is believed to have displayed some traits typical of young boys during his childhood and early teenage years being a football fan who followed Arsenal Football Club and showed an interest in military history for all that osama’s younger years had an air of normality to it whereas there is no doubting that his background was anything but normal by the 1960s the Saudi Bin Laden Group was one of the most significant corporations in the entire Arab world its ties to the Saudi royal family were extremely extensive and the company had even been granted the contracts to manage the ongoing repairs of the mosques in the two most holy cities in the Islamic World Mecca and Medina in 1964 the company acquired the contract to reclad the exterior of the Dome of the Rock the most important Muslim religious site in Jerusalem by that time the ties between Muhammad Bin Laden and the Saudi royal family had become extremely extensive however in 1967 Muhammad was killed at 59 years of age in an airplane accident in Saudi Arabia when the pilot misjudged the plane’s Landing despite this setback the Saudi Bin Laden Group continued to prosper under the leadership of several of Muhammad’s sons from his earlier marriages and indeed as it Diversified in the 1970s and 1980s it became a multi-billion dollar company with lucra ative contracts all over the Middle East Osama was not involved in the Saudi Bin Laden group’s business activities in the years after his father’s death for the simple reason that he was too young instead he was continuing his education when he was 19 years of age in 1976 Usama entered the King Abdul aiz University in jeda where he began studying economics and business administration No Doubt with a view to taking up some sort of position within the family business in years to come already however he had begun to stray from an interest in business with reports by people who knew Bin Laden there stating that his primary interests were in religion poetry and Arab literature he certainly didn’t need to worry about money his education and future work as Osama stood to inherit upwards of $0 million from his father’s estate he was also married by this time having wed his first wife a Syrian woman named najah khanim in 1974 when he was just 17 years old she was also his first cousin on his mother’s side and the first of at least five wives Osama would father over two dozen children during his life clearly the mid to late 1970s were a formative period in osama’s life and his ideological views though much of the evidence concerning these years is frustratingly patchy and sometimes contradictory nevertheless the broad thrust of his views is clear o began to develop a pan islamist ideology from early on in his life a movement which espouses the idea that Muslims in all nations should be unified in defense and promotion of their faith this view harks back to the age of the Arab caliphate which between the 8th and 11th centuries ruled most of the Middle East North Africa and adjoining regions from the caliphates capital of Baghdad Central to pan islamism in the 1960s and 1970s was a commitment to reducing and if possible ending Western involvement in the Middle East a region which had been dominated by the British and French since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the first world war and wherein the United States was becoming an increasingly interested party even as British and French influence declined the Middle Eastern World which Osama grew GRE up in was also one in which the new state of Israel backed strongly by the United States was frequently at war with its Muslim neighbors notably The Six Day War of 1967 and the war of yam kipur in 1973 a particularly strong influence on ass in the 1970s were the writings of SED kba an Egyptian Islamic scholar and religious and political theorist who had been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Hood until his arrest and execution in 1966 kba’s extensive writings were widely taught in schools and universities across the Muslim World from the 1940s onwards and included arguments that Islamic Jihad or struggle against evil was entirely justifiable in the interests of a new Islamic caliphate and that Sharia law the law based on a rigid interpretation of the Quran should be imposed across all Muslim states a strange of virent anti-western sentiment also ran through much of kba’s writings with him denouncing the United States as materialistic Godless and lacking in spiritual values of any kind if there was one defining influence on Bin Laden’s ideological beliefs in the 1960s and 1970s it was kba significantly kba’s brother Muhammad who became a passionate promoter of his brother’s ideas was a teacher at Abdul a university in jedna while Osama was a student there in the late 1970s Osama finished his studies at Abdul aiz in 1979 it is unclear if he finished with a degree or not the timing was significant as the Islamic world was in turmoil at this moment firstly the Iranian Revolution of 1978 had seen the Western backed sha removed from power in Iran and the creation of a new Islamic State headed by the Ayatollah Rah while this was occurring in Iran to the Northeast in Afghanistan the country was descending into Political chaos in 1978 the Marxist people’s Democratic party of Afghanistan or pdpa had seized power and began to establish a socialist non-religious State the pdpa had long-standing ties with the Soviet Union and indeed Russia had always had an interest in Afghanistan dating back to the mid 19th century when the country had been an important buffer State between Russia and the British presence in India and Pakistan yet there is no major evidence that the Soviets were the driving force behind the pdpa seizure of power in Afghanistan in 1978 however they did Forge close ties with the new Marxist regime in Kabul once it was in control of the country thus once islamist groups and other opponents of the pdpa began revolts against the new government in the course of 1978 and 1979 the Marxist regime soon called on mosow for help limited support was sent at first but as the situation for the pdpa continued to deteriorate the Soviet Union effectively invaded Afghanistan in the final days of December 1979 by early 1980 thousands of Soviet tanks and tens of thousands of soldiers had been deployed as Moscow occupied the main