A Not So Brief History On The Radicalization Of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957. Raised in wealth and privilege as a member of the bin Laden family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, parts of his formative years are cloudy. His father divorced his mother shortly after he was born. He was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. When bin Laden's father died, he inherited a small part of the family fortune, estimated to be around $25 million. He attended Oxford University in England in 1971. It is unclear if he ever earned a degree, and if he did, what it was in and from which university. He attended King Abdulaziz University and, over five to six years - ending in 1979 - focused his studies on economics, business, and, in a non-academic setting, religion. When bin Laden left college in 1979, he went to Pakistan to support the Islamist rebels fighting against Soviet troops.

The "why" behind the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is extremely complicated and had been simmering for decades. The Nur Muhammad Taraki government was practically a rump state of the Soviet Union and, in 1978, signed a mutual protection pact. Leaders in Kabul passed a series of radical reforms changing the laws on marriage, women's rights, property rights, and economic changes under the banner of elevating Afghanistan out of a "feudal" economy. The changes were too radical and too fast, and violence erupted across the nation as different groups lashed out. By the end of 1978, Kabul started making repeated requests to Moscow for military support.

Before continuing, we need to take a detour to Iran because Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait are all part of the radicalization of Osama bin Laden.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, better known historically as the Shah of Iran and part of the Persian Monarchy, was brought into power by a United States and United Kingdom-backed coup in 1954, with some Soviet influence sprinkled in. The coup was backed in part to permit United States and European oil companies back into Iran. Like many other Washington-backed coups of the 1950s, it backfired - spectacularly.

Pahlavi went on to become one of the dominant leaders of OPEC, manipulating oil prices that caused steep recessions in the West while boosting funding for the modernization of his nation. Decades of economic and educational reforms elevated Iran into an economic powerhouse with one of the most powerful militaries on the planet. While on the surface, this appeared to be an amazing success story of unity and growth, it came at a price of authoritarianism, repression, government-sanctioned violence, and economic inequality. In the span of 30 years, Pahlavi went from being a silver spoon kid whom the West believed they could control and guide to a clever statesman to a brutal dictator.

A populist movement based on the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam led to growing unrest. In 1978, Iranian security forces killed dozens in Jaleh Square, which ultimately led to the Islamic Revolution and the abdication of the Shah and his family in early 1979. Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini became the Supreme Leader of Iran, and the monarchy was banned. The Iranian military fell into chaos as units defected from the provisional government after the Shah's abdication.

Back to Afghanistan.

In March 1979, 25 of 28 Afghanistan states were no longer considered "safe." Hafizullah Amin, who led the Saur Revolution in 1978, starting the unraveling of the Afghanistan government, maneuvered the Afghani Politburo to be named Prime Minister, eroding Taraki's power. Moscow saw Amin as a threat who leaned toward Pakistan, China, and the United States. KGB operatives believed that Amin was working with the CIA. Amin instituted extreme repression within Afghanistan, and by July, Russian-controlled media was publicly declaring their non-support for Amin and his leadership.

As stability crumbled in Afghanistan, Moscow became increasingly worried. The Islamic Revolution in Iran raised concerns that a similar movement could form in the Muslim regions of the Caucuses and the southern Soviet republics. While Taraki was seen as friendly to Moscow and Amin an enemy, the KGB informed Soviet leaders that they believed Taraki's grip was slipping and that intervention into the affairs of Afghanistan would be inevitable.

In June 1979, the first Soviet troops entered Afghanistan at the request of Kabul. While the arrival of equipment, including T-72 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, occurred in the open, the Soviet Union took the "little green men" approach for troops, deploying a battalion of unarmed VDV forces as "specialists" and "advisors." Kabul asked for two divisions of troops in July of 1979, which was ignored.

Over 160,000 Afghanis fled the growing violence to Pakistan. Despite a strained relationship with the Carter Administration, Pakistani leaders appealed for the U.S. to intervene indirectly and support the growing number of Islamist rebels. Within the halls of Washington, D.C., the domino theory of the 1960s still guided decisions, and there were growing concerns about perceived Soviet aggression in developing and poor nations.

