Osama Bin Laden Essay, Research Paper

Problem : Should Osama Bin Laden be hunted down, because he is a threat to the U.S.? OSAMA BIN LADEN

Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born multimillionaire who runs terrorist training camps that focused on hate towards the United States of America, should be taken down at any cost if major terrorist attacks against the U.S. and other nations should be stopped. He runs his terrorist organization from a well-equipped headquarters outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Bin Laden is well known for his holy war against America and would attack Americans – military and civilian – all over the world.

Bin Laden promoted a fatwa, a religious directive, ordering attacks on Americans. His hate for Americans rests on the fact that the U.S. Government, according to bin Laden, [ ] has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal, through its support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine . He adds

[ ] we believe the U.S. is directly responsible for those killed in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq . His aggression towards the U.S. still continues, because U.S. troops are located in Arabia, the holiest place for the Muslims. By Islamic rule, it is not permissible for any non-Muslim to stay in Muslim territories. Therefore he has focused on striking at the U.S. soldiers inside Arabia, the country of the two holiest places, Mecca and Medina. Bin Laden recently convened a meeting of fundamentalist extremists and sponsors of terrorism. More than 150 clerics named themselves the International Islamic Front for the Jihad against Jews and Crusaders, and issued a variety of fatwas. This front is committed to expelling all Americans and Jews from Muslim Holy Lands, and to overthrowing the Saudi royal family along the way. It was the beginning of a coalition of Muslim radicals that has been around since the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

The U.S. State Department says that Bin Laden is one of the principal financiers of Islamic extremism around the world. He is believed to have been the force behind many attacks against U.S. servicemen and tourists overseas as well as terrorist attacks in the U.S. itself. The U.S. government links him to terrorist groups in Egypt, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Algeria and attacks on U.S. soldiers in Yemen and Somalia. The U.S. State Department believes that the 41 year old bin Laden was the mastermind behind the horrific World Trade Center bombing in New York a few years ago, and has plotted to kill the President of the U.S.A., Bill Clinton, and the Pope, John Paul II, numerous times. U.S. intelligence officials believe Bin Laden supplied troops and rocket launchers that shot down U.S. helicopter in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, killing 18 servicemen. These cold blooded murders have yet to see a punishment for the assailant. They also believe he is behind the November 1995 bombing of a Saudi base in Riyadh that killed six Americans. Recently, Bin Laden has been connected to the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, that killed over 300 people, on the belief that his terrorist camps trained the people who carried out the bombings. The U.S. has retaliated against Bin Laden for his terrorist actions in the U.S. bombings, by bombing one of his many terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, and a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. This factory is believed have been financed by Bin Laden himself, and produced VX nerve gas , a deadly gas, which would have been used for terrorist actions. One can only assume that the gas would be used against the U.S. with a deadly force. These actions of Bin Laden s are unfair and unjust to the U.S. .People – military and civilian should not be killed out of religious beliefs. Conflicts should be solved using diplomatic means, not violence.

But yet Bin Laden uses his millions to bankroll terrorist training camps in the Sudan, the Philippines, and Afghanistan, sending holy warriors to instigate revolution and fight with fundamentalist Muslim forces across North Africa, in Chechnya and Tajikistan, even Bosnia. These camps have been funded for the sole purpose of training men for terrorist attacks. The FBI believes that Bin Laden has set up in essence a foundation, where any terrorist can apply. Bin Laden is said to personally control about $300 million of his family s $5 billion fortune. His role as a financier of terrorism is pivotal, experts say, because he has revolutionized the financing of extremist movements by forming and funding his own private terror network. Bin Laden has devoted not only his own fortune, but his business acumen to the cause through a nebulous network he calls the Foundation for Islamic Salvation. It is believed that he funnels money into the promotion of terrorist causes around the world.

Terrorists should be pursued until the end and punished because otherwise the lack of action is perceived as weakness. This weakness will result in more attacks. They are situations when the diplomacy is not enough and more severe measures have to be taken. Just because Bin Laden is following his religious beliefs does not mean that he has the right to kill innocent human beings in cold blood.. He has proven himself as an enormous threat not only to the American public but the whole world.

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