Osama Bin Laden The Mild Mannered Mastermind - 1559 Words

Evan Penhollow May 14th, 2015 Global Issues Professor Zeisler-Vralsted Osama bin Laden: The Mild-Mannered Mastermind Osama bin Laden is a world-renown man. He is known by some as a polite, generous person to look up to. To most, he is the man who was behind arguably the most traumatizing terrorist attack the world has ever seen, the head power of the menacing Taliban Islamic extremist group, and, at one time, the most sought after criminal on the planet. Bin Laden was raised a very religious man and this led to his extreme beliefs of the immorality of the western world. As his life progressed, his views turned into action. Bin Laden was a powerful man who was always taken seriously, especially by his enemies. From birth to death, Osama†¦show more content†¦His father died in 1967, after a plane crash in Saudi Arabia. On a side note, important or not depending on the researcher, the pilot of his father’s flight was an American who misjudged the landing at the Saudi airport. Once he was finished with school, he joined the mujahideen resist ance in 1979. Bin Laden fought the Soviets in the war in Afghanistan. Bin Laden eventually gained considerable militaristic power by funneling money, arms, and troops to Afghanistan. He spent a majority of his inheritance on this war and also served, and this helped him gain significant influence in the Middle East. By the mid 1980s, bin Laden gained a more militaristic mindset. Thus, al-Qaeda was created, with bin Laden as the founder of the group. According to Lawrence Wright, who wrote â€Å"The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11† while winning the Pulitzer Prize, al Qaeda was â€Å"basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious.† The membership into al-Qaeda had only a few requirements: â€Å"listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge to follow one’s superiors.† After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 and was see n as a hero and a jihadi power figure. The Hussein regime then invaded Kuwait in 1992, and Saudi Arabia was put at risk. Bin Laden offered to defend the Saudis, but the offer was declined. The Saudis instead accepted assistance from the United