Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, was one of the most notorious figures of the 21st century. His attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, forever changed the course of world history.
4.6 out of 5
| Language | : | English |
| File size | : | 1518 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | : | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | : | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | : | Enabled |
| Word Wise | : | Enabled |
| Print length | : | 285 pages |
| Lending | : | Enabled |
In this comprehensive biography, Michael Scheuer, a former CIA officer who tracked bin Laden for years, provides a detailed and nuanced portrait of the terrorist leader. Scheuer draws on his own experiences, as well as interviews with bin Laden's family, friends, and associates, to create a riveting and insightful account of bin Laden's life and motivations.
Early Life and Education
Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1957. He was the son of a wealthy construction magnate, and he grew up in a privileged household. Bin Laden attended elite schools in Saudi Arabia and England, and he studied engineering at King Abdulaziz University.
However, bin Laden's education was also marked by a deep religious zeal. He was a devout Muslim, and he was deeply influenced by the teachings of the Wahhabi sect of Islam. Wahhabism is a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that emphasizes the importance of jihad, or holy war.
The Afghan Jihad
In the early 1980s, bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen, who were fighting against the Soviet occupation of the country. Bin Laden quickly became a leader among the mujahideen, and he helped to raise funds and supplies for their cause.
The Afghan Jihad was a turning point in bin Laden's life. It was during this time that he developed his ideology of global jihad, and he began to see the United States as the enemy of Islam.
Al-Qaeda
After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, bin Laden founded Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization dedicated to waging jihad against the United States and its allies. Al-Qaeda quickly became one of the most notorious terrorist organizations in the world, and it was responsible for a number of high-profile attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
9/11
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda carried out its most devastating attack yet: the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and plunged the world into a state of shock and horror.
