Osama bin laden biography and personal life. Bin Laden is dead, but the cause lives on. What do the children of "terrorist number one" do? Osama goes to war: how the Americans created a big problem for themselves

President of the U.S.A Donald Trump declared that the son of "terrorist number one" Osama bin Laden Hamza bin Laden was destroyed during a special operation by American forces.

Eliminated the son of bin Laden, for whom they gave a million dollars

"Hamza bin Laden, a senior member of Al-Qaeda" ( Organization banned in Russia - Ed.) and the son of Osama bin Laden, was killed in a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Trump said in a statement. “The loss of Hamza bin Laden not only deprives al-Qaeda of a figure with important leadership skills and a symbolic link to his father, but also undermines the operational activities of this group.”

The US President did not specify the place and time of the operation, as well as the circumstances under which Hamza bin Laden was killed. Earlier, the US media claimed that the son of Osama bin Laden was killed in an airstrike.

Hamza bin Laden was called the most militant of all the sons of Osama. True, there is very little reliable information about him. Since 2015, Hamza's video messages began to appear on the Web with a call to continue the "holy war against the infidels." In February 2019, the US State Department announced that there would be a $1,000,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of Hamza bin Laden. At the same time, Hamza was named the leader of al-Qaeda.

Successful business of a Saudi loader

The bin Laden family became world famous after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, which is considered to be the organizer of Osama bin Laden.

At the same time, the bin Laden clan renounced Osama back in 1994, when he opposed the authorities of Saudi Arabia, accusing them of collaborating with the United States. At the same time, Osama lost his citizenship of Saudi Arabia.

The family is descended from Avada bin Laden from the village of Er Rubat, located in Wadi Doan in the Tarim Valley, in the Yemeni governorate of Hadhramawt. Son of Avad Mohammed ibn Awad Bin Laden even before the First World War, he moved to the territory of modern Saudi Arabia. He worked as a loader in Jeddah, and in 1930 he created his own construction company. Mohammed bin Laden drew attention Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdurrahman ibn Faisal Al Saud, or simply Ibn Saud, the founder and first king of Saudi Arabia. Thanks to this, bin Laden's firm began to receive the most profitable construction contracts. Mohammed bin Laden became known as the "royal builder".

Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Muhammad died on September 3, 1967 in a plane crash at the age of 59. However, the successors of the family business turned out to be more than enough: from 22 wives, the “royal builder” had 56 children.

The bin Laden clan is called the richest family in Saudi Arabia, not counting the royal. The Saudi Binladin Group, which is owned by the family, is worth an estimated $2 billion annually. The company has offices in several countries around the world. The ever-growing clan is believed to have over 600 members. It is divided into several groups: "Saudi", "Syrian", "Lebanese" and "Egyptian".

Osama goes to war: how the Americans created a big problem for themselves

Osama bin Laden, only son of the eleventh wife of Mohammed bin Laden Hamids al-Attas, was a member of the "Syrian" group.

Osama, whose share in his father's inheritance was estimated at 25-30 million dollars, studied at a prestigious university, but in 1979 he decided to join the Mujahideen war in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Osama bin Laden had strong ties with Pakistani intelligence, and through it with the Americans, who supported the Islamic radicals fighting against the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan with all their might.

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, Osama returned to Saudi Arabia in triumph. However, the Gulf War quarreled him with the royal family. Bin Laden believed that there should be no American bases on the territory of the kingdom. The terrorist, whom Washington regarded as "an excellent weapon against the Soviets", was out of control. Now Osama bin Laden was going to fight America. True, back in the early 1990s, the conflict was not pronounced. Bin Laden financed the groups of Islamic militants who fought against the Serbs in Bosnia, and this did not cause protests in Washington.

Only in 1998, when the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were blown up, Osama bin Laden was included among the most dangerous terrorists on the planet.

Large terrorist

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the US authorities announced a hunt for bin Laden, which ended with his elimination during the special operation "Neptune's Spear" on May 2, 2011. The “terrorist number one” was killed not in a remote mountainous area, but in his own house, located 50 kilometers from the capital of Pakistan.

Official Islamabad denied in every possible way that he knew about the whereabouts of bin Laden. At the same time, there is evidence that bin Laden lived quietly in his house for at least five years. And here questions arise not only for the Pakistanis, but also for the Americans: was there really a hunt for Osama? Or, for the time being, they were not going to liquidate it, using it as a scarecrow, with the help of which more and more "anti-terrorist operations" around the world were justified?

It is known that Osama bin Laden had several wives. There is only estimated information about his children: it is believed that the terrorist had from 20 to 26 of them. Osama's two eldest sons, as well as his fourth oldest son Lobster were not involved in terrorist activities and currently reside in Saudi Arabia. Tight police control is established behind them, which does not prevent them from successfully doing business.

Osama's third son— Saad bin Laden- thought to be his father's successor in al-Qaeda but was allegedly killed in a 2009 U.S. drone strike.

During Operation Neptune Spear, another adult son of bin Laden was killed: it is believed that it was Khalid.

Will bin Laden's grandchildren follow his path?

