 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's son Omar believes the al Qaeda leader has achieved his aim of humbling the United States but warns his death could unleash "very, very nasty" attacks by militants, Rolling Stone magazine said. In a rambling interview conducted in part in a Damascus strip club, Omar bin Laden told the magazine that U.S. President Barack Obama was making a mistake by scaling up the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan. "It is like adding water to sand, as we say in the Arab world -- it only makes the sand heavier," Rolling Stone quoted bin Laden as saying in the interview that will be on newsstands on Friday. "If I was in his position, the first thing I would do is make a truce. Then for six months or one year, no fighting, no soldiers. Afghanistan can never be won. It has nothing to do with my father. It is the Afghan people." Omar bin Laden shot to his own form of notoriety in 2007 when he married a British woman almost twice his age whom he allegedly met while on a ride to the Giza pyramids in Egypt. The two have since been denied entry to Qatar, Egypt and Britain, while Spain rejected an asylum request. Omar describes himself as one of 11 sons of bin Laden and has in the past detailed a bizarre childhood spent in jihadist camps in Sudan and Afghanistan among battle-hardened fighters who tested chemical weapons on puppies, among other things. He left his father in Afghanistan in 2001 several months before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Rolling Stone said Omar bin Laden was making a living as a scrap metal merchant in the Saudi city of Jeddah, compared himself to film star Mel Gibson and dreamed of working for the United Nations and meeting Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bin Laden said his father was overjoyed when U.S. voters elected George W. Bush in 2000, predicting that he was just the kind of president the United States needed -- "one who will attack and spend money and break the country." Despite the huge amount of money and effort spent hunting for bin Laden, believed by many intelligence analysts to be hiding in tribal areas on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Omar bin Laden said he believed the United States was actually lucky that his father had not been killed. "It is going to be worse when my father dies. The world is going to be very, very nasty then. It is going to be a disaster," bin Laden said, adding his father had managed to head off more lunatic attack suggestions from his followers. "My father has a religious goal. He is controlled by the rules of jihad. He only kills if he thinks there is a need." And while he has not seen his father in almost a decade, Omar said he did not believe bin Laden would see a need to launch more big attacks. "He doesn't need to. As soon as America went to Afghanistan, his plan worked. He has already won," the magazine quoted him as saying. Reuters 
 By Mohammed Al ShafeyLondon, Asharq Al-Awsat- Iman Bin Laden, the daughter of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, has sought refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Iran after succeeding in escaping Iranian guards watching over her.
Iman disclosed in a telephone call to her brother Abdullah who lives in Syria that she and five of her brothers and sisters have been detained by the Iranian authorities since the US invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 2001.
The 29 year old Omar Bin Laden (pictured) told Asharq Al-Awsat that his sister Iman, five of his brothers and sisters, and his stepmother (Umm-Hamzah) are currently held by the Iranian authorities and appealed to the government in Tehran to release them. Omar, who lives in Qatar, said in a telephone call and an email received by Asharq Al-Awsat" that the Bin Laden family of his first wife Najwa, a Syrian living in Damascus, did not know that her daughter Iman and her other brothers and sisters had been alive all these past years until she contacted her family one month ago. He added that it is the first time since the 9/11 attacks that the whereabouts of his brothers and sisters, the children of Bin Laden, can be definitely ascertained: There are five in Saudi Arabia and three in Syria. He pointed out "we did not know even before four weeks the whereabouts of these brothers and sisters who are Saad who is now 30 years old, Othman who is 25, Fatima who is 22, Hamzah who is 20, Iman who is 17, and Bakr who is 15." According to Omar, Osama's fourth son who is younger than Abdullah who lives in Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Rahman who lives in Syria with his mother Najwa, and Saad who is detained in Tehran with his other brothers and sisters, Iman contacted her brother Abdullah who asked her to seek refuge in the Saudi Embassy immediately, adding that contacts have been going on since that time to allow her to leave Iran but to no avail. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that his sister "Iman has been living inside the Saudi Embassy for 25 days in a room provided for her by the officials there who welcomed her. We are working to complete the paperwork for allowing her to travel to Saudi Arabia or Syria. It must be said that Syria was generous with my mother and my brother. Two of my brothers are living there." Fuad Qassas, the Saudi charge d'affaires in Tehran, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Iman has been in the Saudi Embassy for over 25 days and talked about the "embassy's diplomatic efforts to send her in dignity to her family and relatives." On welcoming her, he said: "This is our duty. She is primarily a Saudi citizen and we offer this duty to any Saudi citizen who comes asking for help." Omar Bin Laden sent Asharq Al-Awsat photos of his detained brothers and sisters who are held in Tehran and said they have not received any education since their detention in 2001 and want to return to their family in Saudi Arabia or Syria, adding that his sister Iman fled from the guards accompanying her and her stepmother (Umm-Hamzah) Mrs. Khayriyah during a shopping trip. She said the Iranian authorities allowed them out on a shopping trip once every six months. Bin Laden's son went on to say: "Despite reports that Saad was killed a year and a half ago in the tribal strip in an American missile attack by a drone and that he was involved in terrorist operations, I can confirm the opposite of this." He explained that his mother (Najwa) left her children before the 9/11 attacks when she decided to leave Afghanistan but she is deeply regretting this and crying over the fate of her children she had left behind.
