June/July 2002, pages 33, 103

Special Report

Osama bin Laden—From Hero to Renegade

By Richard H. Curtiss

Much has been written about Osama bin Laden. If only he had rested on his laurels as a hero of Afghanistan’s liberation from the Russians. As history has shown, however, Bin Laden couldn’t quit while he was ahead. Instead, he set off on new causes that left in his wake thousands of victims and eventually caused his own downfall.

As an adolescent, Osama bin Laden was remarkably handsome and maintained a shyness and courtesy not always present in many of his contemporaries. A Swedish woman who met the Bin Laden family on one of their vacations to Sweden has written that among the boys and girls in the family, Osama stood out for his consideration. At the same time, Osama’s father, Mohammad, made a point of giving his sons duties and sometimes sending them on business trips with their uncles in order to give them experience and develop resourcefulness.

Osama studied in an exclusive boys’ school in Jeddah. When he was 11, his father died in a helicopter crash. At a time when many of his contemporaries continued their studies in England or the U.S., Osama took his degree in Jeddah at the King Abdul Aziz University, majoring in business administration. His father had wanted him to concentrate on business studies so that he could help in the family’s enterprises. Osama also developed an affinity with engineering and construction. Increasingly, however, his chief interest was in religion.

The Afghan war against the Russians, however, caught the imagination of his entire generation, from Pakistan to Morocco. With his family’s resources it was easy for Osama to examine what was required to turn the tide against the Russians and also to make a serious contribution. At the age of 23 he went to Afghanistan and stayed for a brief time before returning to Saudi Arabia. On his next trip to Afghanistan Osama brought funds and know-how, partly from employees in the family business. Soon Osama bin Laden was bringing in trucks, bulldozers and all the heavy construction material needed to make a serious difference in Afghan fortunes.

The Afghans soon turned Osama bin Laden into a folk hero. There was no question that he was brave. After one battle he told his fighters that they had acquitted themselves well and deserved a rest. Three of his fighters insisted that they wanted to stay on in the battlefield. Osama then left with his comrades, and within another day all three of those left behind had been killed. Osama commented that “martyrdom was the door to paradise.”

By then, Osama was called “the Sheikh.” He also had become legendary for his generosity. The families of his comrades who died eventually received a check.

When the Russians finally departed, however, the Afghans quickly fell back into their fractious ways. Discouraged, the 33-year-old Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. Increasingly, he showed an intolerance of dissent. He also missed the camaraderie of the battlefield and desperately sought a new cause to which to devote himself.

The Afghan war against the Russians caught the imagination of Osama’s entire generation.

The Saudi monarchy had challenges of its own. Because the government was determined to make up for the lost years when much of the rest of the world had developed technical and industrial expertise, every Saudi student who wanted to attend the world’s best universities could do so as long as they kept up their studies. Schools, hospitals and industries were beginning to emerge throughout the country. Initially, however, much of the medical personnel had to be brought in from abroad.

While this transition was taking place at home, Osama bin Laden’s dreams were different. He wanted new worlds to conquer, but without devoting the years of preparation and hard work needed to make his country’s dreams come true. Meanwhile, conspiracies and violence began to appear wherever he went. After several such events occurred it became clear Osama was on a collision course with reality. He realized that he would have to leave his country.

He went first to the Sudan, where he was welcomed for a time. By then, however, Bin Laden was deep into plots, and more and more trouble seemed to occur wherever he went. After five years in Sudan, it was time once again for bin Laden to move on.

Bin Laden was welcomed back to Afghanistan. With his generosity, he rapidly established new connections. After he built new homes for his wives and children, he also paid for the cost of a similar establishment for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Eventually he realized he had found a home of own, and hoped to live the rest of his life there.

Osama began setting up training camps for Islamist militants. Those who showed promise were then encouraged to fight revolutions of their own. Thousands of young men trained for revolution. Bin Laden was in his element.

Meanwhile, his life changed in many ways. His mother, Hamida, had been born in Damascus and Osama, too, married a Syrian girl. But other wives followed. Eventually he had four wives and one ex-wife. Although his wives had to move each time he changed locations, the family grew and prospered. When New York’s Twin Towers were destroyed, however, things came to an abrupt end.

A Guarded Account

One of Bin Laden’s wives has spoken guardedly with an interviewer about that time. Her husband had grand plans for the future, she said, but refused to elaborate. She did say that leading up to the Twin Towers massacre Bin Laden had become increasingly worried and suffered from sleeplessness.

Osama also spoke tothis wife of problems he was having with his long-time associate, Mullah Mohammad Omar. There was little more that he cared to discuss.

Osama’s wives lived simply but comfortably in their own households. Two wives lived in Kabul, one in Kandahar and one in Tora Bora. His wives were told to stay out of sight because they had enemies. By then there were 24 children, 13 from the same wife.

It was clear that Bin Laden was aware that the Twin Towers conspiracy had come to pass. Probably even he was stunned at how successfully most of his plans had worked out. He seemed to have no regrets about the terrible human costs of his scheme. There was little time to gloat, however, because of the speed with which the U.S. retaliated.

Suddenly Osama bin Laden was a hunted man. From that point on there is little that can be verified. There were many press interviews with Bin Laden, including at least two from Al Jazeera Television in Qatar. There were two others that clearly were fabricated using pre-recorded tapes. What happened next is purely speculative.

The battle in Afghanistan was launched rapidly and soon became a rout. Bin Laden appeared several times on the battlefield, but security concerns kept him from doing little more than making a speech and departing. There may have been one very close call which made him realize that he had little time left.

Some reports had it that Bin Laden and four close companions set off in an attempt to escape. There is little indication of what happened next. It was a period of panic in the high mountains of Afghanistan—many were killed by bombs and some died of exposure. When it was over there were no sightings or further substantiated reports of Bin Laden’s whereabouts or survival.

Osama bin Laden had told his colleagues that he wanted to live and die in Afghanistan. It is likely, therefore, that he did precisely that.

He had suffered health problems in his final years, and reportedly suffered from kidney stones. There were also reports that he needed medicine no longer available to him. But where did he go? Or did he really die?

It is quite possible that Osama bin Laden had prepared for his death. However, it was unlikely that it would happen so quickly. Possibly Bin Laden hoped to create a legend.

There might even be a precedent going back to the 9th century. It is the Shi’i story of “the missing 12th imam,” in 878 CE (264 A.H.). Still a child when he vanished after an escape, the legend had it that he would return when he was needed. Meanwhile, the missing imam was out of sight but still available to help believers. There that story ends.

So, perhaps, does the story of Osama bin Laden.

Richard Curtiss is executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

< Prev		Next >