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Osama Bin Laden - Timeline
by WorldHistory.com
- 1957 Osama Bin Laden born to Syrian mother, reportedly the seventh son among 50 brothers and sisters. His father Mohammed Awad bin Laden owned the biggest construction company in the kingdom of South Yemen. Source
- 1970 Osama Bin Laden's father dies.
- 1974 Bin Laden marries a Syrian girl who is a relative.
- 1981 Bin Laden obtains a degree in public administration from King Abdul-Aziz university in Jeddah.
- 1981 Bin Laden visits mujahedeen refugees and fighers in Pakistan who fled after Soviet Invastion of Afghanistan. He sympathizes with them and begins collecting funds and supplies for the mujahedeen.
- 1982 Bin Laden visits Afghanistan with construction machinery which he uses to help the mujahedeen.
- 1984 Bin Laden establishing the guesthouse in Peshawar which becomes the first stop for Arab mujahedeen before they start training or go to the front.
- 1986 Bin Laden builds his own command and training camps in Afghanistan and begins leading battles himself.
- 1988 His command complex is called "The Base" or Al-Qa'edah. He starts recording and tracking visitors to the Base and movement between the guesthouse and camps.
- 1989 Bin Laden went to South Yemen and was banned from travel because he gave speeches warning of an imminent invasion by Sadam Hussein, which was embarrassing to the Yemeni leadership who had a good relationship with Hussein.
- 1990 After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, he volunteered to the king of South Yemen to bring all the Arab mujahedeen to protect the kingdom.
- 1991 Bin Laden was about to mobilize his forces, but was disappointed to learn that the U.S. was sending forces to Kuwait.
- 1991 (April) Bin Laden has his travel restrictions lifted temporarily but leaves South Yemen and goes to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan.
- late 1991 Bin Laden leaves Afghanistan which was embroiled in disputes between various factions and goes to Sudan in his private jet.
- 1993 Bin Laden linked to World Trade Center Bombing
- 1994 The Saudi's announce publicly their opposition to Bin Laden and withdraw his citizenship.
- 1996 Bin Laden flees Sudan and goes to Eastern Afghanistan.
- 1996 He issued his first anti-American message, a Declaration of War, stating his intentions to expel American forces outside the Arabian Peninsula.
- 1996 (late) Taliban (a political faction) takes control of Jalalabad, where Bin Laden lives. Mullah Omer, the leader of Taliban, promises him protection.
- 1997 Taliban Mullah Omer meets Osama after two TV interviews, including one with CNN. Mullah Omer reported expressed respect and admiration but requested that Osama keep a low profile.
- 1997 (late) The U.S. plans an operation where "American special forces [would] attack bin Laden's residence in Qandahar and kidnap him in a commando style operation." Source
- 1997 Bin Laden pursuades 40 religious scholars in Afghanistan to sign a "fatwah" which sanctions the use of "all means to expel the American forces from the Peninsula."
- 1998 (February) Bin Laden forms the "International Front" and announces a "fatwah" sanctioning killing Jews and Americans.
- 1998 (April) Bin Laden is interviewed by an ABC news team and two weeks later he holds a press conference in Khost. He warned of an impending attack.
- 1998 (July) The American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed within 9 minutes of each other killing 224 people.
- 2000 Bin Laden linked to October terrorist attack on the USS Cole.
- Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center twin towers destroyed by hijacked commercial airline flights crashing into upper floors. Entire buildings collapsed. Manhattan is evacuated. Commercial airliner also crashes into Pentagon building in Washington, D.C. causing major damage and fire. All federal buildings are closed and evacuated.
Understanding Bin Laden -- Important Quotes
- "His relation with Taliban would best be understood if Taliban themselves are understood properly. First of all Taliban are not simply another Afghan faction supported by Pakistan. Taliban are sincere to their beliefs, a religiously committed group unspoiled by political tactics. They would never bargain with what they see as matters of principle. Bin Laden for them is a saint. He is a symbol of sacrifice for the sake of jihad. They see him as very rich Arab from the Holy Land who gave up his wealth and luxury to fight for the sake of his brother Muslims in Afghanistan. They see themselves performing a double duty here, an Islamic duty of protecting this distinguished person and a tribal duty of protecting a descent refugee. The latter is a big value in Afghanistan. Once, a Taliban leader said to a Saudi envoy that if a goat would seek refuge to my tent I would never hand it over, how on earth do you want us to hand over a holy man like bin Laden?"
- "Bin Laden has two circles of followers. First are the closed core followers who are related to him by a chain of command and take orders like a secret organization. Most of those are probably in Afghanistan. Many are inside Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia and probably Gulf countries. Like any secret group, those followers would not disclose their relation. Inside Saudi Arabia many of those would appear like any average citizen. The number of those is probably in hundreds."
- "The second circle is much wider and the number is probably in thousands. They are located in the same countries. They would look at bin Laden as Godfather but they do not have proper chain of command or secret links with him. They would regard themselves obliged to perform some of his general orders. Most of those followers are not organized and get trapped by the Saudi police fairly easily. But some are intelligent and make use of the loose nature of their structure to function without attracting attention."
Links About Usama Bin Laden
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