He added that he was concerned about his sister's health and mental condition after the failure of all the attempts to let her leave the embassy. He talked about the intervention of Saudi officials to solve the crisis but said their attempts have so far failed because of the tension in the countries' relations. He pointed out in his telephone interview with Asharq al-Awsat yesterday that it was mere coincidence that made him know the fate of his five brothers and sisters. A young Iranian man let his brother Othman use his cell phone a month ago to contact and tell him that all of them were alive.
He said Othman was 17 years old at the time of 9/11 attacks but was able to escort his wife and baby son, his brother Saad and his wife and baby son, and the other brothers and several members of the Arab families to the Iranian borders where they were put up in a residential compound under heavy guard in the capital Tehran. The families were at first separated with the males in a residential annex and the females in a separate remote one. To protect them, they were not allowed to leave the compound at all but were allowed to mix after some time and provided with television sets.
The Iranian Government was generous in caring for them and providing them with everything they needed but the Iranian authorities probably did not know what to do with this large group of Arab families who are not wanted by any side. Bin Laden's son reiterated his thanks to the Iranian Government for what it has provided for his brothers and sisters "but now and after eight and a half year, the changes in the situations, and since there are several places where they wish to move so as to be with their families and mothers, we want to reunite the family and need to rally together the efforts by several parties so as to fulfill this dream." He added: "I appeal to the Syrian Government to intervene due to its good relationship with Iran, particularly as my brothers and sisters are innocent and had nothing to do with the others' disputes with our father." He said: "We lived in Afghanistan because it was normal for children to live where their parents lived." He went to point out that "we wrote to Amnesty International to act for my brothers and sisters, wrote to the United Nations, and corresponded with the Madrid club of 70 heads of state as to intervene for their release. All my brothers and sisters detained in Iran were born in Saudi Arabia. I have today 11 nephews and nieces who were born in Afghanistan or Iran but I have not seen them." Asharq Al-Awsat Exclusive
 A BID by one of Osama bin Laden's sons to visit Britain was rejected by an immigration tribunal today amid questions about his proposed marriage to a British woman and his attitude to his father. Omar bin Laden, 28, lost his appeal against Britain's refusal in April 2008 to allow him to move here with British-born Zaina Alsabah, 54, who he claimed to have married in his homeland of Saudi Arabia in 2007. The deputy president of the asylum and immigration tribunal, Mark Ockelton, said their union "was not to be regarded as valid in English law", partly because they were both married to other people at the time. Mr Ockelton said that he was "not satisfied" that the pair, who met in September 2006, had any intention of marrying or living together. In rejecting Omar's request last year, British authorities in Egypt, where the couple were living, cited as one reason his "continuing loyalty" to his father and said his presence in Britain could cause "public concern". "It seems to me that the presence in the United Kingdom of a person closely related to Osama bin Laden and expressing the views that the appellant does express would be likely to cause public disquiet and perhaps public disorder," he said. Omar is the fourth of 11 children by his father's first wife and one of reportedly 19 fathered by the man who claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. He has claimed not to have seen his father since 2000. Zaina, formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne, is a Muslim who had been married at least five times before, the tribunal ruling said. She was described as "in poor health, suffering from multiple sclerosis". The Australian
 In an interview with the New Statesman, the fourth eldest son of the world's most wanted man said that he "passionately wants to try to stop violence". Asked whether he plans to enter politics or public life, Mr bin Laden said: "I do not believe that I would be a good politician – I have a habit of speaking the truth, even when it does not serve me well.
