Osama bin laden autobiography in five short
•
•
Osama bin Laden
Militant leader (–)
"ObL" redirects here. For other uses, see OBL (disambiguation).
See also: Bin Laden (disambiguation)
Osama bin Laden[a] (10 March 2 May ) was a Saudi Arabian–born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet Union, and supported the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Opposed to the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East, Bin Laden declared war on the U.S. in and advocated attacks targeting US assets in various countries, and supervised the execution of the September 11 attacks inside the U.S. in
Bin Laden was born in Riyadh to the aristocratic bin Laden family. He studied at Saudi and foreign universities until , when he joined the mujahideen fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In , he co-founded Maktab al-Khidamat, which recruited foreign mujahideen into the war. Bin Laden was an influential ideologue who inspired several Islamist organizations. To many Islamists, he was a war hero for helping defend Afghanistan, and a voice of opposition against Western imperialism. He founded al-Qaeda in for worldwide jihad. In the Gulf War,
•
Osama Bin Laden Dead
Tonight, President Obama addressed the Nation to announce that the United States has killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda. Watch his full remarks here or read his full remarks below, and learn more from the transcript of the White House briefing call afterwards.
Remarks by the President on Osama Bin Laden
East Room
P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It was nearly 10 years ago that a bright September day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner ta