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Osama bin Laden, hunted as the mastermind behind the worst-ever terrorist attack on U.S. soil, has been killed, sources told ABC News.
His death brings to an end a tumultuous life that saw bin Laden go from being the carefree son of a Saudi billionaire, to terrorist leader and the most wanted man in the world.
Bin Laden created and funded the al Qaeda terror network, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The Saudi exile had been a man on the run since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the ruling Taliban regime, which harbored bin Laden.
In a video filmed two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden gloated about the attack, saying it had exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.
"Our terrorism is against America. Our terrorism is a blessed terrorism to prevent the unjust person from committing injustice and to stop American support for Israel, which kills our sons," he said in the video.
Long before the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden was known as an enemy of the United States. He was suspected of playing large roles in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in Africa and the attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000.
PHOTO:Â Osama bin Laden
AP Photo
Osama bin Laden is shown in this Dec. 24,... View Full Size
PHOTO:Â Osama bin Laden
AP Photo
Osama bin Laden is shown in this Dec. 24, 1998 file photo.
In addition, authorities say bin Laden and his al Qaeda network were involved in previous attacks against U.S. interests -- including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, failed plots to kill President Clinton and the pope, and attacks on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and Somalia.
Bin Laden also used his millions to bankroll terrorist training camps in Sudan, the Philippines and Afghanistan, sending "holy warriors" to foment revolution and fight with fundamentalist Muslim forces across North Africa, in Chechnya, Tajikistan and Bosnia.
Until the capture of one of his top al Qaeda lieutenants in March 2003, there had been no confirmation of his whereabouts -- or even that he was still alive -- since late 2001, when he appeared in a series of videotapes later released to news organizations.
In recent years, several audio recordings of bin Laden have been authenticated by U.S. officials and made public. In an 18-minute videotape weeks before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, bin Laden threatened fresh attacks on the United States as well as his intent to push America into bankruptcy.
Young Man With a Privileged Life
Born in 1957, bin Laden was a son of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest construction magnate. Saudi sources remembered him as a typical young man whose intense religiosity began to emerge as he grew fascinated with the ancient mosques of Mecca and Medina, which his family's company was involved in rebuilding.
Bin Laden attended schools in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, and was encouraged to marry early, at the age of 17, to a Syrian girl and family relation. She was to be the first of several wives. He attended King Abdul-Aziz University and was slated to join the family business. He soon chose a different path, however.
Former classmates of bin Laden recall him as a frequent patron of nightclubs, who drank and caroused with his Saudi royalty cohorts. Yet it was also at the university that bin Laden met the Muslim fundamentalist Sheik Abdullah Azzam, perhaps his first teacher of religious politics and his earliest radical influence.
info dari : (http://chairulakhmad.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/osama-bin-laden-mati/)
Mana yang lebih cepat mati, Osamah bin Laden atau usaha CIA untuk menangkapnya? Tak ada yang menandai kegagalan perburuan pemimpin al-Qaidah itu selain kejadian berulangkali -sering tak akurat- bahwa ia dikabarkan sakit, bahkan mendekati ajal.
Tahun 2002, Presiden Pakistan Pervez Musharraf mengatakan Bin Laden mempunyai penyakit ginjal dan memerlukan pemeriksaan mesin dialisis ketika hidup di Afghanistan. Pada tahun yang sama, Kepala Kontra-Terorisme FBI, Dale Watson, berujar, “Secara pribadi, saya pikir ia mungkin sudah tidak bersama kita lagi.” Sejak itu, tentu saja, Bin Laden muncul beberapa kali di video-video dan terlihat lebih sehat dari sebelumnya. Saat ini, CIA kembali mengeluarkan laporan bahwa Bin Laden menderita penyakit ginjal kronis dan mungkin hanya bertahan hidup dalam beberapa bulan saja. Demikian ungkap dua orang pejabat AS (Amerika Serikat) kepada TIME. Para agen CIA seolah-olah diatur untuk menyebutkan nama-nama sebagian obat yang diminum Bin Laden.
Seorang pejabat AS yang “akrab” dengan laporan yang muncul antara enam dan sembilan bulan lalu itu, menyimpulkan, “Berdasarkan pada jumlah obat yang diminumnya saat ini, (kami) berharap bahwa ia (Bin Laden) bertahan hidup tak lebih dari 18 bulan ke depan akibat gagal ginjal.”
Ramalan itu, bersamaan dengan operasi para intelejen bawah tanah dan peluru tepat-sasaran, akan membuat pemimpin teroris itu mati. Namun, para pengintai jaringan teror al-Qaidah menemukan bahwa laporan-laporan tersebut tak dapat dipercaya. “Hal itu ibarat membuat diagnosa ribuan mil jauhnya hanya dari fragmen-fragmen bagan medis,” kata Paulus Pillar, mantan Kepala Analis dan Wakil Direktur Pusat Kontra-Terorisme CIA, yang kini mengajar di Georgetown University.
Frances Fragos Townsend, yang mundur dari jabatan Kepala Departemen Pertahanan pemerintahan Bush, akhir November lalu berujar, “Saya sudah membaca semua laporan yang bertentangan tentang kesehatan Bin Laden yang dibicarakan orang-orang. Saya tidak menemukan satu himpunan laporan yang lebih meyakinkan dibanding yang lain.”
Tentu saja, CIA mengingkari klaim-klaim yang melekat pada laporan tersebut. “Saya tidak menemukan seorang pun di sini yang terbiasa dengan laporan tanpa bukti itu atau garis analitik yang dimaksudkan,” ujar Paul Gimigliano, jurubicara CIA. “Faktanya adalah, sumber anonim memberikan gambaran kepada CIA bahwa itu bukan alasan untuk mempercayai pandangan-pandangan yang dipegang para agen.”
Jika Bin Laden benar-benar tengah sekarat, tak diragukan lagi, berita itu akan disambut ambivalensi. Pada satu sisi, kematiannya merupakan hal yang sangat diharapkan oleh pemerintah AS –sejak sebelum 9/11. Tapi kematian karena penyakit ginjal, bukanlah hal yang diinginkan. “Bukankah ini menjadi situasi yang tragis, jika dengan semua usaha yang dilakukan, ternyata Bin Laden tewas bukan di tangan pasukan koalisi?” kata salah seorang pejabat kontra-terorisme senior.
Walau memiliki diagnosa “handal”, bagaimanapun juga, ancaman Al-Qaidah di seluruh dunia tetap saja menyisakan cemas bagi AS.