But I would like to be in a position to promote peace. I believe that the United Nations would be ideal for me." He said he ended contact with his father in April 2001 but that he was once asked to take up arms at a meeting with his fighters. "His sons were in attendance, although none of us was a fighter," he said. "He spoke of how it is a great honour to give one's life for Islam and said anyone who wanted to give their life should put their name on a paper in the mosque. "He never asked me to join al-Qaeda, but he did tell me I was the son chosen to carry on his work. He was disappointed when I said I was not suited to that life. I do not like disagreement or violence." Mr bin Laden also described his memory of the 11 September 2001 attacks in America that his father is said to have carried out. "I had been sound asleep and was woken by my uncle yelling: 'Look what your father has done!'," he said. "I went into the sitting area and my family were gathered around the television. I soon learned that America was under attack. It was a very sad day." "I did not agree with my uncle's reaction. I never thought my father was capable of the carnage in America – it was too big for his small organisation. "I cannot speak for my father's family. This topic is too painful for us to talk about. We were all so shocked by the suffering of those poor people that, after that morning, none of us ever had a conversation about it." Mr bin Laden's experiences have been documented in a book Growing Up Bin Laden, Osama's Wife and Son take us Inside their Secret World. He coauthored the book with his mother, Najwa, and best-selling writer Jean Sasson. More at the Telegraph
 OSAMA bin Laden was an austere father who banned toys and modern appliances at home, but also a flower-growing nature lover who spoke fluent English and adored fast cars, according to his wife and son. In a book to be published at the end of this month, the al-Qaeda boss's first wife Najwa and fourth son Omar give a rare glimpse into bin Laden's personal life up to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States he is believed to have masterminded. They chart bin Laden's transformation from a pious teenage newlywed to the global face of Islamic extremism, a role that took the family from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan and at one point, Najwa revealed, to the United States. Shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, bin Laden and his wife, whom he married aged 17, visited Indianapolis and Los Angeles for a meeting with his mentor, Palestinian cleric Abdullah Azzam. "We were only there for only two weeks, and for one of those weeks, Osama was away in Los Angeles to meet with some men in that city,'' Najwa told the book's co-author Jean Sasson, later recalling the gathering was with Azzam. Soon after, bin Laden began to travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet occupation, returning to tell his sons tales of battles in Afghan caves and mountains under Soviet fire. He eventually returned to Saudi Arabia a hero, but at home was increasingly disciplinarian, punishing his children - who eventually numbered more than a dozen - for transgressions such as "showing too many teeth'' while laughing. Meanwhile, Najwa was kept in seclusion with Osama's new wives, one of whom she picked, in a spartan home without the mod-cons that make life in the stifling desert lands of Saudi Arabia and Sudan more comfortable. "My father would not allow my mother to turn on the air conditioning that the contractor had built into the apartment building,'' Omar said. "Neither would he allow her to use the refrigerator that was standing in the kitchen.'' Despite this aversion to modern appliances, bin Laden indulged in his penchant for fast cars, including at least one gold-colored Mercedes. He once even bought a speed boat. "Nothing gave him more satisfaction than having a full day to take a speedy drive to the desert, where he would leave his automobile while he took long walks,'' Najwa said. After being forced into exile in Sudan because of his vocal opposition to US troop deployments in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden would later take pride in growing sunflowers as he dodged assassination plots and built the al-Qaeda network. "Osama's favorite undertaking was working the land, growing the best corn and the biggest sunflowers,'' Najwa said. But his love of nature was also colored by growing political fervor. He forced the family to spend nights in the desert, with only dirt as cover from the cold. He also forced his sons to climb desert mountains without water to toughen them ahead of more difficult times. But there were more lighthearted moments with bin Laden, whom his sons admired as a good horseman, a fluent English speaker - thanks to his school days - and a mathematics whiz. "My father was so well known for the skill that there were times when men would come to our home and ask him to match his wits against a calculator,'' Omar said, adding his father usually won. They also spoke about a man who loved eating fruit, particularly mangoes, took two sugars in his tea, whose favorite meal was marrow-stuffed zucchini and who liked to listen to BBC radio. Source: The Australian
 By SUSANNAH CAHALAN Wife and son bare secrets of terror kingpin One night in Khartoum, Sudan, Osama bin Laden decides to take his family -- four wives, 14 children -- on a camping trip. He drives into the desert, finds an isolated spot, then has his oldest sons dig ditches in the sand, long enough to fit each person.
