The timing of this effort to distance the Saudi government from Osama is interesting. It has been almost 17 years since 9/11; why now? This is another manifestation of the attempt by the Saudis to court US support, and particularly to court Donald Trump’s support, against Iran, as well as to make the kingdom more attractive to foreign investment in light of falling oil prices. Bush wouldn’t challenge them on 9/11, and neither would Obama, but they can’t be sure of that with Trump. This is a preemptive measure. But we should remember that the Crown Prince has repeatedly said that he is not going to roll back enforcement of any aspect of Islamic law. He hasn’t done so, and he will not do so, so this “reform” can only go so far.
“My son, Osama: the al-Qaida leader’s mother speaks for the first time,” by Martin Chulov, Guardian, August 2, 2018:
On the corner couch of a spacious room, a woman wearing a brightly patterned robe sits expectantly. The red hijab that covers her hair is reflected in a glass-fronted cabinet; inside, a framed photograph of her firstborn son takes pride of place between family heirlooms and valuables. A smiling, bearded figure wearing a military jacket, he features in photographs around the room: propped against the wall at her feet, resting on a mantlepiece. A supper of Saudi meze and a lemon cheesecake has been spread out on a large wooden dining table.
Alia Ghanem is Osama bin Laden’s mother, and she commands the attention of everyone in the room. On chairs nearby sit two of her surviving sons, Ahmad and Hassan, and her second husband, Mohammed al-Attas, the man who raised all three brothers. Everyone in the family has their own story to tell about the man linked to the rise of global terrorism; but it is Ghanem who holds court today, describing a man who is, to her, still a beloved son who somehow lost his way. “My life was very difficult because he was so far away from me,” she says, speaking confidently. “He was a very good kid and he loved me so much.” Now in her mid-70s and in variable health, Ghanem points at al-Attas – a lean, fit man dressed, like his two sons, in an immaculately pressed white thobe, a gown worn by men across the Arabian peninsula. “He raised Osama from the age of three. He was a good man, and he was good to Osama.”
The family have gathered in a corner of the mansion they now share in Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian city that has been home to the Bin Laden clan for generations. They remain one of the kingdom’s wealthiest families: their dynastic construction empire built much of modern Saudi Arabia, and is deeply woven into the country’s establishment. The Bin Laden home reflects their fortune and influence, a large spiral staircase at its centre leading to cavernous rooms. Ramadan has come and gone, and the bowls of dates and chocolates that mark the three-day festival that follows it sit on tabletops throughout the house. Large manors line the rest of the street; this is well-to-do Jeddah, and while no guard stands watch outside, the Bin Ladens are the neighbourhood’s best-known residents.
For years, Ghanem has refused to talk about Osama, as has his wider family – throughout his two-decade reign as al-Qaida leader, a period that saw the strikes on New York and Washington DC, and ended more than nine years later with his death in Pakistan.
Now, Saudi Arabia’s new leadership – spearheaded by the ambitious 32-year-old heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – has agreed to my request to speak to the family. (As one of the country’s most influential families, their movements and engagements remain closely monitored.) Osama’s legacy is as grave a blight on the kingdom as it is on his family, and senior officials believe that, by allowing the Bin Ladens to tell their story, they can demonstrate that an outcast – not an agent – was responsible for 9/11. Saudi Arabia’s critics have long alleged that Osama had state support, and the families of a number of 9/11 victims have launched (so far unsuccessful) legal actions against the kingdom. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia….
Sitting between Osama’s half-brothers, Ghanem recalls her firstborn as a shy boy who was academically capable. He became a strong, driven, pious figure in his early 20s, she says, while studying economics at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, where he was also radicalised. “The people at university changed him,” Ghanem says. “He became a different man.” One of the men he met there was Abdullah Azzam, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was later exiled from Saudi Arabia and became Osama’s spiritual adviser. “He was a very good child until he met some people who pretty much brainwashed him in his early 20s. You can call it a cult. They got money for their cause. I would always tell him to stay away from them, and he would never admit to me what he was doing, because he loved me so much.”…
St. Manuel II Palailogos says
The Qur’an brainwashed him.
gravenimage says
Yep.
mortimer says
Brainwashing? No!
