# Who is Bin Laden? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923 "2001-09-11T21:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jonfromdenver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/1 "2001-09-11T21:31:05Z")
I’m hearing on the news that the government is pretty sure that the hijackings were the work of a “Bin Laden” group, with an association to Afganistan. I’m only 18 so I don’t remember any other attacks they have been responsible for, or any info on them. Does anyone know anything about them? ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/2 "2001-09-11T21:36:31Z")
Couple years back he hit 2 US embassies in East Africa killing some people (224 I think?). Not sure on others. He’s quite infamous for his “terrorist schools” in the middle east. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/3 "2001-09-11T21:37:09Z")
Well, the prior WTC bombing, for one, was masterminded by Bin Laden, a multi-millionaire terrorist who is being hidden by the Taliban group in Afghanistan. He’s been threatening to perform the very dastardly deeds he did today for some time. A search, I’m sure, will give you plenty of references. ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/4 "2001-09-11T21:38:14Z")
The world-wide web is an amazing tool for finding information. It’s not too hard – just visit [http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com) and type in “bin laden” (the quotation marks should be used, to tell Google you are doing a phrase search). The amount of information on the web will astound and delight you! 🙂 Here’s one good article, though, to get you started: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south\_asia/newsid\_155000/155236.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_155000/155236.stm) ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/5 "2001-09-12T00:20:14Z")
He’s, I believe, a Saudi Arabian businessman who recently decided to use his wealth to cultivate a worldwide “jihad” against the powers that be (the United States being one target). His big thing is that he does nothing himself, but has his tentacles all over various Muslim extremist groups, which he funds. He even appears in interviews and such from time to time. He’s (again, not totally sure on this) currently being “held” in Afghanistan, a country with which we don’t have good diplomatic relations. Therefore, there’s no easy way to extradite him for questioning, or any law-enforcement-type procedure. It’s akin to attempting to charge someone like Saddam Hussein with a crime; sure, you can do it, but it’s going to be a real bitch to get to him. Therefore, the policy on Bin Laden seemed to be to go after his groups and hope he leaves Afghanistan, or otherwise screws up royally. If he’s behind today’s attack, he’s very likely made a fatal error. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/6 "2001-09-12T00:20:29Z")
He’s, I believe, a Saudi Arabian businessman who recently decided to use his wealth to cultivate a worldwide “jihad” against the powers that be (the United States being one target). His big thing is that he does nothing himself, but has his tentacles all over various Muslim extremist groups, which he funds. He even appears in interviews and such from time to time. He’s (again, not totally sure on this) currently being “held” in Afghanistan, a country with which we don’t have good (or any, for that matter) diplomatic relations. Therefore, there’s no easy way to extradite him for questioning, or any law-enforcement-type procedure. It’s akin to attempting to charge someone like Saddam Hussein with a crime; sure, you can do it, but it’s going to be a real bitch to get to him. Therefore, the policy on Bin Laden seemed to be to go after his groups and hope he leaves Afghanistan, or otherwise screws up royally. If he’s behind today’s attack, he’s very likely made a fatal error. ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/7 "2001-09-12T00:31:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by occ \* > \*\*. If he’s( bin laden) behind today’s attack, he’s very likely made a fatal error. \*\* We can bomb the hell out of Afganistan and kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children but wouldn’t that make us as bad as them. Killing bin laden will be very difficult. I’m sure we’ve been trying to do that for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/8 "2001-09-12T00:32:22Z")
Bin Laden has been in the American sights for sometime. He still may remain very difficult to catch if he is indeed responsible. > **[The Counterterrorist Myth](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/07/the-counterterrorist-myth/302263/)** > > A former CIA operative explains why the terrorist Usama bin Ladin has little to fear from American intelligence ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/9 "2001-09-12T00:49:22Z")
…somewhat related question, who is this ‘Taliban Group’ I’ve been hearing about? ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/10 "2001-09-12T01:32:52Z")
The Taliban is an extreme fundamentalist religious group that is now in power in Afghanistan. Over the past few years, they’ve stripped Afghan women of all their rights (an unproven accusation of adultery results in death; women cannot make eye contact with men other than immediate family). I know a lot about their dealings with womens’ rights, because I wrote a paper on it. But other than that, I only know the Taliban is extremist, anti-US, and totalitarian. ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/11 "2001-09-12T01:37:10Z")
The world-wide web is an amazing tool for finding information. It’s not too hard – just visit [http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com) and type in “taliban group” (the quotation marks should be used, to tell Google you are doing a phrase search). The amount of information on the web will astound and delight you! 🙂 Here’s one good article, though, to get you started: [http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/scasia/1997/afghanistan.htm](http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/scasia/1997/afghanistan.htm) ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/12 "2001-09-12T07:01:32Z")
The US has a law against assasinating polical leaders. Now that that is out of the way, if the US offers 30,000,000 US dollars to any individual or group who _whacks_ Mr. Bin Ladin and can prove it was done, I’m convinced that this deed would take place without too long a wait. Sure, there is always someone to take his place but getting rid of the ringleader can help topple the power these terrorists have. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/13 "2001-09-12T10:02:13Z")
There’s already a $5 million bounty on Bin Laden. It’s enough to make me consider heading on over to Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/14 "2001-09-12T11:08:36Z")
CNN said bin laden was hired by the CIA at one point to work in afghanistan for them against the ( i think ) russians. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/15 "2001-09-12T23:02:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xash \* > \*\*CNN said bin laden was hired by the CIA at one point to work in afghanistan for them against the ( i think ) russians. \*\* Yes, and Saddam was aided by us in the war against Iran. There are numerous times we have helped monsters if it fit our ideological purpose at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/16 "2001-09-12T23:13:34Z")
> [@](#): > > …He’s (again, not totally sure on this) currently being “held” in Afghanistan… I don’t know if “held” is the right way to describe the status of Bin Laden in Afghanistan, as the Taliban have apparently appointed him [commander-in-chief](http://www.vny.com/cf/news/upidetail.cfm?QID=216037) of their armed forces. ---
**Author:** ![Beefcliff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@Beefcliff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beefcliff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/17 "2001-09-12T23:32:50Z")
Bin Laden is also, and has been the FBIs number one most wanted criminal, I believe since the original WTC bombing. Thats where that 5 million dollar reward comes in. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2001, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-bin-laden/80923/18 "2001-09-14T21:33:11Z")
There’s a very good article on Slate today (rare, I know) which attempts to describe the motives and beliefs of Osama bin Laden, as well as including a link to a more biographical sketch of the man. [What Does Osama Bin Laden Want?](http://slate.msn.com/Assessment/01-09-13/Assessment.asp)