Despite their misgivings about Taraki's ability to rule, Moscow backed Taraki in an attempt to remove Amin as Prime Minister. On September 11, 1979, Taraki returned from a trip to Moscow. On September 13, Taraki invited Amin to a meeting, which he refused. The next day, under pressure from Moscow, Amin agreed and survived an assassination attempt. The remnants of the Afghanistan military rallied around Amin, and he ordered Taraki arrested.

The Kremlin considered intervening to rescue Taraki but concluded that the military officers had coalesced around Amin. On October 8, Taraki asked Soviet leader Brezhnev what he should do with Taraki and was told that it was up to him. On the same day, Taraki was murdered by suffocation.

Moscow did not need Amin and was convinced he was working with the West. On December 13, they attempted to poison him and, days later, attempted to assassinate him. On December 25, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which Amin believed was to cement his control of the nation. A second Soviet attempt to poison him on December 26 also failed. On December 27, Soviet troops attacked the Presidential Palace, and Amin was killed by gunfire.

The Soviet invasion and violent overthrow of Amin shocked the world. The United States, Pakistan, and China condemned the invasion. The Carter Administration saw the invasion as breaking what is now called "the rules-based order." Pakistan worried that after pacifying Afghanistan, the Soviets would invade their country to reach the Indian Ocean and establish warm water naval ports. China accused the Soviet Union of wanton expansionism and warned other developing nations that continued relationships with Moscow would lead to a similar fate.

After the assassination of Amin, the Soviet Union installed Babrak Karmal as a puppet leader. Days later, Karmal declared that Amin was a conspirator, criminal, and a spy of the United States. In Pakistan, the radicalization of Osama bin Laden had begun.

In writing this, I learned that declassified documents show there is no evidence that Osama bin Laden was directly trained or had direct contact with the CIA or the United States military. Pakistan insisted that U.S. funding, training, and equipping of the mujahadeen be channeled through Pakistan. It is very clear that bin Laden served as an operative for Saudi Arabian and Pakistani intelligence and operated as a go-between for the United States. It is also clear that bin Laden, whether directly or by proxy, was trained and equipped by the United States, along with thousands of other Islamic fighters.

There wasn't unity within the Kremlin that the pacification of Afghanistan would be easy, with some warning that there was a high risk of Moscow being dragged into an extended war against rival guerilla factions.

Another pause to talk about Iraq and Saddam Hussein and how the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War led to his rise in power. In April 1966, Abdul Salam Arif came to power in Iraq after the death of his brother. President Johnson considered Arif a moderate and saw an opportunity to improve Iraq-U.S. relations, and while this groundwork was being laid between Baghdad and Washington, the Six-Day War occurred. Arif severed diplomatic relations with the United States in June 1967, which would ultimately lead to a coup and his removal. The minority Ba'ath Party came to power in 1968 and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. While Hussein was not a leader or architect of the coup, he was deeply involved and orchestrated the nationalization of oil assets in 1972.

As Hussein and the Ba'athists continued to rise in power, they too watched events in Kabul and Tehran with deep concern that fundamental Islamists would seek to take control of Iraq. Rhetoric from Ayatollah Khomeini against the more secular Sunni Muslim Ba'athists didn't help, nor did a decades-long border dispute or unresolved issues from the 1975 Algiers Agreement.

The Iranian revolution resulted in the embargo of parts, munitions, and other materials to maintain the Iranian military, which saw a sharp decline in military readiness. Hussein saw this as an opportunity to seize the disputed Khuzestan Providence of Iran and its oil fields. On September 10, 1980, Hussein used the failed completion of the Algiers Agreement as a cause belli to launch a military operation to seize the territories of Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad. Twelve days later, Iraq launched a full-scale on Iran, which would lead to an eight-year war.

Back to Afghanistan.

Through 1985, Soviet troops launched a series of large-scale attacks in the central, northern, and western states of Afghanistan. While these large-scale attacks sometimes brought about temporary stability, the mujahadeen would retreat into Pakistan or deep into the mountains and return as soon as the Soviets withdrew. Moscow expected the Afghanistan army to do the majority of the fighting, with Soviet forces providing intelligence, logistics, close air support, and artillery. The opposite happened, with the Afghanistan military providing little support.

