The phrase connects the individual, Osama bin Laden, with the historical event of September 11, 2001. As the founder and leader of the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda, bin Laden was the principal architect of the coordinated terrorist attacks perpetrated against the United States on that date. He publicly claimed responsibility for orchestrating the operation, framing it as a reaction against American foreign policy in the Middle East and the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
The attacks involved 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacking four commercial airliners. Two of the planes were crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, leading to their collapse. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was intended for a target in Washington, D.C., but crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew attempted to regain control from the hijackers. These events resulted in 2,977 fatalities, making them the deadliest terrorist attacks in world history.
The direct consequence of this established link was the initiation of the U.S. "War on Terror." The immediate objective was the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which had provided a safe haven for al-Qaeda and bin Laden. This led to a nearly decade-long international manhunt for bin Laden, who became the most-wanted fugitive by the United States. The search concluded on May 2, 2011, when he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
