Mohammed Loay Bayazid was a Syrian-American cofounder of al-Qaeda.
Biography[]
Mohammed Loay Bayazid was born in Syria, and he and his parents moved to the United States while Mohammed was still a teenager. He was raised in Tucson, and he became fluent in Arabic, English, Persian, and Chinese; he grew up used to Western life, and was not originally a devout Muslim. In 1985, Bayazid decided to join the Mujahideen in fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan after coming across Abdullah Azzam's taped propaganda, and he later claimed that he went to Afghanistan with a clear mind and a good heart, rather than an agenda of "martyrdom." In 1988, he took part in the co-founding of al-Qaeda alongside Osama bin Laden and his associates. Bayazid was sent to attempt a purchase of nuclear-grade uranium for al-Qaeda and also attempted to forge a Sunni-Shia alliance with Hezbollah; in 1994, he returned to the United States. Bayazid later renounced his earlier affiliation with al-Qaeda, telling the FBI that he was not present for al-Qaeda's founding, but he refused to collaborate with the CIA in 2002. In 2003, he was interviewed by Lawrence Wright as he wrote The Looming Tower.