It was PURE ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY in the books of SAYYID QUTB, MAULANA MAUDUDI and MUHAMMAD ABD AL-SALAM FRARAJ and many others.
I assume that Mrs. bin Laden has NOT read those authors and merely ASSUMES that what they teach is in error.
OSAMA BIN LADEN is an example of PURE SALAFISM, the official doctrine of Soddy Barbaria.
Mrs. bin Laden is TOTALLY UNACQUAINTED with the DOCTRINE of WAHHABISM and ASSUMES it is moderate.
WAHHABISM is NOT ‘moderate’. It is a VALID and RIGOROUS application of PRIMARY ISLAM.
WAHHABISM is the equivalent of the PROTESTANT REFORMATION.
StellSaidSo says
‘…WAHHABISM…is a VALID and RIGOROUS application of PRIMARY ISLAM’.
In which case, it is NOT ‘the equivalent of the PROTESTANT REFORMATION’.
I think you need to swot up a bit more on the Reformation, Mortimer. The Catholics of Europe vastly exceeded the Protestants in their enthusiasm for the burning and beheading of infidels business.
StellaSaidSo says
No, Wahhabism is NOT ‘the equivalent of the PROTESTANT REFORMATION’. The Catholics of Europe vastly exceeded the Protestants in their enthusiasm for the burning and beheading of ‘infidels’.
gravenimage says
Well, it is in terms of both being an attempt to return to the roots of the faith.
Apart from that, not so much…
StellaSaidSo says
‘Not so much’ indeed. If ‘Wahhabism is not moderate’, but murderous, then its equivalent for mortimer’s comparison purposes is Catholicism, not Protestantism. It took Elizabeth 60 years to achieve the body count that Mary achieved in 5. It was not Protestants who perpetrated the St Bartholemew’s Day Massacre, or denuded France of its artisans, entrepreneurs, and professional classes.
mortimer says
Osama bin Laden BRAINWASHED himself into becoming a DEVOUT PRACTICING MUSLIM who believed and practiced ALL OF ISLAM.
His mother practices ISLAM-À-LA-CARTE or CAFETERIA ISLAM … pick-and-choose Islam.
Cunamarra says
I have a hard time believing that. I have a suspicion that if you were to speak with her long enough some very disturbing and telling beliefs and notions would pour from her mind. She, like her son, was conceived and nurtured in a vast ocean of Islam. That means Islamic culture, Islamic notions of morality/right and wrong, Islamic notions of Justice and Honor, Islamic reverence for the Koran, Sunnah, and reverence for the character of the false prophet. You don’t spend a lifetime in a culture like that and come out unscathed. Though not unheard of, doves seldom birth and rear serpents.
gravenimage says
Agree, Cunamarra–this is more Taqiyya than real “moderation” from her. Were she sincere, she would have said something years ago.
gravenimage says
Yes–the idea of “brainwashing yourself” is hilarious.
Westman says
I think she said, “The people at university changed him..”
Could one suppose there were professors on loan from Stanford?
mortimer says
Bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979 from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. Despite his major subject, at university his main interest was religion; he was involved in both in interpreting the Quran and charitable work.[22] A close friend reports, “we read Sayyid Qutb. He was the one who most affected our generation.” [23] Sayyid Qutb himself, author of Ma’alim fi-l-Tariq, or Milestones, one of the most influential tracts on the importance of jihad against all that is un-Islamic in the world,[24] was deceased, but his brother and publicizer of his work, Muhammad Qutb, lectured regularly at the university. So did another charismatic Muslim Brotherhood member, Abdallah Azzam, an Islamic scholar from Palestine who was instrumental in building pan-Islamic enthusiasm for jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan and in drawing Muslims (like Osama) from all over the Middle East to fight there.