cities of the country even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Bin Laden had traveled to Pakistan very quickly after finishing his studies at King abdulaziz University Pakistan played and continues to play a significant role in international jihadist movements of the 20th and early 21st century ostensibly the country has claimed to be opposed to Islamic fundamentalism operating on its soil but for decades it has turned a blind eye to this in actuality in large part because Muslim Pakistan has been involved in a long running cold war with its bitter enemy Hindu India since the British Raj was split up along religious lines in 1947 Pakistan would play a role in Bin Laden’s life over the next three decades once he arrived there in 1979 he quickly came under the wing of Abdullah aam a Palestinian born jihadist who was an influ inuence on many of the most senior Islamic terrorists of the late 20th century aam encouraged Bin Laden shortly afterwards to join the tens of thousands of Muslim men who were heading to Afghanistan to fight against the atheistic Soviet Invaders these individuals became known as mujahedin a term which translates roughly as one who engages in holy war or Jihad in the early 1980s Benin Laden began using his inherited Fortune to recruit and train mujahadin in Pakistan before they headed into the mountainous regions of Afghanistan though this financing paled in comparison with the billions of dollars spent by the United States and the Saudi Arabian governments in equipping and training anti-soviet forces in both Afghanistan and Pakistan which were used as their proxies to fight the Soviet invasion moreover while statements about the extent to which Bin Laden was financed and trained himself by American agents at this time have been exaggerated there is no doubt that he did have some limited contacts with us special forces in the region in the 1980s the war which Bin Laden became involved in from 1980 onwards developed much like conflicts in Afghanistan have for the last two Centuries with 80,000 troops committed by the Soviets by the end of 1980 and far superior weaponry they were able to occupy and hold the main cities and prop up the Marxist pdpa but the mujahedin groups of which there were more moderate and fundamentalist branches were largely in control of the regions outside of the city the Hindu Kush mountains which dominate much of the country particularly in the East and North are ideal territory for the waging of Guerilla Warfare and this is exactly the shape the Soviet Afghan war took on in the 1980s the fighting became extremely bloody as the Soviets used indiscriminate bombing and destruction of rural villages to try to root out the insurgents by the mid 1980s upwards of 4 million people out of Afghanistan’s population of 14 million had been displaced with hundreds of thousands becoming refugees in Pakistan and Iran while the conflict resulted in at least half a million deaths and perhaps as many as three times this amount it soon became known as the Soviet equivalent of what the Vietnam War had been for America as the Russians faced an enemy which they could not defeat throughout this period Bin Laden was a major figure in the mujahadin movement in Afghanistan at first he had begun supplying Goods to the fighters in the country and also facilitating the movement of individuals who wanted to take up arms against the Soviets from his native Saudi Arabia to Pakistan where they were trained and equipped before they were sent North throughout these years Bin Laden moved between Pakistan and the mujahadin strongholds in the mountains of the Hindu Kush in 1984 he and his mentor Abdullah aam established makab alhat an organization which aimed to raise funds from both within the Arab world and the Western World to continue fighting the war against the Soviets this funding was then used to purchase weapons and train mujahadin by 1986 the network had trained hundred hundreds of Fighters who were based in eastern Afghanistan at Bin Laden’s base known as al-mada the Lion’s Den these led the mujahadin action against the Soviets and the Marxist regime at the Battle of Judi in the late spring and early summer of 1987 the battle was ultimately of little strategic significance in The Wider War but it gained Bin Laden a significant reputation amongst the mujahadin and within the wider Arab world in part owing to the reports on the battle produced by an emerging Saudi journalist by the name of Jamal Kashi with whom Bin Laden was Associated but who held very different political religious views to him the establishment of makab Alat was significant in the 1980s as it laid the groundwork for the jihadist movement with which Bin Laden has become synonymous as the war in Afghanistan headed towards inexorable defeat for the Soviets and the Marxist regime which they propped up in the late 1980s thoughts turned to the future of the organization some members wanted it to remain a moderate entity which continued the initiative against the Soviets but Bin Laden abdulah aam and others were opposed to this and believed that makab alhat should be transformed into a larger organization which would seek to continue the expulsion of non-arab powers from the Arab and Muslim world World ultimately this more extremist wing of the movement resulted in Bin Laden and aam establishing a new organization in 1988 known as alqaeda meaning the base or the foundation in time it would become the largest jihadist organization in the world and is notorious around the world as such today al-qaeda’s goal from its Inception was to begin waging holy war or Jihad against non-muslims anywhere in the traditional Muslim world that is the Middle East lower Central Asia the mreb in North Africa and also more peripheral parts of the Muslim World such as Somalia Mali and Nigeria subsaharan Africa and Muslim regions further to the east in Indonesia and elsewhere much of its ideological framework centered on removing American influence from the Middle East and also destroying the state of Israel which it perceived as a western Enclave in the Levant over time the group began to believe it needed to incite a major war against the United States in order to radicalize the Muslim World against the kafir or non-muslims because the organizations could not hope to engage in outright conflict early