Soviet troops supported by the KGB and Afghanistan KHAD instituted brutal programs against the civilian population to try and find mujahadeen fighters, creating additional support for the Islamic rebel forces. However, the war was essentially a stalemate, and Soviet brutality made for odd bedfellows. Popular support for the mujahadeen in the Middle East, Europe, the United States, and China continued to grow with their bravery - fighting against Russian tanks and helicopters on horseback - seen as almost noble.

For Europe and the United States, the fight within Afghanistan was seen as a key element of the Cold War, with tensions between the East and West peaking in late 1983. The Reagan Administration sought to destabilize the Soviet Union economically and diplomatically, with the Department of Defense budget swelling to $1.7 trillion in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The Afghanistan resistance movement, with the mujahadeen taking center stage, was backed by the United States, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and China. Funding for Operation Cyclone, operated by the CIA, dramatically increased in 1986 and included the supply of Stinger antiaircraft missiles to the Afghanistan resistance. The Stinger missiles shifted the balance of power on the battlefield, practically grounding Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters and Su-25 ground attack aircraft.

With the Soviet military now stuck in an Afghanistan quagmire, another event would alter the course of world history. On April 26, 1986, after a failed safety test on Reactor 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, technician Leonid Toptunov pushed the AZ-5 button meant to scram the reactor. Instead, due to a design flaw, Reactor 4 exploded, causing the worst nuclear accident in world history. A combination of a stagnant economy, the inability to keep up with Western defense spending, the war in Afghanistan, and the economic cost of stopping the meltdown at Chornobyl, the Soviet Union would become bankrupt and ultimately collapse. With popular support dissolving, In 1987, Moscow announced it would start a controlled withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Back to Iraq and Iran.

After Iraq achieved three months of success in late 1980 and into early 1981 in its war against Iran, the momentum shifted with Iran seizing the initiative. The Iraq-Iran War made for some wild political alignments.

Soviet-leaning Iraq freely bought weapons from the Soviet Union, France, and China. While the United States didn't directly supply weapons to Baghdad, Washington lifted dual-use sanctions, which permitted the sale of civilian technology and heavy equipment that could be easily pressed into military service.

And while declassified records show that no single nation provided Baghdad with the resources and technology to produce chemical weapons, companies from France, the United States, West Germany, the U.K., and the Netherlands sold dual-use components, with France selling precursor chemicals to support the production of Sarin nerve gas.

Iran had deeper problems and bought weapons from North Korea and received parts and ammunition to support its United States military technology from - Israel. Israel supported Iran because Tel Aviv believed that an Iraqi victory could empower Syria further and present a broader threat to their sovereignty.

Mind blown.

And there is more. From 1981 to 1986, the CIA sold weapons to Iran through French shell companies. The profits were given to the Contras, who used the money to buy weapons to fight against the Soviet-backed Sandinista government in Nicaragua. In 2015, Seth McFarlane, the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, did an amazing musical piece that explained the Iran-Contra Affair in under two minutes.

In 1986, Iranian forces captured the Fao Peninsula in Iraq, sending shockwaves through the West. Despite its crumbling military hardware, concern was growing that the Iraq-Iran War was moving from a statemate to a potential Iranian victory.

Through Iran-Contra, Iran was sharing its intelligence with Washington, and because publicly, Iraq was the enemy of my enemy and hence, my friend, Washington, was receiving military intelligence from Iraq.  The 1986 Tanker War also didn't help and boosted military support for Iraq from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. So, to tip the balance of power, Washington started sharing the Iranian military plans that the CIA had access to with Baghdad.

Iraq regained the initiative, pushed Iranian forces out of the Fao Peninsula, and on August 20, 1988, United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 ended the Iraq-Iran War. While both nations were left economically devastated, the Iranian military, once the fifth most powerful in the world, was an empty shell. Among the dead were at least 50,000 Iranians killed by chemical weapons and at least 10,000 Kurds who attempted to rebel against the Baghdad government. One to two million people died, including at least 500,000 soldiers, a majority Iranian.

