Osama bin Laden

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Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden AKA Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden

Born: 10-Mar-1957 [1]
Birthplace: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Died: 1-May-2011 [2]
Location of death: Abbottabad, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan
Cause of death: War
Remains: Burial at sea, North Arabian Sea

Gender: Male
Religion: Sunni Muslim
Race or Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Terrorist

Nationality: Saudi Arabia
Executive summary: Head of al Qaeda terrorist organization

Despite the best efforts of the United States government, Osama bin Laden remained at large for nearly ten years after the 9/11 attacks. The man managed to elude the likes of Cofer Black, Jerry Boykin, Jack Idema, and former FBI counterterrorism expert John P. O'Neill (ironically killed in the World Trade Center attack).

A woman claiming to be one of Bin Laden's mistresses (against her will), Kola Boof, in her autobiography Diary of a Lost Girl published in 2006, makes claims that Bin Laden was so obsessed with Whitney Houston that he fantasized about killing the singer's husband Bobby Brown, and welcoming Houston into his Harem. "He had a paramount desire for Whitney Houston... He mentioned her constantly, how beautiful she is, what a nice smile, how truly Islamic she is, but just brainwashed by American culture and her husband." Story originally broken by the New York Post.

[1] The date most often given as his birthdate, and as used by INTERPOL. The date 30 July 1957 is also encountered, and is stipulated by Richard M. Pearlstein in Fatal Future? Transnational Terrorism and the New Global Disorder (2004). Often it is given as merely 1957 or 1377 AH. Osama's half-brother, Yeslem Bin Laden, told Nick Fielding of The Sunday Times in 2002 that Osama was born in 1952 or 1953. See also Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (2002).

[2] Date as claimed by President Barack Obama during a televised address the same day. Other press reports indicate that Bin Laden may have been killed up to a week earlier, but these are likely erroneous.

Father: Muhammad Awad bin Laden (construction magnate, d. 1967 plane crash)
Mother: Hamida al-Attas (10th wife, of whom Osama is the only child)
Brother: Salem bin Laden
Wife: Najwah Ghanem (his first cousin, m. 1974)
Son: Abdallah (with Najwah)
Son: Omar (with Najwah)
Son: Saad (b. 1979, with Najwah)
Son: Muhammad (with Najwah)
Son: Hamza (d. 1-May-2011 during raid)
Son: Khalid
Mistress: Kola Boof (Sudanese poet and novelist)

High School: Al-Thager Model School, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1968-76)
University: King Abdulaziz University

FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
al-Qaeda Titular Head
Maktab al-Khidamat Co-Founder
US Big Brother Award Lifetime Menace Award
Declared Holy War Against the United States (1996)
Risk Factors: Fatwa

Rotten Library Page:
Osama bin Laden

Appears on the cover of:
Time, 25-Nov-2002, DETAILS: Why Can't We Catch Him (shown in faint grayscale vignette)

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