on its modus operandi during its early years would be terrorist tactics additionally alqaeda viewed moderate Muslims as having wavered from traditional Islam and it wished to establish a rigid form of Islamic rule across the Muslim world one based on Sharia law and a literal interpretation of the Quran by the time alqaeda was established in 1988 the war in Afghanistan was winding down already upon becoming leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 mikal gorbachov publicly stated that it was his intention to bring Soviet involvement in the country to an end but much like it took America years to fully extricate itself from Vietnam the Soviets could not pull out overnight indeed in the short term there was a significant increase in the number of Soviet troops on the ground in Afghanistan as Moscow attempted to win the war quickly through a troop surge this did not meet with success as Ronald Reagan’s Administration continued to send significant amounts of military and financial aid to the mujahadin indeed once they were equipped with stinger missiles to shoot down Soviet helicopters the mujahadin Guerilla War entered a period of unprecedented success for the insurgence eventually Peace Accords were signed by the Afghan government the Soviet Union the US and Pakistan in 1988 and in 1989 the last Soviet troops were withdrawn in the years that followed the Marxist regime began to lose ever greater amount of ground to the mujahadin groups and eventually collapsed in 1992 but no sooner was the Communist Regime out of the way than the various mujahadin groups turned on each other four years of Civil War would follow before one group known as the Taliban emerged victorious in 1996 though they would never acquire complete control of the country and indeed much of the north was held into the late 1990s and early 2000s by by the Northern Alliance in the aftermath of the Soviet Afghan war Bin Laden initially returned to his native Saudi Arabia in 1989 he received a hero’s welcome for his role in having helped to OU the Russians from Afghanistan back in the Arabian Peninsula he began working with the Saudi Bin Laden Group his father’s business in an effort to leverage its economic might and business ties to help grow alqaeda in tandem he began meeting with other leading members of the Islamic jihadist movement in Egypt and elsewhere during this time relations between Bin Laden and the Saudi government began to deteriorate Bin Laden was bent on developing an Ever more confrontational path against non-muslims while the Saudi government continued to Foster its position as a key American Ally in the Middle East a point of conflict which arose between Bin Laden and the Saudi regime was over the South Yemen Civil War Bin Laden wished for Saudi Arabia to intervene directly to oust the Soviet backed yemeni Socialist Party but the Royal government in Riyad blocked his efforts to do so another issue involving another neighbor of Saudi Arabia was soon to cause friction between Bin Laden and the Saudi government in ways which would ultimately sever relations between him and the Saudi royal family on the 2nd of August 1990 Saddam Hussein the dictator of Iraq who had spent much of the 1980s fighting a war against Iran in which he was heavily supported by the United States invaded the small Gulf State of Kuwait one of the richest Nations per capita on Earth and one which Iraq owed billions of dollars to which it had borrowed to finance its war against Iran in the 1980s The Invasion which saw the small city state conquered within 2 days caused International uproar and and within weeks the United States was building a coalition of Military Allies to launch a counter invasion of Iraq one which included Britain France Germany and dozens of other countries it was also supported by several Arab and Muslim countries notably Egypt Syria and Saudi Arabia by the Autumn of 1990 as negotiations to find a peaceful settlement were still underway American troops began traveling to the Middle East for a military buildup they they headed primarily for Saudi Arabia which was to be used as the staging post for the liberation of Kuwait and the attack on Iraq if negotiations failed that is exactly what happened and so what was termed Operation Desert Storm by the US military was initiated on the 16th of January 1991 Bin Laden was outraged from the very beginning of the military buildup as the Saudi government agreed to a proposal by the US Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney that America should intervene to prevent any extension of Iraq’s aggression into Saudi Arabia in response to this bin Laden organized a meeting with the Saudi ruler king F and requested that the country should prohibit American troops from assembling in Saudi Arabia and that he would use his own Arab Legion formed in Afghanistan during the war to defend the Saudi border against any Iraqi incursion this offer was spurned and the US and Coalition troop build up intensified in the weeks that followed as it did bin Laden began publicly denouncing the Saudi government engaging in a hostile propaganda campaign in which he stated that the royal family was inviting Western infidels into the kingdom which was the defender of the holiest sites in Islam Mecca and Medina he also attempted to convince the AMA the senior Saudi religious Scholars to issue a a fatwa or religious declaration condemning the American incursion into the Arabian Peninsula all of this combined to cause a fatal breach between Bin Laden and the Saudi government and in 1991 they expelled him from the country meanwhile Operation Desert Storm had resulted in the Swift defeat of Iraq and the liberation of Kuwait in the spring of 1991 rather than trying to pursue regime change the US left Saddam Hussein in in charge pulled his troops out of the region and imposed crippling sanctions on Iraq following his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991 Bin Laden headed for Sudan settling there in 1992 in 1989 Colonel Omar al- bashier had seized power in a largely bloodless military coup he quickly implemented a form of sharia law across Sudan making the country a suitable Haven for bin Laden to continue his activities from the Saudi mujahadin was invited to sedan personally by Hassan alabi the speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly and the second most powerful figure within Sudan next to al- bashier here Bin Laden was soon established in his own well-defended compound with his followers within alqaeda defending the site with Advanced Weaponry new training bases for mujahadin were established near the capital of Kum and Bin Laden had a Manor in in the city as a result of the free reign he was given in Sudan the country was designated as a state sponsor of international terrorism as in the aftermath of the Gulf War Bin Laden and alqaeda had come under increasing observation by the American intelligence service and the state department thus while Bin Laden remained in Sudan from 1992 to 1996 the US was monitoring his activities on an almost daily basis with flyovers of his compound and other intelligence gathering by 1996 US sanctions against Sudan over its harboring of Bin Laden and many other prominent Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists had begun to damage considerably the country’s economy moreover the president Omar al- bashier had outflanked Bin Laden’s primary supporter within the government Hassan alabi consequently it was made clear to Bin Laden by 1996 that Sudan was no longer a safe Refuge as a result of the expulsion he headed that year back to Afghanistan where the Taliban had just cemented its control over much of the country there he became the personal guest of mulah Muhammad Umar the first leader of the Taliban Government after seizing power he quickly issued a declaration of war against the United States in August 1996 through various Islamic media channels arguing that the US had had occupied Saudi Arabia through its military bases since 1990 and that it was the principal supporter of Israel in the region it has been speculated that Bin Laden’s actions in 1996 were owing to the loss of much of his wealth from his family background when he left Sudan and that the expulsion order served to radicalize Bin Laden further and set him on a path of allout war with the government of the United States the sanctions of which against Sudan had pressured the Sudanese government into the stance it took from his return to Afghanistan in 1996 onwards Bin Laden and alqaeda were wholly committed to confrontational terrorist actions towards the United States in particular these had always been a part of the organization’s modus operandi as early as 1990 the Federal Bureau of Investigation had raided the home of Al SED noer an alqaeda affiliate in New Jersey where they had discovered documents concerning plans to blow up skyscrapers in New York City in 1993 a truck bomb was detonated outside the North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan the leader of the attack was Ramsey yusf another known affiliate of al-Qaeda who had trained in one of their camps in Afghanistan in the late 1980s in 1992 Bin Laden had financed and organized the bombing of the golden mior Hotel in the city of Aiden in Yemen it is also widely believed that alqaeda was involved in the luxa massacre of November 1997 when 62 individuals most of them Western tourists were killed in the Egyptian City near the Valley of the Kings by six Islamic fundamentalist gunman thus by the second half of the 1990s Al-Qaeda was stepping up its attacks on Western targets through terrorist methods these attacks soon escalated even further on the 7th of August 1998 simultaneous truck bombings occurred in the cities of Dar Salam the capital of Tanzania and the capital of Kenya Nairobi there was no doubt which nation the symbolic Target of these attacks was as the bombs were detonated outside the United States embassies in the two Capital Cities these were complex terrorist attacks for instance the bombing in Nairobi involved 500 cylinders of TNT while the dark alarm bombing was undertaken with two 2,000l bombs ammonium nitrate fertilizer was used to pack and direct the blast so that it caused maximum damage to the embassies moreover both bombs were detonated almost simultaneously resulting in the deaths of 2133 people in Nairobi and 85 in darus Salam while thousands more were injured there is no doubt also that Bin Laden and alqaeda were responsible and in the immed immediate aftermath of the bombings Bin Laden was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted individuals list it also brought Al-Qaeda to the attention of all intelligence services in the Western World though unfortunately the risk which was posed by the terrorist organization was still not fully grasped in the aftermath of the US embassy’s bombings Bin Laden continued to escalate his rhetoric against the United States his grievances were multifarious including us support for Israel and for a number of regimes who were persecuting Muslims within their borders notably Russia’s Crackdown on cha the Philippine government’s attacks on the Muslim Morrow population of the Southern islands and India’s oppression of Muslims in the Kashmir region in the north of the country however his foremost complaint was with the presence of American troops in the Arabian Peninsula and their proximity to the holiest places of Islam Mecca and and Medina in 1998 alqaeda stated that quote for 7 years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of place thus after the already sizable attacks on the US embassies Bin Laden and alqaeda turned their attention to an even more substantial attack this time on American soil remarkably they decided to Target the World Trade Center in New York City which Associates of al-Qaeda had already tried to attack with a truck bomb back in 1993 the second attempt would be more devastating late in 1998 or early 1999 Bin Laden gave his approval to the World Trade Center initiative which had first been proposed by an alqaeda affiliate khed shik Muhammad in 1996 the remainder of 1999 saw potential candidates to carry out the attacks being screened in Afghanistan a prerequisite for the leaders were that they needed to be able to speak English and be familiar with living in Western Society for a time a number of individuals such as Muhammad ATA Marwan Al Shiki and zad Jara were quickly selected another one hany hanur was picked once it was realized that he had a commercial pilot’s license and was a skilled airplane pilot by 2000 19 individuals had been selected and were being established in terrorist cells in the United States operating