Back to Afghanistan.

By 1988, it was clear the Soviets were defeated. There are questions about how much combat bin Laden was engaged in with the mujahedeen, but he at least participated in some tactical battles. During his time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, bin Laden used his wealth and influence to recruit Arabs to the Islamic cause within Afghanistan, expanding his influence and growing his cult of personality. In the same year, he founded Al Qaeda with the goal of continuing violent jihad to what he perceived as the enemies of fundamentalist Islam. This would lead to decades of terrorism and, ultimately, the creation of The Islamic State, also known as ISIS or the more derogatory Daesh.

Bin Laden believed that the West had wronged Arabs and Muslims worldwide. Because people of Democratic nations participate in their government, all civilians were legitimate military targets due to their complicity in their government decisions. Further, any civilians who were killed due to their proximity and were good Muslims would go to paradise.

A lot of bin Laden's beliefs were rooted in Soviet propaganda, including late 19th Century Eastern European and Imperial Russia antisemitism. In the simplest of terms, bin Laden believed that Muslim Arabs faced four enemies: the Jews and Israel, the United States, "heretics," and Shia Muslims. While the historical record shows that the actions of the United States government, particularly in the Iraq-Iran War, are deplorable, few nations on the planet can say "not it" from 1945 to 1989 in the manipulation of Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern Affairs - including multiple Arab nations.

In 1989, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia and was given a hero's welcome along with his Al Qaeda Arab Legion. He led a triple life, running aspects of the family construction business, continuing to work with Pakistan and Saudi Arabian intelligence agencies, and indirectly and directly supporting jihadist activity in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

In the spring of 1989, bin Laden personally led up to 800 Al Qaeda fighters in Operation Jalalabad, which was an attempt to install a pro-Pakistani mujahadeen government in Kabul after the Soviet withdrawal, with the plot backed by the United States. The operation was a complete failure, with the Afghani army using Scud missiles and cluster munitions to stop the offensive. Up to 500 of bin Laden's militants were killed, and he was forced to return to Saudi Arabia, further imbittered.

Returning home, bin Laden supported opposition movements against the Saudi royal family and ordered the executions of leaders of the Soviet-backed Yemeni government. He disrupted reunification attempts in Yemen, which has led to decades of civil war, famine, and hundreds of thousands of deaths. His meddling eventually drew the attention of King Fahd and the ire of the then-President of Saudi Arabia, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Back to Iraq and Iran.

At the end of the Iraq-Iran War, Hussein moved to quickly rebuild his military, spending over $10 billion with the Soviet Union to reconstitute and modernize. Despite Kuwait's support of Iraq through its war with Iran, Baghdad started setting conditions to attack its neighbor.

As far back as 1932, Iraq claimed that Kuwait was part of Iraq and not a sovereign nation. During its eight-year war with Iran, which dear reader remember Iraq started, Kuwait provided $14 billion in assistance. Iraq claimed it couldn't repay the debt and demanded that Kuwait forgive the loan because it had defended the nation from the radicalism of Iran. Kuwait refused. Baghdad then accused Kuwait of slant drilling into Iraq to steal crude oil and also claimed that Kuwait was ignoring OPEC-set limits on oil production. A week before Iraq's invasion, Kuwait and the U.A.E. agreed to reduce oil output by 25% in an attempt to ease tensions.

To the south, Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern about the massing of Iraqi troops and military hardware near the Saudi and Kuwaiti borders to the United States. On July 25, 1990, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Iraqi officials for an explanation. Glaspie told Saddam that in the matter of the dispute between Kuwait and Iraq, "we have no opinion on the Arab–Arab conflicts," adding that Washington was not interested in starting an "economic war" with Iraq. While Glaspie would later deny she made these statements in 1991 Senate hearings, intelligence leaks in 2011 confirmed the position she expressed, and her read from the meeting. Hussein is widely believed to have seen the meeting as a green light to invade Kuwait while telling Glaspie that Baghdad had no intention of launching a military operation.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, quickly overrunning the Kuwaiti military. Hussein's forces led a brutal repression of Kuwaiti nationals and Palestinians, including hundreds of public executions, extreme torture, rape, and imprisonment. Yes - Palestinians.

