"Osama" and "bin Laden" redirect here. For other uses see Osama (disambiguation) and bin Laden (disambiguation). Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden in 1997 Born March 10 1957(1957-03-10) Riyadh Saudi Arabia Died May 2 2011(2011-05-02) (aged 54) Abbottabad Pakistan Cause of death Ballistic trauma Residence Abbottabad Pakistan Years active 19792011 Successor Ayman Al-Zawahiri1 Religion Sunni Islam (Qutbism)23 Children Abdallah Laden Saad bin Laden Omar bin Laden Hamza bin Laden (see bin Laden family for more) Military career Place of birth Riyadh Saudi Arabia Place of death Abbottabad Pakistan 34109N 731433E / 34.16917N 73.2425E / 34.16917; 73.2425 Resting place North Arabian Sea Allegiance Al-Qaeda Battles/wars

Soviet war in Afghanistan War on Terror: War in Afghanistan Battle of Tora Bora War in North-West Pakistan Operation Neptune Spear

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /osm bn ldn/; Arabic: Usmah bin Muammad bin Awa bin Ldin; March 10 1957  May 2 2011note a) was the founder of al-Qaeda the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.456 He was a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.7

Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.8910 From 2001 to 2011 bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror with a US$25 million bounty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.11

After being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list bin Laden remained in hiding during three U.S. presidential administrations. On May 2 2011 bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALs and CIA operatives in a covert operation ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama. Shortly after his death bin Laden's body was buried at sea. Al-Qaeda acknowledged his death on May 6 2011 vowing to retaliate.12 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Personal life 3 Name 4 Beliefs and ideology 5 Militant activity 5.1 Mujahideen in Afghanistan 5.2 Formation and structuring of al-Qaeda 5.3 Sudan and return to Afghanistan 5.4 Early attacks and aid for attacks 5.5 Yugoslav Wars 5.6 September 11 attacks 6 Criminal charges 7 Attempted capture by the United States 7.1 Clinton administration 7.2 Bush administration 7.3 Obama administration 8 Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks 8.1 Whereabouts prior to his death 9 Death 10 Pakistan's alleged role in hiding bin Laden 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links Early life and education Main article: Childhood education and personal life of Osama bin Laden See also: Bin Laden family

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden ( /osm bn mohmd bn wd bn ldn/) was born in Riyadh Saudi Arabia13 a son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family14 and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife Hamida al-Attas (then called Alia Ghanem).15 In a 1998 interview bin Laden gave his birth date as March 10 1957.16

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s and are still together. The couple had four children and bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.15 The bin Laden family made $5 billion in the construction industry of which Osama later inherited around $2530 million.17

Bin Laden was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim.18 From 1968 to 1976 he attended the lite secular Al-Thager Model School.1519 He studied economics and business administration20 at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 197921 or a degree in public administration in 1981.22 One source described him as "hard working"23 another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.24 At university bin Laden's main interest was religion where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work.25 Other interests included writing poetry;26 reading with the works of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle said to be among his favorites; black stallions; and football in which he enjoyed playing at centre forward and followed the fortunes of Arsenal F.C..27 Personal life

In 1974 at the age of 17 bin Laden married Najwa Ghanem at Latakia Syria;28 they were divorced before September 11 2001. Bin Laden's other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983 divorced 1990s) Khairiah Sabar (married 1985) Siham Sabar (married 1987) and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife name unknown whose marriage to bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.29 Bin Laden fathered between 20 and 26 children with his wives.3031 Many of bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks and as of 2010 Iranian authorities reportedly continue to control their movement.32

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot misjudged a landing.33 Bin Laden's eldest half-brother Salem bin Laden the subsequent head of the bin Laden family was killed in 1988 near San Antonio Texas in the United States when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines. The FBI described bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin between 6 ft 4 in and 6 ft 6 in (193198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Interviewer Lawrence Wright on the other hand described him as quite slender but not particularly tall.34 Bin Laden had an olive complexion and was left-handed usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and he had stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male headdress.35 Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.36 Name There is no universally accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English;37 bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden". The FBI and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as well as other U.S. governmental agencies have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin" both of which may be abbreviated as "UBL". Less common renderings include "Ussamah bin Ladin" and in the French-language media "Oussama ben Laden". Other spellings include "Binladen" or as used by his family in the West "Binladin". The decapitalization of bin is based on the convention of leaving short prepositions and articles uncapitalized in surnames; however bin means "son of" and is not strictly speaking a preposition or article. The spellings with o and e come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan where bin Laden spent many years. Osama bin Laden's full name Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden means "Osama son of Mohammed son of Awad son of Laden". "Mohammed" refers to bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather Awad