Osama

Soon after 9/11, the son of a wealthy Saudi businessman sat against a rock wall with a microphone in hand and an AK-47 by his side. On his head, a white turban. On his wrist, a digital timepiece.

His characteristic beard was starting to show touches of gray, but he maintained the confidence and swagger of an idealistic leader blessed with favor from his dutiful followers.

Looking into the camera, Osama bin Laden stared into American living rooms and promised unending violence against the West.

“America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that,” he said.

In 1979, Bin Laden participated in the American-funded fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. There, he founded a new organization called al-Qaida, or “the base,” with other fundamentalists.

Starting in 1992, the group bombed hotels and cafes, embassies and battleships. Al-Qaida gained popularity among young Muslims with the group’s powerful rhetoric and passionate proclamations of righteousness.

On a sunny Tuesday in 2001, al-Qaida’s attacks reached their pinnacle. Bin Laden originally denied credit for the attack, but claimed in 2006 that he was “the one in charge of the nineteen brothers” who hijacked the planes on Sept. 11, 2001.

Bin Laden then went into hiding, only to be heard from through carefully crafted statements.

Fear and hate rippled through the American public at the very mention of his name. The search for him became the No.-1 priority for American forces across the globe.

But the terrorist leader had become a recluse, spending his days pacing inside a compound in northeastern Pakistan, watching television, obsessing about his own public image.

Ten days after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress. He called for troops to be sent to fight al-Qaida and predicted bin Laden would become one of the most hated men in history.

“By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism,” Bush said. “And they follow that path all the way to where it ends: in history’s unmarked grave of discarded lies.”

On May 1, 2011, American Special Forces stormed the compound and killed bin Laden. Within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden’s body was prepared in accordance with Islamic burial rites and dropped into the sea.

— Charles Scudder

Illustration by Chris Ware | MCT Campus