The Serpent of Terror - Osama Bin Laden

The Serpent of Terror

Osama Bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden - March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011 (Or is he still alive)

The Serpent of Terror

Quatrain 10:72

The year 1999, seventh month,

From the sky will come a great King of Terror:

To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols,

Before and after Mars to reign by good luck.

Michel de Nostredame

These lines are taken from "Nostradamus: Life and Literature" by Edgar Leoni. Michel de Nostredame, more commonly known as Nostradamus, has intrigued the world for five centuries, considered by many to be the greatest prophet who has ever lived. While most prophets recorded vague visions of future events, Nostradamus pinpointed his predictions using specific dates, astrological configurations, climatic events and anagrams naming the villains hundreds of years before they appeared.

“The year 1999, seventh month,” - The first line in French reads: "L'an mil neuf cent nonante neuf sept mois" which can likewise be translated "September, Twenty-first Century." Sept means "seven" in French but is also the abbreviation for September. 2001 was the first year of the Twenty-first Century.

“From the sky will come a great King of Terror:” - This line means "Terror from the Sky" is predicted at the Turn of the 21st Century. And arrival of a great King of Terror who will come from the sky.

“To bring back to life the great King of the Mongols,” - History tells that Afghanistan was once conquered by Genghis Khan in 1220 AD and was part of the Mongol empire until the 18th Century. On September 21st MSNBC reported that "the Taliban has reintroduced sports from the original Mongol invaders of Afghanistan." CNN's documentary, "Beneath the Veil," adds: "The Taliban has turned sports stadiums into execution grounds."

“Before and after Mars to reign by good luck.” - This interpretation points the finger at the United States with its unique national holiday of Thanksgiving Thursday." The day before Thanksgiving 2000 Buffalo, NY was inundated with a record 25 inches of snow, ushering in the coldest winter ever recorded in U.S. history. On January 6, 2001, CNN.com ran the headline: "Record cold spell brings big freeze to Great Lakes," reporting that "frigid temperatures in November and December 2000 resulted in the coldest two-month period in U.S. history."

Osama Bin Laden

Does that means Nostradamus have already predicted centuries ago about a King of Terror and his attack from the sky. The Mystery still remains. But if we look closely at the recent shocking news about the death of Osama Bin Laden, we can’t digest the fact that may be Nostradamus’s predictions were not mere dreams, but visions of future.

9/11 Attack

Nearly 10 years after the traumatic Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon, the world's most wanted terrorist leader Osama bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan. Announcement of his death was timed perfectly with the US elections. It took the current President of the United States a good two and a half years to come up with a catchphrase that might resonate even more strongly than his "Yes, we can" with Americans, but he's done it again - in style, with his trademark elan, shoulders straight, head held up high, eyes front and center, and with quiet conviction: "Justice <poignant pause> has been done." The US government's historic achievement of nailing and executing the world's most wanted extremist bin Laden just under a decade of the most frightful terror attack on US soil is cause célèbre enough for one of the most articulate leaders of the world to proudly proclaim to the world - "Yes, I did."

President Barack Obama

Osama bin Laden was the founder of the al-Qaeda organization, which is largely believed to be responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was also a member of the wealthy Saudi bin Laden family. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings. From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the War on Terror.

USA After 9/11

USA After Afghan War

On May 1, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized a raid on bin Laden's suspected location near Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation was successfully carried out by United States Navy SEALs, with intelligence support from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Pakistani intelligence. During the 40-minute raid, bin Laden was fatally shot in the head. After intelligence searches of the compound were conducted, his body was taken into custody at which point genetic and facial recognition tests were performed. After positive identification, and within 24 hours of his death, bin Laden's body was taken out to sea for burial.

Osama Bin Mohammed Bin Awad Bin Laden

March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011(Or is he still alive)

Challenging the might of the "infidel" United States, Osama bin Laden masterminded the deadliest militant attacks in history and then built a global network of allies to wage a "holy war" intended to outlive him. The man behind the suicide hijack attacks of 9/11, and who US officials said late on Sunday was dead, was the nemesis of former President George W. Bush, who pledged to take him "dead or alive" and whose two terms were dominated by a "war on terror" against his al Qaeda network.

Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the son of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family, and Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, Hamida al-Attas. In a 1998 interview, he gave his birth date as March 10, 1957. Osama's parents divorced soon after he was born; Osama's mother then married Mohammed al-Attas. The couple had four children, and Osama lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister. Osama was raised as a devout Wahhabi Muslim. From 1968 to 1976, he attended the "élite" secular Al-Thager Model School. Osama studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University. Some reports suggest Osama earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or a degree in public administration in 1981. Other sources describe him as "hard working," but having left university during his third year without completing a college degree. At university, Osama's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the Quran and jihad" and charitable work. He also wrote poetry.

Bin Laden in his young age

The FBI described Osama bin Laden as tall and thin, between 6'4" and 6'6" (193– 198 cm) in height and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Interviewees of Lawrence Wright, on the other hand, describe him as quite slender, but not particularly tall. He had an olive complexion and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white turban and no longer donned the traditional Saudi male headdress. Bin Laden was described as soft-spoken and mild mannered in demeanor.

