Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [118]
The undertaking to establish a well-organized military force was enormously complex, for Abdullah Azzam and my father started with little more than large sums of money and an eagerness to fight a holy war.
In those days, my father was an enthusiastic student, learning much from Abdullah Azzam. My father soon founded his own guest house (House of Helpers) in order to assist the fighters, and in fact, created his own private army of Arab volunteers.
By the time the war drew to a close, my father was looking to expand his mission. Although ridding Afghanistan of the Russian invaders had consumed much of his energy for nearly ten years, he became increasingly passionate about changing the face of the Middle East, wanting to rid the area of western interference, as well as overthrowing Arab kings and dictators, who were to be replaced by religious leaders. After his mission to change the Middle East was accomplished, his second mission would be to change the face of the world.
The entire world should be Islamic.
Now we know that the al-Qaeda organization was formed as a result of my father’s world vision. Although there were other Islamic organizations with a similar vision, because of my father’s wealth and passion for Jihad, his al-Qaeda organization became the main umbrella over Islamic Jihad ambitions. That’s when the meandering tentacles of al-Qaeda first began to spread throughout the world with its new mission of violence.
After the Gulf War, my father’s attention locked on the Americans and the British. His hatred for the Americans soon led to his unfortunate break with the Saudi royal family.
His position had further hardened since his exile.
My father began setting up training camps all over Afghanistan. Many were located in the abandoned Russian military camps, while others were newly constructed. As I grew older, I was allowed to wander around the borders of my father’s business. For the first time I began to hear alarming stories about how Americans hated Islam so much that they were sending their massive military all over the world for the purpose of murdering innocent Muslims. I remember being shown a map that displayed every country that allowed American soldiers to be based on their soil. The Americans had military bases in over fifty countries, and military personnel in approximately 150 countries.
I watched the faces of my father’s soldiers as they began to point at the map, buzzing with talk that the Americans were everywhere. My father spoke out, “America is the only power in the world with an army capable of patrolling and controlling the world. They have gained a foothold in every region. And for what purpose? To destroy our Islamic society.”
I didn’t know anything of the world outside my immediate environment, so it was easy for such speeches to alarm me about the dangers I faced as a Muslim.
Jihadi leaders gave many lectures in which they told young Muslim men that the Americans had basically forced the state of Israel upon the Palestinians. We heard that every bullet the Israelis fired upon the Palestinians was a treasured gift from the Americans. Israeli gloves were covering American hands.
Of course, now I know that these views were not limited to al-Qaeda leaders, but had become common throughout the Muslim world. Because so many Arab governments cultivate these same beliefs, my father’s soldiers arrived mentally prepared for such talk. The government of America is greatly hated by nearly everyone in the Arab world, despite