Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, was the mastermind behind the infamous September 11 terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 Americans dead. Osama bin Laden grew up in an extremely wealthy family. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, bin Laden offered his troops and resources to defend Kuwait, but was shocked by the arrogance of the Americans who preferred to defend it. From then on, he opposed everything American and began to focus his attacks on the United States. Given the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, the U.S. Special Forces raid to kill him was justified by the manner in which he had planned several major terrorist attacks, including 911. The leader of the terrorist network the most famous in the world, Osama bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957. He was born to an “extremely wealthy Saudi entrepreneur, Mohammed Awad bin Laden” (Currie 70). Bin Laden's father died when he was around thirteen years old. The death of his father “entitled him to a significant share of his father’s estate. This was enough money to keep him comfortably wealthy throughout his life” (Currie 71). This money would later be used to support Al-Qaeda and to purchase weapons and ammunition to defend against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. in 1979. The motivation for Osama bin Laden to use his networks and terrorist cells around the world for attacks against the United States came in 1990. Now that he had an army equipped with weapons and tanks, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, he was ready and willing to do so. to defend him. Bin Laden was “shocked,” a family friend said, to learn that the Americans — the enemy, in his mind — would defend him instead. For him, it was the height of American arrogance" (The Most Wanted Face of...... middle of paper ......oops. Ed. Stephen Currie. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002 69-83. Lucent Terrorism Reference Library, March 13, 2014. “Osama bin Laden,” Dean and Karen Travers. : n. March 16, 2014. Zernike, Kate and Michael T. Kaufman . New York Times [New York] May 2011: n. New York Times Web. %3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fface%2Bof%2Bterrorims%2F>.