Bin Laden in his young age

Osama believed that only the restoration of Sharia law would "set things right" in the Muslim world, and that alternatives such as —"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.  This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb. Osama believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of Mullah Omar's Taliban, was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world. Osama consistently dwelt on the need for violent jihad to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states, the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.

Jihad through Bin Laden's Eye

Osama's ideology included the idea that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad. Osama was anti-Semitic, and delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next." Shia Muslims have been listed along with "Heretics,... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.

Biography of Osama bin Laden

(Part 1)

(Part 2)

(Part 3)

In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs, Osama opposed music on religious grounds, and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants" on the one hand, but rejected "chilled water" on the other.

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a "terrorist" by scholars, journalists from The New York Times, the BBC, and Qatari news station Al Jazeera, analysts such as Peter Bergen, Michael Scheuer, Marc Sageman,  and Bruce Hoffman and he was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in Madrid, New York City, and Tripoli.

Mujahideen in Afghanistan

The Saudi-born militant appeared to hit upon a strategy of smaller, more easily-organised attacks, carried out by globally-scattered hubs of sympathisers and affiliate groups. Whether reviled as a terrorist and mass murderer or hailed as the champion of oppressed Muslims fighting injustice and humiliation, bin Laden changed the course of history

After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden joined Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and lived for a time in Peshawar. From 1979 through 1989 under U.S. Presidents Carter and Reagan, the United States Central Intelligence Agency provided overt and covert financial aid, arms and training to Osama's Islamic Jihad Mujahideen through Operation Cyclone, and the Reagan Doctrine. President Reagan often praised the Mujahideen as Afghanistan's "Freedom Fighters."

With his long grey beard and wistful expression, bin Laden became one of the most instantly recognisable people on the planet, his gaunt face staring out from propaganda videos and framed on a U.S. website offering a $25 million bounty.

Born in Saudi Arabia in 1957, one of more than 50 children of millionaire businessman Mohamed bin Laden, he lost his father while still a boy -- killed in a plane crash, apparently due to an error by his American pilot.


By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established Maktab al-Khadamat, which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the Arabic world into the Afghan war. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune paid for air tickets and accommodation, dealt with paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihad fighters. Osama established a camp in Afghanistan and with other volunteers fought the Soviets. 

Formation of Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda Group

Al-Qaeda Group

Al-Qaeda Group

By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force. Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate Al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors. According to Wright, the group's real name wasn't used in public pronouncements because "its existence was still a closely held secret." His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an August 11, 1988, meeting between "several senior leaders" of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, and bin Laden, where it was agreed to join bin Laden's money with the expertise of the Islamic Jihad organization and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion, "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union. 

War Against United States

Holy War "Jihad" as per Osama even if that meant killing the innocent

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed. It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers. The fatwa was issued to Al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

9/11

September 11 attacks

9/11

September 11, 2001 - As It Happened

"Allah 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 U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way (and) to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."

– Osama bin Laden

9/11

9/11

After reports of repeated initial denials, in 2004, Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial passenger aircraft, the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the deaths of 2,974 people and the nineteen hijackers. In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terror to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing bin Laden. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable. The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001, attacks although the government report notes that the evidence presented is insufficient for a prosecutable case. Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.

9/11

In a videotape recovered by US forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with Khaled al-Harbi in a way that indicates foreknowledge. The tape was broadcast on various news networks on December 13, 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."  In the 2004 Osama bin Laden video, bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it he stated he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers. In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, bin Laden accused U.S. President George W. Bush of negligence on the hijacking of the planes on September 11.

9/11

According to the tapes, bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War. In two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Osama bin Laden announces,

I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers ... I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers ... with the raids [5 minute audiotape broadcast May 23, 2006], and is seen with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast September 7, 2006). 

9/11

 

Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush stated that he now hoped to "kill or capture" Bin Laden. Subsequently, Bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Since that time, numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death. Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally-verified videos demonstrating Bin Laden's continued survival as recently as August 2007. Most recently, U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal had emphasized the continued importance of the capture or killing of bin Laden, thus clearly indicating that the US high command continued to believe that Bin Laden was probably still alive. 

 

9/11

Many claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden were made in the wake of 9/11, although none were ever definitively proven and some placed Osama in different locations during overlapping time periods. After military offensives in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 failed to uncover his whereabouts, Pakistan was regularly identified as his suspected hiding place.

Death of the Terror Man

Osama Bin Laden

On May 1, 2011, in Washington, D.C. (May 2, Pakistan Standard Time), U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by "a small team of Americans" acting under Obama's direct orders, in a covert operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, about 50 km (31 mi) north of Islamabad. It had been believed by some that bin Laden was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but he was actually found 100 miles away in a million-dollar, three-story mansion in Abbottabad. Bin Laden's mansion was located .75 miles (1.21 km) southwest of the Pakistan Military Academy (Pakistan's "West Point"). Google Earth maps show that the compound was not present in 2001, but was present on images taken in 2005)  

A Pakistan army soldier stands on top of the house where it is believed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011. Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of people, was slain in his hideout in Pakistan early Monday in a firefight with U.S. forces, ending a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade.

