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Just who is Osoma Bin Laden ?

Ellis

17:00 / 12.09.01

Who is he?

Why does he hate America?

Is there actually any proof that he did this?

[Why is he blamed first?]

Have I spelt his name right??

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: Ellis ]

autopsy of a rockstar

17:15 / 12.09.01

He's the man with the plans

17:17 / 12.09.01

Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi Arabian national who uses his immense wealth to sponsor and train hardline fundamentalist Islamic groups in their struggles against the infidel.

He is not an agent of any government. I believe he is an aristocrat, but my memory's hazy on that one.
He's currently a "guest" of the Taliban, the right wing movement which has ousted the previous government of Afghanistan.

In Islam, by the way, being a "guest" is somewhat more privileged than in Western countries - the Koran has passages explicitly stating a host's duties to a "guest," especially one in dire need.

He's (believed to have) been a key player in organizing/sponsoring an attack on Europeans in Egypt, American embassies in north Africa, and the bombing of the USS Cole in the waters off Yemen (I think).

The spelling of his name varies slightly because, after all, it's not really in our alphabet. Standard usage is Osama Bin Laden, though.

The Return Of Rothkoid

17:17 / 12.09.01

This is the FBI's bio from their Most Wanted Fugitives page. Usama (or Osama) bin Laden is wanted in connection with embassy bombings, and is apparently the son of a Saudi oil baron. Salon have a range of articles here about him.

At the moment, I think I read that he's denied involvement but supports the attacks - I've also read that some of the people involved in these attacks have links to him. So it's uncertain. Taleban have said they'll give him up if it can be proved he's behind these attacks. Given that he's the brains behind the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya and the earlier (8 years ago) bombing of the WTC (I think), they're assuming (though not officially, as yet?) that it's him, or someone related to him.

I believe that his hatred of America is due to its military actions in wars/etc where Islamic countries have been involved, including the support of Israel at the moment. I think it's based around the idea of jihad, of the holy war against the unbelievers, but I really am not clued up on the delicacies of this area - anyone else able to shed some light?

The Packard Goose

17:27 / 12.09.01

Unfortunately, he seems to be another guy who was supported/financed/equipped/trained by the US gov't in the cause of opposing the spread of Soviet influence, and who, once that Soviet "menace" had been negated, decided to bite the hand that once fed him.

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: The Packard Goose ]

Harold Washington died for you

17:29 / 12.09.01

From the FBI page:

"The United States Government is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Usama Bin Laden."

I don't see why he hasn't been caught already, 5 mil should be enough to buy most of Afghanistan right? Either this guy makes James Bond look like a chump or he has in intelligence network to rival a lot of nation-states.

17:36 / 12.09.01

Or a lot of people consider him a holy man, a prophet, and a hero, and they don't want your filthy Yanqui money anyway, you infidel dog.

<stoopid action-movie villain>
You Americans, you always make the same mistake: you think everything is for sale.
</stoopid action-movie villain>

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: Jack Fear ]

20:23 / 12.09.01

I have done some research on this topic-
-he was born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia, his father was a wealthy contractor- he built many important mosques in SA, bin Ladin's father died when he was ten, he inherited the family fortune,
-in 1991 bin Ladin was exiled from SA due to his involvement with activites against the state
-he fled to Sudan, he was exiled from Sudan in 1996
-he has since been in areas around Afghanistan
-his involvement with several Islamic (and specifically Palestinian groups is very complicated)
-He was involved in the Afghan war- during this period of time his hatred of the US was confirmed because of its involvement.
He hates the US for a long laundry list of reasons. He hopes to purge all possible areas of US presence. He also hopes to purge the world of Jews and other nonbelievers
In 1996 he announced jihad on the United states. He claimed in past interviews that the goal of terrorism in the US should be to have fewer large scale incidents... There are several interviews with bin Ladin on various websites, the US has allegedly spent millions trying to isolate him.

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JWM ]

20:34 / 12.09.01

now hide this man inside a sympathetic fascist state. not good.

23:10 / 12.09.01

there's no such person. the u.s. govt needed a bogeyman to blame for it's sins. "bin ladin" was invented and used as an excuse for the u.s. attacks on the sudan and afganistan. the figure caught hold of the public's imagination, and so has become a convenient enemy to finger when any action is taken against the u.s.

23:19 / 12.09.01

quote:Originally posted by RexMonday:
there's no such person.

that's what prawda sayd in april:
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/04/24/4094.html

(no, i don't think they're rigth)

23:29 / 12.09.01

There's lots of talk that he was CIA trained around the time of USSR's invasion of Afganistan.

shirtless, beepers and suntans

01:35 / 13.09.01

worthless tidbit: the most popular name for Afghani boys born in the last ten years: Osama.

A

02:36 / 13.09.01

I saw a documantary about Osama Bin Laden a while back. Apparently one of his major beefs with the US is that American soldiers have been stationed on Muslim Holy Land in Saudi Arabia since the Gulf War.

I Can't remember much more than that, but I haven't heard that bit of information in coverage of events so far.

The words "Holy War" get used a lot, seeming to imply that Osama is just a nutcase who hates the US for being evil capitalist imperial dogs, or whatever. This may or may not be true, but the soldiers on Holy Land thing seems like it's kinda important.

02:42 / 13.09.01

Jihad isn't just some insanely religious act meant to wipe out infidels, yo. It's a political expedient and a rallying cry: our way of life (and all that entails - religious, economic, political), our identities, our history and are future are at stake. It's not undertaken, or suggested, lightly; as it's also tied up in whether one has the blessing of Allah to basically break a bunch of tenets of Islam.

Maybe I should start a new thread...

Ganesh

03:31 / 13.09.01

New reports repeatedly refer (with some disgust) to bin Laden as a 'millionaire guerrilla' - as if this is unspeakably worse than being a workaday one. I think the implication is that he hasn't suffered in the poverty sense and, as such, should have no major axe to grind against capitalism...

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:27 / 13.09.01

Who is Osama Bin Laden? Someone who may or may not have no connection whatsoever to Tuesday's events...

Ganesh

07:30 / 13.09.01

quote:Originally posted by The Flyboy:
Who is Osama Bin Laden? Someone who may or may not have no connection whatsoever to Tuesday's events...

This is true. We're hearing vague circumstantial accounts combined with reports of 'hard evidence' and 'percentage certainties' which have yet to be fully explained - as well as open suspicion and speculation from individuals who really should know better.

Ellis

07:36 / 13.09.01

[I have a feeling it could be Saddam Hussain, not sure why, was it 10 years ago the Gulf War began?)

Ganesh

07:43 / 13.09.01

Iraq is noticeably the only Middle Eastern country to say, officially, 'they deserved it'. Not that that means anything.

10:23 / 13.09.01

re Gulf war dates -- Iraq invaded Kuwait in August, the air war started on Jan 17, and the ground war on Feb 24

so no apparent connection