FIRE WITH FIRE

Peter Bergen has written a fascinating book about Osma Bin Laden called The Osma Bin Laden That I Know and it is interesting reading. Here are some things that you may or may not know about Osma Bin Laden.

• Osma Bin Laden is unusually tall. He is over 6 foot 5 inches.
• Osma Bin Laden is very soft spoken. He can be passionate, but speaks softly and humbly even when speaking hate rhetoric.
• Osma Bin Laden follows the teaching of radical cleric Abdel-Rahman, who is currently imprisoned in the US on the first World Trade Tower bombing.
• Those closest to him state that he is a charismatic leader but that his message of killing women and children when challenged can not be upheld to match Koranic teachings -- he does not have the religious foundation to rationalize these actions to his followers' satisfaction. Rather, his message of killing Jews and keeping the "Crusaders" from taking oil and riches from Muslim lands is instead the message that resonates with his followers.
• He is constantly surrounded by a staff of body guards. One of whom follows behind him at all time with a gun carrying two bullets. These bullets are to be used to kill Osma to prevent his being taken alive by his enemies.
• He has foregone all trappings of wealth. He lives simply and almost in poverty. He considers all of his millions of dollars of wealth to be used only to further Muslim causes and to be used by the movement. He does not consider his wealth his to use for his personal living expenses. Here in lies one of his most powerful examples from the viewpoint of his followers. He lives just like them. All his money he uses for his causes. This sacrifice has garnered the prestige, love, and admiration of many in the Islamic community.
• He is extremely charismatic and his reputation and "legend" far precedes him. He is elevated to a position of extreme respect by his followers.
• He does not plan any of the al Qaida attacks, but is most certainly involved in giving the final approval or green light for the majority of cataclysmic attacks.
• He has had his Saudi citizen ship revoked. His family has disowned him, but in name only. His mother and brothers from Saudi Arabia still occasionally visit him in Afghanistan.
• He is particularly devoted and attentive to his mother. He maintains regular communication with her.
• He has several wives and scores of children. They live harmoniously in a communal setting. Usually each wife has her own separate household.
• He is an extremely devote practicioner of the Muslim faith and very well read on Koranic disertations. He is equally a very strong father and leader of his family. He is well loved by his wives and children. Here again is a very strong draw for his followers, in his personal life and in all he does in his personal realm, he is a man of loyalty, love, and truth.
• He is has probably been hiding in Afghanistan but has probably moved recently to one of the remote urban areas in Pakistan and travels frequently through mountain paths back and forth to Afghanistan.
• His focus is on the destruction of America and then the destruction of Israel.
• Most of his financial assets have been frozen by the Saudi's or Americans. However he still is considered and is one of the major financier of al Qaeda's operations.
• It is not uncommon for him to personally pay off a martyr's debt for a family or to provide some kind of personal relief to families left behind by a martyr to the cause. He usually does this through an intermediary.
• He surrounds himself mainly with Saudis. Although his training camps provide training to Muslims from all backgrounds. Those that travel in his innermost circle are either Egyptian or Saudi.
• He comes from one of the most wealthy Saudi families and one that was and still is closely aligned to the Saudi throne. His father did many state sponsored building projects for the Saudi royal family and through astute business garnered a vast fortune and holdings through these connections although he did not come from a family or prestige. The family is still involved in day to day construction operations in the Middle East. Bin Laden's father died when he was 10 and several of his brothers now run the company.
• After Bin Laden's father's premature death, the Saudi King put the Bin Laden construction company in Trust so that when the children were older, the company would be there for them, and while in trust would provide income to the family.
• Osma Bin Laden's son Abdullah has rejected his father's way of living in poverty. He has aspired to live in a means deserving of his family's wealth. He left his father and lives in luxury in Saudi Arabia.
• At one time the Saudi Arabian government sent a paid assassin to try to kill Osma Bin Laden.
• Early in his radical career, the Saudi government offered to double Osma Bin Laden's $200 million in assets if he would return to Saudi Arabia and state that the Saudi royal family was governing according to Muslim law. Osma refused to do this, and the Saudi government froze his assets and stripped him of his citizenship.

Osma Bin Laden is a charismatic leader. He reaches followers at a very deep religious level although his call to action does not truly have a religious foundation.

Posted by The Watcher on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at Wednesday, August 23, 2006 | Permalink