Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden was a founding member and the leader of al-Qaeda. He was involved in a variety of Islamist extremist activities throughout his life. He was the most prominent terrorist in recent history.

Bin Laden was born and raised in Saudi Arabia as the seventeenth son of Mohammed bin Laden. The bin Laden family was extremely wealthy and enjoyed a close relationship with the Saudi royal family. As a young man, bin Laden was an extremely observant Muslim but did not immediately endorse violence in the name of his religion. In 1979, he began fundraising for the Afghan mujahideen fighting to expel Soviet invaders from their country. He eventually fought alongside Afghan fighters, but was never considered a skilled military commander. He spent a good portion of his life in Sudan where his views became increasingly extreme and anti-American, leading him to found al-Qaeda as...