hey, all. this idea just occurred to me, so i don't have many thoughts on it right now, nor will i be trying to come up with any for a while--i'm supposed to be studying for my final in the morning 
anyway, suppose that, sometime after he joins the mujahadeen in 1979 during the Soviet invasion, Osama bin Laden is killed as many as nine years before al-Qaeda was founded IOTL, just a basic casualty of the fighting. nothing dark or sinister or preordained by some CIA operative who can see into the future, he happens to get hit by a stray bullet during a skirmish he may have happened to be involved in during the invasion
what does everyone think the repercussions of this would be? obviously, al-Qaeda isn't founded, but would some other terrorist organization rise up and (more or less) take its place?
anyway, suppose that, sometime after he joins the mujahadeen in 1979 during the Soviet invasion, Osama bin Laden is killed as many as nine years before al-Qaeda was founded IOTL, just a basic casualty of the fighting. nothing dark or sinister or preordained by some CIA operative who can see into the future, he happens to get hit by a stray bullet during a skirmish he may have happened to be involved in during the invasion
what does everyone think the repercussions of this would be? obviously, al-Qaeda isn't founded, but would some other terrorist organization rise up and (more or less) take its place?