FibrillatorD

Bin Laden's son an `ambassador for peace'
NASSER NASSER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Omar Osama bin Laden, the 26-year-old son of the Al Qaeda leader, says he wants to be an "ambassador for peace" between Islam and the West.

Jan 18, 2008 04:30 AM
Paul Schemm
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO, Egypt–Omar Osama bin Laden bears a striking resemblance to his notorious father – except for the dreadlocks that dangle halfway down his back. Then there's the black leather biker jacket.

The 26-year-old does not renounce his father, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but in an interview he said there is a better way to defend Islam than militancy: Omar wants to be an "ambassador for peace" between Muslims and the West.

Omar – one of bin Laden's 19 children – raised a tabloid storm last year when he married a 52-year-old British woman, Jane Felix-Browne, who took the name Zaina Alsabah. Now the couple say they want to be advocates, planning a 5,000-kilometre horse race across North Africa to draw attention to the cause of peace.

"It's about changing the ideas of the Western mind. A lot of people think Arabs – especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Osama – are all terrorists. This is not the truth," Omar said last week at a café in a Cairo shopping mall.

Of course, many may have a hard time getting their mind around the idea of "bin Laden: peacenik."

"Omar thinks he can be a negotiator," said Alsabah, who is trying to bring her husband to Britain. "He's one of the only people who can do this in the world."

Omar lived with the Al Qaeda leader in Sudan, then moved with him to Afghanistan in 1996.

There, Omar says he trained at an Al Qaeda camp but in 2000 he decided there must be another way and he left his father, returning to his homeland of Saudi Arabia.

"I don't want to be in that situation to just fight," he said.

"I like to find another way and this other way may be like we do now, talking," he said in English.

He suggested his father, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, did not oppose his leaving. Alsabah interjected that Omar was courageous in breaking away, but neither elaborated.

Although there is no way to confirm the details he describes of his childhood and upbringing, the strong family resemblance and Omar's knowledge of Osama's family life have convinced many of his lineage.

"Omar bin Laden is the son of Osama bin Laden and his first wife, Najwa," a U.S. intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Omar and his wife insist they have not been bothered by Egyptian officials, who said yesterday that the terror leader's son did not pose a threat.

Omar said he hasn't seen or been in contact with his father since leaving Afghanistan.

"He doesn't have email," Omar said. "He doesn't take a telephone ... if he had something like this, they will find him through satellites."

Omar doesn't criticize his father and says Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in the Pakistan-Afghan border region, is just trying to defend the Islamic world.

"My father thinks he will be good for defending the Arab people and stop anyone from hurting the Arab or Muslim people any place in the world," he said, noting the West didn't have a problem with his father when he was fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Omar and his wife are now planning a horse race for peace across North Africa, which they hope to start in March.

They envision it as an equine version of the Paris-Dakar car rally. That rally was cancelled this year due to fears over terrorist threats made by Al Qaeda-affiliated groups.

Omar, however, said he isn't worried.

"I heard the rally was stopped because of Al Qaeda," he said.

"I don't think they are going to stop me."

Feanor

He's 26 and married a 52 year old, and thinks a horse race in North Africa will bring peace between the Muslims and Christians. Sounds like a hippie.

Mobbme

Awww, he thinks he can bring peace between everyone and his daddy will be left alone

dave lukins

And lives about 2miles from me!!

braindead

should the fact that somebody was trained in terrorist camp , be good reason enough to never let him across your border ?

OTOH , after reading the above posts - if he will be let to UK , it will be just because you are a complete buffoon , totally harmless , not worth even attention ....

__________________
If i only were so smart yesterday as my wife is today

Mobbme

Bin Laden's son to father: Change your ways - CNN.com

Story Highlights
Bin Laden's son, Omar, says his father should change his ways

Omar bin Laden split with his father in 2000; says he hasn't heard from him since

Omar bin Laden says he doesn't believe his dad is a terrorist

"I don't think 9/11 was right personally," the son said




CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Omar bin Laden has a message for his father, Osama: "Find another way."


Omar bin Laden says he last saw his father in 2000 when the son decided to leave al Qaeda.

The son of the most-wanted man in the world spoke Sunday to CNN in a quiet, middle-class suburb about an hour outside Cairo, Egypt.

Omar bin Laden, who works as a contractor, said he is talking publicly because he wants an end to the violence his father has inspired -- violence that has killed innocent civilians in a spate of attacks around the world, including those of September 11, 2001.

"I try and say to my father: 'Try to find another way to help or find your goal. This bomb, this weapons, it's not good to use it for anybody,' " he said in English learned in recent months from his British wife.

He said that's not just his own message, but one that a friend of his father's and other Muslims have expressed to him. "They too say ... my father should change [his] way," he said. Watch whether Omar bin Laden thinks his father will ever be caught »

He said he hasn't spoken to his father since 2000, when he walked away from an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan with his father's blessings. He said he has no idea where his father is, but is confident he will never be caught because locals support him.