Hamza bin Laden was also repeatedly buried, but all information about his death has so far turned out to be erroneous. True, the fact that this time the President of the United States announced his death makes us think that this is true.

It is believed that the offspring of Osama, who live legally, are controlled by the authorities. It is not known, however, how reliable it is. It is known that Hamza bin Laden was married to his daughter Muhammad Atta, who led the group of suicide bombers who carried out the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. It is possible that in the not too distant future, the secret services will have to deal with bin Laden's militant grandchildren.

The problem, of course, is not only and not so much in the bin Laden clan. Not even the richest non-royal family in Saudi Arabia could have single-handedly become a global sponsor of terrorism. And the astonishing slowness and indecisiveness shown by the US intelligence agencies in dealing with major figures and entire states that support terrorist groups makes one think that Washington still has not learned from its own mistakes in the 1980s. But this is a topic for a separate article.

bin laden usama

Real name - Osama (Osama) bin Mohammed bin Awada bin Laden (born in 1957)

Terrorist No. 1, also known by the nicknames Emir, Mujahil Sheikh and Abu Abdullah. "Islamic warrior" who declared jihad on America. A man who became a symbol of terrorism in the 20th century. American services declared him dead and immediately offered a reward of one billion dollars for his head.

The name of Osama (Osama) bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden has been haunting the intelligence services of many countries for almost 20 years and enjoys unflagging attention from the media. For the Western world, he seems to be the embodiment of almost universal evil. Islamists see in him a hero and a fighter against the "Great Satan", as with the light hand of the late head of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, they call the United States of America. By the time of the death of the formidable Ayatollah bin Laden was 32 years old and he certainly managed to imbue the ideas of the spiritual teacher of the Shiites. However, the political realities of the last two decades have forced the famous terrorist to expand his field of activity. If for Khomeini the main enemies were the United States and Israel, then Osama declared war on all Western countries, one way or another supporting US policy. This war has no boundaries. It primarily affects civilians. This is the ideological platform of bin Laden, who once said: “We do not distinguish between those who are dressed in military uniforms and those who wear civilian clothes. All of them are walking targets for us.” With bloody acts of terrorism, he outlawed himself, but gained immense popularity among Muslims, imbued with the ideas of holy war, jihad, against the "infidels", that is, non-Muslims.

Until the world learned the real name of terrorist number 1, Osama bin Laden was known by the nicknames Mujahid, Director, Hajj, Abu Abdullah. Information about him was collected bit by bit, until the biography of the leader of the most powerful Muslim terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, became known in general terms. To this day, however, much of bin Laden's life remains unclear.

The "protagonist" of Muslim terrorism was born on July 28, 1957. The place of birth is called either the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, or Jeddah, a city that for many centuries served as the departure point for Muslim pilgrims on the Hajj to Mecca. Osama spent his childhood in the homeland of Islam - in Hijaz, a province of Saudi Arabia. It should be noted that this country to this day is a theocratic state of the Islamic persuasion, where Sharia law is in force; for a long time it was practically closed to "infidels". Thus, one should not be surprised that Osama absorbed Islamic principles, as they say, with his mother's milk. According to rumors, she really was distinguished by deep piety. Her son from early childhood was imbued with the ideas of Islam and, along with this, was distinguished by aggressiveness and intolerance to any dissent. According to classmates, the boy even then incited his peers to beat fellow students who, in his opinion, did not honor Allah. At the age of 16, he became a member of one of the Islamic fundamentalist groups. And later he served in the Sharia police of the kingdom, whose duties included overseeing the observance of Sharia by the citizens of the state. However, the young man's views were obviously too radical even for Saudi Arabia. He didn't fit in with the police.

Bin Laden's ancestors were Yemeni peasants who moved to Saudi Arabia. During the oil boom, the family managed to get rich building buildings and roads. By the time Osama was born, his father, Mohammed bin Laden, had risen from laborer to prosperous businessman, had become a major construction tycoon, was connected to the royal family and, of course, had several wives. In total, he had 52 children. Osama was the only son of the tenth wife. This, however, did not affect his well-being in any way. The boy was raised by a governess. He communicated only with children from aristocratic families, for which he received the nickname Prince among his family. In 1979, after the death of his father in a plane crash, the inheritance was divided among the 20 sons of Muhammad. Osama's part was $80 million.

Osama later graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Management of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. There he met the famous Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, who had a great influence on the young fanatic. It was he who was the spiritual leader of the so-called "Afghan Arabs", who already then managed to carry out several bloody terrorist attacks around the world.

In 1989, Abdullah Azzam and his family were victims of unidentified individuals who planted explosives in their car. The perpetrators were never found. However, it was bin Laden who was most interested in the death of the "teacher". Now leadership among the "Afghan Arabs" has passed to him.

Immediately after graduating from university, Osama went to Afghanistan. The royal family, which supported Muslim anti-government groups here, made him their representative in this country. In January, a young man who was barely 21 years old showed up in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, commanding 2,000 young Arabs who wanted to join the jihad against Soviet troops. Operating on the territory of Afghanistan, this detachment became famous for its particular cruelty against Soviet prisoners of war and drug trafficking. And the commander mastered military affairs and several times acted as an intermediary in the transfer of money to Afghan anti-government groups from Pakistani intelligence. From the very first steps, the millionaire commander earned respect among the Mujahideen. He renounced personal weapons and declared that he would capture them in battle. Osama fulfilled this promise.

