Who was Osama Bin Laden, if not the recently apprehended and dispatched most-wanted man in the world?
After a decade, the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, was found and killed by Navy Seals and buried at sea.
Most Americans certainly knew him as the leader of Al Qaeda, as the designer of the greatest act of terrorism ever perpetrated on the United States, but less is known about his background and what lead him to the Taliban and his profound hatred for America. (Although, in light of his repeated criticism of Western Culture, it's more than a little hypocritical that he had cases of Pepsi and Nestle products delivered to the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound where he was living for the last six years.)
At any rate, the banked obits (newspapers have files of pre-written obituaries for persons whose deaths will be announced or covered) provide plenty of curious and odd information regarding Bin Laden. In fact, Michael T. Kaufman, the reporter who wrote the bulk of this terrorists obituary for the New York Times (which for this purpose, will be the newspaper of record), died last year. Two other reporters updated it.
It was Osama's goal to recreate a seventh-century Muslim empire, but through radical and violent means, which go against the tenants of Islam; an Islamic edict is clearly against killing innocents and civilians. Even though he declared and waged a holy war against the world, Islam clearly delineates where and when jihad (holy war) can be claimed.
Bin Laden's upbringing is likely to seem strange to most Westerners. His father, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, was a poor and uneducated Yemeni immigrant who moved to Saudi Arabia before World War I. He worked as a porter until 1930, when he started his own construction company. Osama's father ingratiated himself to Saudi royalty when he underbid other builders. He continued his business relationship with the royals, to the point of where the Saudi leaders decreed that all construction go to his company. He was subsequently dubbed the richest non-royal in Saudi Arabia.
He was married 22 times, but only had four wives at a time (divorcing the older, marrying younger). He and his tenth wife Hamida al-Attas had only one child (his 17th), Osama Bin Laden.
Osama had more than 50 siblings. His mother, al-Attas, was Syrian, and wasn't looked at favorably by the other wives and the social circles her husband ran in. Osama was half-Yemeni and half-Syrian, and his father's other wives and their family and friends referred to him, says the New York Times, as "the slave child," and his mother, as "the slave wife." Al-Attas handled being ostracized, by often berating her son. His father divorced his mother shortly after he was born, and recommended her to an associate. Al-Attas married the business associate had three sons and a daughter with him, giving Bin Laden even more half-siblings.
In 1967, his father, now a billionaire, was on his was to his 23rd wedding when his private plane crashed. His 54 children inherited his estate and monies. Osama, it's believed, was the only one of his siblings who had not traveled outside of the Middle East.
Starting when he was 17, Bin Laden eventually married six women and had between 20 to 26 children with them. Although he was often reported as being 6"4, interviewer Lawrence Wright, staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, said that while Bin Laden was indeed quite thin, he wasn't that tall.
He was also reputed to appear mild-mannered and soft-spoken. Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan on 2 May 2011.
After a decade, the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, was found and killed by Navy Seals and buried at sea.
Most Americans certainly knew him as the leader of Al Qaeda, as the designer of the greatest act of terrorism ever perpetrated on the United States, but less is known about his background and what lead him to the Taliban and his profound hatred for America. (Although, in light of his repeated criticism of Western Culture, it's more than a little hypocritical that he had cases of Pepsi and Nestle products delivered to the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound where he was living for the last six years.)
At any rate, the banked obits (newspapers have files of pre-written obituaries for persons whose deaths will be announced or covered) provide plenty of curious and odd information regarding Bin Laden. In fact, Michael T. Kaufman, the reporter who wrote the bulk of this terrorists obituary for the New York Times (which for this purpose, will be the newspaper of record), died last year. Two other reporters updated it.
It was Osama's goal to recreate a seventh-century Muslim empire, but through radical and violent means, which go against the tenants of Islam; an Islamic edict is clearly against killing innocents and civilians. Even though he declared and waged a holy war against the world, Islam clearly delineates where and when jihad (holy war) can be claimed.
Bin Laden's upbringing is likely to seem strange to most Westerners. His father, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, was a poor and uneducated Yemeni immigrant who moved to Saudi Arabia before World War I. He worked as a porter until 1930, when he started his own construction company. Osama's father ingratiated himself to Saudi royalty when he underbid other builders. He continued his business relationship with the royals, to the point of where the Saudi leaders decreed that all construction go to his company. He was subsequently dubbed the richest non-royal in Saudi Arabia.
He was married 22 times, but only had four wives at a time (divorcing the older, marrying younger). He and his tenth wife Hamida al-Attas had only one child (his 17th), Osama Bin Laden.
Osama had more than 50 siblings. His mother, al-Attas, was Syrian, and wasn't looked at favorably by the other wives and the social circles her husband ran in. Osama was half-Yemeni and half-Syrian, and his father's other wives and their family and friends referred to him, says the New York Times, as "the slave child," and his mother, as "the slave wife." Al-Attas handled being ostracized, by often berating her son. His father divorced his mother shortly after he was born, and recommended her to an associate. Al-Attas married the business associate had three sons and a daughter with him, giving Bin Laden even more half-siblings.
In 1967, his father, now a billionaire, was on his was to his 23rd wedding when his private plane crashed. His 54 children inherited his estate and monies. Osama, it's believed, was the only one of his siblings who had not traveled outside of the Middle East.
Starting when he was 17, Bin Laden eventually married six women and had between 20 to 26 children with them. Although he was often reported as being 6"4, interviewer Lawrence Wright, staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, said that while Bin Laden was indeed quite thin, he wasn't that tall.
He was also reputed to appear mild-mannered and soft-spoken. Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan on 2 May 2011.
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