in Arizona Florida and California final targets were selected in early 2001 with the intention being to hijack a number of commercial airline planes and fly them into buildings in suicide terrorist attacks the Twin Towers the two Central buildings of the World Trade Center were the primary targets while the Pentagon in Virginia was also a Target it is also believed there were plans to fly a fourth plane in into the US capital building the seat of government in Washington DC with the plan in place and terrorist cells in position in the US to carry it out a date was fixed for the simultaneous attacks the day chosen was the 11th of September 2001 it is a popular belief that this date was chosen as September is the 9th month of the year and the date when written out using the American dating system comes out as 911 the same number used for emergency call services in the United States however it seems more likely that Bin Laden chose the 11th of September as it was the day in 1683 that John seski III the king of Poland arrived at Vienna the capital of Austria which was under siege by the Turkish Ottoman Empire The Siege was broken by seski marking the conclusion of Ottoman expansion in southern Europe prior to it the Christian world had been under pressure for centuries from Muslim expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans but after the siege of via the Christian Western Powers began to encroach into the Muslim World Bin Laden chose this symbolic date as a statement that these attacks on the United States by alqaeda in 2001 would Mark a new turning of the tide back in favor of Islam on the morning of the 11th of September 2001 the 19 hijackers operating in independent cells began to implement their orders five hijackers boarded American Airlines flight 11 which was scheduled to fly out of Logan International Airport in Boston at 7:59 a.m. Bound for Los Angeles International Airport five others boarded United Airlines 175 which was making the same Journey from Logan to Los Angeles that plane took off from the runway in Boston than 15 minutes after American Airlines flight 11 meanwhile 6 minutes later at 8:20 a.m. American Airlines flight 77 took off from Washington dlas International Airport in Virginia not far from Washington DC five hijackers were also on board finally 22 minutes after this at 8:42 a.m. a fourth plane United Airlines Flight 93 departed from New York International Airport in New Jersey down for San Francisco there were just four hijackers on this plane What followed was a day of infamy within minutes of becoming Airborne the hijackers on all four planes were moving to take over the aircrafts as a result at 8:46 a.m. American Airlines flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center traveling at a speed of approximately 750 kmph while people all over Manhattan wondered if this could have been an accident United Airlines flight 175 was changing direction in the skies at 9:03 a.m. 17 minutes after the first plane had hit the North Tower it crashed into the South Tower at a speed of 800 kmph just over a half an hour later American Airlines flight 77 hit the West Wall of the Pentagon in Virginia only United Airlines Flight 93 missed its Target as it crashed into a field in Pennsylvania while the passengers were attempting to rest control of it from the hijackers the plane crashes were only the beginning of the Carnage when the planes struck the Twin Towers well over 10,000 people were already inside beginning their day’s work with the elevators crippled by the damage from the initial impact and fires devastating the upper floors the evacuation efforts could only proceed at a moderate Pace as people had to head down dozens of staircases B es the upper stories where the planes had hit were turned into an inferno and within minutes many of those who were still alive would jumping to their deaths the South Tower which had been hit second collapsed at 9:59 a.m. it was followed 29 minutes later by the North Tower in total It is believed that 2,66 people lost their lives in the towers and on the ground along with 147 passengers and crew on the two planes L the damage at the Pentagon was less severe but even here 125 died on the ground along with 59 crew and passengers the 40 crew and passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 all lost their lives the September 11th 2001 attacks accordingly were the most devastating terrorist attacks in world history moreover because media Outlets had begun covering the story within minutes around the world and footage of the PLS striking the towers was soon available the psychological impact of the attacks was unparalleled as an act of terrorism at first Bin Laden denied having been involved in planning the 9/11 attacks on the United States on the 16th of September a statement was made by him which was subsequently broadcast by Al jazer in which he denied responsibility however in the months and years that followed a growing amount of evidence was produced to sub substantiate an American intelligence Services claim that he and alqaeda had orchestrated the attacks in 2004 Al jazer released a new video from him in which he unequivocally stated that he had been responsible for directing the 19 hijackers who boarded the four planes on the 11th of September 2001 this was supplemented by further admissions in 2006 and the surfacing of video footage in which Osama was seen seen conversing with some of the hijackers in the period leading up to the attacks in the course of these it was also stated by Benin Laden that his purpose in targeting the Twin Towers was to seek symbolic revenge for the destruction of numerous towers and multi-story buildings in Beirut in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon at the time of the 9/11 attacks Bin Laden was believed to be hiding in the White Mountains to the south of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan in the east of the country near the border with Pakistan the administration of the US President George W bush moved quickly to pass a joint Congressional resolution on the 18th of September 2001 authorizing the use of force against those who would deem to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks as the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had sheltered Bin Laden and alqaeda since 1996 and refused to hand