Apparently, bin Laden was closely associated with the Saudi intelligence services. It is known that, on behalf of Prince Turki al-Faisal, who led the kingdom's special services, he transferred huge donations to the Mujahideen. Interest from intermediary services remained in the pockets of the royal representative. Ideas are ideas, and business is business. The former special agent has always acted as an excellent businessman.

Having gone "on business", Osama brought construction equipment with him. With her help, he started tunneling under the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was through them that the Mujahideen penetrated into Afghanistan and weapons were delivered. According to some reports, he also participated in the creation of a system of underground fortifications in the mountains, which, after a few years, probably allowed him to avoid American captivity. With Saudi money, Osama recruited volunteers and organized military training camps for them in southern Sudan, Peshawar and Afghanistan. Around the same time, the future terrorist made contact with the CIA, who contacted him through the Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdurrahman.

Having taken part in the siege of Jalalabad, which served as an impetus for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, bin Laden returned home. In one of the last battles, a grenade that exploded nearby deprived him of one of his eyes. After healing the wound, he turned to business. Osama's father's business was able to expand significantly, adding to his fortune a number of large firms in the Arab countries, Germany and the UK. However, the hero of the Afghan war soon fell out of favor. According to one version, the royal house did not like bin Laden's criticism of his policies, accusations of the ruling elite of corruption and deviation from the norms of Islam. Osama spoke negatively about the deployment of anti-Iraqi coalition forces on the holy Saudi soil before Operation Desert Storm, and therefore was persecuted. In 1994, he was also stripped of his Saudi citizenship: in addition, he took responsibility for the bombings of American military bases in Riyadh and Dhahran. The terrorist had to move to neighboring Sudan.

However, the construction company of the bin Laden family quietly continued to work, carrying out an important order for the government to expand the Holy Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. It began to be implemented back in 1984 and was considered one of the largest projects of the 20th century. Interest from the family's construction contracts continued to flow into the accounts of her offspring, who is very respected in Islamist circles and widely known in the Muslim world. In addition, American intelligence claims that Saudi Arabia continued to transfer funds to bin Laden for his terrorist activities, although outwardly they looked like enemies.

In Sudan, on the banks of the Blue Nile, bin Laden had a farm. Here he settled, doing a seemingly purely peaceful business: he grew sunflowers and exported seeds to Italy. Later he built a tannery, whose products he sold to the Apennines, built a highway. It is curious that it connected the city of Port Sudan, located on the shores of the Red Sea, with the capital of Saudi Arabia, where the disgraced businessman seemed to have no access.

He had influential friends in Sudan. In 1989, General al-Bashir seized power in the country. He supported the National Islamic Front, which claimed to be the vanguard of Islamic fundamentalism. Bin Laden maintained a close relationship with its leader Hassan Turabi. Of course, the farm served only as a cover for a completely different activity - supporting Islamic terrorist organizations wherever they existed, and the head of Islamic terrorism never stopped doing business. Soon, with his active participation in Europe and the United States, through nominees, various organizations were registered through which Osama carried out his ideas.

And the plans of the extremist Muslim leader were huge. As a follower of the Wahhabis, he viewed Western civilization as flawed and corrupted. Osama hatched the idea of ​​creating a "United Islamic State", which was supposed to include 50 states of Asia, Africa and even Europe. Along with typically Muslim countries, his list included the former Soviet republics, Albania, Bosnia, even Israel and Armenia, whose religious principles have nothing to do with Islam. Then the expansion of Islam will have to be carried out on the territory of North and South America, Australia and even Greenland. Thus, by 2100, the entire planet was supposed to be turned into a single Muslim state - a caliphate with its capital in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Islam, as the youngest, and therefore, in his opinion, the most correct of religions, was to spread throughout the world.

However, for ordinary Muslims, more specific, close and understandable goals were set. It was necessary to strive to overthrow the secular regimes in the Arab states in order to establish there the regime of Islamic law, that is, Sharia. The most important task was to be the fight against the United States and the countries that support them. First of all, it was planned to expel their troops from the Persian Gulf. The military presence of these countries was seen as an American crusade against the Muslims. A separate goal was the destruction of Israel.

In 1988-1989, bin Laden organized and led the international terrorist organization al-Qaeda, which means "foundation", "foundation". It was called upon to fulfill all of the above tasks by creating new terrorist Islamic formations and radicalizing existing ones. It took several years for its formation and development.

Now the organization has from 3 to 7 thousand members. Ai-Qaeda's strike force are veterans of the Afghan war. It is a large international association, since among its militants there are citizens of Algeria, Bosnia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, Palestine, Tunisia, Uganda, Chechnya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Philippines. Several training camps have been set up for their training in Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya and Pakistan.

