X-Nico

25 unusual facts about Osama bin Laden


Aaron Barschak

He came to public attention on 21 June 2003, when he gate-crashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle whilst wearing a pink dress, a false beard and a turban in a fashion similar to Osama bin Laden.

Al-Thager Model School

Osama bin Laden began attending Al-Thager in 1968, either in the fifth or sixth grade.

Ash'ari

For example, Al-Qaeda's ex-leader Osama bin Laden once tried in one of his speeches to explain what's happening to the Muslims by referring to some Quranic verses.

Dell L. Dailey

Although his planning helped the US effectively insert its Special Operations units into the country, Dailey faced criticism for not deploying more troops in the unsuccessful hunt to capture Osama bin Laden.

Dirty thirty

Dirty thirty (Guantanamo Bay Naval Base), a group of Arab captives in Guantanamo, believed to be Osama bin Laden bodyguards

Hyperspectral imaging

The SEALs from NSWDG who killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011 used this technology while conducting the raid (Operation Neptune's Spear) on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Jake and Dinos Chapman

As a protest against this piece, Aaron Barschak (who later gate-crashed Prince William's 21st birthday party dressed as Osama bin Laden in a frock) threw a pot of red paint over Jake Chapman during a talk he was giving in May 2003.

Jesse Aliganga

The attack was later determined to be conducted by the al-Qaeda network and Osama bin Laden.

Lewes Bonfire

In 2001 an effigy of Osama bin Laden ensured that the annual event received more press attention than usual (it featured on the front page of some national newspapers) as did the Firle Bonfire Society’s 2003 choice of a gypsy caravan.

Mark Rossini

The Spy Factory, an episode of the PBS series Nova, included segments of interviews with Rossini, who described his experience serving as one of the two FBI liaisons to the CIA's Bin Laden Issue Station, an inter-agency team assigned to track Osama bin Laden and his associates.

Marshall B. Webb

As the Assistant Commanding General of JSOC, Webb was involved in the operation to kill Osama bin Laden.

Mustafa Shalabi

Maktab al-Khadamat, the organization Osama bin Laden was to hijack and turn into al Qaeda was one of the main beneficiaries of the American aid funneled through questionable charities like al Kifah.

Nika District

It was, until the US invasion 2001, a bastion for the Taliban, with mid-level and a few senior Taliban commanders spending time there, including Jalaluddin Haqqani, who has since taken up a prominent role in Al Queda and is rumored to be one of Osama bin Laden's senior advisors.

OBL

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011), founder of the al-Qaeda militiant organization

Osbat al-Ansar

Osbat al-Ansar is on the United States' list of terrorist organizations for alleged connections with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and the American administration decided to freeze all assets of Osbat al-Ansar following the attacks on September 11th, 2001.

Project Thread

The men were initially asked to give Canadian interrogators the location of Osama bin Laden, despite the fact they protested that they had never had any contact with militants or been to Afghanistan.

Rabei Osman

Italian and Spanish arrest warrants suggest he became a member of the terrorist organization "Egyptian Islamic Jihad", one of al-Qaeda's backbone groups, which was led by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right hand man and mentor.

Revolution in Military Affairs

Furthermore, the United States' inability to capture Osama bin Laden or effectively combat the Iraqi insurgency led some to question RMA in the face of asymmetrical warfare, which the United States' foes may increasingly engage in to counter RMA's advantages.

Running with Scissors, Inc.

The game features many jokes at Senator Lieberman's expense and also features an entire class of enemy modelled upon Osama bin Laden.

Schertz, Texas

In 1988, the half-brother of Osama bin Laden and then-patriarch of the bin Laden family, Salem bin Laden, perished in a crash of a light plane in Schertz, described as a "freak accident" by Schertz officials.

The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir

The Taliban were accused of bombing US embassies in Africa, and the United States launched missile strikes at Osama bin Laden’s bases.

Tiaret

The GSPC is "believed to have close ties to Osama bin Laden" (Paris AFX News Agency, Jul 13, 2005) and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Asharq Alaswat Jul 3 2005), and is reported to be active in Italy (Deutsche Welle, Jul 15 2005).

United States v. Extreme Associates

Ass Clowns 3: a female journalist is being raped by a gang led by Osama bin Laden; the journalist is freed and the gang members killed.

Zhawar Kili

Richard A. Beck, a geologist at the University of Cincinnati informed the Department of Defense that he could identify the rocks in a videotape Osama bin Laden released in October 2001 from a field trip he had made to Khowst.

Zubeida Malik

Zubeida has been reporting on Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda since the 1990s and was one of the first journalists to look into extremist groups holding secret military training camps and encouraging young men to become jihadis.


Abdul Rasul Sayyaf

Sayyaf is said to have been the one who first invited Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan, after bin Laden's 1996 expulsion from Sudan by the otherwise sympathetic Sudanese régime under Saudi, Egyptian, and American pressure.

