The Capture of Osama Bin Laden - Research Paper Example

The capture of Osama bin Laden Introduction Osama bin laden was a son to Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden. He was born in10th march, 1957 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. His father was a wealthy construction businessperson who had connections with the Saudi Arabia royal family. His father divorced his mother when he was still young and Osama bin Laden left to live with his new family where his mother got married. Osama bin laden was a jihadist Muslim who devoted his time and resources to safeguarding the interests of the Muslims. He married his first wife Najwa Ghanem in the year 1974 when he was seventeen years old but he later divorced her. Osama was a polygamist who is believed to have married about six wives with whom he had about 20 children. Osama bin laden used his Muslim faith and the vast wealth inherited from his father to mount terror on the United States of America and the world. Three United States of America presidents were all involved at various stages in trying to capture Osama bin Laden. During his early involvement in terrorist activities, he had joined with different groups in Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt and Sudan. He had also at some time fallen out with Saudi Arabia government and the Afghanistan president had in the year 1994 revoked his Saudi Arabian citizenship (Mockaitis 43). Libya was the first country to issue a warrant of arrest for Osama bin laden on March 16, 1998. The government wanted him arrested by the Interpol alongside three of his accomplices in connection with the killing of a German intelligent service agent, Silvan Becker, and his wife Vera, on 10th march, 1994 (Coll 695). The United States of America issued their first indictment for Osama bin laden on June 1998 on allegations of murder when a truck was bombed in Riyadh Saudi Arabia in the year 1995. During this attack, two Indians and five Americans were killed. Osama bin laden was charged with conspiring to attack the United States of America’s defense facilities and heading al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization based in the Afghanistan. He was also accused of being the major financier of the Islamic fighters in the world. Osama bin laden denied any involvement, but he echoed support for the attacks (Atwan 39). In November 1998, after two attacks on American embassies in two African countries (Kenya and Tanzania), the United States’ Federal Grand Jury indicted him once more. The charges against him this time were for the murder of United States’ citizens inside and outside the United States and attacks on the United States federal facilities. These attacks resulted in deaths and destruction of property in the two countries but it was targeted towards the Americans and their property. The prosecutor presented evidence gathered from phone records gotten from satellite, testimony by people who had decamped from al--Qaeda as well as his phone. He was however not arrested since his sympathizers, the Taliban from Afghanistan, could not extradite him on the basis that non-Muslim courts lacked authority to try him as a Muslim (Randal 78). They also claimed that there was no sufficient evidence linking him to the crimes. The Federal Bureau of Investigations added him to the list of the world most wanted terrorists in 7 June 1999. The United States of America’s president Bill Clinton prevailed upon the United Nations to impose sanctions on Afghanistan aimed at forcing the extradition of Osama bin Laden by the Taliban. On October 10, 2001, Osama bin laden was in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of top 22 most wanted terrorists. This list was made public by the United States of America’s president George W Bush. His inclusion in the list was based on his involvement with the 1998 terror attacks in Kenya and Tanzania. The United States of America and the United Nations’ security organs tried to make the Taliban to extradite Osama bin Laden without success. It was not until October 2001 during the bombing of Afghanistan by the American forces that the Taliban offered to extradite him to another country for trials but not the United States of America. This was on condition that the United States stops the bombing of Afghanistan. The then United States of America’s president George W Bush rejected this offer. He was not ready for negotiation and claimed that the United States had found him guilty and hence no room for proof of guilt or innocence (Coll 697). The United States’ government intensified its war on terror after the 9/11 terror attacks inside the United States of America territories. On September 16,2001 Osama Bin Laden refused to take responsibility for 9/11 terror attacks on the United States of America. Two years later (in 2004), he finally took responsibility of the attacks claiming that he was targeting the world trade centre as a result of watching the destruction of Lebanon towers by Israel in the Lebanon war of the year 1982. By this time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had collected intelligence reports and evidence linking al-Qaeda to the attacks. The British government’s intelligence agencies had also linked Osama bin Laden with the attacks (Atwan 43). In the year 2006, Osama bin Laden released video tapes that were aired by Al Jazeera. In the tapes, he accused the United States’ president George W Bush of Negligence as he failed to protect the country against attacks by failing to guard the airports leading to the hijacking of the planes that crashed in to the world trade centre building. Osama bin Laden also was seen in that video preparing together with two of the planes’ hijackers, Wail al-shibh and Hamza al Ghamdi. He cited the continued sanctions enforcement on Iraq, the continued stay of the American troops in Saudi Arabia as well as the United States government support of Israel in the Middle East wars as his motivation for attacking the United States of America (Randal 78). The Special Activities Division of the CIA was tasked with the responsibility of tracking down al-Qaeda and their leader Osama bin laden. The United States government wanted Osama bin laden captured and charged for the various crimes that he had committed. The United States government officials on 13 July 2007 increased their reward to $50 million for anyone who gave information that could lead to his capture. The government gathered information that towards the end of the year 2001 during the Tora Bora battle in Afghanistan, Osama bin laden was in Afghanistan and