Growing Up bin Laden

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Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World
Growing up bin Laden.jpeg
Author Najwa bin Laden
Omar bin Laden
Jean Sasson
LanguageEnglish
SubjectFamily of Osama bin Laden
Publisher St. Martin's Press
Publication date
27 October 2009
Media typePrint
Pages352
ISBN 0-312-56016-8

Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World is a 2009 book written by Osama bin Laden's first wife Najwa bin Laden and fourth son Omar Bin Laden. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Synopsis

The book provides a unique perspective into the personal lives of the bin Laden family, shedding light on their experiences within the infamous bin Laden dynasty.

Najwa recounts her life as Osama bin Laden's wife, detailing their marriage, family dynamics, and the challenges they faced living in the complex world of jihadist extremism. She shares intimate details about their relationship, including their journey from their early days of love to the eventual strain caused by Osama's dedication to his radical ideologies.

The memoir also delves into the upbringing of their children, offering insight into the struggles they encountered while growing up in the shadow of their notorious father. From the strict rules imposed by Osama to the constant threat of violence and instability, the children's lives were deeply influenced by the tumultuous environment they were raised in.

Throughout the book, Najwa and Omar provide a candid account of their experiences, offering a rare glimpse into the human side of one of the most infamous figures in modern history.

Reviews

The Denver Post did a review and summary of the book, stating: "It is not necessary to read this book to understand the al-Qaeda threat, but for those seeking deeper knowledge of Osama bin Laden and how his mind works, the book is a valuable supplement to the existing libraries." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osama bin Laden</span> Saudi-born militant and founder of al-Qaeda (1957–2011)

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi-born Islamic dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan Jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Bin Laden is most widely known as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

bin Laden family Saudi business family

The bin Laden family, also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinational construction firm. Following the September 11 attacks, the family became the subject of media attention and scrutiny through the activities of Osama bin Laden, the former head of al-Qaeda.

Muhammad bin Ladin was a Yemeni-born Saudi billionaire business magnate working primarily in the construction industry. He founded what is today the Saudi Binladin Group and became the wealthiest non-royal Saudi, establishing the wealth and prestige of the bin Ladin family.

Michael F. Scheuer, is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One assignment during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.

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On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Night Stalkers," and the CIA's Special Activities Division, which heavily recruits from former JSOC Special Mission Units. The success of the operation ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.

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Osama bin Laden (1957–2011), a militant and founder of Al-Qaeda in 1988, believed Muslims should kill civilians and military personnel from the United States and allied countries until they withdrew support for Israel and withdrew military forces from Islamic countries. He was indicted in United States federal court for his involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, and was on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Omar bin Osama bin Mohammed bin 'Awad bin Laden, better known as Omar bin Laden, is a Saudi artist, author, cultural ambassador, and businessman, and fourth-eldest son of Osama bin Laden, with his first cousin and first wife Najwa Ghanhem. He lives in Normandy, France.

This is a list of activities ostensibly carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) within Pakistan. It has been alleged by such authors as Ahmed Rashid that the CIA and ISI have been waging a clandestine war. The Afghan Taliban—with whom the United States was officially in conflict—was headquartered in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas during the war and according to some reports is largely funded by the ISI. The Pakistani government denies this.

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The death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, gave rise to various conspiracy theories, hoaxes and rumors. These include the ideas that he had died earlier, or that he lived beyond the reported date. Doubts about Bin Laden's death were fueled by the U.S. military's supposed disposal of his body at sea, the decision to not release any photographic or DNA evidence of Bin Laden's death to the public, the contradicting accounts of the incident, and the 25-minute blackout during the raid on Bin Laden's compound during which a live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the U.S. special forces was cut off.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alleged Pakistani support for Osama bin Laden</span> Relationship between the state of Pakistan and Osama bin Laden

Pakistan was alleged to have provided support for Osama bin Laden. These claims have been made both before and after Osama was found living in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and was killed by a team of United States Navy SEALs on 2 May 2011. The compound itself was located just half a mile from Pakistan's premier military training academy Kakul Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad. In the aftermath of bin Laden's death, American president Barack Obama asked Pakistan to investigate the network that sustained bin Laden. "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan", Obama said in a 60 Minutes interview with CBS News. He also added that the United States was not sure "who or what that support network was." In addition to this, in an interview with Time magazine, CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that US-officials did not alert Pakistani counterparts to the raid because they feared the terrorist leader would be warned. However, the documents recovered from bin Laden's compound 'contained nothing to support the idea that bin Laden was protected or supported by the Pakistani officials'. Instead, the documents contained criticism of Pakistani military and future plans for attack against the Pakistani military installations.

The Al-Damazin Farms, about 300 miles (480 km) south-east of Khartoum, Sudan, was an "enormous" farm owned and run by Osama bin Laden.

References

  1. "Growing Up bin Laden". Archived from the original on 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
  2. "The last word: Growing up bin Laden". theweek. 2009-11-12. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  3. "Book Review: 'Growing up bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World'". Deseret News. 2024-01-03. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  4. Post, Thomas W. Lippman | The Washington; Post, Special to The Denver Post | Special to The Denver; Post, The Washington Post | The Washington (2009-12-03). "Book review: Life inside Bin Laden's dark tent". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2024-03-23.