Born:
1957
--1992 Somalia: Ambush by Al-Qaeda Trained Somali guerrillas leave 18 dead US soldiers. Around 1,500-2,000 Somalis were killed in the ambush.
Died:
--
Place of Birth:
Saudi Arabia
Military University:
none
Wars Fought:
-Soviet-Afghan War
-War on America
-War on the United States:
Osama Bin Laden came to be in the Russian-Afghan War. He first started by using his millions to recruit and supply the Afghan mujahideen from Pakistan. He got even more involved later, actually fighting directly against the Russians. His Ak-47 that he is always seen carrying is his lucky rifle that he took from a dead Russian. He also is credited with bringing thousands of muslims to fight in Afghanistan. After the war, he returned home to Saudi Arabia and started a movement against the currupt monarchy. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and threat to Saudi Arabia led the Saudi king to call in American troops. This is the point when Bin Laden and the United States became enemies. Bin Laden viewed this as an insult to have non-muslims step on the holiest places to muslims. He brought together thousands of ex-Afghan vets, and set out to 1) remove the Saudi rulers and create one Islamic country united all Arab lands 2) removing the US military out of Arab land and 3)remove the Israelis from the Middle East. After being thrown out of his country in 1991 he fled to Sudan. Here too he would be thrown out in 1996 after American pressure. He returned to Afghanistan along with his supporters and establisged Al-Qaeda, or "The Base." From here he assembled some 3,000 fighters and ran around 50 terrorist camps. An estimated 50,000 people were trained here to wage jihad or holy war on occupied muslim lands. Bin Laden supported with training and money wars in Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Algeria, and Phillipines. His Al-Qaeda united with Egypt's Islamic Jihad and together set up a worldwide organization in some 60 countries.
Bin Laden's Attacks on the United States:
--1993 US: World Trade Center Bombing leaves 6 dead and thousands injured.
--1995-96 Saudi Arabia: Bombings on US military bases leaves 22 American soldiers dead.
--1998 Tanzania & Kenya: US embassy bombings leave 224 people dead, including 12 Americans and thousands wounded. Pres. Clinton orders around 70 cruise missile strikes at targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. One strike in Khowst, Afghanistan misses Bin Laden by one hour, killing 24 Al-Qaeda senior officers. Several Pakistani Intelligence Officers were killed at a different camp.
--2000 Yemen: Suicide bombing against the American destroyer USS Cole leaves 17 dead sailors. Bin Laden neither claims nor denies attacks, but later video shows him boasting of destroying the American "destroyer."
--2001 US: WTC & Pentagon bombings, along with a foiled crash in Pennsylvania leave some 3,200 Americans dead. Home video shows Bin Laden talkin about the attacks and boasting that the losses were much greater than he had hoped for.
