Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [174]
I am nothing like my father. While he prays for war, I pray for peace.
And now we go our separate ways, each believing that we are right.
My father has made his choice, and I have made mine.
I am, at last, my own man.
I can live with that.
Final Comments
JEAN SASSON
As a writer who mainly focuses on stories about the lives of women who have lived through dramatic, even dangerous, times, I frequently receive inquiries from men and women who hope I might bring their stories to the attention of the world. On rare occasions I find myself immediately intrigued.
This was the case during the spring of 2008 when I saw an e-mail sent through one of my publishers’ websites claiming to be from a member of the Osama bin Laden family. Omar bin Laden was the fourth-born son of Osama bin Laden, the notorious al-Qaeda leader who had finally admitted his role in the September 11, 2001, attacks upon the United States. Omar said that he wanted me to reveal his personal story, to tell the world his experiences of growing up as the son of Osama bin Laden.
Truthfully, my initial reaction was not positive. The images of 9/11 created such horror in my heart that I could barely think of Osama bin Laden without anger. But out of curiosity, I placed a telephone call to Egypt to speak with his son Omar.
I quickly learned that Omar’s childhood had been miserable. Soon after our first conversation, I began to search the internet for information on Omar. Despite my empathy for any child of a ruthless father, my initial discoveries were not encouraging. This son of bin Laden was making headlines for two reasons. First, the media was most intrigued that he had married a woman nearly twice his age. The British tabloids were in a frenzy about this bit of unusual news, unsympathetically taunting the couple.
Secondly, and more interestingly, Omar was pitting himself against his father. The son of a man who routinely called for death for non-Muslims was bravely promoting peace and not violence. This was a big surprise. From my knowledge of Saudi men, sons never speak out against their fathers. I have personally witnessed high-ranking royal princes tremble in anticipation of the arrival of their aging fathers. Saudis highly honor their fathers, a wonderful aspect of the Saudi culture, at least in most cases.
Omar’s call for peace even as his father called for violence caused me to reconsider my initial inclination to refuse the writing project. My curiosity grew. What kind of father and husband had Osama bin Laden been? Had he loved his wives and children? If so, how could he fail to consider the effects of his reprehensible conduct on his innocent children? Indeed, after several more telephone conversations, I made many surprising discoveries about the private life of Osama bin Laden and his family.
Omar had been a young boy of ten when his family had been forced to flee Saudi Arabia. He was a teenager when the family was told to leave Sudan. From there the family traveled to live in war-torn Afghanistan, then ruled by the brutal Taliban. Due to his father’s activities, Omar had lived an isolated life without the opportunity for an education. For years he was unable to visit his extended family.
Omar seemed a natural peacemaker, yet he had no choice but to grow up around terrorist training camps. He had been forced to abandon his beloved horses each time the family had to flee. He had watched his beloved mother endure pregnancy after pregnancy while living in increasingly primitive environments. On three or four occasions, Omar had nearly lost his own life. He had been separated from his brothers and sisters, whom he loved dearly, leaving six siblings