bin Aboud bin Laden a Kindite Hadhrami tribesman; "Laden" refers not to bin Laden's great-grandfather who was named Aboud but to a more distant ancestor. The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden" not "bin Laden" alone as "bin Laden" is a patronymic not a surname in the Western manner. According to bin Laden's son Omar bin Laden the family's hereditary surname is "al-Qahtani" (Arabic: l-Qan) but bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden never officially registered the name.38 Osama bin Laden had also assumed the kunyah "Ab Abdllh" ("father of Abdallah"). His admirers have referred to him by several nicknames including the "Prince" or "Emir" ( al-Amr) the "Sheik" ( a-ay) the "Jihadist Sheik" or "Sheik al-Mujahid" ( al-Muhid ay) "Hajj" ( a) and the "Director".39 The word usmah () means "lion"40 earning him the nicknames "Lion" and "Lion Sheik".41 Beliefs and ideology Main article: Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden According to former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer who led the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden the al-Qaeda leader was motivated by a belief that U.S. foreign policy has oppressed killed or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East42 condensed in the phrase "They hate us for what we do not who we are." Bin Laden also said only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world and that alternatives such as "pan-Arabism socialism communism democracy" must be opposed.43 This belief in conjunction with violent jihad has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb.44 Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.45 Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states46 the need to eliminate the state of Israel and the necessity of forcing the United States to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication homosexuality intoxicants gambling and usury" in an October 2002 letter.47 Bin Laden's ideology included the idea that innocent civilians including women and children are legitimate targets of jihad.4849 Bin Laden was anti-Semitic and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing either in this world or the next."50 Shia Muslims have been listed along with "heretics ... America and Israel" as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.51 Bin Laden opposed music on religious grounds52 and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand but rejected "chilled water" on the other.53 His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars5455 journalists from The New York Times5657 the BBC58 and Qatari news station Al Jazeera59 analysts such as Peter Bergen60 Michael Scheuer61 Marc Sageman62 and Bruce Hoffman6364 and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid New York City and Tripoli.65 Bin Laden's overall strategy against much larger enemies such as the Soviet Union and United States was to lure them into a long War of Attrition in Muslim countries attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to economic collapse of the enemy nation. Al-Qaeda manuals clearly outline this strategy. Militant activity Main article: Militant activity of Osama bin Laden See also: CIA-Osama bin Laden controversy Mujahideen in Afghanistan Osama bin Laden with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in 1997 After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden went to Pakistan and joined Abdullah Azzam to take part in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.6667 During Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989 the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the mujahideen leaders68 through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Bin Laden met and built relations with Hamid Gul who was a three star general in the Pakistani army and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons the training of militant groups was entirely done by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the ISI. By 1984 bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat which funneled money arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat bin Laden's inherited family fortune69 paid for air tickets and accommodation paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihadi fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan and used it to train volunteer fighters against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was during his time in Pakistan that he began wearing camouflage-print jackets and carrying a Russian-made assault rifle. Formation and structuring of al-Qaeda Main article: Al-Qaeda By 1988 bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.70 Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20 1988 indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction its goal is to lift the word of God to make His religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability good manners obedience and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors.71 According to Wright the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret".72 His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11 1988 meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Abdullah Azzam and bin Laden where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.73 Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989 Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad who along with his Arab legion "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union.74 The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2 1990 put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory75 Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military. Bin Laden believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him. Shortly after Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the West. On November 8 1990 the FBI raided the New Jersey home of El Sayyid Nosair an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed discovering copious evidence of terrorist plots including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.76 Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and later admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York on November 5 1990. Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan in 1992 in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.77 Sudan and return to Afghanistan In Sudan bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum. He bought a house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at Soba on the Blue Nile.7879 During his time in the country he heavily invested in the infrastructure and in agriculture and businesses.80 He continued his verbal assault on King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and in response on March 5 1994 Fahd sent an emissary to Sudan demanding bin Laden's passport. His family was persuaded to cut off his $7 million a year stipend.81 By now bin Laden was strongly associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan. As a result of his dealings in and advocacy of violent extremist jihad Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship in 1994 and was disowned by his billionaire family.82 Sudan also began efforts to expel bin Laden. The 9/11 Commission Report states: In late 1995 when Bin Laden was still in Sudan the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him but was denied authorization.83 U.S. Ambassador Timothy Carney encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis however did not want Bin Laden giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. Sudan's minister of defense Fatih Erwa has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since at the time there was no indictment outstanding.84 The 9/11 Commission Report further states: In February 1996 Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. U.S. officials became aware of these secret discussions certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship however and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes or both. In May 1996 under increasing pressure on Sudan from Saudi Arabia Egypt and the United States bin Laden returned to Jalalabad Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar.8586 When bin Laden left Sudan he and his organization were significantly weakened despite his ambitions and organizational skills.87 In August 1996 bin Laden declared war against the United States. This fatw was first published in Al Quds Al Arabi a London-based newspaper. The fatw is entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places."88 Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina the two holiest places in Islam. The reference to occupation in the fatw refers to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq known as Operation Southern Watch. In Afghanistan bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from "donors from the days of the Soviet jihad" and from the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to establish more training camps for Mujahideen fighters.89 Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana Afghan Airlines which ferried Islamic militants arms cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of bin Laden's terrorist network.90 Viktor Bout helped to run the airline maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer head of the CIA's bin Laden unit concluded that Ariana was being used as a "terrorist taxi service".91 Early attacks and aid for attacks It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.92 It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.93 The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public. In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary Qari el-Said with $40000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150000200000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government. Bin Laden funded the Luxor massacre of November 17 1997949596 which killed 62 civilians but outraged the Egyptian public. In mid-1997 the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad causing bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.97 Another successful attack was carried out in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundreds of Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand Hazaras overrunning the city.98 In February 1998 Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip".99100 At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists "You will see the results of this in a very short time."101 In December 1998 the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the United States of America including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.102 Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on June 24 1998.103 The 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on August 7 1998 in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the United States embassies in the major East African cities of Dar es Salaam Tanzania and Nairobi Kenya. The attacks were linked to local members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the United States public for the first time and resulted in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation placing bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted list. At the end of 2000 Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River the sinking of the destroyer USS The Sullivans in Yemen as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam.104 Yugoslav Wars See also: Bosnian mujahideen A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists after it was revealed that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists some with ties to Osama bin Laden.105 In 1997 Rzeczpospolita one of the largest Polish daily newspapers reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992 hundreds of volunteers joined an "all-mujahedeen unit" called El Moujahed in an abandoned hillside factory a compound with a hospital and prayer hall. Anti-bin Laden graffiti in Bucharest Romania According to Middle East intelligence reports bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was Karim Said Atmani who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States of America.106 He is a former roommate of Ahmed Ressam the man arrested at the Canadian-U.S. border in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.107108 He was convicted of colluding with Osama bin Laden by a French court.109 A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records conducted at the urging of the United States revealed other former mujahideen who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists and had lived in the area 60 miles (97 km) north of Sarajevo the capital in the past few years. Khalil al-Deek was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites; a second man with Bosnian citizenship Hamid Aich lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Osama bin Laden. In its June 26 1997 report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh Saudi Arabia The New York Times noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslims forces. Further the captured men also admitted to ties with Osama bin Laden.110111112 In 1999 it was revealed that bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and