It's the early 1990s, and bin Laden believes there's a war coming between Muslims and the Western infidels. This is training. "You must be gallant. Do not think about foxes or snakes," he says. "Challenging trials are coming to us." Each child, including a few 1- and 2-year-olds, lies in a hollow. There is no water or food. As night falls, a child's voice whispers in the darkness, "I'm cold." "Cover yourself with dirt or grass," bin Laden snaps. "You will be warm under what nature provides." Bin Laden's first wife, Najwa, doesn't like that idea, but, "I reminded myself that my husband knew much more about the big world than any of us. We were all pearls to my husband, and he wanted to protect us." That's what it was like "Growing Up bin Laden," the title of a forthcoming memoir (St. Martin's Press) co-written by Najwa, who remains married to the monster, though she now lives apart from him in an undisclosed Middle Eastern location, with her fourth son -- of 11 children -- Omar. It's a world where women are never allowed outside the house, 12-year-old daughters are married off to 30-year-old al Qaeda fighters, pet dogs are used for target practice and the biggest household fight is over whether Islam allows refrigerators. "Jon & Kate Plus 8" it ain't. It is not the life that Najwa, now 51, would necessarily have chosen for herself, though she accepts it because "my husband says it is so." She neither defends nor lashes out at Osama. Terrorism is what he does for a living; all she needed to worry about was keeping his house in order. Despite her neutrality, her story is still an indictment -- showing us a terrorist leader who is embarrassed easily, obsessed with a long-dead father, terrified of women, and who thinks of his children as nothing more than cannon fodder. Read more here,,,, Source: NYPost
 Saturday, November 8, 2008
By Alan Caruba
Poor Omar bin Laden. He is the fourth of eleven children Osama bin Laden fathered with his first wife and one of a total of nineteen children.
After seeking political asylum, Spain recently told him he cannot live there. Even though he had nothing to do with it, the likelihood is that the train bombings that killed more than 190 people commuting into Madrid on March 11, 2004 is still as fresh in the minds of Spaniards as 9/11 is for Americans.
Before Spain turned him down, England made it clear to Omar that he was not welcome to settle down in the village of Moulton in Cheshire. A former scrap-metal merchant, Omar was seeking a settlement visa, but no luck. It didn’t help that jihad bombings in London and an airport in Scotland made for a chilly reception.
Despite 9/11, I would still suggest that America give Omar and his wife, Zaina Alsabah, refuge here. There is precedent for it.
Svetlana, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, the dictator who shaped Soviet Russia, lived out her final years in America. The last president of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, lived out his final years in Miami after the takeover by Fidel Castro in 1959. Today, the son of the former Shah of Iran, Reza Pallavi, lives in the Washington, DC area and is an outspoken critic of Iran’s current regime.
It didn’t help Omar much when he initially said he could not be certain that Osama, his father, was behind 9/11, but Osama made it clear to the entire world that he was. Omar, however, has made a number of statements in interviews condemning violent acts. Because of Arab culture, he is unable and unwilling to criticize his father by name. It’s just not done.
For me, providing refuge for Omar and his wife would be a kind of poetic justice. It would probably make Osama bin Laden even crazier than he already is. Imagine Osama waking up every day knowing that one of his sons is enjoying life in America? Source: Warning Signs
 November 09, 2008
EGYPTIAN police are questioning Osama bin Laden's son Omar at Cairo airport today to decide whether to let him back into the country after a failed bid for political asylum in Spain.