Organizationally, the brainchild of bin Laden is built on the principle of a strict hierarchy. Only the head and creator of Al-Qaeda knows the whole structure. In the event of his death, the place of the head will be taken by the next one on the list of the leaders of the organization. The leaders and militants of individual detachments do not know where the rest of the members of the organization are. Al-Qaeda cells are believed to exist around the world. At the same time, they name from 35 to 85 countries.

However, let us return to Sudan, where the hero of this essay still resides. His activities could not go unnoticed. In the mid-1990s, the United States and its supporters launched a broad campaign at the UN to accuse this country of supporting international terrorism. In 1996, the Sudanese government was forced to demand that bin Laden cease activities on its territory, and he moved to Afghanistan. However, the training of terrorists in Sudan did not stop. Training camps that trained militants continued to operate under the guise of Islamic hospitals, mosques and schools. Osama still financed them.

It is known that in June 1996, bin Laden, at the head of 400 militants, reappeared in Peshawar. His two sons, Omar and Saadat, were also in the combat detachment. The eldest is 17, the youngest is 15. From there, the group moved to Afghanistan and joined the fundamentalist Taliban movement. It was thanks to bin Laden's financial backing that the Taliban were able to take over much of Afghanistan so quickly. Shortly before the decisive attack on Kabul in September 1996, he donated $3 million to them. With this money, weapons were purchased and commanders of government troops were bribed. The alliance was also reinforced by family ties - the terrorist married off one of his daughters to Taliban leader Mohammed Omar.

The bin Laden family, consisting of 4 wives (one of them Filipina) and 13 children, settled in a villa in Kandahar. Osama earned money from construction work and drug dealing. His capital by that time was already 300 million dollars. However, its main task was not to increase it.

Initially, Osama and his militants settled in Jalalabad, and then moved to one of the mountain villages in the south of the country, east of Kandahar. They set up headquarters there. The small hut was equipped with cutting-edge technology - computers, faxes, cell phones. At night, accompanied by armed guards in armored personnel carriers, Osama from time to time drove into Kandahar. His bodyguards were armed with American Stringer missiles, capable of withstanding unexpected air raids.

While in Afghanistan, bin Laden could carry out his activities with complete impunity. The Taliban, who seized power in most of the country, created all the conditions for this.

Another terrorist training camp was organized in the Afghan province of Nangarhar. Osama then turned his attention to the massive Zawaqili al-Badr complex of military bases and training camps, which he created during his first stay in Afghanistan. Commanders, propagandists, experts in mine-explosives, reconnaissance and communications were trained here. Contacts were established with the leaders of the Pashtun tribes in the south and southeast of Afghanistan.

Bin Laden did not disregard the neighboring countries either. It was then that the most extremist part of the United Tajik Opposition fell under his influence. He was especially interested in Islamic groups in European countries and the United States. According to the CIA, bin Laden provided a large sum of money to support such organizations that exist in Brooklyn, New Jersey and Detroit. Sometimes he traveled abroad. It is known that in June 1996 the main sponsor of terrorism took part in a conference of Islamic terrorist organizations in Tehran, which was held under the patronage of the Iranian intelligence agency.

In 1998, Osama published a fatwa (fatwa) - an appeal to Muslims calling for the destruction of Americans and their allies - both military and civilian. And in a fatwa in 1999, he demanded that the faithful kill American taxpayers because their funds are spent on military operations in Arab countries. By that time, bin Laden had already accumulated a number of major terrorist acts. Since 1998, the United States has included him in the list of the 10 most dangerous criminals in the world.

In the same year, the Americans received information that Osama was in one of the training camps in Afghanistan, and fired cruise missiles at the camp. However, 2 hours before that, they nevertheless informed the government of Afghanistan about the impending operation. Of course, bin Laden was warned. In the government, the terrorists had their own people who helped him escape.

And then the events of September 11, 2001 broke out. The largest terrorist attack in history was immediately attributed to the activities of Al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden was declared enemy No. 1 of the United States. In October 2001, the United States and its allies launched a military operation in Afghanistan that ended in the defeat of the Taliban. One of the main goals of the operation was the capture of Osama bin Laden. However, all the power of the most powerful of the world powers was not enough to catch the terrorist. Every day, the media offered different versions of where Osama was. It cannot be said that they were all false. Most likely, the terrorist was hiding in the mountain fortification of Tora Bora near Jalalabad. In any case, this is confirmed by the data of radio intercepts.

Tora Bora was a maze of tunnels, bunkers, storage facilities, arsenals, living quarters, communication points, equipped with modern technology, dug into the mountain. Its length was 25 km! The only road between steep cliffs and an abyss led to the fortification, on which traps were placed. On December 16, 2001, the Americans finally managed to capture the impregnable fortress. However, this victory can be seen as a complete fiasco of the American war machine. During the operation, only a few dozen wounded were captured. Most of the defenders went through the mountains to the “tribal zone” between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where only “Pashtunwali” tribal laws were in force, which prescribed not only to receive the guest, but also to protect him from danger.

