MAIN People in the News Osama bin Laden

Commonly known as Osama bin Laden, the founder of the militant group Al Qaeda was born Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden on March 10, 1957 in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia.

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Having grown up in a privileged household, headed by his father Mohammed Awad bin Laden - a wealthy building contractor to the Saudi royal family - he was later schooled at one of the most prestigeous schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Bin Laden was first married at 17 in 1974 and later took several other wives. (He reportedly has fathered a total of 24 children including sons Abdallah, Omar, Saad and Mohammed - the latter two following in their father's footsteps as militant Islamists.)

In 1979, he earned his college degree in civil engineering in at King Abdulaziz University, where he also is believed to have been first heavily influenced by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and anti-Western jihad.

The same year, with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, bin Laden became completely radicalized and helped use his family's considerable fortune to fund the resistance effort.

Along with additional help from the CIA, he also personally traveled to the war front to fight in the armed struggle and coordinate other Muslim forces from throughout the region.

A Threat to the West

Despite America's secret help in defeating Soviet forces in Afghanistan, bin Laden next turned his sights on the U.S.and issued a fatwa or edict in 1998 calling for jihad against the West, specifically demanding the withdrawal of military forces from Israel and other Mideast countries, and the killing of U.S. civilians and military personnel until America had done so.

Since then, bin Laden has been linked to major terrorist bombings around the world including assaults on U.S. embassies in Africa, several attacks in Bali, commuter trains in Madrid and the USS Cole attack in 2000.

The 9/11 2001 attacks have never been directly linked to bin Laden, although he reportedly had an active hand in plotting and funding the crashing of two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center resulting in 2,988 deaths.

Dead or Alive?

Amid rumors of his death in 2006, Osama bin Laden was said to have been mentioned in a report made by the Saudi government to the French secret service.

In the document, bin Laden was reported to have died in Pakistan on August 23, 2006 after contracting typhoid. News of the alleged end of the al-Qaeda leader supposedly began with a report by the Saudi secret service to the Saudi Arabian government, which in turn transferred the information to the French secret service.

The French government, however, has not as yet publicly acknowledge receipt of any such document.

Bin Laden's present whereabouts are unknown, although anecdotal evidence continues to point to Afghanistan, where the perceived war of the world's major superpowers vs Islam began with the Soviet invasion.

Osama on Video

Although Bin Laden (or someone looking very much like him) has appeared in carefully crafted videos following the terrorist bombing in New York in 2001, his communication with the outside world has waned since then, and he has failed to appear in new video footage since October 2004.

However, according to recent reports, Osama bin Laden will release a new video in 2007 to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, providing the first new images of the al-Qaida leader in nearly three years.

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Osama bin Laden - Wikipedia

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Osama Bin Laden Full Coverage on Yahoo! News

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CBC News Indepth - Osama bin Laden

Quotes

• If the American government is serious about avoiding explosions inside the U.S., then let it stop provoking the feelings of 1,250 million Muslims. CNN 1997.

• We believe that the biggest thieves in the world are Americans and the biggest terrorists on earth are the Americans. ABC's Nightline, June 1998.

• For the American forces to expect anything from me personally reflects a very narrow perception. Thousands of millions of Muslims are angry. The Americans should expect reactions from the Muslim world that are proportionate to the injustice they inflict. Time Magazine December 1998.

• We, God willing, will continue to fight you and will continue martyrdom operations inside and outside the United States until you abandon your oppression and foolish acts. - audiotape broadcast on Al Jazeera, October 2003.

• O American people, I am speaking to tell you about the ideal way to avoid another Manhattan, about war and its causes and results. - videotape on Al Jazeera, October 2004.