Bosnian passports in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. This information was denied by the Bosnian government following the September 11 attacks but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation a new explanation was given that bin Laden "did not personally collect his Bosnian passport" and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna which issued the passport could not have known who bin Laden was at the time.110111112 The Bosnian daily Osloboenje published in 2001 that three men believed to be linked to bin Laden were arrested in Sarajevo in July 2001. The three one of whom was identified as Imad El Misri were Egyptian nationals. The paper said that two of the suspects were holding Bosnian passports.110 In 1998 it was reported that bin Laden was operating his al-Qaeda network out of Albania. The Charleston Gazette quoted Fatos Klosi the head of the Albanian intelligence service as saying a network run by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden sent units to fight in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Confirmation of these activities came from Claude Kader a French national who said he was a member of bin Laden's Albanian network. By 1998 four members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.113 September 11 attacks See also: September 11 attacks and Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden "God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers but after the situation became unbearableand we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and LebanonI thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followedwhen America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women." Osama bin Laden 2004114 United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the south tower After repeated denials115 in 2004 Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States.116117118 The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft119 the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City New York severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington Virginia120 and the deaths of 2974 people and the nineteen hijackers.121 In response to the attacks the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden.122 The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified123 evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.124 The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks although the government report notes that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient for a prosecutable case.125 Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16 2001 bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.126 In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge.127 The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden it is not identical with the Arabic."128 2001 video of bin Laden In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers.117129 In the 18-minute tape played on Al-Jazeera four days before the American presidential election bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.117 According to the tapes bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.130 Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006 Osama bin Laden announced "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. ... I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers ... with the raids" (May 23 2006).131 In the tapes he was seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7 2006).132 Identified motivations of the September 11 attacks include the support of Israel by the United States presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq. Criminal charges On March 16 1998 Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing two German citizens in Libya on March 10 1994 one of whom is thought to have been a German counter-intelligence officer. Bin Laden was still wanted by the Libyan government at the time of his death.133134 Osama bin Laden was first indicted by the United States on June 8 1998 when a grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the November 14 1995 truck bombing of a U.S.-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh.135 Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.135 Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack. On November 4 1998 Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges of Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death136 for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the United States.137 Bin Laden became the 456th person listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list when he was added to the list on June 7 1999 following his indictment along with others for capital crimes in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure prior to the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.138 In 1999 U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him. Years later on October 10 2001 bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 FBI Most Wanted Terrorists which was released to the public by the President of the United States George W. Bush in direct response to the September 11 attacks but which was again based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of thirteen fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 embassy bombings. Bin Laden remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists. Despite the multiple indictments listed above and multiple requests the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. They did however offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial in return for the United States ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by President Bush stating that this was no longer negotiable with Bush responding "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."139 On June 15th 2011 federal prosecutors of the United States of America officially dropped all criminal charges against Osama Bin Laden following his death in May. 140 Attempted capture by the United States U.S. propaganda leaflet used in Afghanistan with bin Laden second from the left Clinton administration Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton.141 Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (and specifically their elite Special Activities Division) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible then deadly force was authorized.142 On August 20 1998 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan narrowly missing him by a few hours.143 In 1999 the CIA together with Pakistani military intelligence