Osama Muhammad Awad bin Laden was one of the founders and leaders of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. He was born in Riyadh to a wealthy Saudi Arabian family, the 17th of more than 50 children. Bin Laden studied economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University, but failed to obtain a degree. He became attracted to fundamentalist Islam and, meanwhile, inherited millions following his father's death in 1968.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden traveled to Pakistan to join the anti-Soviet mujahideen. During the 1980s, bin Laden worked to raise money for the mujahideen. In 1988, he helped found Al Qaeda. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda embraced an extremist interpretation of the Quran that emphasized the role of jihad, or holy war, in liberating Muslim areas from domination by foreign powers, Western culture, and pro-Western regimes. He asserted that any means were justified in the jihad against the enemies of Islam, including attacks on civilians. During the Persian Gulf War, bin Laden offered to raise troops to defend Saudi Arabia from a possible Iraqi invasion, but the Saudi government rebuffed his proposal. As the conflict progressed, bin Laden grew increasingly hostile to the presence of American troops in the country. His criticisms of the royal family led the Saudis to seek his arrest, but bin Laden went into exile. His Saudi citizenship was revoked in 1994. Nonetheless, many prominent Saudis continued to provide bin Laden and Al Qaeda with funds. Bin Laden then attempted to set up operations in Sudan, but was forced to leave under American and Saudi pressure in 1996.

Bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and became involved in the ongoing civil war. He provided monetary support to the Taliban, and Al Qaeda members fought alongside the Islamic extremist movement. When the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan, they allowed bin Laden to establish a series of training camps. Meanwhile, he issued a fatwa or religious decree in 1998 calling upon Muslims to attack and kill Jews, Americans, and other Westerners. Al Qaeda was subsequently involved in the 1998 embassy bombings. The administration of President William J. Clinton conducted a series of retaliatory missile strikes on Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected terrorist site in Sudan. The raids failed to kill bin Laden, who intensified his campaign against the United States.

Bin Laden and the senior Al Qaeda leadership generally did not plan specific operations, but provided funding and coordination for attacks, including the failed 1999 Millennium Bombing Plots, the 2000 USS Cole bombing, and the September 11 terrorist attacks. Bin Laden was indicted on a variety of charges related to these attacks, and the administration of President George W. Bush placed a bounty of $25 million on bin Laden after the 2001 strikes. The Taliban was overthrown during Operation Enduring Freedom, but U.S.-led coalition forces failed to kill or capture bin Laden and the senior Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Bin Laden and his allies fled to a remote area of Pakistan, where he issued a series of video and audio tapes condemning the United States and its allies in the war on terror. After 2001, Al Qaeda became even more diffuse, and individual terrorist cells became increasingly autonomous. Nonetheless, bin Laden remained the spiritual leader of the movement.

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