The last day Osama bin Laden fought for what he believed: won the war against the United States. Tragic, because in the end he lost. US special forces stormed its hiding place in Abbotabad, a small town north of Islamabad, Pakistan.
Backing 54 years earlier, precisely on March 10, 1957, Usamah bin Muhammad bin Awwad bin Ladin was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His father, Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden, was a billionaire from Hadramaut, Yemen. Whereas his mother, Alia Ghanem, came from the secular middle class from Latakia, Syria, according to Michael Scheuer in Osama Bin Laden (2011).
"Osama bin Laden" is the name that is used as a mass media standard when writing about a man who has this thick beard. His first marriage was at the age of 17 with a Syrian cousin, Najwa. Raised in a Sunni Muslim family, adolescent Osama is educated in an elite and secular institution, the AL-Thager Model School.
He had studied engineering at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. But in 1979 decided to leave. He wanted to take up arms with Mujahideen fighters against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. And he started by moving to Pakistan, according to CNN records.
In an interview, he stated that he was purely triggered by the suffering of Afghans. But in the context of global cold war, what it does also cannot be separated from US interference. This superpower is known to fund the struggle of the Mujahideen in the form of money and combat equipment, and is channeled through the Pakistani military and intelligence elite who have relations with Osama.
Peter L. Bergen through his book, Holy War, Inc. .: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (2001), mentions his program called Operation Cyclone. The initiator is the US CIA intelligence agency. Funding took place from 1979 to 1989 or during the Soviet Union's military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (existed in 1979-1987). Cyclone operations were one of the longest and most expensive CIA covert operations. Funding began with funds of $ 500,000 in 1979, then increased dramatically to $ 20- $ 30 million per year in the 1980s, until finally it reached the figure of $ 630 million per year in 1987.
Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan during the war with Soviet – though some say he never exposed himself to danger. Photograph: Sipa Press / Rex Features
Forming Al Qaeda
The most important phase in the footsteps of Osama's militancy occurred in 1988, when he and other Mujahideen colleagues formed Al Qaeda. One of its goals is to unite the cross-border Sunni-militant movement to carry out holy war against the enemies of Islam throughout the world. In the end they run a series of terrorism and are hostile to many countries.
Osama has many followers, as well as capital, so he is still able to maintain the existence of himself and the organization despite nomadic life. He was expelled by the Saudi and Sudanese governments, until in the mid-1990s he returned to Afghanistan and continued Al Qaeda's global operations from there. At that time he issued a declaration of war against the US "Today the US has set a double standard, calling anyone who opposes his injustice as a terrorist," Osama said in an exclusive interview with Peter Bergen in 1997.
"They (the US) want to occupy our country, steal our natural resources, force the rise of puppet regimes to govern us, and then want us to approve all this. If we refuse to do so, we are said to be terrorists, "he continued, discussing US character as a dual standard regime.
Pros and cons among analysts of history and politics often surfaced regarding Osama's attitude towards the US. Some say that since fighting in Afghanistan he has no sympathy with the US and is able to be financially independent, especially from his Saudi business. Some say the US, through the CIA, helped create a monster named Osama — who later turned into an enemy due to US military maneuvers abroad. Obviously, in the early 1990s the Soviet Union collapsed and lost its bargaining power in Afghanistan. The US, which feels that it has won backwards. The remnants of the Mujahideen fighters then form or join if they don't go to Al Qaeda then the Taliban. In this phase the US has not channeled its support in the form of money or weapons - it has even begun to be opposed by both.
The holy war which Osama waged later caused many casualties from the US military in many places. The attacks varied, with the most common using bombs, more specifically suicide bombings. The spirit of jihad makes the perpetrators want to sacrifice themselves.
The peak occurred on September 11, 2001 when four US commercial aircraft were hijacked by 19 people, two of which were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Some were directed to the most important US defense building, the Pentagon, in Washington D.C. The rest leads to obscure targets, falling in Pennsylvania.
Approximately 3,000 lives were lost, 6,000 others were injured, and resulted in infrastructure losses and property damage worth at least $ 10 million. 9/11 was the deadliest single incident in US history.
War Against Terror and Osama
The reaction of the US government under George's regime. W. Bush is embedded in the memories of many people: the war on terror. Suspicions of the mastermind behind the tragedy immediately converged on Al-Qaeda. Osama initially fended off Bush's allegations, but in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attack.
For almost a decade Osama was able to hide from the pursuit of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The intelligence bureau included Osama's name in the list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, as well as the Most Wanted Terrorist list for his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombing. Information about his whereabouts was valued at $ 25 million. The same was still rumored during the Bush administration. Search continued under the command of President Barack Obama. By the beginning of 2011 the situation was getting brighter. Osama is confirmed to be in northern Islamabad, Pakistan. After various meetings related to the best method, the Obama administration decided that the raid would take place on 2 May.
Its name is Neptune's Spear Operation. The CIA is responsible for carrying out a team of troops from the United States Navy SEAL. The operation began with Afghanistan, and it was decided not to involve the Pakistani government. Although the priority is to catch, but if there is resistance, US forces are allowed to shoot targets.
In CNN's record, Osama's hideout was built in 2006 with a size larger than the surrounding buildings. There is no telephone or internet network. The residents have the habit of burning garbage. This three-story house with a height of about 5 meters is inhabited by 24 people, has two giant gates, with Osama's family living on the second and third floors. US troops consisting of 25 people stormed the location after being delivered by two Black Hawk helicopters. At first they penetrated the dividing wall, then down the ground floor of the house. Shootouts occur when they enter the second and third floors.
About 5-10 minutes later the shot stops. Osama, who was found on the third floor, was shot twice on the forehead, and once in the body when it collapsed to the floor. Three other men, including a child of Osama, and a woman in the house were also killed.
The history of the challenger Uncle Sam ended with the sinking of Osama's body in the Arabian sea, dropped from the ship USS Carl Vinson. The incident was less than 24 hours after death picked him up.