A Look at the Life of Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden was born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia. His father, Mohammed bin Laden was from Yemen and his mother was from Syria. His father had several wives and fathered approximately fifty children with Osama being number seventeen. Mohammed owed a construction company in Saudi Arabia. The company held such prestige in Saudi that they rebuilt mosques in Mecca and Medina. These two places along with Jerusalem hold a key to Osama bin Laden's rage against the United States. Osama went to King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, Saudi Arabia where he studied economics and management. The university taught Osama the wide world of Islamic policies.
Osama bin Laden left Saudi Arabia in 1979 to fight against the Soviets whom invaded Afghanistan. Ironically the fight to keep the Soviets from taking control of Afghanistan was funded by the United States and had support from the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Osama was able to receive security training from the CIA while he was fighting for the mujahideen in Afghanistan. While Osama was there he established the MAK (Maktab al-Khindimat) in order to recruit Islamic soldiers for the fight in Afghanistan. He was able to recruit Turks, Lebanese and Egyptians; he also held recruiting offices in Detroit and Boston in the 1980's. Then in 1988 Osama formed the al-Qaeda ("the base") terrorist group. .
1989 came around and the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and this is when the Taliban came to life in Afghanistan. With the war over Osama went back to Saudi Arabia to work for his fathers construction company. Once he was in Saudi Arabia for a while he established an organization to support veterans of the Afghanistan war. Many of the soldiers that he supported went on to help fight in Bosnia, Chechnya, Somalia, and the Philippines. Many believe that this organization is the basis for the current support that he now receives.