In regard to his Islamic learning, bin Laden was sometimes referred to as a “sheikh,” considered by some to be “well versed in the classical scriptures and traditions of Islam”,[26] and was said to have been mentored by scholars such as Musa al-Qarni.
StellaSaidSo says
‘The Koran brainwashed him…’
Indeed. And now someone is trying to brainwash us. Why the sudden trotting out of Mama Bin Bag, after all these years? If indeed it is herself, and not a body double. Am I the only one who smells a rat?
Kubus says
Of all the pictures mama could have put on the table she put one of him wearing military gear lmao.
gravenimage says
Yeah–I noticed that one, as well.
No Muzzies Here says
A very good boy until he became a bad boy.
Salome says
But he loved his mother.
mortimer says
Islam teaches children to turn from their parents if they are not devout enough.
Carol the 1st says
Natural love as a foil and enabler of tutored hate. Islam is so constructive!
mortimer says
His mother was only one of 22 DIFFERENT WIVES of Osama’s father.
Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden fathered a total of 56 children by 22 wives. Mohammed never had more than four wives at a time—divorcing older wives and marrying new ones as needed to limit the number of current wives to four and stay within the letter of Sunni Islam marriage law. According to Carmen bin Ladin, Mohammed was planning to wed a 23rd wife the night he died, and was heading there when his plane crashed.
Islam is sociologically DYSFUNCTIONAL and treats women like chattels or dirt.
Carol the 1st says
Follow the pointer. Men must have a lot of self-disrespect when they try to wipe so much of it off onto women. Or is it just the old Prostitute-Madonna complex?
Mockingjay says
All jihadis love their mummies.
And they HATE and DESPISE all other women.
In psychology this is called: repression and projection.
gravenimage says
They don’t always love their mothers, either:
“Michigan: 15-year-old Muslim accused of killing mother to please strict Muslim father”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/09/michigan-15-year-old-muslim-accused-of-killing-mother-to-please-strict-muslim-father
mortimer says
Alia Ghanem proves that it isn’t the EVIL PEOPLE … it’s the EVIL IDEOLOGY !
POLITICAL ISLAM IS AN EVIL IDEOLOGY, but it is part of Islam, just as a Siamese twins are part of one another.
Often Siamese twins share vital organs or limbs, but they are two people with two brains.
Islam is like Siamese twins: Twin No.1 is what we call a ‘straight fellow’… he is a fair-minded person who wants to be left alone and will not concentrate on negativity. But twin no. ! has an EVIL TWING who wants to hurt people and do as much harm and mischievous as possible. Would that our politicians got it!
Islam (a Siamese twin) is composed of JIHADIST ISLAM (a sociopathic Islam) and an urban Islam (that is, a more sophisticataed and egalitarian school of islam.
gravenimage says
Mortimer, what exactly is good about Islam?
Most of Islam is bad or worse.
mortimer says
GI, try a bit to UNDERSTAND what you have not experienced … namely, that Islam has some positive aspects … but positive only within the group of Muslims … things such as camaraderie and carrying for group members. All groups have that to a degree. Mormons as well.
Koran 48.29 “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; Those with him are VIOLENT (ashiddaa’) against the unbelievers (kufaar), COMPASSIONATE amongst themselves.” (Richard Bell’s translation)
Lydia Church says
And… they use script and some numbers.
So? Who doesn’t!
islam is 100% evil. Stop being a p_ssy-out.
gravenimage says
Mortimer, I do not consider camaraderie among Jihadists to be a good thing, any more than I would camaraderie among SS members.
Of course I understand this–I just don’t consider it to be a positive thing.
Eric says
What I take from that verse is that Islam is a Herrenmenschen Ideology which puts muslims on a pedestal and throws non muslims far down, to the point of dehumanization.