Ahmed Yassin

Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli Defense Minister, branded Yassin "the Palestinian Bin Laden" and said, "If we have to balance how many more terrorists Yassin would have sent, how many terror attacks he would have approved, if we weigh this on the scales, we acted rightly".

Al Shamal Islamic Bank

A declassified U.S. Department of State report dated August, 1996 and a French investigation into Al Shamal Islamic Bank separately concur that Osama bin Laden invested $50m of his inherited fortune in the bank on his arrival in Sudan in 1991, in a joint venture with senior National Islamic Front members.

Al Taqwa Bank

Al Taqwa counted two family members of Osama Bin Laden among its shareholders, and was once sued by a third.

Battle of Wana

It was speculated at the time that Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was among those trapped by the Pakistan Army, but he either escaped or was never among these fighters.

Bruce Riedel

On 14 February 2012, in an article for American news website The Daily Beast, Riedel quoted former ISI chief, Gen. (retired) Ziauddin Khwaja, as saying that former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf "knew bin Laden was in Abbottabad".

Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express

Although the film was released long before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the character of Tarik is a thinly disguised Osama bin Laden.

Dual containment

Troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia, an area that many in the region regard as "holy soil," which offended many locals and is cited by Osama bin Laden as one reason for his hatred against the United States policies and part of his motivation for the September 11 attacks.

Edip Yüksel

Peacemaker's Guide to Warmongers: Exposing Robert Spencer, Osama bin Laden, David Horowitz, Mullah Omar, Bill Warner, Ali Sina and other Enemies of Peace (English, 2010-2012, Brainbow Press, ISBN 978-0-9796715-3-1).

Face

Caricatures often exaggerate facial features to make a face more easily recognized in association with a pronounced portion of the face of the individual in question—for example, a caricature of Osama bin Laden might focus on his facial hair and nose; a caricature of George W. Bush might enlarge his ears to the size of an elephant's; a caricature of Jay Leno may pronounce his head and chin; and a caricature of Mick Jagger might enlarge his lips.

Howard E. Wasdin

SEAL Team Six was released May 10, 2011, only a week after DEVGRU took part in the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.

Ihab Ali Nawawi

The event attracted public attention, since the plane was unique in being a private aircraft at Khartoum International Airport and known to belong to Osama bin Laden.

Jawbreaker: The attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda

Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander (2005) is an autobiographical book by CIA agent Gary Berntsen describing the time he spent in Afghanistan at the beginning of the American campaign against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Kimberly Dozier

Her assignments included the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the crisis and refugee exodus in the Balkans, Vladimir Putin's election, the death of Princess Diana, the Northern Ireland peace process, and the Khobar barracks bombing in Dhahran.

Machine Gun in the Clown's Hand

Biafra originally titled the album Osama McDonald (a combination of the names of Osama bin Laden and Ronald McDonald), a name which he was later credited by on the album Never Breathe What You Can't See, which was recorded with The Melvins.

Murder of Suzanne Jovin

After dropping off the penultimate draft of her senior essay on the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, at approximately 4:15pm on Friday December 4, 1998, Suzanne Jovin began preparations for a pizza-making party she had organized at the Trinity Lutheran Church on 292 Orange St. for the local chapter of Best Buddies, an international organization that brings together students and mentally disabled adults.

Narcoterrorism

Although Al Qaeda is often said to finance its activities through drug trafficking, the 9/11 Commission Report notes that "while the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for al Qaeda, and there is no reliable evidence that bin Laden was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking." The organization gains most of its finances through donations, particularly those by "wealthy Saudi individuals".

Osbat al-Nour

Osbat al-Nour is said to be an offshoot of a larger Osbat al-Ansar, which is on the United States' list of terrorist organizations because of its alleged links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

Pacha Wazir

Haji Pacha Wazir is an Emirati citizen who ran a series of Hawala banks before being arrested in 2003, amid accusations that he worked as the "main banker" for Osama bin Laden.

Sgt Mike Battle

Over the years Battle has fought many real-life adversaries such as the Nazis, the Soviet Union, the Viet Cong, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

Sudan–United States relations

In the early and mid-1990s, Carlos the Jackal, Osama bin Laden, Abu Nidal, and other terrorist leaders resided in Khartoum.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1735

It condemned and expressed concern at the increasing number of attacks by Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and other individuals and groups.

Wafah Dufour

Her father, Yeslam bin Ladin (half brother of Osama bin Laden), is Saudi Arabian (father of Yemeni origin and mother of Iranian origin) and her mother, Carmen bin Ladin, is of Swiss father and Iranian mother from a noble family (mothers name: Mirdoth/Sheybani).

Ziad Jarrah

Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Slahi convinced them at the last minute to travel instead to Afghanistan to meet with Osama bin Laden and train for terrorist attacks.