him over to American authorities the regime as a whole was deemed to be a Target American and British aircraft consequently began bombing strategic Targets in Afghanistan on the 7th of October 2001 ties were established with the Northern Alliance which held parts of the north of the country against the Taliban in tandem US Special operatives had been inserted into the country in small numbers as early as late September but it was not until the 19th of October that the principal land Invasion began as American troops with Allied contingents from dozens of other nations began entering Afghanistan in large numbers the war in Afghanistan resulted in a swift initial victory for the United States and its allies by early November American forces had encircled the capital cabul an air strike on the city on the 12th of November succeeded in killing one of Bin Laden’s closest allies the number three figure within alqaeda Muhammad at the following day Northern Alliance and US troops began entering the city as the Taliban either fled into the mountains or towards the southern city of kaha it was in the latter City that the Taliban made their last major stand in late November the remaining forces there surrendered in early December ostensibly bringing the war to an end it was also in early December that a new interim Administration was established with Hamed kazai as the first president of a new Afghanistan however this initial victory was effectively a false Dawn and Afghanistan would soon be riddled with Insurgent revolts which the US would never be able to defeat the invasion of Afghanistan had also failed to bring Bin Laden to Justice the us though had come tantalizingly close just as kaha was falling to the West a group of several hundred Allied Fighters including 70 US Special Forces and dozens of other special operatives along with a few hundred Northern Alliance Fighters conducted a campaign in the torab Bora cave complex in the White Mountains where Bin Laden and many other Al-Qaeda members were believed to be hiding a near two we battle followed in the mountains and caves a conflict which has become known as the Battle of torab Bora American intelligence Services believe Bin Laden was present during these clashes but that he escaped as the allied military presence was insufficient to apprehend him he is believed to have made his way over the southern border into Pakistan in the days or weeks that followed by now Bin Laden was the most wanted man in the world with a bounty of $25 million on offer by the US government for information leading to his capture or death that figure would be increased to $50 million in 2007 as the Manhunt for the leader of alqaeda and the architect of the 9/11 attacks continued however Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda would pose a threat to America and the Western World for many years to come Bin Laden’s whereabouts in the Years following his escape from Afghanistan in the winter of 2001 have been a matter of widespread speculation by this time he was the World’s Most Wanted Man and well known all over the world world as such his movements were secretive and even the US intelligence services today can only patch together some of his whereabouts during the 2000s evidently he along with many other senior Al-Qaeda Affiliates spent the vast majority of these years in Pakistan his presence here was not officially tolerated by the Pakistani government successive regimes in the capital Islamabad had been effectively supporters of Islamic terrorist organizations over the years but in Bin Laden’s case it was not possible for them to approve of his presence on Pakistani soil nevertheless a light touch approach to apprehending Bin Laden even when it was clear that he was in hiding in the country was adopted one which meant that the US intelligence Services had to try to locate the terrorist leader within the country with lukewarm support from the Pakistani security services at best for much of the time after his initial flight from Afghanistan he is believed to have been in waziristan the mountainous region of Northern Pakistan near the Afghan border reports in the second half of the 2000s sometimes placed him as having moved over the Western border to Iran but these were probably spirous and the reality is that Bin Laden and alqaeda were able to live in Pakistan largely unharassed and in some comfort for years with the tacit support of powerful elements within Pakistan’s politics and Security Services during this time Bin Laden and alqaeda continued to organize terrorist activities throughout the wider Muslim World attacks on the United States became much more difficult in the aftermath of 9/11 as a massive security apparatus was put in place in American airports and other locations however there was no shortage of Western targets now in the Middle East firstly Afghanistan had been occupied by American British and other Allied troops in late 2001 and they would remain there in one form or another for the next 20 years but the more intense Western presence was soon to be found in Iraq following the initial victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan the administration of President George W bush in the US began making it clear that it intended to engage in further regime change in the Middle East targeting states which it deemed to be supporters of terrorism the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq who had clung on to power following the Gulf War was a noted priority this policy would not meet with as much support from America’s allies as the invasion of Afghanistan with countries like France arguing that the Bush Administration was Now using the 9/11 attacks as a smoke screen for regime change in oil producing countries and a form of us Neo imperialism in the region despite these reservations the US and Britain with several other smaller Allied Nations invaded Iraq in March 2003 claiming that Hussein’s regime was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction and was a supporter of Bin Laden’s Bin Laden had often cited the crippling economic sanctions which the US had imposed on Iraq following the Gulf War as one of his grievances against America but there’s no substantive evidence to show that the Hussein regime had ever materially supported Bin Laden in any significant manner The Invasion