A Study of Osama Bin Laden's Profile as a Terrorist

Introduction

Osama bin Laden, if judged by his roots, is the last person one would expect to have orchestrated the attacks on 9/11. It is well known that bin Laden came from the wealthy bin Laden Construction family – worth nearly $36 billion. "Some people say that the bin Ladens were to Saudi Arabia what the Rockefellers were to the West" (Landau, 2001, p. 30). After completing high school, bin Laden was known to have traveled regularly to Beirut and reveled in the nightlife, binge drinking, and flirting with women. By any standard, bin Laden had everything going for him.

The Path to Extremism

The 1970s unrest in the Middle East would, however, drive bin Laden to confront his own promiscuity as well as that of other Muslims. Upon seeing Beirut destroyed, he turned to fundamentalist Islam (as did several of the other bin Laden sons) and began to learn from radical teachers. A variety of factors introduced his hatred of the West into the equation. Notably among these were the backing of Israel in the Yom Kippur War by the U.S. and the assassination of his family’s beloved King Faisal by an American-educated nephew. The rest, as they say, is history – the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban, and eventually al Qaeda shaped bin Laden into the leader he was. But what made him different? What tactics or traits made Osama bin Laden a natural insurgent leader?

Business Acumen in Extremism

One obvious trait is his predisposition to business. Born to an international business mogul, he had an education and was a natural businessman. Many of his leadership decisions stemmed from these skills, which were, to say the least, unusual in an Islamic extremist. "Among [his] resolutions were decisions to standardize training, unify financial reporting, and a semi-unified command in order to avoid replication of work – all aims of a mainstream industry-based organization" (Robinson, 2015, p. 190). It was this kind of business-sense idea that combined so well with the idea of a cell-based underground network like al Qaeda and made Osama bin Laden the influential leader that he was. Let it be known, of course, that in saying Osama bin Laden was a great leader, I mean no sympathy to a terrible man, only that I respect his prowess as a commander.

Standardized Training

One of the topics mentioned in the above quote, "standardized training," in particular, stands out. Bin Laden’s institution of standardized training meant a world of difference in a region where battles are largely fought by men with little or no combat training. These fighters (I find "fighter" a more appropriate word than "troop" or "soldier" given their lack of training) can be seen in clips from Syria blindly firing PKM’s from the hip, killing friendly soldiers with backblast from their own RPGs, and generally having no coordination whatsoever. This is what made al Qaeda different. Bin Laden’s insistence on standardized training meant that every al Qaeda fighter spoke the same language (in combat terms). Compared to the untrained, reckless fighters we see in Syria and Libya, this makes all the difference. "Al-Qaeda has assembled in excess of 10,000 pages of written training material, more than a hundred hours of training videos, and a global network of training camps" (Venzke, 2002, p. 6).

The translated al Qaeda training manual opens with an emblem bearing the words "Military Studies in the Jihad against Tyrants" and includes such detailed sections as "Security measures that should be observed in private transportation" and "principles of military organization." Such in-depth standards as these across the whole of al Qaeda were instituted under the leadership of bin Laden.

Conclusion

As a whole, the life of Osama bin Laden is fascinating. There is so much more to be explored than what little is detailed here. His background as a member of a multinational business family and his insistence on bringing those standards into the organization of a guerrilla are just a few of the things that made him such a successful leader. That being said, they are among the most important. Understanding these aspects of his leadership provides insight into how he was able to orchestrate such complex operations and maintain control over a vast network of followers.