This undated artist rendering handout provided by the CIA shows the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan where American forces in Pakistan killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Vehicles carry the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed next to the wall of a compound where according to officials, Osama bin Laden was shot and killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011. Bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was killed in his luxury hideout in Pakistan early Monday.

According to U.S. officials, a team of 20–25 U.S. Navy SEALs from the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (SEAL Team Six), under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command and working with the CIA stormed bin Laden's compound in two helicopters. Bin Laden, three other men, and a woman were killed in a firefight in which U.S. forces did not experience any injuries or casualties. In his broadcast announcement, President Obama said that U.S. forces "took care to avoid civilian casualties." Among the others killed were one of bin Laden's sons, a man described as a courier, and the courier's brother. Four years of surveillance of the courier led to the intelligence which made the raid possible. It was reported that the courier was the owner of the compound where the assault took place. John Brennan, the White House anti-terrorism chief, said that the woman that was killed was one of bin Laden's four wives and was being used as a human shield at the time. Two other women, who were also used as shields, were injured during the raid. According to one U.S. official, the attack was carried out without the knowledge or consent of Pakistani authorities. In contrast, agents of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) said it was a joint operation.

Pakistan army soldiers and a police officer patrol past the house, background, where it is believed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011. Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of people, was slain in his hideout in Pakistan early Monday in a firefight with U.S. forces, ending a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade.

This undated aerial handout image provided by the CIA shows the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan where American forces in Pakistan killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

DNA from bin Laden's body, compared with DNA samples on record from his dead sister's brain confirmed bin Laden's identity the following day, according to assertions to ABC News by unnamed sources. The 193 cm long body was recovered by the U.S. military, and was in its custody until his body was buried in the North Arabian Sea from the USS Carl Vinson according to Islamic traditions. One U.S. official stated that "finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult." MSNBC reported, "There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants.”).

A photo taken by a local resident, shows the wreckage of a helicopter next to the wall of the compound where according to officials, Osama bin Laden wss shot and killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011. Bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan early Monday.

The U.S. State Department issued a "worldwide caution" for Americans following bin Laden's death, and U.S diplomatic facilities everywhere were placed on high alert, a senior U.S official said. Crowds gathered outside the White House and in New York City's Times Square to celebrate bin Laden's death. In Pakistan, some people were dismayed that Pakistan has lost its sovereignty.

This video frame grab, obtained from ABC News on May 2, 2011, shows the interior in the mansion where Osama Bin Laden was killed May 1

This video frame grab, obtained from ABC News on May 2, 2011, shows the interior in the mansion where Osama Bin Laden was killed May 1

ABC video frame grab of bedroom where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan

Critics have accused Pakistan's military and security establishment of protecting bin Laden. For example Mosharraf Zaidi, a leading Pakistani columnist stated “It seems deeply improbable that Bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state”. This issue is expected to worsen US ties with Pakistan. The bin Laden was killed in what some suggest was his residence for at least three years. It was an expensive compound, probably built for him and less than 100 kilometers’ drive from the capital.

Pakistan and his support to Al-Qaeda

The Pakistan's president Zardari has denied that his country's security forces may have sheltered Osama bin Laden. The Pakistan's US envoy ambassador Husain Haqqani promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound just a few hours’ drive from Islamabad and stated that "Obviously bin Laden did have a support system, the issue is was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan?"

People cheer Bin Laden's death as victory

President Obama confirms bin Laden is dead

A crowd outside the White House in Washington, cheers Sunday, May 1, 2011, upon hearing the news that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is dead. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Barack Obama is seen on a television monitor in the press briefing room as he makes a televised statement on the death of Osama bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo)

Crowds gathers outside the White House in Washington early Monday, May 2, 2011, to celebrate after President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Crowds gathers outside the White House in Washington to celebrate after President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Crowds gathers outside the White House in Washington to celebrate after President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

People holding masks depicting U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and France President Nicolas Sarkozy wave during a "bye bye Bush" demonstration in central Madrid, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. Demonstrators celebrate U.S. President George W. Bush is leaving the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A man holding an al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's mask waves during a "bye bye Bush" demonstration in central Madrid, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009. Demonstrators celebrate U.S. President George W. Bush is leaving the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Finally the Serpent Of Terror id Dead

So you think Osama is dead, and the story ends here. But do you really think Satan can die, I don’t think so… According to me a Serpent of Terror exists in every century, one dies another rises. With the new century, a new Serpent of Terror will be born. He will soon return with the thoughts of destruction, me think this time he will be much stronger than before.

The Question is, are we ready to face him?

Is this the Future of Terror... You never know.

(Inputs from http://en.wikipedia.org)

(Videos: http://www.youtube.com)

(Pictures: AFP/GETTY)

REGARDZ:

SUNNY DHANOE

 

12:38 AM