Osama bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His full name was Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. Bin Laden attended primary, secondary, and his college education in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His father was Mohammed Awad bin Laden and his mother was Alia Ghanem, Mohammed’s tenth wife. Osama was the seventh of fifty children born to Mohammed, but the only child born to Alia Ghanem.
At fourteen, Osama was invited to join a small Islamic study group at the Al Thagher Model School. He was told the group would memorize the entire Koran by the time they graduated. The group lost its original focus, and Osama started receiving an education in the principles of violent jihad. The teacher was influenced by a faction of Islam called The Brotherhood. He began educating his students in the importance of a pure, Islamic law around the Arab world.
At eighteen, Osama married his first cousin, fourteen-year-old Syrian, Najwa Ghanem. He had his son the same year he graduated, 1976, who was named Abdullah. Then, he went to King Abdul-Aziz University, where he received a degree in public administration.
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Osama traveled to Pakistan, where he began training a mujahedeen, a group of Islamic jihadists. He succeeded in collecting huge amount of money and material as donations. He kept collecting money and journeying in short trips a couple times a year until 1982. In 1982, he traveled inside Afghanistan. He started occasionally joining actual battles.
In 1984, bin Laden built a guesthouse in Peshawar, Afghanistan, meant to be the first station of mujahedeen before traveling to the fronts or initiating training. In 1986, Osama built his own camps and in two years, he had built more than six camps. He decided to run his own battles. The first major battle he had was the battle of Jaji, in the province of Baktia.
After the Soviets withdrew in 1989, Osama returned home as a hero. The United States referred to his group as "Freedom Fighters." Osama was dissatisfied with a “corrupt” Saudi government. Bin Laden believed the U.S. presence contaminated their sacred soil. The Saudis banished bin Laden, who lived in exile in Sudan.
By 1993, he had created al Qaeda. Soldiers were recruited with the ability to listen and obey. Al Qaeda’s goal was “right wrongs” under the pure, Islamic law. The group began executing global attacks. Osama’s family disowned him, cutting off his $7 million yearly income. Osama’s anticipation was that Muslims would create a single, true Islamic state.
When Osama was later exiled from Sudan, he took shelter in Afghanistan, where he was protected by the Taliban. While there, Osama declared a holy war against the U.S.
On September 11, 2001, Osama delivered his most demoralizing blow to the West. Two aircrafts crashed into the Twin Towers, one crashed into the Pentagon, and the final one was overtaken by its passengers and crashed in Pennsylvania.
After 9-11, President Bush formed an alliance that overthrew the Taliban. Osama went into hiding for more than ten years. Then, on May 2, 2011, it was announced that bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by America’s special forces. His body was then dumped in the ocean to prevent worshipping of a grave.
"Biography of Osama Bin Laden." FRONTLINE. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
"Osama Bin Laden Biography." Biography.com. A+E Networks, 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
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Good job but no personal thoughts!