This has been a long, complicated journey of how Osama bin Laden went from a child born into wealth and privilege to the leader and the inspiration of a movement that would result in the death of millions between Al Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS).

In the hours following the August 2 invasion, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia requested military assistance from the United States. It is important to point out that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was almost universally condemned, including by the Soviet Union and China. China did abstain from United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, which led to the 42-nation coalition that liberated Kuwait and invaded Iraq in 1991. Nations from every continent participated.

After King Fahd made his request on August 9, bin Laden met with him and Minister of Defense Sultan bin Abdulaziz, claiming that he could lead a coalition of mujahadeen and Al Qaeda to defend Saudi Arabia. When he was asked how he would respond to a chemical weapons attack, bin Laden responded, "with faith."

This response did not go over well, and his offer was rejected.

Bin Laden denounced the Saudi government and royal family after the meeting, stating that the Qu'ran forbid non-Muslims even to step foot in Saudi Arabia and that Mecca and Medina could only be defended by Muslims. His continued criticism and attempt to lead Muslim clerics in a fatwa declaration led to bin Laden being placed under house arrest and essentially exiled in 1991. His radicalization was complete, and bin Laden went to Sudan before returning to Afghanistan.

In November 1990, the FBI arrested Al Qaeda operatives and uncovered plans to blow up skyscrapers and government buildings.

If you've read this far, you may have noticed something missing in the history and the dialog between Al Qaeda and bin Laden. Up to this point, even with the arrest and executions of thousands of Palestinians by Iraq in 1990 and early 1991, bin Laden had never aligned his causes with the Palestinians. Palestinian nationals are required to declare their religion on government-issued ID cards, with 98% identifying as Sunni Muslims.

On February 26, 1993, a truck bomb exploded in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in an attempt to topple the towers. Al Qaeda's planning and involvement were exposed when Mohammad Salameh, who rented the truck used to deliver the bomb, returned to the rental agency in an attempt to get his $400 security deposit back, leading to his arrest and three others.

It wasn't until 2004, when bin Laden reversed his claims of non-involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the United States, that he stated, "God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the US Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."

It's a fascinating statement since the historical record shows that bin Laden was deeply involved in fighting against the Soviet Union, supported by Pakistan, which the United States backed in 1982. Prior to 2004, he made little mention of Palestine or the Palestinian struggle. What is apparent is that the technology-shy bin Laden became increasingly media savvy in the late 1990s.

Yesterday on TikTok, a trend started revising history, stating that bin Laden's "Letter to America," written in 2002, showed an insightful leader who was smeared by Western propaganda and that his tactics and violence were and continued to be justified. For those who remember September 11, 2001, and the millions of victims of the Al Qaeda and Daesh violence, including over 14 million who lived under the ISIS Caliphate, there is a very different impression.

What is shocking in this movement, which is far beyond a harmless trend from a handful of TikTok creators, is the rejection of anyone who attempts to share their "lived experience" under Al Qaeda or Daesh rule, extreme Sharia law, victims of terrorist violence rooted in Islamic justification, or even those who remember 9/11. The concept of respecting the "lived experience" of others is, or was, perceived as fundamental to supporting and bearing witness to the oppression and suffering of other peoples. There is nothing "woke" or woo-woo about this concept. It is noble and human - at least it should be.

If American TikTok creators have become so comfortable in their view of what oppression is, some time on the Pine Ridge or Navajo Indian Reservation may be in order. Objectively, the most corrupt federal agency is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and yes, their inaction and their dollars continue to support the trainwreck that is the BIA.

Osama bin Laden is no hero. He is no visionary. He is no freedom fighter. He is not a man who has exposed United States corruption and how the State Department, banks, media, Hollywood, and other institutions are controlled by a shadow cabal of Jews. There is no plot for Israel to take control of the entire Middle East and destroy Mecca and Medina.

Osama bin Laden was a terrorist leader. A cult of personality that motivated hundreds of thousands to do unspeakable horrors across the world that continues to this day in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb responsible for hundreds of violent deaths in north and central Africa that continue as I type this.