Where Osama came from

For those who've heard that "we" somehow "created" Osama bin Laden by funding the mujahideen Afghans against their Soviet oppressors in the 1980s, check out Peter Bergen's books, "Holy War Inc.," and "The Osama bin Laden I Know." You'll find out bin Laden went to Afghanistan late in the anti-Soviet game, and he never received funding from the United States.

For more facts, check out this State Department summary.

Frank Warner

Comments

[jj mollo]

In fact, I remember reading an account of how one American reporter actually met him in Afghanistan. The reporter's guide was at some pains to prevent OBL from killing the reporter outright for absolutely no reason. So you wonder why we never gave him any funding.

[Frank Warner]

And yet, there are people (and strangely, they are usually the people who always oppose freeing the oppressed) who still say the U.S. created Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden didn't plant himself in Afghanistan until the Afghans had done all the hard work of demoralizing and defeating the Soviets. Gorbachev already had decided to withdraw the Soviet Army.

As the Soviets prepared to leave from 1985 to 1987, bin Laden took lots of pot shots at the Soviets' hapless Afghan mercenaries. For that, bin Laden proclaimed himself a hero. He's always been in it for the pointlessly bloody glory.