OSAMA BIN LADEN Recent Titles in Greenwood Biographies Beyonce Knowles: A Biography Janice Arenofsky Jerry Garcia: A Biography Jacqueline Edmondson Coretta Scott King: A Biography Laura T. McCarty Kanye West: A Biography Bob Schaller Peyton Manning: A Biography Lew Freedman Miley Cyrus: A Biography Kimberly Dillon Summers Ted Turner: A Biography Michael O’Connor W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography Gerald Horne George Clooney: A Biography Joni Hirsch Blackman Will Smith: A Biography Lisa M. Iannucci Toni Morrison: A Biography Stephanie S. Li Halle Berry: A Biography Melissa Ewey Johnson OSAMA BIN LADEN A Biography Thomas R. Mockaitis GREENWOOD BIOGRAPHIES Copyright © 2010 by Thomas R. Mockaitis All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mockaitis, Thomas R., 1955– Osama bin Laden : a biography / Thomas R. Mockaitis. p. cm. — (Greenwood biographies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-35374-1 (print : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-313-35375-8 (ebook) 1. Bin Laden, Osama, 1957—Juvenile literature. 2. Terrorists — Saudi Arabia—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title. HV6430.B55M63 2010 958.104'6092—dc22 2009043355 [B] ISBN: 978-0-313-35374-1 EISBN: 978-0-313-35375-8 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Greenwood An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America To Martha and to my students and readers, who make these endeavors worthwhile This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Series Foreword ix Preface xi Introduction xiii Timeline: Events in the Life of Osama bin Laden xix Chapter 1 Osama bin Laden the Man 1 Chapter 2 Osama bin Laden’s Worldview 17 Chapter 3 Afghanistan 35 Chapter 4 Al-Qaeda 51 Chapter 5 Fighting the Great Satan 69 Chapter 6 Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, Post-9/11 91 Conclusion 109 Appendix: Selected Documents 117 Annotated Bibliography 143 Index 149 Maps and photo essay follow page 90 This page intentionally left blank SERIES FOREWORD In response to high school and public library needs, Greenwood devel- oped this distinguished series of full-length biographies specifi cally for student use. Prepared by fi eld experts and professionals, these engaging biographies are tailored for high school students who need challenging yet accessible biographies. Ideal for secondary school assignments, the length, format and subject areas are designed to meet educators’ require- ments and students’ interests. Greenwood offers an extensive selection of biographies spanning all curriculum related subject areas including social studies, the sciences, literature and the arts, history and politics, as well as popular culture, covering public fi gures and famous personalities from all time periods and backgrounds, both historic and contemporary, who have made an impact on American and/or world culture. Greenwood biographies were chosen based on comprehensive feedback from librarians and educa- tors. Consideration was given to both curriculum relevance and inherent interest. The result is an intriguing mix of the well known and the unex- pected, the saints and sinners from long-ago history and contemporary pop culture. Readers will fi nd a wide array of subject choices from fasci- nating crime fi gures like Al Capone to inspiring pioneers like Margaret x SERIES FOREWORD Mead, from the greatest minds of our time like Stephen Hawking to the most amazing success stories of our day like J.K. Rowling. While the emphasis is on fact, not glorifi cation, the books are meant to be fun to read. Each volume provides in-depth information about the subject’s life from birth through childhood, the teen years, and adult- hood. A thorough account relates family background and education, traces personal and professional infl uences, and explores struggles, ac- complishments, and contributions. A timeline highlights the most sig- nifi cant life events against a historical perspective. Bibliographies supplement the reference value of each volume. PREFACE People love villains almost as much as they love heroes. Nothing satisfi es discontent so much as having a fi end to vilify, an embodiment of all that is wrong with the world. Osama bin Laden is such a man. Since 9/11 he has become the most infamous man in the Western world, the demon upon whom commentators and ordinary people heap their anger like Captain Ahab with Moby Dick. For the generation born and raised dur- ing the Cold War, the man fi lls a gap created by the collapse of the So- viet Union. Al-Qaeda terrorism and its notorious leader have replaced the Communist bogie man. As much as we may hate Osama bin Laden, however, we do not un- derstand him. Readers of this book will be surprised to learn how little is really known outside his family in Saudi Arabia about this infamous fi gure. His childhood is poorly documented, as are large segments of his adult life. His family has remained understandably reticent about discuss- ing him. Friends and acquaintances have offered recollections and refl ec- tions, but these accounts are incomplete and colored by the intervening years. Bin Laden’s own statements provide additional information, but these statements were intended to create a well-groomed public persona. What can be assembled from this fragmentary evidence is the shadowy xii PREFACE image of a life, the somewhat clearer image of an organization, and the clear outlines of a broad ideological movement. In this political biogra- phy, I have tried to bring all three dimensions together. As with any work of this sort, I owe considerable thanks to many people. DePaul University continues to support and encourage my work, as do my colleagues in the counterterrorism program at the Center for Civil-Military Relations at the Naval Postgraduate School. My fam- ily, especially my wife of almost 30 years, remain my greatest source of strength and energy for these projects. INTRODUCTION HISTORY AND THE INDIVIDUAL Biography no longer enjoys the privileged place in historical writing it once did. Thomas Carlyle’s “Great Man” theory has been debunked as the history of “dead white males.” Social history has also moved the pro- fession away from the study of individuals. Celebrated by its support- ers as “history without wars or presidents” and parodied by its critics as “pots and pans history,” social history focuses on broad trends rather than pivotal events and on social movements instead of political leaders. Nineteenth-century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy foreshadowed this in- tellectual trend. In his epic novel War and Peace, Tolstoy soberly assessed the limits of individual human agency in shaping events. In his descrip- tion of the battle of Borodino, he cast Napoleon as the self-deluded commander who believed he could actually control the unfolding battle, while the more realistic Russian General Kutuzov deployed his troops and then put his feet up on a barrel and went to sleep, realizing his pow- erlessness to control what would unfold in the coming hours. Borodino was a microcosm of the historical process. Like Tolstoy, social historians rightly remind us that even the most powerful individuals have far less ability to shape events than previously xiv INTRODUCTION imagined. Modern states and societies have proven remarkably resistant to change by individuals, no matter how authoritarian. Napoleon did not fundamentally change France. Following 30 years of brutal tyranny under Joseph Stalin, Russia remained more Russian than communist. Ameri- cans awake the Wednesday after each presidential election to a world unchanged by the “momentous” event of the night before. The president- elect enters the White House to discover that his ability to deliver on a host of campaign promises is far more limited than he expected. Then there is the long-standing question of whether individuals shape events or whether events call forth individuals. Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz invented calculus at virtually the same time and independent of each other. William Wallace published his theory of evolution shortly after Charles Darwin and completely independent of him. These “coincidences” suggest that the times bring forth “great individuals” at least as often as individuals shape the times in which they live. Centuries of scientifi c discovery made the world ripe for an Albert Einstein, the argument goes. If he had not put forth the theory of relativity, someone else would have. Disillusionment with decades of Democratic presidents made the election of a president like Ronald Rea- gan very likely. If he had not emerged as the party choice in 1980, the Republicans would have found someone very much like him. A similar statement could be made about the election of Barack Obama in 2008. These factors, combined with growing interest in humanity below the level of the rich and powerful, led to the rise of social history, which looks for the underlying social structures and broad trends that provide the continuity beneath the rapid sweep of political events and examines how these structures change over time. THE ENDURING POWER OF BIOGRAPHY As valuable as the social history movement has been, it does not quite satisfy as a comprehensive theory of history. According to its inexorable logic, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt did not matter, a conclusion that defi es common sense and the experience of those who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War.