Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (/oʊˈsɑːmə bɪn moʊˈhɑːmᵻd bɪn əˈwɑːd bɪn ˈlɑːdən/; Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن‎, usāmah bin muḥammad bin 'awaḍ bin lādin; March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011) was the founder of al-Qaeda, the organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States, along with numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets. He was a Saudi Arabian, a member of the wealthy bin Laden family, and an ethnic Yemeni Kindite.

Bin Laden was born to the family of billionaire Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden in Saudi Arabia. He studied at university in the country until 1979, when he joined mujahideen forces in Pakistan fighting against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He helped to fund the mujahideen by funneling arms, money and fighters from the Arab world into Afghanistan, and gained popularity among many Arabs. In 1988, he formed al-Qaeda. He was banished from Saudi Arabia in 1992, and shifted his base to Sudan, until U.S. pressure forced him to leave Sudan in 1996. After establishing a new base in Afghanistan, he declared a war against the United States, initiating a series of bombings and related attacks. Bin Laden was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.

Osama bin Laden (elephant)

Osama bin Laden, named after the infamous elusive terrorist, was a rogue bull elephant responsible for at least 27 deaths and destruction of property in the jungled Sonitpur district of the Indian state of Assam. After a two-year rampage from 2004 to 2006, an elephant was eventually shot; but some were doubtful that the right animal was killed.

Attacks

Osama bin Laden was a rogue bull elephant active in the Indian state of Assam. He was named after the terrorist Osama bin Laden. At the time of the attacks, the elephant was thought to be between 45 to 50 years old. He measured between 2.7 and 3.0 metres (9 and 10 ft) tall. He was given the status of a "rogue" elephant in the summer of 2006 after his death toll reached double figures.

The elephant was said not to fear firecrackers or fire. During his attacks, he killed 27 people in the state of Assam, including 14 over the course of six months prior to his death.

The state capital, Gauhati, is 240 kilometres (150 mi) southwest of Behali near Tezpur. The province has an estimated population of 5,300 Asiatic elephants.

Osama bin Laden (disambiguation)

Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) was the founder of al-Qaeda, the militant Islamist organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Osama bin Laden may also refer to:

Animals

See also

Popular culture

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang.

Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and "dumbed down" in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, or corrupt.

History and definitions

The term "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier. Traditionally, popular culture was associated with poor education and the lower classes, as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.

Nineteen Eighty-Four in popular media

George Orwell's dystopian political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has been adapted for the cinema twice, for the radio and television at least twice. References to its themes, concepts and plot elements are also frequent in other works, particularly popular music and video entertainment.

Film adaptations

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been adapted into two theatrically released films. 1984 was directed into 6 different films but the only ones released to public were the following two. The first 1984 film was released in 1956. The second 1984 film, released in 1984, is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the novel, and was critically acclaimed. Many of the film's scenes were shot on the actual dates mentioned in the novel. For example, the scene in which Winston Smith writes the date "April 4, 1984" in his diary was filmed on April 4, 1984. The film's soundtrack was performed by the band Eurythmics, and a single taken from this, "Sexcrime (1984)", was a hit in several countries. The film is notable for containing Richard Burton's last performance.

Bin Laden family

The bin Laden family (Arabic: بن لادن‎, bin Lādin), also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. The family was thrown into the media spotlight through the activities of one of its members, Osama bin Laden, the former head of Al Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on US government and commercial buildings. The financial interests of the bin Laden family are represented by the Saudi Binladin Group, a global oil and equity management conglomerate grossing US$2 billion annually, and the largest construction firm in the world, with offices in London, Dubai, and Geneva.

Beginnings

The family traces its origins to a Hadhrami named Awad bin Laden from the village of Al Rubat, in the Wadi Doan in the Tarim Valley, Hadramout governorate, Yemen. His son was Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (died 1967). Mohammed bin Laden was a native of the Shafi`i (Sunni) Hadhramaut coast in southern Yemen and emigrated to Saudi Arabia prior to World War I. He set up a construction company and came to Abdul Aziz ibn Saud's attention through construction projects, later being awarded contracts for major renovations in Mecca, where he made his initial fortune from exclusive rights to all mosque and other religious building construction not only in Saudi Arabia, but as far as Ibn Saud's influence reached. Until his death, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden had exclusive control over restorations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Soon the bin Laden corporate network extended far beyond construction sites.

Bin Laden (song)

"Bin Laden" is a hip hop song by Immortal Technique, Mos Def and DJ Green Lantern.

The song appeared on mixtapes since November 2004, but was not released until the summer of 2005. The 12" vinyl single also featured a remix by the same artists, adding Chuck D of Public Enemy and KRS-One. It also features two lines by Eminem: "I don't rap for dead presidents, I'd rather see the president dead, It's never been said but I set precedents" from "We As Americans", and "Shady Records was eighty seconds away from the Towers/Some cowards fucked with the wrong building, they meant to hit ours" from "Patiently Waiting".

Music and lyrics

The song, whose lyrics argue that George W. Bush and previous Republican administrations were largely responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks, was received critically given its controversial chorus theme "Bush knocked down the towers", sampled from the song "Why?" by Jadakiss.

Immortal Technique raps: "Bush funded al-Qaeda, and now they blame the Muslim religion, even though bin Laden was a CIA tactician, they gave him billions of dollars, and they funded his purpose, Fahrenheit 9/11, that's just scratchin' the surface." In another line, Immortal Technique raps: "And of course Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons. We sold him that shit, after Ronald Reagan's election."