Terrorism: Osama bin Laden and 9/11

Alexis Christensen

Criminal Justice: 1010

 Osama bin Laden and 9/11

I often think about this great country I live in and fantasize the amazing things it

has to offer: freedom, justice, liberty, and many more. However, America has been

through many challenging and heart breaking times. I have not been alive for very long,

and fortunately, America has not been attacked, a lot of times during my lifetime.

Unfortunately, I happened to be alive for one of the biggest, if not the biggest, attacks on

American soil.

On March 10, 1957, Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Born to

Mohammad Awad bin Laden and Alia Ghanem, bin Laden was the seventh child out of

his fathers fifty children. However, he was the only child born to his father and his

mother, the rest of his siblings came from other women. Growing up, his father was very

strict with him and his brothers. His father expected great things from his sons and treated

Osama as if he was an adult (biography.com).

After his parents divorce, Osama went to live with his mother and her new

husband. He attended Al Thagher Model School were he became known as a very

outstanding individual, at the young age of 14 years old. Because of his talent, he was

asked to join a small Islamic group and was told he, and many other promised kids would

learn the whole Koran by the time they graduated. After his group lost focus of what was

really important, Osama learned the basics principles of violent jihad. His instructor

began teaching Osama and the others of the group the importance of being loyal

observers of Islam even if that meant supporting death and destruction to get what they

wanted (biography.com).
 At the age of 18-years old, bin Laden married his first cousin, Najwa Ghanem,

who was only 14-years old. His first child, Abdullah, was born in 1976. This same year,

bin Laden graduated from Al Thagher. After he graduated, he attended King Abdul Aziz

University in Jeddah. It is not known exactly what he got his degree in, however people

assume he got a degree in civil engineering. He didnt have long to put his degree to use

though, because in 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden

felt it was his duty to join the Afghan resistance (biography.com).

In 1993, bin Laden and other Arab volunteers, who fought the Soviet invasion

formed a secret network named Al Qaeda (which translates to the base). His soldiers

consisted of men who were obedient, had the ability to listen, had good manners, and

pledged to follow their superiors. As Islamic extremists, their goal was to take down

people who did not follow the pure Islamic law. They soon began worldwide attacks

under Osamas direction. As stated on Wikipedia, it did not take very long for the United

Nations Security Council, NATO, the European Union, the United States, Russia, India,

and various other countries to recognize Al Qaeda as a terrorist group.

Within a year, Saudi government forced Osama to give up his citizenship and took

away his passport. Disappointed by the news, Osamas family disowned him

(Biography.com) Of course; this did not stop Osama from executing his plans, in hopes of

drawing the United States into war. After many smaller attacks, Osama finally got his

way, when he organized one of the largest attacks on American soil.

On September 11th, 2001 America was hit by an act of terrorism taking the lives of

more than 3,000 innocent people. Early that Tuesday morning, Al Qaeda, a terrorist
group, hijacked 4 planes. As stated on History.com, The first plane, American Airlines

Flight 11, took off from Boston heading towards Los Angeles. This was the first plane to

be hijacked and taken off course. It crashed into the North tower of the World Trade

Center in New York City killing everyone on board and hundreds who were inside the

building. Not long after, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South tower, also

killing all the passengers on the plane and hundreds inside the tower. The third plane,

American Airlines Flight 77 took off from just outside of Washington D.C heading

towards Los Angeles with 64 passengers.

Around thirty minutes, after both towers of the World Trade Center were hit,

Flight 77 crashed into the Western side of the Pentagon, killing all but 5 people on the

plane, and 125 people inside the building. The last flight, United Airlines Flight 93, took

off from New Jersey heading towards San Francisco. After the plane was hijacked,

passengers on the plane began to call family and friends. While they were on the phone

they heard the news about the other planes hijacked and decided to try and gain back

control of the plane. In response to this, the hijackers purposely crashed the plane to the

ground in a field in Pennsylvania killing all passengers.

I was sitting at home with my mom when the twin towers fell. I remember my

mom was on the phone a lot that day. I was only four at the time and I wasnt able to

comprehend very much of my moms dismay. I could tell by her voice that something

very bad had happened, but I didnt know what. The first time I recall talking about 9/11

was in the 4th grade. I was sitting in the computer lab on September 11th, 2007. My

teacher, Mrs. Easton, was explaining to my classmates and me that, that day was a very

sad day. She showed us videos of the planes crashing into the towers, and I remember I
was sick to my stomach. How could someone do such a terrible thing, for no reason at

all?

9/11 is still considered to be one of the most tragic and devastating days in the

history of America. Not to mention, the largest loss of life by a terrorist attack on

American Soil. Thousands of lives were lost and changed, due to the events that took

place that day. Wives were left without husbands and husbands were left without wives.