Carol the 1st says
Islam is a phony ideology with the pretense of being above all normal, feet-on-the-ground human considerations.
It all brings to mind a song by Madonna, A SUBSTITUTE FOR LOVE. The theme seems to be ambition and stimulation serving as substitutes for genuine love. The lyrics can be puzzling but are better clarified via the ending of her video:
Madonna Drowned World (Substitute For Love) Video Remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV5kbRA12x0
Frank says
Osama mama?
Mockingjay says
!
Lydia Church says
Kinda like…
Obama mama…
Wellington says
I’m no abortion “fan,” but in a limited number of instances it would have been an optimal “option,” one beneficial to mankind as a whole. Mohammed, Marx and Hitler come to mind. So does Osama bin Laden.
mortimer says
About 10% of Muslims are congenitally ill due to 50 generations of first cousin marriage.
All Gulf countries have COMPULSORY GENETIC COUNSELLING before a marriage license can be issued.
Cousin marriage is one of the GREATEST contributing factors to the ill health of Muslims and the SOCIOLOGICAL dysfunctionality of Islamic countries.
gravenimage says
Yes–in the UK, Muslims have been treated for congenital illnesses *in numbers 30 times* that of the native population.
StellaSaidSo says
Obviously she didn’t get the CAIR spin doctors in, or we would have learned of Osama’s long history of mental illness.
Pat says
I notice an avoidance of responsibility and how Islam is the problem here. The Moslem Brotherhood ‘brainwashed’ him. The Ikhwan, that Egyptian and Moslem imitation of Euro Fascism, are no doubt evil, and Saudi harshness to them has to be a good thing, but Islam was sufficient for Bin Laden and his crimes. He just followed it.
FYI says
“He was a very good child” ..probably,until he heard of allah and muhammed.
It was,as it is for most muslims inducted into the mohammedan cult,downhill all the way from that point.Things could only get morally worse.
If you follow the sunnah of muhammed then morality has to go out the window.
It is impossible to lead a good moral life if you follow the example of that champion Commandment-of-God violating self -confessed{al tabari 6:111}false prophet,mo the merciless.
I wonder did bin laden play with toy bricks when he was a kid and then fly toy planes into them…
One wonders what games the budding islamofascists play?
Perhaps the islamic version of “hide and seek”..hide the bomb and seek refuge in allah,throw the infidel down the well,roll the Daesh dice,islamic truth or dare(to be murdered),Simon {the white infidel convert} says.
Islamic I Spy..with my little eye…an infidel and..a woman without a hijab..
Carol the 1st says
It’s easy to spot some of the Budding Islamofascist games for boys:
1/ A boy can climb up on his stroller and neither mommy nor her pals bother attempting to re-seat him (though he’ll surely get a brain concussion if he falls to the sidewalk).
2/ children are allowed to screech their brains out demandingly in public (without parental correction) until stubbornness and lungs become pridefully inflated.
3/ boy adolescents have the important practice of following their older sisters around in the role of jailer/chaperone.
4/ all children watch and carefully absorb every nuance of daddy’s “bossing” of mommy and the imbalance of regard, power, and freedom it signals for the gentler distaff side.
Islam: the antiquated, hobbling, “too much YANG and not enough YIN” syndrome.
gravenimage says
Yes–even though there are thankfully few Muslims around here, I have witnessed all of those behaviors.
gravenimage says
Osama bin Laden’s mother: “He was a very good child until he met some people who pretty much brainwashed him”
……………….
Uh huh. And she waited 17 years to say this–why, exactly?
