Osama bin Laden

Also known as: Usama bin Laden, Ussamah bin Laden

The U.S. government considers Osama bin Laden to be the most dangerous terrorist in the world. Bin Laden joined the Afghanistani resistance in 1979 and became a commander in the guerilla wars against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. After that war ended, bin Laden founded a loose organization of pro-Islamic terrorists known as al-Qaeda. He then joined with the Egyptian militants led by Ayman al-Zawahiri to form an international group whose goals included driving the United States out of the Middle East and overthrowing the government of Saudi Arabia. Attacks which bin Laden is believed to have plotted or inspired include the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the 1995 truck bombing of a Saudi National Guard training center, and the 1998 explosions at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Along with captured suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he is considered responsible for the September 2001 attacks that crippled the Pentagon and destroyed New York's World Trade Center. Despite an intensive manhunt by the U.S. government in the years since that attack, bin Laden has not been captured.