The Enemy: Who is Osama Bin Laden?

[MACKG]

Just spreading a little light on the enemy:

Osama Bin Laden is both one of the CIA's most wanted men, and a hero for many young people in the Arab world.
He and his associates are being sought by the US on charges of international terrorism, including in connection with the 1998 bombing of American embassies in Africa and this year's attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

Mr Bin Laden, an immensely wealthy and private man, has been granted a safe haven by Afghanistan's ruling Taleban movement.

During his time in hiding, he has called for a holy war against the US, and for the killing of Americans and Jews. He is reported to be able to rally around him up to 3,000 fighters.

He is also suspected of helping to set up Islamic training centres to prepare soldiers to fight in Chechnya and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Terrorism experts say Mr Bin Laden has been using his millions to fund attacks against the US.

The US State Department calls him "one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today".

According to the US, Mr Bin Laden was involved in at least three major attacks - the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1996 killing of 19 US soldiers in Saudi Arabia, and the 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

[MsJag4Jag]

There is an insert in this article entitled "Terror attacks on U.S. targets". It mentions an attack in 1995 at Khobar Towers,. Check it out


http://www.msnbc.com/news/627125_asp.htm?pne=asp

 

[Ice Man]

Here's a little more on why this man hates the US.

In 1989, when the fighting ended with Moscow's retreat, bin Laden returned home to Saudi Arabia. There, he began a confrontation with the Saudi monarchy over its decision to invite American troops into Saudi Arabia, the site of two of Islam's holiest places, Mecca and Medina.

Many devout Muslims believe that the land of Saudi Arabia, where the prophet Muhammed lived and died, is sacred and should be off-limits for nonbelievers. Only Muslims are permitted in the cities of Mecca and Medina.

In 1990, the United States deployed its troops to Saudi Arabia in response to Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. The result was the Persian Gulf War.

Bin Laden rallied disgruntled Saudi veterans of the Afghan insurgency and openly accused Saudi Arabia's King Fahd of selling the holy sites of Islam to the United States.

Hounded by Saudi intelligence officials who arrested him for his criticism of the monarchy, bin Laden left in 1992 for Sudan, where hardline Islamist Hasan Turabi was in power. There, bin Laden's Al-Qaida organization took shape, embracing a hardline Islamist philosophy from north African countries and the Gulf states.

Since then, a whole string of terrorist attacks against U.S. targets have occurred at regular intervals, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the 1996 bombing of U.S. military housing in Saudi Arabia and the 1999 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.