Osama Bin Laden
From Conservapedia
Osama bin Laden is a Saudi Arabian millionaire, a radical Sunni Muslim, and the leader of al Qaeda, a worldwide terrorist group widely believed[1] to be responsible for September 11, 2001 attacks and some other terrorist attacks on Americans in the 1990s. He obtained his wealth by inheriting it from his father, Mohammed Awad bin Laden, who was a successful entrepreneur in the construction industry.
During the Clinton Administration [2], bin Laden issued two Declarations of War against the United States for the basing of troops in the Arabian Peninsula to defend against external aggression by Saddam Hussein and because of the suffering of the Iraqi people under UN economic sanctions.[3] However, Clinton did not take the threat seriously, and did not make an effort to capture or kill bin Laden. [4]
In bin Laden's declarations and writings, he asserts that American attacks against Muslims justify reciprocation by Muslims, including the killing of innocents as a part of militaristic jihad. He refers to Islamic states headed by individuals friendly to the United States as usurper states which are disloyal to Islam, but states that anyone who converts to Islam, even President Bush, will be welcomed as a brother.
Bin Laden lived in Sudan for most of the 1990's at the invitation of Hassan al-Turabi, a powerful Sudanese political leader and terrorism supporter. He then returned to Afghanistan, where he had fought against the Soviets in the 1980's. He was protected by the Taliban until the American liberation of Afghanistan following 9/11.
In the 1990s, bin Laden also gave funding to Chechen terrorists fighting against Russia[5]. These terrorists were later responsible for the Beslan school siege of 2004. Chechens also fought in Afghanistan against U.S. forces on behalf of the Taliban[6].
During the 1980s insurgency against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the Carter Administration initially directed help to train and arm anti-Soviet Islamic militants, some of whom were radical Islamists. bin Laden had his own source of funding, though, and would have shunned influence by America.[7]
In 1998, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, then leader of the Egyptian terrorist group called the Islamic Brotherhood, announced the joining of al Qaeda and the Islamic Brotherhood to form the World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders[8]. In 1998, the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were destroyed by suicide bombers; the United States later indicted both Ben Laden and al-Zawahiri for the attacks which killed 224 people. In retaliation the United States launched cruise missiles, however, both terrorist leaders escaped.
Bin Laden is cited by the United States government as the most wanted terrorist. He remains at large to this day despite seven years of the United States army searching for him.
See also
References
- ↑ By the majority of the population, except for a few "9/11 Truthers"
- ↑ Did Bill Clinton Smooth the Way for bin Laden to Become the World's Most Successful Terrorist?, Mary Mostert, Original Sources, August 24, 1998.
- ↑ bin Laden's Declaration of War, 1998.
- ↑ [1] Osama bin Laden: missed opportunities
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/24-318760.html
- ↑ http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir011003_1_n.shtml