had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'tat;143 in 2000 foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was riding.142 In 2000 prior to the September 11 attacks Paul Bremer characterized the Clinton administration as "correctly focused on bin Laden" while Robert Oakley criticized their "obsession with Osama".104 Bush administration Immediately after the September 11 attacks U.S. government officials named bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.39144 On July 13 2007 this figure was doubled to $50 million.145 The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward.146 According to The Washington Post the U.S. government concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the Battle of Tora Bora Afghanistan in late 2001 and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge failure by the United States to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the United States in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications that bin Laden began the Battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.147 The Washington Post also reported that the CIA unit composed of their special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.148 Bush had previously defended this scaling back of the effort several times saying "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."149 U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in Tora Bora between August 1416 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-Ramadan meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members they did not find either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri.150 Obama administration Members of the Obama administration track the mission that killed bin Laden On October 7 2008 in the second presidential debate on foreign policy then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."151 Upon being elected then President-elect Obama expressed his plans to "renew U.S. commitment to finding al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden according to his national security advisers" in an effort to ratchet up the hunt for the terrorist.151 President Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on bin Laden that "conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to Hamas to Hezbollah" replacing it with "with a covert laserlike focus on al-Qaeda and its spawn."152153 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in December 2009 that officials had had no reliable information on bin Laden's whereabouts for years. One week later General Stanley McChrystal the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in December 2009 that al-Qaeda will not be defeated unless its leader Osama bin Laden is captured or killed. Testifying to the U.S. Congress he said bin Laden had become an "iconic figure whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world" and that Obama's deployment of 30000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. "I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's captured or killed" McChrystal said of bin Laden. "Killing or capturing bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large."154 In April 2011 President Obama ordered a covert operation to kill or capture bin Laden. On May 1 2011 the White House announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had carried it out killing him in his Abbottabad Pakistan compound.155 Activities and whereabouts after the September 11 attacks Main article: Location of Osama bin Laden Shortly after the September 11 attacks President George W. Bush stated that he now hoped to "kill or capture" bin Laden. Subsequently bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Since that time numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death. Meanwhile al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally-verified videos demonstrating bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007.156 Bin Laden as seen in a video seized during the raid on his compound in 2011. Presumably made shortly before his death. Most recently U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal had emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden thus clearly indicating that the U.S. high command continued to believe that bin Laden was probably still alive. Some of the conflicting reports regarding both his continued whereabouts and previous mistaken claims about his death have included the following: Many claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden were made in the wake of the September 11 attacks although none were ever definitively proven and some placed bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods. After military offensives in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks failed to uncover his whereabouts Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place. A December 11 2005 letter from Atiyah Abd al-Rahman to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi indicates that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the Waziristan region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter translated by the United States military's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point "Atiyah" instructs Zarqawi to "send messengers from your end to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership ... I am now on a visit to them and I am writing you this letter as I am with them..." Al-Rahman also indicates that bin Laden and al-Qaeda are "weak" and "have many of their own problems." The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials according to The Washington Post.157158 In 2009 a research team led by Thomas W. Gillespie and John A. Agnew of UCLA used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in Parachinar as bin Laden's likely hideouts.159 In March 2009 the New York Daily News reported that the hunt for bin Laden had centered in the Chitral District of Pakistan including the Kalam Valley. According to the report author Rohan Gunaratna states that captured al-Qaeda leaders have confirmed that Chitral is where bin Laden is hiding.160 In the first week of December 2009 a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that bin Laden was in Afghanistan in 2009. The detainee said that in January or February (of 2009) he met a trusted contact who had seen bin Laden about 15 to 20 days earlier in Afghanistan. However on December 6 2009. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years.161 Pakistan's Prime Minister Gillani rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.162 On February 2 2010 an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban would sever ties with extremists and expel Osama bin Laden.163 This condition was announced as the Afghan president Karzai arrived in the kingdom for an official visit for a discussion of a possible Saudi role in his plan to reintegrate Taliban militants.163 On June 7 2010 the Kuwaiti Al Siyassa reported that bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of Savzevar in north eastern Iran.164 The Australian newspaper online published the claim on June 9.165 On October 18 2010 an unnamed NATO official suggested that bin Laden was "alive and well and living comfortably" in Pakistan protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the United States.166 Whereabouts prior to his death In April 2011 various intelligence outlets were able to pinpoint bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad Pakistan. It was originally believed that bin Laden was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas167 but he was actually found 100 miles (160 km) away in a three-story mansion in Abbottabad167168 at 34109.63N 731433.33E / 34.1693417N 73.2425917E / 34.1693417; 73.2425917.169 Bin Laden's mansion was located 0.8 miles (1.3 km) southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy (Pakistan's "West Point"). On170171172173 Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001 but was present on images taken in 2005. Death Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden See also: Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden and Death of Osama bin Laden conspiracy theories Website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation listing bin Laden as deceased on the Most Wanted List on May 3 2011 On April 29 2011 U.S. President Barack Obama authorized the CIA to conduct a raid dubbed "Operation Neptune Spear".174175176177178 In the late evening of May 1 2011 (EDT) the president announced that bin Laden had been killed in the operation. Two teams of 12 U.S. Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team Six) of the Joint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA paramilitary operatives stormed bin Laden's compound in two helicopters.179 One of the helicopters experienced a vortex ring state upon approach resulting in a grazing of the tail rotor with the compound's wall. The damaged aircraft was "hard-landed" allowing the mission to continue however it had to be destroyed on-site to protect technology secrets.180 Back-up forces were immediately available and another helicopter was brought in to retrieve the commandos and relevant contents. All combined a total of 79 commandos and a dog (believed to have explosive-detection training) were involved in the raid.181 Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti bin Laden's courier opened fire on the SEALs from the guesthouse with an AK-47 assault rifle where he and his wife were killed in the returned fire.182183 A second group of SEALs entered the main house where they were confronted by al-Kuwaiti's brother who had his hands behind his back. He was shot and killed by the SEALs who feared he might have a weapon. Bin Laden's unarmed 22-year-old son rushed towards the SEALs on the staircase and was also shot and killed.182183184185186 President Barack Obama in the Oval Office preparing a televised statement detailing the mission against Osama bin Laden and his death May 1 2011 As the raiders traversed the stairs to the 3rd floor of the compound a man was found standing at the end of the hallway. They immediately recognized him as bin Laden who rather than give-up retreated into his bedroom. The raiders assumed he was going for a weapon and quickly rushed in to find him behind two women who were yelling and trying to protect him. The women were shoved to the side while another raider fired fatal gunshots into his head and chest.187188 An official said "he didn't hold up his hands and surrender" and his retreating into the room was considered a hostile act.189190191 There were two weapons near him including an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 millimeter semi-automatic Makarov pistol.183184186189192193 News of bin Laden's death was announced from the scene with the word "Geronimo" indicating the alphabetical ordering of the letter "G" having successfully completed that part of the mission188194 The White House top U.S. counter-terrorism official John Brennan and other U.S. officials said the SEALs were prepared to capture bin Laden if he had surrendered but one unnamed U.S. official said the SEALs mission was not to take bin Laden alive.182195 In his broadcast announcement Obama said that U.S. forces "took care to avoid civilian casualties".196 The attack was carried out without the knowledge of the Pakistani government.197 The entire raid including intelligence sweeps of the compound was completed in less than 40 minutes. His body was taken and biometric facial recognition tests were performed that gave a 90-95 percent match.198199 Two women in the compound also identified the body and a subsequent genetic kinship analysis supported the preliminary identification with a 99.9 percent certainty that the body was related to the bin Laden family.198200 On May 6 2011 al-Qaeda confirmed that bin Laden was dead. They also vowed that they would continue attacking the U.S. and its allies.201 The compound where bin Laden was killed Four years of CIA surveillance of bin Laden's courier led to the intelligence which made the raid possible. The courier owned the compound.197202203 White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that bin Laden's wife had rushed the invading commandos and was shot in the leg but was not killed.204 Bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter who witnessed her father being shot was injured in her leg by a piece of flying debris.205206 The Guardian reported "She was comforting her father's fifth wife Amal Ahmed al-Sadah 29 who was shot in the calf by commandos as they closed in on bin Laden."205 Amal and eight of bin Laden's children were taken into Pakistani custody following the raid. Bin Laden had cash totaling 500 euro and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed.207208 Amal had told interrogators that she had not left the compound in the five years that she lived there with bin Laden.209 Within 24 hours of his death bin Laden's body was transported to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for final rites and burial at sea.199 One U.S. official stated "Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult."210 MSNBC reported "There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants."211 His death attracted protests from