As for the leader of the terrorists, he disappeared from the fortress even earlier. During the hunt for him, Osama used a simple trick. According to his personal guard, Moroccan Abdallah Tabaran, better known by the nickname Abu Omar, who was captured, bin Laden gave him his satellite phone. From time to time, Omar called on him, directing the pursuit on a false trail.

Since then, the whereabouts of the leader of the terrorists is not known. He became the most elusive person in the world. From time to time there are reports that Osama is among the Pashtun tribes, on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, or in Pakistan itself. They even call the Pakistani capital Islamabad. According to other sources, bin Laden moved to his father's homeland, in the remote Yemeni province of Hadramut. Sometimes there are video or audio recordings in which Osama conveys another message to the world with threats of new large-scale terrorist attacks. The year 2003 was particularly fruitful in this respect. Apparently, the Americans needed to justify the attack on Iraq.

In February, Al-Ansaar Agency (Birmingham) announced that it had acquired a videotape of Osama purporting to die as a martyr in 2003. The words: "I pray that I will not die under a green banner in a coffin, but in the belly of an eagle ..." are interpreted as an intention to die during a grand terrorist attack in America. This, however, did not happen. Most likely, this information should be considered as another "duck".

One of the most interesting reports concerns the fact that in April Osama held the largest meeting of international Muslim terrorists since September 11 in the mountains of Afghanistan. If these data are true, then bin Laden continues to actively lead the organization. Rumor has it that he regularly sends notes and floppy disks with instructions to his associates and associates. Materials are transmitted through numerous couriers who do not know what they are transmitting. Before such a system, despite its primitiveness, the means of electronic intelligence are powerless.

So, bin Laden continues to operate. But it is difficult to say whether his role in the escalation of Muslim terrorism is as great as it seems to the Americans. It is not for nothing that opinions are expressed that bin Laden is a CIA agent, and Al-Qaeda is the brainchild of American intelligence services. Data are given that Osama's brother, until very recently, maintained close commercial ties with President Bush's brother, that Microsoft has more than once provided financial support to terrorists through various charitable organizations. True, the rationale is given that the company could not know where its funds were directed. However, this does not look very convincing.

But the most curious is the information that the videos that were shown to the whole world after the September 11 attacks do not depict bin Laden, but the actor and singer Mohammed bin Yusuf, known for his participation in several soap operas. Moreover, the analysis of the recordings indicates that they were filmed not in Afghanistan, but in the caves of McCrum-Suyaz in the Sinai Peninsula and on a plateau in the state of Nevada. The secret services excused themselves by saying that Osama allegedly uses doubles. However, this whole story suggests that the US government simply needed to find a scapegoat. That's Osama bin Laden. The US government is now offering $25 million for help in his arrest. Another 2 million are offered by non-governmental organizations. Wishing, however, has not yet been found. In addition, the capture or death of a Muslim extremist will still not shed light on one of the largest disinformation of the beginning of the new millennium, which, perhaps, is the figure of Osama bin Laden, who became the most famous terrorist in the history of mankind.

Osama Bin Laden and the attack on the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States of America, when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked, according to some analysts, is attributable to an Islamist terrorist organization

author Mlechin Leonid Mikhailovich

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From the book Big War

To be honest, when I started reading the book "Osama Bin Laden's Family. Life Behind a Stone Wall", I didn't really count on anything. After all, its author, Jean Sasson, is the same American writer who created horror films called “Princess Memoirs” about the life of princesses in Saudi Arabia. And whoever has visited the Middle East at least once without a tour, and even better, if he lived there for a couple of months, he begins to notice that "Memoirs" is a purely pro-American book, written with so many Eastern traditions and customs that do not correspond to the truth, generalized to the point of so inverted and distorted that one can only be surprised and surprised.

But then Jean Sasson, in the preface to Osama bin Laden's Family, herself commented that this time her personal opinion would not be in the book (more precisely, she would give it later), but she wrote the book based on the stories of Najwa, Osama's first wife bin Laden and Omar, their fourth son. More precisely, not even based on their stories, and these are their stories. I must say right away that the book is really divided into chapters, where the story is told in the first person: either the wife or the son.

So, Osama bin Laden. Terrorist, leader of the Al-Qaeda group, who admitted his involvement in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, as well as many others. But the book says very little about these attacks and almost nothing about the preparations for them. As they say, Omar and Najwa, they simply did not know all the details, and therefore tried not to touch on these topics. Omar was born in 1981, and when Osama bin Laden began to prepare the first terrorist attacks - for example, explosions in the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, he was still quite a youth. Najwa, on the other hand, was just a woman, she only took care of the children and the household, she didn’t leave the house at all when they lived in Afghanistan, and, of course, Osama never shared details with her. He did not conduct all the preparations and negotiations with the militants in his house. Therefore, the book describes the details of only his personal life, relationships with wives and children, his vision of the external and internal world.

To be honest, when I started reading The Osama Bin Laden Family, I literally immediately began to get the impression that this man was mentally deranged. Of course, it didn't show up right away. As Jean Sasson writes, "People are not born terrorists and do not become terrorists overnight." But step by step, step by step...