And how is slaughtering the filthy Infidels in Jihad a bad thing–as pious Muslims see it? Crickets…
Westman says
Carnac the Magnificent has suggested that the Saudis will soon be in a shooting match with Iran and need the US to guarantee the outcome. Instant love.
gravenimage says
That sounds about right, Westman…
Pius XIII says
This is a story that could transcend race, religion or creed. Gacy’s mother might say the same thing. Nearly all little ones (but definitely there are exceptions) are good until a certain point, and sometimes the parents’ best hopes for them will never be attained due to the chances of fate. On the other hand, if your wish for your child is to die a “martyr’s death,” a bad kid could be your dream child (but she didn’t say that). Also, some lemon cheesecake sounds good about now.
11B40 says
Greetings:
So we can rule out the other go-to Islamo excuse, that is,he was mentally ill ???
CogitoErgoSum says
Wikipedia says that the mother of Osama bin Laden, A’alia Ghanem, was born in 1934, which would make her 83 or 84 and not in her mid-70’s. I wonder how much of the rest of this news story is not quite right.
gravenimage says
Good point.
Mockingjay says
YIKES –
She´s a WITCH!
Evil DOMINANCE radiates from her.
She SURELY wasn´t a lovely mother, nor was little Osama a lovely boy when he was young.
– Evil was already deeply rooted inside him at that time. To be able to do what little Osama ended up doing, he had to already bring the personality traits that made him susceptible to the `extremist` ideology.
The psychological structure is what makes the difference between a `moderate` and a violent muslim. The teaching of islam of course, is always the same. But only some carry within them the ability to ACT upon those teachings, to commit atrocities.
Unfortunately, islam is very proficient at creating a culture that sows the seeds of, and then nourishes, evil in young boys (and girls) from a very early age.
Just LOOK at this woman.
Would you have wanted her for a mother?
gravenimage says
The whole family was screwed up, Mockingjay. She was married off to Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden when she was just 14. He regularly divorced his wives so he could marry new ones–he did the same to her. He had 56 children by 22 wives. Just ugly stuff all round.
balam says
We all have our HOBBIES!!!!
Carol the 1st says
And our Hobby Horses! Not to belittle women (many of whom are more or less trapped by their environment), but the Urban Dictionary has, as one of its definitions, this:
HOBBY HORSE: A female of loose virtue and even looser undergarments, a woman who is ‘easy to get’, a lady who uses sex as a means of earning legal tender. See Prostitute, loose woman, and strumpet.
Mockingjay says
That´s exactly what I mean, Graven.
– Islam creates a VERY pathological family system, and its treatment of women certainly is one of the main reasons for that.
– How can a woman who has had to live like an inferior to ALL the men in her life – not just her father, but also her brothers, (even if much younger), her uncles and simply EVERY man in the society she lives in – how can such a woman ever become anything else than a frustrated, deeply disturbed individual? These women suffer from psychological – and usually also physical – abuse their whole lives. How can a woman like that, especially when she is `married off` when she is still a child, ever become an emotional balanced, warm-hearted mother to her children?
They inevitably will pass their misery and the violence they suffered on to their children, which gives rise to very disturbed – and violent – children in turn.
And with the next generation, the cycle of mistreatment and violence will then continue.
In islam, there is no escape from this cycle of psychopathology..
Carol the 1st says
In Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali described how bitter frustration often drove her mother to often strike out at the children (probably mostly in Saudi Arabia where she couldn’t even go out the door without male accompaniment). Ayaan had much rightful admiration for her mother in spite of a certain coldness toward her own children.
gravenimage says
Yes, Mockingjay. Conor Cruise O’Brien said:
“Muslim society looks profoundly repulsive…It looks profoundly repulsive because it is repulsive…
“A Westerner who claims to admire Muslim society, whilst still adhering to Western values, is either a hypocrite or an ignoramus, or a bit of both. At the heart of the matter is the Muslim family, an abominable institution….”
Darko says
My thoughts exactly. No wonder Bin Laden was so disturbed. The mother looks like a caricature of an ugly muslim drag queen.
Rarely says
We used to need to watch out for men who as young boys were loaners, pulled the wings off butterflies, put cats in microwave ovens and tortured dogs. NOW we have to watch out for boys who love their mothers.