proceeded much as it had in Afghanistan a swift victory was won over the Bist regime of Sadam Hussein and within 2 months President Bush announced us victory in the war but it was not so simple and as in Afghanistan a vicious counterinsurgency campaign began in the summer of 20 2003 and lasted for years as many elements within Iraq tried to remove US forces from the country Bin Laden and alqaeda were involved in this internes conflict their methods focused on trying to seow divisions between the Sunni Muslim minority and the Shiite Muslim majority in an effort to ferment a civil war across Iraq traditional terrorist methods were employed such as the bombing of the AL asari Shrine in the city of Samara on the 22nd of February 2006 while this action did not result in widespread loss of human life it did see the destruction of one of the holiest places in Iraq for shiat Muslims and triggered days of sectarian violence in Baghdad and elsewhere in which at least a thousand people lost their lives eventually by the late 2000s the war in Iraq began to stabilize as a significant American troop surge in 200 7 combined with political reforms serve to quell the worst of the violence nevertheless Al-Qaeda continued their campaign and from Pakistan Bin Laden sanctioned bombings in Baghdad and a suicide bombing on the Shiite Imam Hussein Shrine in the city of carbella in March 2008 which resulted in 42 deaths and the injuring of dozens of others meanwhile back in Pakistan Bin Laden had moved into a new purpose-built compound in the city of abbotabad in Northern Pakistan construction on this had evidently begun shortly after Bin Laden arrived in the country at the beginning of 2002 and it was completed in 2005 the compound was laid out on a 38,000 ft estate and was surrounded by a concrete perimeter fence up to 5 1/2 M high and topped with barbed wire there were few Windows here and many screens to block VIs vision of the Interior including a screen on a third floor balcony tall enough to ensure privacy there for bin Laden who was 6’4 in tall it is hard to believe the authorities could have failed to recognize how unusual the new property was and it was clearly built with security in mind Bin Laden was probably living there from 2006 onwards with some of his wives children and followers in a city not far from the Pakistan capital Islamabad while Bin Laden’s compound sheltered him in Pakistan for many years eventually his over Reliance on it would be his undoing in 2009 us intelligence Services determined that Abu Ahmed Al Kuwaiti a close confident of Bin Laden’s who is believed to have been with him at the Battle of Torah Bora in December 2001 when the terrorist leader narrowly avoided apprehension by the US had begun to work as a trusted Courier and messenger for bin Laden while he was in hiding in Pakistan in 2009 the CIA determined that Al Kuwaiti was living in abbotabad further intelligence gathering LED them to identify the bin Laden compound as a peculiar building in the city tens of millions of dollars of funding were obtained from the US Congress to finance the establishment of a CIA team on the ground in abbotabad which in 2010 began monitoring the compound and those who entered and left it despite this extensive initiative and the use of the most sophisticated drone and surveillance devices available anywhere in the world the team was never able to obtain a photograph or any other evidence which concretely established that Bin Laden was living within the compound but by early 2011 the range of circumstantial evidence was such that they were convinced that this was The Hideout of the architect of the 911 attacks US President Barack Obama authorized what was codenamed Operation Neptune Spear on the 1st of May 2011 it was lunchtime in Washington DC but only half an hour later at nearly 11:00 p.m. at night in Afghanistan two Blackhawk helicopters carrying two dozen Navy Seals took off from an American Airbase in Afghanistan and flew over the border to Pakistan just over an hour and a half later at what was half past midnight in Pakistan on the 2nd of May the helicopters landed in the compound at abbotabad one of the helicopters crashed during the landing but none of the Navy Seals were injured fighting commenced as soon as they landed with a brief firefight with some of Bin Laden’s followers then the Navy Seals proceeded into the main compound back in Washington DC President Obama and Senior government and defense officials watched live footage of the raid from The Situation Room in the White House on the second floor the Navy Seals encountered and shot one of Bin Laden’s many adult sons as well as another follower Abu Ahmed Al Kuwaiti whose presence in abbotabad had first suggested to Security Services that Bin Laden might be Sheltering in the city then as they headed upstairs again they found bin Laten on the third floor their orders were to kill rather than apprehend the al-Qaeda leader there are conflicting accounts as to what then occurred as different Navy Seals have sought to claim credit for killing Bin Laden but it seems most likely that it was Matt bisonet who shot Bin Laden at 39 minutes past midnight local time in the body and head in the doorway of his bedroom and he then staggered backwards into the room and fell to the floor dead bin Laden was found to have 500 EUR and two mobile phones sewn into his robes no doubt for use if he found himself fleeing an attack on the compound such as the one which led to his death it was a rather pathetic demise a decision had been taken in advance that Bin Laden’s body would be disposed of quickly somewhere where his resting place would never be identified and turned into a shrine for Islamic fundamentalists and jihadists thus shortly after he was killed and the compound was fully secured the Navy Seals placed the al-Qaeda Leader’s corpse in a body bag and then brought it out to the helicopter that was still intact after a sweep of the compound to gather any intelligence which might be useful for offsetting further terrorist attacks or establishing a more concrete idea of what Bin Laden had been doing over the years the team exited the compound with the body on the sole functioning helicopter a backup helicopter was called in to collect some of the remaining Navy Seals by 8:00 p.m. back in Washington it had been confirmed that the