He married Najva for love, and she gave birth to 11 children in 25 years of her life with him. In addition to her, Osama had five more wives. And, of course, when he told Najwa that he wanted to take a second wife, she, like any woman, stung. But Osama explained to her that this was only for the sake of the children, for the prophet Muhammad called for there to be many of them. Najwa calmed down and even then made friends with other wives. That is, from his youth (and he married Najwa when he was only 17 years old), bin Laden was turned to religion. And gradually turned on it to such an extent that he came to the conclusion that there were enemies around. And first of all, the enemies are the Americans, who belittle Islam and Muslims.

His extremist orientation gradually got the leadership of all the countries in which he lived. First, he had to leave Saudi Arabia for Sudan, then from Sudan, where he lived for five years, to Afghanistan. Moreover, together with the family, with all the wives and children. Osama bin Laden considered himself so religious that he himself interpreted the Koran as he pleased. And this was reflected not only in his activities, but, above all, in the life of his family. For example, he forbade the installation of air conditioners in the house, and even in the most terrible heat (and think about what it is in Sudan!) All households had to do without them, since he considered it evil. And only when one of the high-ranking officials, being his guest, almost lost consciousness from the heat, he ordered to buy fans. Osama bin Laden forbade children to watch TV and use any technology, forced them to eat the simplest food - rice and vegetables, and sleep on the floor on hard mattresses. At the same time, he was an extremely rich person and he had money in order to create normal conditions for the family.

However, the way he treated the children - it just does not fit in my head. For example, for any fault of one of his sons, he called them all to his office, put them in a row and beat them with a special stick that he bought for such cases. Beat everyone! But compared to his other actions, these are trifles!

So, being already in Afghanistan, he loved to walk in the mountains with Omar (he wanted to make him his successor). The young man was then 17 years old. And the mountains in Afghanistan are very steep and steep. Once Omar stumbled and nearly fell into the abyss - he barely managed to grab the edge. Osama stood silently and watched as his son struggled to get out. He never helped him. When Omar got out, he directly asked: "Father, you did not help me. What would happen if I fell and broke now?" - "I would have buried you, son!" - was the answer.

But these are trifles. But the next story just killed me. Omar, by the way, too. And it was after her that he completely broke with his father, fled Afghanistan himself and took his mother and younger children away from there. Here is how it was. At that time, their family lived in one of the militant training camps. Osama not only prepared them to fight with weapons in their hands, but also often read sermons to young people. And in the mosque there was a piece of paper where, after these sermons, those who wished to write themselves down on the list of death row. Omar emphasizes that bin Laden did not force anyone to become suicide bombers, but the sermons were such that many (especially very young, with fragile brains) recorded themselves.

“Once the father called all his sons, even the smallest ones. When we sat at his feet, the father said:

Listen to me, sons, there is a leaf hanging on the wall of the mosque. It is for men who want to prove themselves as good Muslims. For those who volunteered to become suicide bombers.

He looked at us expectantly, his eyes shining. Father did not tell us that we should add our names to the death list, but his words and expectation, clearly read on his face, implied that by doing so we would bring him great happiness.

Nobody moved. The father repeated his words. And then one of my younger brothers, too young to understand what life and death are, got to his feet and nodded to his father with reverence in his eyes, and then ran towards the mosque. A little boy volunteered to be a suicide bomber.

I flew into a rage and finally found the power of speech:

Father, how can you ask the like of your sons?

He glared at me with obvious hostility and waved his hand.

Omar, you have to understand something. You hold no more space in my heart than any other man or boy in this country. He looked at my brothers. "This applies equally to each of my sons."

Would a normal person say that?

The book ends with the events of September 11, 2001. Jean Sasson published it in 2009, that is, when Osama bin Laden was still alive. The Americans found and killed him on his estate in Pakistan last May.

What else can I say? According to the author of the book, Omar came to her himself, and then persuaded his mother to tell about the details of her life with her father. In general, the book is written in simple language, it is very easy to read, descriptions of difficult moments are rare in it. However, after reading, a very unpleasant aftertaste remains, which is not surprising when it comes to such a person.

I recommend reading for those who are interested in the details of the personal life of terrorist No. 1. But still I repeat that I do not know how deeply one can believe the above. To be honest, I still felt some pro-Americanism in the book.

There are thousands of images like this...

Below are rare and fascinating glimpses into past events and what life was like when our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were young.

The oldest known selfie. (1839)

Robert Cornelius took this photo on the street in front of a store owned by his family. The photograph became known as the first self-portrait, or as they say today “selfie”.

Old interesting photos

People pose near the Statue of Liberty shortly before it began to be erected. (1886)

This funny portrait of a woman was taken while she was sneezing. (1900)

Alarm clocks, early 20th century version.

An assembly of 9 kings mourning the death of King Edward VII. (1910)

This is the only photo in which the kings of so many countries were present at the same time (Norway, Bulgaria, Portugal, the German Empire, Greece, Belgium, Spain, Great Britain and Denmark).

Before automatic bowling pinsetters were invented, contact boys worked by hand. (1914)

A sarcastic shot taken by prohibitionists to mock their opponents. (1919)

A policeman on a Harley and an old mobile holding cell. (1921)

One of the first examples of "horsemanning", 1920s version.