hundreds of people in the city of Quetta in southwestern Pakistan who burned U.S. flags and paid homage to the late al-Qaeda leader.212 Shortly after his death controversial claims were made regarding a will he has written a short time after 9/11213 in which he guided his children not to follow the path of Jihad. Others claimed the will to be misquoted by the media and that his children were guided not to seek the leadership of Jihad.214 Following bin Laden's death the U.S. State Department issued a "worldwide caution" for Americans and U.S diplomatic facilities everywhere were placed on high alert a senior U.S official said.215216 Crowds gathered outside the White House in New York City's Times Square as well as the World Trade Center the site of the September 11 attacks to celebrate bin Laden's death.217 Chittral News a Pakistani news site claimed that some people were dismayed that Pakistan has lost its sovereignty.218 Pakistan's alleged role in hiding bin Laden Main article: Allegations of support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden watching himself on television Critics accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden.219 For example Mosharraf Zaidi a leading Pakistani columnist stated "It seems deeply improbable that bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state."220 Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari denied that his country's security forces sheltered bin Laden221222 and called any supposed support for bin Laden by the Pakistani government "baseless speculation". It was speculated that the issue might further strain U.S. ties with Pakistan.223224 Bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for five years.225226 It was an expensive compound located less than a mile from Pakistan's version of West Point227228229 probably built for him230 and less than 100 kilometers' drive from the capital. The Pakistani government's foreign office issued a statement that "categorically denies" any reports by the media that the country's leadership "civil as well as military had any prior knowledge of the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden".231 Pakistan's United States envoy ambassador Husain Haqqani promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound just a few hours drive from Islamabad and stated that "obviously bin Laden did have a support system; the issue is was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan"232 See also Biography portal Saudi Arabia portal Sudan portal Pakistan portal Afghanistan portal Terrorism portal United States portal Afghan civil war Destructive cults Fataw of Osama bin Laden Islamic fundamentalism Islamic mujahid movement Islamic terrorism Islamofascism Osama bin Laden in popular culture Pakistan and state terrorism Previous attempts to capture or kill bin Laden The Golden Chain War against Islam References Footnotes . http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13788594.  Osama Bin Laden (2007) Suzanne J. 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Chitralnews.com. http://www.chitralnews.com/News-%20AweStruckt-02-Mayr-11.htm. Retrieved May 2 2011.  Marisa Schultz. "Levin questions Pakistan's role". The Detroit News. http://detnews.com/article/20110503/NATION/105030368/Levin-questions-Pakistan's-role#ixzz1LGfVnAVd.  "Osama bin Laden killed near Pakistan's West Point. Was he really hidden". The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2011/0502/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-near-Pakistan-s-West-Point.-Was-he-really-hidden.  Toosi Nahal (September 11 2001). "The Canadian Press: Pakistan's president dismisses suspicions that his country was sheltering bin Laden". Google. http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ie6QSATOQYI1N-xQfy-6VPRGhm2wdocId6739650. Retrieved May 3 2011.  Your name:. "Zardari defends Pakistan over bin Laden intel". Emirates 24/7. http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/zardari-defends-pakistan-over-bin-laden-intel-2011-05-03-1.388294. Retrieved May 3 2011.  "Pakistan admits it wasn't part of US operation to kill Osama bin Laden DNA". Dnaindia.com. September 11 2001. http://www.dnaindia.com/world/reportpakistan-admits-it-wasn-t-part-of-us-operation-to-kill-osama-bin-laden1538828. Retrieved May 3 2011.  Perlez Jane (September 11 2001). "Nation & World Bin Laden's death casts more suspicion on Pakistan Seattle Times Newspaper". Seattletimes.nwsource.com. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014941260osamapakistan03.html. Retrieved May 3 2011.  Peter Walker and agencies. "Osama bin Laden lived in two rooms for five years wife says World news guardian.co.uk". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/06/osama-bin-laden-lived-two-rooms. Retrieved 2011-05-12.  Associated The (April 2 2008). "Report: Bin Laden hid in Pakistan compound for more than three years". Haaretz. Israel. http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/report-bin-laden-hid-in-pakistan-compound-for-over-three-years-before-capture-1.359578. Retrieved May 3 2011.  "Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid". Telegraph Media Group. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html. Retrieved May 3 2011.  "Death of Osama bin Laden: Mystery shrouds the quiet man who built Bin Laden's compound - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 2011-05-06. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/06/world/la-fg-osama-builder-20110506/2. Retrieved 2011-05-12.  "Interesting Facts About Osama bin Laden's Compound International Business Times". Au.ibtimes.com. http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/140534/20110503/interesting-facts-about-osama-bin-laden-s-compound.htm. Retrieved May 3 2011.  Westhead Rick (April 1 2011). "Questions about bin Laden embarrassing to Pakistan". Toronto Star (Toronto). http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/984289--questions-about-bin-laden-embarrassing-to-pakistanbn1. Retrieved May 3 2011.  Ross Brian. "Osama Bin Laden Killed: U.S. Intelligence Probes Possible Pakistani Support System". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed-us-probes-pakistan-support/storyid13516775. Retrieved May 3 2011.  "Death of Bin Laden: Live report". Yahoo!. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110502/wlafp/usattacksbinladenlivereport;yltAtkVnLoCPtSNzXEm27D9w94Bxg8F;yluX3oDMTMyNWRwdTlkBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDUwMi91c2F0dGFja3NiaW5sYWRlbmxpdmVyZXBvcnQEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDZGVhdGhvZmJpbmxh.  