Discussion Questions: What were the key characteristics that OBL possessed that allowed him to have such influence upon the minds and actions of members of al Qaeda and its affiliates? Also, what were the ‘leadership secrets’ of OBL described in the required reading by Hoffman, and how did they help him lead the al Qaeda organization?

Articles:

The Leadership Secrets of Osama bin Laden: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/…

On the Violent Life and Death of Osama bin Laden: A Psychological Post-Mortem: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evil-deeds…

Instructions: Fully utilize the materials that have been provided to you in order to support your response. Your initial post should be at least 350 words. Please respond to at least two other students. Responses should be a minimum of 150 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

Student #1 Joshua

Osama Bin Laden was the founder and leader of the Islamic international terrorist group al-Qaeda. He was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and from a wealthy family. His father was a famous and successful construction magnet who built royal palaces in Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden and other militant Islamic leaders delivered a manifesto denouncing the United States Military presence in the middle east, Americas support of Israel and the economic sanctions placed on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. Bin Laden himself declared war on the United States and its allies. In the late 1970’s Osama Bin Laden (OBL) joined the Muslim Brotherhood and became radicalized.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, OBL provided money and equipment to the anti-Soviet forces called the mujahedeen. He also provided funding for foreign muslim fighters who fought alongside the mujahedeen. Although the United States helped fund the Soviet resistance, Bin Laden hated the United States for its support of Israel. OBL’s hatred grew even stronger when the United States came to the aid of the Saudi Royal family after Saudi Arabia was threatened by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. OBL wanted to build an army of mujahedeen veterans of the Afghan war but Saudi Arabia decided to go with the United States and its allies. OBL was outraged and accused the Saudi government of being un-Islamic. Bin Laden would eventually leave Saudi and flee to Sudan where he provided funding for terror camps and training for jihadis. Eventually Bin Laden would end back up in Afghanistan and allied with the Taliban. Suspected of being the mastermind for the September 11th, attacks in the US and numerous other terror operations against the west, Bin Laden would go on the run in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Terrorists all over the world viewed Osama Bin Laden as a hero. Even though he was defeated in Afghanistan and his terror organization disbanded, he is seen as the victor. His attacks on 9/11 changed the world forever and his spiritual guidance to Islamic Fundamentalist who teach their own versions of the religion, he was still considered as a spiritual leader. His funding of terrorism over the years provided a means for terror groups to operate and recruit new fighters. OBL ran al-Qaeda like a business. There were different levels of responsibility and he hired on his most dedicated to supervise the operations. He was not much a tactician as he was a business manager. OBL became the most famous terrorist in history and a martyr for future terrorists.

References

Foreign Affairs. (2007). Profile: Osama Bin Laden. Council on Foreign Relations.

Hoffman, B. (2003). The Leadership Secrets of Osama bin Laden. The Atlantic .

Student #2 Eric

Hey Everyone,

“What were the key characteristics that OBL possessed that allowed him to have such influence upon the minds and actions of members of al Qaeda and its affiliates? Also, what were the ‘leadership secrets’ of OBL described in the required reading by Hoffman, and how did they help him lead the al Qaeda organization? “

There are some notable key characteristics I noticed from the get-go when reading the lesson, some include his background, religion and leadership traits. Lets take a look at each one individually.

To start, he was born into a prominent family. His father was a billionaire and he grew up living in mansions. One thing that I noticed, and I am no psychologist by any means, but his father had 10 wives, also, his father and mother split up shortly after he was born. Even though he grew up in wealth, he still did not have that kind of motherly love that one needs when growing up. Again, I am no psychologist, but this may be a small factor to his personality. On top of being very wealthy from his family, he was also educated. He attended university, but reports vary on what degree, if any he obtained. The point is, he was educated and had knowledge of business. “As mentioned, he grew up in a very privileged environment and had considerable business acumen which served him well as he formulated his plans for the organization that would become al-Qaeda.”(HLSS154, Lesson Four)

Now, onto religion. “Bin Laden’s path to militant views began during his teenage years when he became involved in the fundamentalist Islamic movement that was sweeping through Saudi Arabia at that time.” (HLSS154, Lesson Four) Bin Laden did attend University, so he was educated, but his main interest during school was religion. “While he was at college in the late 1970s, he became a follower of the radical pan-Islamist scholar Abdullah Azzam, who believed that all Muslims should rise up in jihad, or holy war, to create a single Islamic state.” (History.com, 2009) This led him to joining with the Mujaheddin resistance to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He did not “fight” so to speak, but he used his money to help fund the Mujaheddin. He also created a recruitment group to help recruit people from all over the Middle East and even as far as the U.S. to join in the fight.

Some of the characteristics that made Bin Laden a good leader was that he was a good communicator “able to speak to and influence the minds and hearts of his followers in a way that produced tremendous results.” (HLSS154, Lesson Four) He was also very smart in the fact that he used to the 9/11 attacks to push a win-win scenario for his cause. If Americans do nothing to act after the attack, that shows that we are weak and vulnerable to more Muslim attacks, conversely, if we do fight back, then it shows to Osama and his people that we are indeed at war with Muslims. This caused him to have the ability to recruit more fighters in the long run.

In the end, justice was served though. On May 1st, 2011, a team of Navy SEALs bursted into his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed him.

-Eric

References:

Osama bin Laden: Terrorist CEO – HLSS154 | MIND OF A TERRORIST | LESSON FOUR – https://apus.realizeithome.com/RealizeitApp/Conten…

Osama Bin Laden – History.com Editors – December 16, 2009 – https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/osama-…