Innocent children were left without parents, or families to take care of them. 400 police

officers and firefighters lost their lives trying to save the lives of others

(dosomething.org).

According to an article titled Missing Bodies, less than 300 bodies were found

whole. That is only one-tenth of the people who died. Fewer than 1600 bodies were

identified, and more than 1100 bodies still remain unidentified. As soon as the tragedy

had calmed down a little bit, clean up began. After almost a year of sorting through the

wreckage, various body parts, wedding rings, watches, and other items were found

scattered around.

Within hours, the president at the time, President George W. Bush announced the

events that took place that day, were in fact, an act of terrorism. Bin Laden was not afraid

to let the American public know we was behind the terrorist attack. At that point in time,

every American wanted himdead. Osama bin Laden was officially the most wanted

criminal throughout the world. In a book titled, The Killing of Osama bin Laden, it

states, A price had been put on his [bin Ladens] head and a blank check written by our

government to fund his capture (Nemcoff, pg. 33). It wasnt until May 2nd, 2011,
American citizens finally felt a sigh of relief from the hell they were put through on

September 11th, 2001.

Nearly a decade after 9/11 Osama bin Laden was finally captured, and was put to

death. However, America had to go through a series of people to find their final suspect.

As explained by Nemcoff, a credited American author, many alliances of bin Laden were

captured in the process of hunting down Osama. There were five of Al Qaedas leaders

arrested within a short period of time, between the years of 2002 and 2012 (pg. 42-46).

They were all captured in very populated areas. This lead the American armed forces to

believe that maybe bin Laden himself was hanging out in a highly populated area.

There are many accounts from different people on how the US government

tracked bin Laden down. In an article on the death of Osama bin Laden on Wikipedia, it

explains that in 2010, a former Pakistani officer approached the US in Islamabad. He told

the US he would enclose Osamas location for $25 million. In 2006, the Pakistani ISI

informed the United Stated intelligence that they had located Osama bin Laden and had

him in house arrest. Eventually, the United States figured out that bin Laden was hiding

out in a compound in Pakistan. The compound was said to be one of the biggest houses in

the area, built after 2006, and was reported to be worth over one million dollars.

On May 2nd, 2011, twenty-three Navy SEALs in two black helicopters set flight

to raid bin Ladens hideout at approximately 1:00 in the morning, local time. A few

minutes before they were set to raid, one of the helicopters crashed. Fortunately the raid

only lasted about 40 minutes and no American Soldiers were hurt or killed in the process.

Bin Laden did not make things very easy. The US Navy SEALs had to kill 4 other
people, including one of bin Ladens sons, before they found him. Face-to-face with such

an awful person, the United Sates had no other choice, but to fire their guns at him. In

order to insure Americans happiness, the US navy SEALs flew Osamas body back to the

United States in a helicopter.

Osama bin Ladens body was buried out at sea within a day of his death. Many

Americans jumped, cheered, and celebrated at the news that their nightmare had been

killed. It has been said that during the raid, Navy SEALs collected files and evidence that

prove that Osama bin Laden was planning to assassinate the current president at the time,

President Barack H. Obama.

Although America is free from the man who has done such harm to our country,

Al Qaeda is still a terrorist group today. Along with Al Qaeda, there are many other

terrorist groups on loose searching for ways to execute harmful plans towards our

country. One of the biggest terrorist groups today is ISIS. America may have not been hit

by ISIS, but many of our allies are struggling due to harm that ISIS has caused them.

While writing this paper I learned there is a lot of controversy about 9/11. Some

people believe that America was responsible for 9/11 and the government was blaming

Osama bin Laden to hide their tracks. Others believe that Osama is not really dead, due to

the fact that the government will not release any footage of the assassination. It is

interesting to me that in a country where everyone seems to be so united, people can have

such crazy suspicions.

It is scary to think that in beautiful world, there is so much tension, harm, and war.

I am thankful everyday that my family or I were not harmed in the events that took place
on 9/11. My heart goes out to all of those whose lives were changed and affected due

terrorist attacks on our country.

 Works Cited

"9/11: Timeline of Events." History.com. A E Networks, 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

"11 Facts About 9/11." 11 Facts About 9/11. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Al-Qaeda." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2016. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

Editors, Biography.com. "Osama Bin Laden." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 2016
Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

"Missing Bodies." 9-11 Research:. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Nemcoff,MarkYoshimoto.TheKillingofOsamaBinLaden:HowtheMissiontoHunt
downaTerroristMastermindWasAccomplished.LosAngeles,CA:Glenneyre,
2011.Print.

"OsamaBinLadenKilledbyU.S.Forces."History.com.A&ETelevisionNetworks.
Web.05Apr.2016.