Additional notes The date according to Pakistan Standard Time (UTC+05:00). Bibliography Bergen Peter (2006). The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0743295927. http://books.google.com/idXkM92XMlQ4C&printsecfrontcover&dqOsama+bin+Laden#vonepage&q&ffalse  Wright Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11. New York: Knopf. ISBN 1400030846. http://books.google.com/idRNkj-mO-Nt8C&printsecfrontcover&dqThe+Looming+Tower:+Al-Qaeda+And+The+Road+To+9/11#vonepage&q&ffalse  Scheuer Michael (2002). Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Washington D.C.: Brassey's. ISBN 1574885537. http://books.google.com/idsK0n1UoN9gAC&printsecfrontcover&dqThrough+Our+Enemies%27+Eyes#vonepage&q&ffalse  Further reading Berner Brad K (2007). Quotations from Osama Bin Laden. Peacock Books. ISBN 8124801134. http://books.google.com/idytwlNcIqYs0C&printsecfrontcover&dqOsama+bin+Laden#vonepage&q&ffalse  Bin Laden Osama; Bruce Lawrence (2005). Messages to the world: the statements of Osama Bin Laden. Verso. ISBN 1844670457. http://books.google.com/id3fRlEZoaioC&printsecfrontcover&dqOsama+bin+Laden#vonepage&q&ffalse  Scheuer Michael (2011). Osama Bin Laden. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199738661. http://books.google.ca/booksidVt-a30Z4UUC&lpgPP1&dqOsama%20bin%20Laden&pgPP1#vonepage&q&ffalse  Foreign Broadcast Information Service (2006) Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 January 2004 External links Find more about Osama bin Laden on Wikipedia's sister projects: Definitions from Wiktionary Images and media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at Dawn Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The Guardian Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary at The New York Times Works by or about Osama bin Laden in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Osama bin Laden collected legal news at JURIST Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' The Observer November 24 2002 Hunting Bin Laden PBS Frontline (November 2002) Young Osama Steve Coll The New Yorker December 12 2005 How the World Sees Osama bin Laden slideshow by Life The Osama bin Laden File from The National Security Archive posted May 2 2011 v d eOsama bin Laden Background Childhood education and personal life  Militant activity  Beliefs and ideology  Criticism  Location  Khartoum compound  Abbottabad compound  Death (reactions code name controversy conspiracy theories) Family Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (father)  Hamida al-Attas (mother)  Najwa Ghanem (first wife)  Abdullah bin Laden (son)  Hamza bin Laden (son)  Saad bin Laden (son)  Omar bin Laden (son) Work al-Qaeda  Wadi al Aqiq  Messages to the World  Fataw  2004 video  19 January 2006 tape  7 September 2007 video  11 September 2007 video  20 September 2007 tape (more) In media In popular culture  Growing Up bin Laden  Holy War Inc.  Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden  Interviews Related Allegations of support system in Pakistan for Osama bin Laden  Bodyguard  Issue Station  September 11 attacks  CIA Osama bin Laden controversy  False sightings v d eAl-Qaeda Leadership Saif al-Adel  Ayman al-Zawahiri  Anwar al-Awlaki  Nasir al-Wuhayshi  Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud Attacks 1993 World Trade Center bombing  1998 United States embassy bombings  USS Cole bombing  September 11 attacks  2004 Madrid train bombings  7 July 2005 London bombings  2007 Algiers bombings (April December)  2008 Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad  2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting  Northwest Airlines Flight 253  Cargo planes bomb plot War War in Afghanistan  Iraq War  Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown  Shiite Insurgency in Yemen  Somali Civil War  War in North-West Pakistan  Insurgency in the Maghreb  South Yemen insurgency v d eAlleged chiefs of al-Qaeda Head of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden (...2011) Saif al-Adel (2011 interim) Ayman al-Zawahiri (2011 ) Military chiefs Abu Ayub al-Iraqi (1989 alleged) Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri (19911996) Mohammed Atef (19962001) Saif al-Adel (2001 alleged) Financial chiefs Saeed al-Masri (1995) v d eWar on Terror Participants Operational ISAF  Operation Enduring Freedom participants  Afghanistan  Northern Alliance  Iraq (Iraqi Armed Forces)  NATO  Pakistan  United Kingdom  United States  Philippines  Ethiopia Targets Al-Qaeda  Osama bin Laden  Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula  Abu Sayyaf  Anwar al-Awlaki  Hamas  Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami  Hezbollah  Hizbul Mujahideen  Islamic Courts Union  Jaish-e-Mohammed  Jemaah Islamiyah  Lashkar-e-Taiba  Mujahideen  Taliban  Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Conflicts Operation Enduring Freedom War in Afghanistan  OEF Philippines  Georgia Train and Equip Program  Georgia Sustainment and Stability  OEF Horn of Africa  OEF Trans Sahara  Drone attacks in Pakistan Other Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002present)  Insurgency in the Philippines  Iraq War  Iraqi insurgency  South Thailand insurgency  Terrorism in Saudi Arabia  War in North-West Pakistan  War in Somalia (20062009)  2007 Lebanon conflict  Yemeni al-Qaeda crackdown See also Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse  Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act  Axis of evil  Black sites  Bush Doctrine  The Clash of Civilizations  Combatant Status Review Tribunal  Criticism of the War on Terror  Death of Osama bin Laden  Enhanced interrogation techniques  Torture Memos  Extrajudicial prisoners  Extraordinary rendition  Guantanamo Bay detention camp  Military Commissions Act of 2006  NSA electronic surveillance program  Pakistan's role  Luis Posada Carriles  President's Surveillance Program  Protect America Act of 2007  Targeted killing  Targeted Killing in International Law  Unitary executive theory  Unlawful combatant  USA PATRIOT Act Terrorism  War Persondata Name Osama bin Laden Alternative names Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden (full name); (Arabic); Laden Osama bin (alternate form); Bin Laden Usama (alternate transliteration); UBL (common referent); Bin Ladin Ussamah (alternate transliteration); Ben Laden Oussama (alternate transliteration); Binladen Osama (alternate transliteration); Binladin Osama (alternate transliteration); Al-Amir (alias); Abu Abdallah (alias); Mujahid Sheikh Al- (alias) Short description Al-Qaeda leader Date of birth March 10 1957 Place of birth Riyadh Saudi Arabia Date of death May 2 2011 Place of death Abbottabad Pakistan