Asked if his father might be living along the Afghan-Pakistan border, he said, "Maybe, maybe not."

"Either way, the people there are different," he said. "They don't care about the government."

Now, he and his wife are preparing to launch a movement far different from the one his father, Osama bin Laden, launched. They are pursuing a movement for peace.

At first glance, Omar bin Laden appears to have little in common with the man who has eluded international efforts to find him. The 26-year-old's hair is bound in neat braids, he drives a Jeep and is married to a British national twice his age.


But the physical resemblance quickly sinks in, even without the long beard his father favors. It is a resemblance he doesn't avoid. "Being Osama's son, I don't hide it. I don't hide my name," he said.

"I am proud by my name, but if you have a name like mine you will find people run away from you, are afraid of you."

He said he doesn't consider his father to be a terrorist. When his father was fighting the Soviets, Washington considered him a hero, he said.

"Before they call it war; now they call it terrorism," he said. He said his father believes his duty is to protect Muslims from attack.

"He believes this is his job -- to help the people," he said. "I don't think my father is a terrorist because history tells you he's not."

However, Omar bin Laden -- who was 14 when he began training in al Qaeda camps -- said he differs greatly with his father over the killing of civilians.

Was 9/11 a just attack?

"I don't think 9/11 was right personally, but it happened," he said. "I don't think ... [the war] in Vietnam was right. I don't think what's going on in Palestine is right. I don't think what's going on in Iraq is right.

"If we make what is right and not right, we will make a very big list," he said.

He said he left al Qaeda because he did not want to be associated with killing civilians. He said his father did not try to dissuade him from leaving al Qaeda.

"I told him I was going, and wanted to try life and see what it was like outside because, from a young age I was with my father, and I only saw and heard my father and his friends. My father told me, 'If this is what your choice -- your decision -- is, what can I tell you? I like you to be with me, but this is your decision.' "


So father and son went their separate ways.

But there has been no running from the bin Laden name, not after the events of September 11. On that day, Omar bin Laden was in Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 hijackers were from.

Asked if, upon learning of the news, he knew his father had been behind it, he replied, "Yeah, maybe."

He said he felt sadness for those killed. "I don't think 9/11 was right personally," he said. "I don't agree with 9/11 or with any war where only civilians are dying."

Asked why he did not protest more strongly his father's role in the killing of civilians, he said it is up to the religious clerics close to his father to tell Osama bin Laden to change tactics in the name of Islam.

And even if that most unlikely scenario were to occur, he said, al Qaeda would not stop. "My father doesn't have the power to stop the movement at this moment."

Sitting by his side throughout the hour-and-a-half interview was his wife, Zaina. The two are organizing a multimonth horse race through North Africa in the name of peace, set to kick off this year.

But getting sponsors to line up behind the name bin Laden has been difficult. "It would probably have been easier to do a race without having Omar's name, but then the race would just be a race, it wouldn't be a race for peace," his wife said.

Omar bin Laden said his relationship with his father was limited. He is the fourth of 11 children born to his father's first wife, and he is one of 19 children Osama bin Laden has fathered. "Most of the time he busy, so busy, all the day he's busy [with] his friends. He was working a lot."


Omar bin Laden is now undertaking perhaps an impossible task: trying to rebrand the name they share.

But he said he is not looking for approval from his father. "My life, I take care of my life," he said. "My father he take care of his life."

jame$thegreat

Maybe he could have phrased this better...

__________________
Sometimes things dont end up how they should, a son, a brother, a mentor, a teacher, a cousin, a nephew, a grandson and a god in my eyes.

Who knows what he more could have been...

Christopher Muzykant

April 9, 1976-November 4,2005

My Brother, Always and forever

Mobbme

I got a glimpse of her on t.v the other day. She's quite attractive, why would she date a cartoon like him? If it's young guys she's into, get me her number

Mobbme

rawrrrrr

BadKharma

Wow for her age she is well preserved.

dave lukins

He's husband No6 and she's 52, they're off to Africa on a Peacekeeping Tour of Egypt and Morrocco. I wonder if he'll drop in and see papa Bin liner?

Expat Canuck

Wow, she is hot. I wonder though if this guy is for real? If so I wish him luck, sure a horse race means sfa but at least he's trying in some misguided way.

I'd still watch him until the day he's dead, his kids too.

Mobbme

I hope he's for real. What he's trying to do is good, but he should understand there is no way the west is going to let his father go in peace.

Usually the saying goes, "like father like son." Bin Laden is a mastermind

Tronic

Being a multi-billionaire probably helps too..

__________________
Nabha Sparasham Deeptam
-Touch The Sky With Glory

Mobbme

Hey, if she wants to have closed door "meetings" with me in presidential suites with expensive champagne its A-OK with me!