In the 10 years that Americans were on the tracks of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, myths about him have flourished. Here they are, ten of them:
1. Osama was created by CIA.
He has not received any direct financial aid from the United States in the 80s. Neither Osama nor his followers.
2. He had a huge fortune.
Osama was forced to forfeit all the cash that he had when he left Saudi Arabia in 1991, fled to Pakistan and then to Sudan. He ended all ties with his family. What bin Laden still had, were connections that allowed him to easily earn money.
3. Osama was responsible for the attack on World Trade Centre in 1993.
Ramzi Yousef, who plotted the attack, probably worked for Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, who was independent at that time. Mohammed began collaborating with al-Qaeda in 1996, but he stayed away from bin Laden.
4. He received money from drug traffickers.
There is no evidence, despite frequent accusations.
5. He was never exposed to a danger.
He participated in the Jaji clashes in 1987 and the battle of Jalalabad in 1989.
6. He lived a lot of time in caves.
In the 1990s, for reasons of propaganda, bin Laden called several journalists to meet him in a cave in Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. He lived in a more comfortable resort, near the former Soviet farm in Haddam that belonged to a local military leader. In 1999 he moved into a housing complex near Kandahar. When he was killed, he was in a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There is no clear evidence that he lived in caves. The other al-Qaeda leaders live in fortified houses, common in the tribal areas.
7. He was a difficult teenager who partied in Beirut before going to become a religious man.
There is no evidence for this assertion. Bin Laden was rather shy and pious, who married young and spent long time studying the Koran.
8. He was close to dying after suffering from a kidney disease.
There are some reports that Osama had some kidney problems, but not so serious as to kill him. He had backbone problems because of his height (he measured over 2 meters) and his sedentary lifestyle.
9. He was hiding in Kashmir, he was the leader of Chechen groups, he was responsible for violence in the Philippines and Indonesia, he has staged bombings in Madrid in 2004, and he had a terrorist network in Paraguay and Africa.
All these assumptions, launched by governments or intelligence services in the past 10 years, have proved unfounded.
10. Bin Laden was a fan of London football team Arsenal.
There is no evidence.