Osama bin Laden (born: March 10, 1957 – died: May 1, 2011) was the terrorist mastermind behind the infamous September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers - which resulted in one of the largest losses of civilian life during peace time on American soil: He had also been responsible for the creation of a vast international terrorist network that champions Jihad and the destruction of Western democracy in favor of Islamic law.
Bin Laden had been in hiding for years and there had been doubts as to whether or not the mastermind was even still alive - but every now and then, Osama released a videotape of himself attempting to intimidate the Western world with threats of further violence: due to the nature of Islamic fundamentalism it is argued that Osama Bin Laden and his followers were amongst the most dangerous terrorists in modern-times.
Unlike many of his followers however Osama Bin Laden had not shown himself to be fanatical enough to risk his own life, in fact he had gone to great lengths to ensure his own survival despite encouraging others to commit suicide-bombings and other atrocities in defense of his cause. When his compound was finally discovered, he used one of his own wives as a human shield and was gunned down attempting to flee and save his own life.
Bin Laden was a strong believer in Sharia law and believed that all other ideologies must be opposed violently and without mercy - he also believed that civilians (even women and children) are legitimate targets in his war against the unbeliever, he often viewed America and Isreal as imperialist nations that must be destroyed or convinced into merging with Islam, he had often urged America and the Western world in general to abandon such vices as music, sex and liberalism: he was also antisemitic and believes that Jews are a dangerous enemy of Islam and must be treated as such.
Osama's violent criticism of the world was not limited to the Western world as he also believed almost all current Muslim nations had failed in their responsibilities as Muslim nations, he once believed that the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan was the only true muslim nation in the world.
Death
Over time bin Laden settled into a compound near Abbottabad, Pakistan. Eventually the Americans learned of bin Laden's whereabouts, and a strike team was assembled to go after the man.
On May 1, 2011, US President Barack Obama announced that bin Laden was assassinated by US Navy Seals from DEVGRU. DNA confirmed it was his body. Additionally photographs were taken of the body to confirm that it was bin Laden to senior officials, these photographs were not released to the public in order to keep from inflaming sentiment against the US. In order to keep bin Laden's burial site from becoming a place of pilgrimage for extremists bin Laden was buried at sea within a few hours of his death.