First known to the CIA as one of the Arabs fighting on our side against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden became America's No. 1 nemesis a decade later. The malcontented son of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate, bin Laden found meaning in the Afghan war. When it was over, he organized its Arab veterans into a global network of terrorists seeking to overthrow governments to create fundamentalist theocracies. He named the movement the foundation, as in the base of a building--in Arabic, al-Qaeda. Bin Laden provided the seed money, the organizational ability and the charismatic personality necessary to...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
