Osama the Icon

The global cult of the terrorist mastermind.

MAY 2, 2011

Osama bin Laden may have been the most-hated man in the United States -- and indeed, much of the world. But among his followers, he inspired a cult-like devotion. Al Qaeda members swore a religious oath of allegiance to the man; more informal admirers bore his picture on t-shirts and posters. Here, a pro-Taliban supporter in Quetta, Pakistan, kisses his image on October 1, 2001.

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

After the Sept. 11 attacks, merchants reported a boom in sales for bin Laden merchandise. This Quetta, Pakistan, shop offers a poster of the al Qaeda leader, just next to one of body builder turned California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Well outside of the terrorism-hotbeds of Afghanistan and Pakistan, bin Laden won some sympathy. Just after the George W. Bush administration bombed Baghdad in March 2003, beginning the Iraq War, a vendor in Sao Paulo, Brazil, sold bumper stickers proclaiming support for Bin Laden and ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images

Bin Laden became a symbol to people as farway as Bangkok, Thailand (left) and Jakarta, Indonesia (right) and they showed it through a myriad of T-shirt styles depicting his likeness. In Thailand, this demonstrator wore her bin Laden t-shirt to a pro-democracy rally in June 2007, while in Indonesia, a member of that country's Muslim hard-line group Jemaah Islamiya wore his shirt to the trial of the group's leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, on May 7, 2003.

HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images and CHOO YOUN-KONG/AFP/Getty Images

On March 1, 2003, U.S. and Pakistani forces captured one of bin Laden's main deputies -- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the planner of the Sept. 11 attacks -- upping the pressure on al Qaeda's leadership. Two weeks later, young men in Quetta, Pakistan, admire bin Laden posters for sale in a book shop.

Syed Zargham/Getty Images

Vendors in Bangkok sell bin Laden masks.

SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images

[PAGEBREAK]]

An Osama bin Laden action figure in Guanzhou, China on July 15, 2004.

Alessandro Digaetano/Polaris

A Pakistani man holds audio cassettes of Osama bin Laden speeches translated in Pashtun languages on March 11, 2003 in Karachi.

Akhtar Soomro/Polaris


Along a roadside in Quetta venders sell posters of bin Laden.

Syed Zargham/Getty Images



On August 15, 2003, a Thai Muslim shows off his mobile phone background -- a pixilated representation of bin Laden, next to his name written in Arabic.

SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images


In Lahore, Pakistan bin Laden cologne was on sale in March 2004.

ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty Images


In Bangkok, Thailand, a street vendor dons a T-shirt emblazoned with bin Laden's unmistakable face in August 2003.

SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images

 
 

BITLIPIRE

2:04 PM ET

May 3, 2011

true

is this true? we didn't see the body. r they left it? some respect.. I dont believe this..

 

N.MOHAMMED

12:05 PM ET

May 8, 2011

Islam and extremism

http://www.islamicsolutions.com/if-it-is-extreme-it-is-not-islam/

 

CRIACAOSITES

2:15 PM ET

May 17, 2011

Osama DEAD

I tink that the USA win more respect if keep Osama alive for be tryal in julgament. leilão online | contabilidade no rio de janeiro

 

ELFEN69

1:10 AM ET

May 19, 2011

I totally agree, that he has

I totally agree, that he has cult devoted people all around the world. But I also wonder, why they didnt show his body to us. I have only seen blog where they showed his fake pictures.

Well, to be honest, I dont know what to believe in anymore.

Just my 2 cents.