The profilers must be going crazy.
Indiana Tom says
They made loans? Loners?
Rarely says
LOL/ Loners of course. Must have been the monkey typing.
Rarely says
lol. “loners” of course. Must have been the monkey typing…again.
Indiana Tom says
Osama was an aspiring rapper about to turn his life around when the oppressive SEALs make a violent no knock raid upon his humble abode populated by him and his homies. Al Qaeda lives matter.
Rarely says
How sad. Never got his second chance.
Indiana Tom says
They made loans? Loners?
Indiana Tom says
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia….
So we invaded Iraq?
Indiana Tom says
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia…so we invaded Iraq?
StellaSaidSo says
Well, y’see Osama and Dubya were besties, and Dubya didn’t want any unpleasantness between mates, especially when there was a quid to be made, so he let all the top Saudi connections in the US leave discreetly, and looked for another target. Easy.
The Bush WH was heavily infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood. It started under Clinton, and reached its peak under Obama. Trump has cleared out a few of them, but others (eg John Brennan) are well-entrenched.
Lydia Church says
“He was a very good child until he met some people who pretty much brainwashed him”
yeah…. funny how that works!
Relic says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDo0H8Fm7d0
ploome says
she looks like an obscene dwarf
Carol the 1st says
I wonder if she ever crosses her legs? Too much danger of the ankles showing I suppose.
Ren says
True islam brainwashed him.
concerned citizen says
Islam teaches us that Islam teaches its believers nothing (it was said “History teaches us that History teaches us nothing”).
The same can be said of the Left…
Tys says
Osama bin lady ?
Tyson says
I believe her real name is Osama bin Lady… sorry, it had to be said.
Kubeltex says
The one thing missing from her statement is an apology on behalf of the family. I know it would change nothing but it would have been an honorable thing to do. An act of humanity.
Carol the 1st says
As we all know: Islam means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry.
Non-existence would be the only proper apology anyway.
gravenimage says
Excellent point, Kubeltex.
And I have not seen you posting here before–if your are new to Jihad Watch, welcome!
Rarely says
test 123
Rarely says
test 456
Warren says
He may have been a good boy, however the problem is the Koran. It orders Muslims to be in a constant state of war against non believers of this false ideology. Simple and honest answer, the Koran is false as it gets many things wrong. For example Christians worship 3 gods. This is Muhammad not understanding other beliefs yet this error has even written down for all time. From this we know the Koran cannot be from god, God just made a basic mistake, more like man made a basic mistake. So Bin Laden was led astray by a false book and a fake prophet. Islam only leads to death.
Frank Verderber says
The statement that he behaved as a “good boy” is a natural statement of mothers, and especially, Semitic mothers – whether Hebrew or Arabic. But what matters is was he a good man. Even though the word good is left open to interpretation in every culture, universally it is not used of murderers, thieves, and blasphemers. Joseph Stalin was such a good boy, and so was Adolf and a myriad of other well know dictatorial monsters. The word good comes from the European German languages and actually means, fitting, pleasing, suitable. Its not how you start but how you end that matters!
gravenimage says
He could be a “good boy” and a Jihadist at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive in Islam–just the opposite.
gravenimage says
Here’s an interesting story from today:
“Osama bin Laden’s son marries Mohamed Atta’s daughter”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/08/osama-bin-ladens-son-marries-mohamed-attas-daughter
Is this from mama meant to distract from this story?
somehistory says
The photo reminds of a grisly fairy tale full of wicked witches and scaring of little children.
Her son was a moslim. He had a part with the mb in Sa and formed the al queda group to wage war.
Her definition of “good” is not the same one most people would use to describe their sons. He was a murderous creep. There was no “good” in him or he wouldn’t have waged murder and war against innocent people for an evil wild beast from satan the devil.