Two winners of a beauty pageant in 1922, when beauty standards were very different.

The official length measurement of a swimsuit to make sure it is not too short. (1920s)

Swimwear should not end higher than 2.5 cm from the knee.

Black and white old photos

A couple enjoys a cable car ride on a Sunday afternoon. (1923)

This strange helmet supposedly helped focus by making its wearer deaf, oxygenating them and limiting their vision to a tiny dot. (1925)

To put it mildly, scary women's swim masks from the 1920s, which were designed to protect faces from the sun.

Hitler rehearses his speech in front of a mirror. (1925)

Implemented project of a mobile library for patients. (1928)

The zookeeper helps the penguin take a shower from the watering can. (1930)

A unicycle capable of a top speed of 150 km/h. (1931)

The cat poses for a cigarette card. Found in the Army Cigarette Club. (1932)

So the creators of the famous London double-decker buses proved that there was no danger of a vehicle tipping over. (1933)

Baby cages for families in the 1930s who wanted their children to get enough sunlight.

An iconic photo of a pea picker and mother of seven during the Dust Storm. (1936)

These glasses have been specially designed for reading in bed.

1930s version of GPS: This auto-scrolling map was supposed to help people determine the right direction in real time.

Model T "Elevator - Garage" in Chicago. (1936)

Salvador Dali and Coco Chanel took a smoke break. (1938)

A stylish way to protect your face during snowstorms. (1939)

This bike is designed for a family of four. There was also a place for a sewing machine. (1939)

Such gas masks were worn by every baby during the London bombings in 1940.

Soldiers of World War II receive their last kiss before leaving for the war.

The tiny puppy nestled comfortably between two Russian soldiers. (1945)

An excited Austrian boy received a pair of new shoes for the first time. (1946)

Teddy bear eats honey from a bowl in a cafe. (1950)

The man dressed the dog in a suit and put the cat on his lap. (1950s)

An ice-cold whiskey dispenser found in some American offices. (1950s)

Winner of the Miss Atomic Bomb contest. (1950)

Afghan women in the public library. (1950s)

The Afghan government began to move in a democratic direction in the 1950s and 1960s, shortly before the Taliban seized power. Women then could work, get an education, dress better and use all the services that were previously available only to men.

A young Paul McCartney takes a mirror selfie. (1959)

Young women gathered for a house party. (1950s)

TV star Fritzbuldog uses the services of a hairdresser. (1961)

Apparatus "Meowing Cat". (1963)

This Japanese creation meowed once a minute to scare away rats and mice. The cat's eyes also lit up.

A young woman walks her pet lobster.

A boy present during Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. (August 28, 1963)

TV glasses that never took off. (1963)

"Kiss of Life" This unique photo shows how a power grid worker gets "contact" after surviving a severe shock. (1967)

A young Osama bin Laden with his family in Sweden in the 1970s. He is second from right in a green shirt.

Bill Clinton and Hillary play volleyball. (1971)

Max Factor created a device for measuring female beauty. (1934)

These are the swimming lessons of the past. (1930)

French postcard. (1900)

in the Soviet markets

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Funny animals of the past

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Osama bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957 in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. His father was the influential billionaire Mohammed bin Awada bin Laden, and his mother was the concubine Hamida al-Atass. Soon after the birth of the future terrorist number 1, his parents divorced, and the boy stayed with his mother. Subsequently, she remarried and gave birth to a new husband of four children.

Observer

Bin Laden Jr. was brought up as a Sunni. He studied at the best secular school and at the prestigious King Abdel University, at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. Some sources report that the young man was extremely diligent in his studies and successfully graduated from the university, having received an appropriate diploma. Others, on the contrary, argue that Osama bin Laden dropped out in his third year.

Foton

The general fortune of the bin Laden family was about $5 billion. After Bin Laden Sr. died in a plane crash in 1967, his son Osama (one of the billionaire's 52 children) inherited between $25 million and $30 million. While studying at the university, he began to show an increased interest in religion, diligently pursuing the interpretation of jihad and the Qur'an.

War in Afghanistan

Intending to increase the inheritance received, in his youth, Osama went into the construction business. He was distracted from quiet work for the benefit of his company by the military invasion of Afghanistan and the Afghan Jihad movement. The extremist was enraged by the outbreak of war and arrived in Afghanistan at the end of 1979, and already at the beginning of the year 1980 he established the first contacts with opposition Islamic groups in the city of Lahore (Pakistan).

NTV

After that, Osama bin Laden systematically supported the leaders of the Afghan resistance movement from his own funds. Together with Abdullah Azzam, who led the Palestinian movement "Muslim Brotherhood", Osama opened the "Bureau of Services" and organized the recruitment of Muslim volunteers from the countries of the Arab world. The extremist businessman paid for all volunteers to travel to Afghanistan and prepare them for participation in hostilities. Moreover, he himself participated in the battles against the troops of the USSR.

Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan | datanews

When the Soviet troops were withdrawn from the country, the terrorist lost interest in the Union and Russia, switching to the United States. He was endlessly angered by the presence of the American armed forces in the countries of the Muslim world, and he began to perceive precisely the States as his key enemy. In 1989, the extremist again took up the contracting and construction business, while at the same time heavily helping the opposition from Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

"Al-Qaeda"

By the end of the 1980s, Osama bin Laden broke up with Abdullah Azzam, as the latter wanted the Arabs in the resistance movement to unite with the Mujahideen, while Osama himself wanted to see his compatriots as a separate military force. This is how al-Qaeda began to form. At first, this association was rather formal: the members of the group had only to have good manners, be ready to listen and take an oath to follow their older comrades.

NTV

The turning point came when, in the late summer of 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of illegal extraction of Iraqi oil and brought his troops into the small neighboring country. This war itself lasted only two days, but it was it that gave rise to a much larger and longer war in the Persian Gulf, in which both the United States and the USSR took part.

The largest concentration of Iraqi troops was concentrated near the border with Saudi Arabia, and Saddam Hussein himself actively called on neighboring peoples for Arab unity. Osama bin Laden met with high-ranking government officials, hoping to dissuade them from accepting help from countries in the non-Muslim world and offering strong support for his own Arab Legion. However, the extremist was refused.

Osama bin Laden with followers

The head of Al-Qaeda has repeatedly publicly condemned the invasion of American military forces on Muslim lands, arguing that only those for whom Islam is their native religion can defend Medina and Mecca. It is assumed that at the same time, Osama's group gradually began to turn into an armed terrorist group, and bin Laden's dissatisfaction with US interference in the affairs of Muslims took on a completely finished form in the form of plans for future terrorist attacks.

Terrorist #1

Although the Gulf War ended in February 1991, things were just beginning for Osama. He finally decided that the fight against the enemies of the Muslim world (with those whom he considered as such) was the main goal of his life, and with enviable diligence and purposefulness he began to engage in this struggle.

Observer

So, in August 1998, his terrorist organization blew up the US embassies in Tanzanian Dar es Salaam and Kenyan Nairobi. The attack was staged on August 7 (exactly seven years after US troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War). As a result of explosions in Nairobi alone, 213 people were killed, and about 5,000 citizens were injured of varying degrees of severity.

Since then, for the American intelligence services, bin Laden has received the well-known status of "terrorist No. 1". Many of the bank accounts of the Islamist businessman were seized, and five million dollars was promised for information that would help apprehend the international criminal.

Foton

Nevertheless, the terrorist continued to actively support extremists living in Central Asia, the North Caucasus and other regions.

According to some sources, bin Laden even managed to establish a real "Terrorist Fund". The head of Al-Qaeda also participated in the Bosnian war, helping the president of the state to create a real "fundamentalist Islamic republic" in the Balkans. To finance the transfer of Mujahideen mercenaries to Bosnia from the states of the Arab world, Osama resorted to the help of his Sudanese business partners.

Foton

In the mid-90s, the extremist visited Albania, visiting the president. Authentic photos or videos have not survived since then, but it is known that Osama represented during this visit one of the radical fundamentalist groups that sent their members to participate in the armed conflict in Kosovo. When the war in Chechnya began, the head of the cruel and unprincipled Al-Qaeda began to actively transport his Mujahideen to this region as well.

September 11 events

As you know, on September 11, 2001, a terrorist organization stole four passenger planes, which subsequently crashed into two towers of the World Trade Center, into the Pentagon building and in a field near the city of Shanksville (it was assumed that the fourth plane would crash into the Capitol). Nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of horrendous acts of terrorism.

Osama bin Laden initially denied that his al-Qaeda terrorist group was involved in the attacks. Later, he admitted that he knew about the impending attacks and discussed them with other leaders of the extremist underground, and after a while he completely took responsibility for what happened. In October 2004, Osama said that the September 2011 attacks were, in his opinion, just punishment for the "tyranny" of the American-Israeli alliance in Lebanon and Palestine.

Detention and liquidation

Both, and, and tried to destroy the world-famous terrorist. The bounty on bin Laden's head increased to $25 million and then to $50 million. During the years of persecution of the extremist, many media and politicians reported that Osama was killed, died of typhus, and the like. However, later it turned out that the terrorist is still alive. Numerous operations to apprehend a terrorist were carried out in the United States, one of them is dedicated to the film "Target Number One".

House where Osama bin Laden was killed | Altaynews

Bin Laden met his real death on May 2, 2011, when the US military carried out a covert operation at the terrorist's villa. It was located near Islamabad, in the city of Abbottabad. Subsequently, many sources, including directly US President Barack Obama, confirmed the information about the assassination of a terrorist and told where Osama was killed, how terrorist No. 1 was killed, how old he was at the time of death, etc. Bin Laden's body, according to CNN, was buried in the Arabian Sea.

Personal life

There is not so much exact information about the head of Al-Qaeda. It was said that he was left-handed, his height was either a little over 180 cm, or 193-196 cm, he walked with a stick and was distinguished by his manner of speaking quietly. The extremist married several times and divorced several times, while in total he had about 20-26 children. It was reported that after the events of September 11, many of them moved to Iran.