"He's still at the airport," an airport official said of the Saudi-born 27-year-old who had been living in Egypt.
"Police are looking into his case, to know if he can stay in Egypt or not."
Spain yesterday definitively turned down bin Laden's request for political asylum after he said his life was in danger in the Middle East because he is a pacifist.
Omar, one of the 19 children of the fugitive founder of the al-Qaeda terror group, had appealed against Spain's refusal on Wednesday to grant him asylum, which he asked for shortly after arriving in Madrid on a flight from Cairo.
But Spanish authorities deemed that his security was not in danger and he returned to Cairo late yesterday.
His British-born wife Zaina Alsabah bin Laden condemned what she said had been a "political decision", adding that the couple had been trying to raise money to fly to New Zealand instead of returning to Egypt.
Spain's interior ministry said Wednesday's decision to turn down the asylum claim was in line with the opinion of the UN refugee agency.
"Our reasons for leaving Egypt and coming to Spain had nothing to do with any actions of the Egyptian government," the bin Ladens said in a statement issued while they were in Spain.
"We are most grateful to the Egyptian government and the lovely Egyptian people.
"They graciously showed us every kindness, more than any country in the world, in fact. There were outsiders working within Egypt which created genuine concern for Omar's safety. That is the only reason we left Egypt."
Omar bin Laden, who has a Saudi passport, is the fourth child from Osama bin Laden's first marriage. His wife, 52, whom he married in 2007, is British, having changed her name from Jane Felix-Browne.
In April he was refused permission to live in Britain because of the alleged trouble his arrival might cause.
He says he has not spoken to his father since 2000, when he decided to leave a training camp in Afghanistan, with Osama bin Laden's consent. Source: The Australian
 November 05, 2008
MADRID: One of Osama bin Laden's sons has asked for political asylum in Spain, months after he was refused permission to live in England with his British wife.
Omar bin Laden, a self-described pacifist, made the request on arriving at Madrid's Barajas airport on Monday on a flight from Cairo, where he currently lives, that had been en route to Casablanca in Morocco.
“He has asked for asylum. The law has been applied. He is being held in Barajas and the asylum commission, which has the legal capacity to decide if he should receive asylum or not, is analyzing the request,” Interior Minister Alfredo Perez told a press conference.
It was not known on what grounds the 28-year-old, who was traveling on a passport from Saudi Arabia, was seeking asylum.
Under Spanish asylum rules, the ministry has 72 hours to make a decision, and the petitioner has a right of appeal.
Omar flew to Madrid with his wife Zaina Alsabah bin Laden, 52, formerly known as Jane Felix-Browne, who he married last year, one year after they met in Egypt, a source close to Omar bin Laden told AFP.
The couple would prefer it if the media would not cover Omar's bid for asylum as it could hurt his chances of being accepted, the source added.
Authorities in Britain turned down a request in April from Omar for a settlement visa.
At the time he said he wanted to live in England with Zaina at her home in northwestern England in the village of Moulton, near Northwich in Cheshire.
The British embassy in Cairo said it had based its decision on fears that his presence in the country would cause “considerable public concern”.
It is thought the authorities were referring to comments made by Omar that he could not be certain that his father was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States that killed over 3,000 people.
Asked during an interview with CNN in January if he knew his father was behind the attacks, Omar, who sported dreadlocks that dangled halfway down his back replied: “Yeah, maybe.”
Omar also declined to directly condemn his father during the interview but called on him to give up violence.
“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.
He said he had not spoken to his father since 2000, when he walked away from an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan with Osama's blessings, and does not know where the al-Qa'ida leader is.
“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.',” he said.
Saudi-Arabian-born Omar 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.
In a video broadcast in October 2004, just before the last US presidential elections, Osama bin Laden said he ordered the airline hijackings that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In 2004 Spain suffered one of Europe's deadliest attacks when bombs planted by Islamic extremists inspired by Al-Qaeda and angered by the country's participation in the US-led invasion of Iraq exploded on packed commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people. Source: The Australian
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's son Omar believes the al Qaeda leader has achieved his aim of humbling the United States but warns his death could unleash "very, very nasty" attacks by militants, Rolling Stone magazine said.
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