Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

76 • BIN LADEN, OSAMAof September 11, 2001, the East African U.S. embassy attacks ofAugust 1998, and the 1995 Riyadh bombing of the Saudi NationalGuard-U.S. Training Center. He also had ties with the group thatbombed the World Trade Center in 1993 and that plotted a terrorcampaign against landmark targets in New York City, and with theIslamic Group in Egypt, which murdered foreign tourists in theLuxor Temple Massacre in November 1997; he has also been tiedto the scheme by Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to bomb U.S. airliners overthe Pacific Ocean and to plots to assassinate Pope John Paul II,Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and U.S. President Bill Clinton.Osama bin Laden, born in Riyadh in 1957, is one of 52 scions ofMuhammad bin Laden, a Yemeni businessman whose constructionfirm amassed him a personal fortune of about $5 billion. Bin Ladenhelped run part of the family business and is believed to have inherited$25 million from his father and to have amassed more wealthfrom his own management. Prior to receiving business managementtraining at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, binLaden received instruction in Islamic law.With the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on 11 January 1979, binLadin quit his family business to devote himself and his fortune tohelping the Afghan Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviets.From 1979 to 1984 he was in Pakistan funding the Afghan fightersand building shelters in Pakistan for refugees. From 1984 to 1989he was in Afghanistan building roads and shelters for the Mujahideenand was involved in actual combat as well. He helped organizethe Maktab al Khidamat (Services Office), which recruited devoutMuslims from throughout the Arab world to come to Afghanistanto fight in the jihad against the Soviets. This organization had recruitingoffices not only in the Muslim world but also throughoutthe West wherever Muslims could be recruited. One such office inBrooklyn was later used by the group that bombed the World TradeCenter. After the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, the Mujahideenwere urged by their Pakistani and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)backers to attack the heavily defended city of Jalalabad. This attackproved catastrophic for the Mujahideen, whose forces suffered heavylosses. Bin Laden, who led his forces in an assault on the airport, waswounded by shrapnel and many of his Arab volunteers were killed.Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia and resumed his work in thefamily business.