was believed to have started the war. The failure to commit enough troops by the United States government to capture him led to his escape. Intelligence reports indicated that there was a Pre-Ramadan congregation by the al-Qaida members and subsequently joined hands with the Afghanistan government forces to launch raids on the Tora Boba mountain Caves from 14th - 16th of August the year 2007. These raids however did not lead to the capturing of Osama bin Laden (Sted 49). The third president of the United States of America who continued with the hunt of Osama bin Laden was president Barrack Obama, who had pledged his support on making sure that Osama bin Laden was captured to ensure that the world was safe. During a presidential debate held on October 7, 2008 on foreign policy, Barrack Obama gave a pledge that his government would ensure that Osama bin Laden was killed. He cited Osama bin laden as the main threat to the national security of the United States of America and the world at large. He pledged that his government would renew its commitment of capturing him (Sted 47). In December 2009, Robert Gates, the United States of America’s secretary of defense, acknowledged that the US government and security officials lacked information on the whereabouts of Osama bin laden. In the same year, a United States’ commander, General Stanley McChrystal, said that the only way to defeat al-Qaeda was capturing or killing their leader Osama bin Laden. President Barrack Obama reinforced his troops in Afghanistan by deploying an additional 30,000 troops (Randal 97). In 2009, Thomas W. Gellespiesearch led a research team together with John A.Agnew and using the satellite technology, they identified the possible grounds where Osama was likely to be hiding. All the three compounds were in Parachinar in Pakistan. All indications at this point were pointing out that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Chitral in Pakistan. Conflicting reports on his whereabouts were still coming in with a former al-Qaeda member who was captured claiming that Osama bin laden was still in Afghanistan. He said that a close confidant and reliable person had told him that the al-Qaeda leader was still In Afghanistan. Osama bin laden had all this time remained silent and sent no information about his where he was. Many people believed he was still alive, and on October 18, 2010, an anonymous NATO official gave the assertion that he was indeed alive. He further claimed that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan under the protection and comfort of sympathizers from the Pakistan intelligence officials. Pakistan senior government officials however denied these allegations terming this as a publication of lies aimed at meddling with the Pakistan government’s relationship with the United States of America (Sted 50). In April 2011, several intelligence reports located Osama bin Laden’s possible hideout as Pakistan near the Pakistan Military Academy. President Obama ordered the operation to capture him on 2 May, 2011. The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) of the United States of America carried out the operation named Operation Neptune Spear while the executing team was Navy Seal of the United States of America. The team struck Osama bin laden hideout, a palatial home in Abbottadad in Pakistan at about 1 A.M. President Obama announced to the world through a press conference the killing of Osama bin laden and claimed that his killing was good news to the United States of America and the world at large. His body was then taken to Afghanistan for identification and twenty-four hours later, he was buried in the sea (Sted 55). It was not clear however why the United States forces chose to kill him instead of capturing him alive. Some sources claimed that he fired at the forces prompting his killing, while others indicated that he did not fire and that the only shot towards the forces was from an al-Qaeda militant living near Osama bin laden’s house and that the reason he was shot is he was standing near a gun (Mockaitis 45). Critics of Pakistan government and intelligence services argued that it was difficult for Osama bin Laden to have stayed near a military base and not so far from the capital without them noticing. Maps indicated that the home where Osama bin Laden lived was not built in the year 2001 when the attacks on United States of America took place and that it was built in the year 2005. These brought speculations that the home could have been built for Osama bin Laden (Sted 45). Conclusion Through the life and times of Osama bin Laden as a leader of al-Qaeda, the United States of America and the world at large suffered both economically and socially. The attacks on two African countries caused many deaths and suffering not only to Americans but also numerous citizens of Kenya and Tanzania. This terrorist attacks of the United States World Trade Centre in New York was still a big blow to world’s peace. Apparently, Osama had threatened the peace of the whole world by continuing to attack innocent people and issuing threats to the peace and stability of the world. He had become had become a hindrance to world peace for over a decade and had evaded capture for a long time. However, the American government’s resolve to have him captured or killed was never deterred. Two former US presidents had tried to capture him with no much success and other nations throughout the world were becoming concerned about their security as al-Qaida continued to attack or issue threats. He had become the face of terrorism in the world and security agencies were determined each day to have him captured or killed to end terrorism. He was however devising ways and means of surviving each and every day, he found new allies who helped him escape at different times when he was about to be captured or when he was targeted. The world was treated to some good news when the president of the United States of America barrack Obama announced to the world his killing. The world was relieved that the war on terror was reaching its climax. Works Cited Atwan, Abdel. The secret history of al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. Coll, Steve. Ghost wars : the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001. New York: Penguin Press, 2004. Mockaitis, Thomas. Osama bin Laden a biography. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2010. Randal, Jonathan. Osama : the making of a terrorist. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011. Sted, Marcia. The capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub, 2012. Read More