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
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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




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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.