How al Qaeda Was Born

History of the Organization

The US Warns of Reprisals

Osama Muhammed bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In a 1998 interview on Al Jazeera T.V. Station, he gave his birth date as March 10, 1957. Accordingly, he was 54 years old.  His father, the late Muhamed Awad bin Laden, was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi family.

Bin Laden was married 22 times, although to no more than four women at a time per Sharia Law. Osama was born the son of Muhammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas, who was a native of Syria.

Until now, not even the most sophisticated intelligence organizations in the world, as the London Lafayette, the Interpol and CIA were able to find out the whereabouts of Muhammed. Now, all is history.

Osama bin Laden and Muhammad Atef founded al Qaeda (The Base) in 1989. Its goals were to drive the United Stated armed forces out of Saudi Arabia and Somalia, and defend the cause of the Palestinian people.

Al Qaeda structure included a “majlis al shura” (consultation council) and it had ties to other organizations, including the al Jihad based in Egypt.

In 1991, al Qaeda established a headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan, and a series of businesses, including two investment companies, an agricultural corporation, a construction business and a transportation enterprise. All of them were operated to provide financial support to the organization for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals, and for the travel of the operatives. Al Qaeda established another base in Afghanistan, protected by the Taliban regime.

In October 3, 1993, al Qaeda attacked U.S. Military bases in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing 18 Army personnel. On August 7, 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. At least 252 people died, including 13 U.S. Citizens. More than 5,000 were injured.

Al Qaeda was responsible for the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993, the attacks in Riyadh and Dhahran in the years 1995 and 1996, the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Mubarak in Ethiopia on June 1995, the bombing of the U.S. Cole in Yemen on November 2000, and the attacks to New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

The second member in rank within the al Qaeda organization is the Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri. He has been single out as the brain organizing and executing the main al Qaeda's operations. They both were seen on TV laughing after the September 11, 2001, attack on the U.S.

Despite the millions of dollars offered by the Bush Administration for information leading to the arrest or execution of bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader managed for 10 years to evade his foes. During Bill Clinton's government, bin Laden could escape in Tora Bora in the intricate Afghanistan mountains. It was now President Barack Obama who finally put an end to the hunting of the most wanted subject by the U.S.

For Occident Osama bin Laden was a terrorist who killed many innocent people in the U.S. and around the earth. But for a great part of the Arabian world, he was a hero who could live a lavish life but chose to sacrifice it for a cause.

The US and the free world is on alert because reprisals are expected. Travel warnings have been issued. According with the Arabian custom, the dead is buried within 24 hours. It has been informed that bin Laden's body was deposit in the ocean, respecting Islamic tradition.


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