body was that of Bin Laden President Obama addressed the nation a few hours later to announce news of the raid’s success as he was doing so Bin Laden’s body was being taken out to some undisclosed location at Sea and was disposed of there weighted down with iron chains and rocks to ensure it sank to the sea floor this was done within 24 hours of his death to comply with Islamic tradition sadly the death of AMA Bin Laden did not lead to any reduction in the threat which Islamic fundamentalists and jihadists posed to the Western World or indeed to most Muslims in the Islamic world as brutal as their tactics were alqaeda was already being eclipsed by more extreme Jihadi movements by the time of Bin Laden’s death in in 2004 a Jordanian jihadist by the name of Abu musab Al zakari had become an associate of al-Qaeda in Iraq during the early stages of the counterinsurgency against the US occupation in 2006 alar kawi and several of his closest allies merged to form what they called the Islamic State of Iraq in the years that followed they went from strength to strength but their methods also became ever more brutal including the use of vicious tactics against Muslims who refus to live according to anything other than the most severe forms of Shera law by the time US forces were withdrawn from Iraq in the early 2010s Al-Qaeda were increasingly unwilling to tolerate this approach to Jihad in the Middle East and a full split followed between the two organizations in the Years following Bin Laden’s death under al-qaeda’s new leader Iman Al zahari incredibly by by the 2010s al-Qaeda the organization who carried out the 9/11 attacks was being seen as too moderate by many Islamic fundamentalists and the Islamic State of Iraq group were now garnering many more followers amongst would be jihadists in the years that followed Islamic State of Iraq burst onto the consciousness of the entire world following the Arab Spring of 2011 a brutal Civil War erupted in Syria while while the US departure from neighboring Iraq saw significant parts of the country fall out of the control of the government in Baghdad in this environment Islamic State under its new leader Abu Bakr al- bagdadi was able to begin taking direct control over a vast s of territory across Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria in the course of 2014 and 2015 the newly named Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or isil came to International attention as they declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate over the lands they had taken control of isil brought Islamic Jihad to a new level of brutality which even Al-Qaeda distan itself from gradually control over easn Syria and Northern Iraq was rested from isil between 2014 and 2017 as the US sent troops back into the region as of the early 2020s Islamic fundamentalism would seem to be on the decline driven in part by rapidly improving living standards in the Middle East a reduced inclination towards nation building by the United States in the region and a warming of relations between Israel and many of its Muslim neighbors indeed the main threat of Islamic fundamentalism seems to have shifted from the Middle East to the sahal the region along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert where Jihadi groups have undermined the stability of Nations like Mali ner China and bino Faso the Taliban has also returned to power in Afghanistan following the US withdrawal in 2021 Osama Bin Laden was arguably the most significant figure in the history of modern Islamic fundamentalism beginning in the 1970s he was gradually radicalized through his exposure to the ideas of islamist Scholars such as SED kba this growing radicalism combined with the financial power available to him through the enormous Bin Laden business Empire in Saudi Arabia and the connections he enjoyed throughout Saudi society ensured that when the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan commenced in 1979 he was able to bring extensive powers to bear in training and equipping mujah hadin to fight the Russians throughout the 1980s had his career of opposition to non-muslim incursions into the Islamic world ended there he would simply be a footnote to history but once the war against the Soviets wound down he committed himself to a wider program of Islamic fundamentalism his actions during the Gulf War highlighted his growing anti-americanism and his willingness to split with Muslim regimes such as that of the Saudi royal family if they engaged in actions which he deemed antithetical to Islam thus by the 1990s a more extreme version of Bin Laden and alqaeda was emerging as reflected in the increasingly brutal bombing campaigns being launched the most severe being the US Embassy bombings of 1998 which killed hundreds and injured thousands but it is ultimately the 9/11 attacks on the United States which Bin Laden and alqaeda have become most infamous for on that fateful September morning in 2001 19 hijackers acting on Bin Laden’s orders launched attacks which killed over 2,700 people in the space of a few hours while thousands more had their lives cut short in the years that followed as a result of ancillary injuries just as damaging was the psychological impact most people have clear memories of where they were and what they were doing on the 11th of September 2001 as news of the attacks emerged and footage of the planes striking the Twin Towers surfaced on news outlets life changed in many ways that day as additional security measures were imposed Across the Western World to combat future attacks Wars followed in the Middle East and for years there was hardly a week went by when news of a major incident in Afghanistan Iraq or somewhere was on the front pages of newspapers all of this culminated in the rise of isil and a migrant crisis in the Mediterranean as millions of people sought to flee from Syria and Iraq by that time been Laden was dead killed in a rather ignominious end in a Fortified Compound he had been holed up in in abbotabad for half a decade but the world had been changed immeasurably by his violent extremism what do you think of Osama bin Laden would it have been better for him to have been captured alive and placed on trial for his crimes please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime thank you very much for watching e he the
