The Eleventh Day

according to the Pakistani editor Hamid Mir, citing one of his interviews with Osama bin Laden (Bergen, OBL I Know, 7–);

50 father/10,000: Coll, Bin Ladens, 128, Gunaratna, 17;

51 “right arm”: transcript, int. OBL by Hamid Mir, 3/19/97;

52 $1 billion: as calculated at www.measuringworth.com;

53 present/cars: bin Ladens & Sasson, 20, 169–;

54 “shy … aloof,” etc.: Atwan, 41, Coll, Bin Ladens, 138–, Bergen, OBL I Know, 8, In the Footsteps of Bin Laden, CNN, 8/23/06;

55 Quaker school Beirut/Saudi school: Coll, Bin Ladens, 140–, Wright, 75. Published reports have suggested that later, as a teenager, bin Laden indulged in Beirut’s fabled nightlife. That seems out of character, and family biographer Coll concludes that such stories are mere rumor. They may reflect confusion with one of Osama’s siblings (reports: e.g., see Rex Hudson, The Sociology & Psychology of Terrorism, Washington: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1999, 117, Reeve, 159–, rumor: Coll, Bin Ladens, 141);

56 “extraordinarily”/“not very”/mediocre: Bergen, OBL I Know, 8–;

57 “normal”: Wright, 75;

58 “No calculator”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 42;

59 “top fifty”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 8;

60 taller: Bergen, OBL I Know, 8, 214, Wright, 83;

61 soccer/movies/bully: In the Footsteps of Bin Laden, CNN, 8/23/06. Coll, Bin Ladens, 141, Lacey, Inside the Kingdom, 57, Bergen, OBL I Know, 13–.

62 Syria/?camping/?“soft-spoken”/?“unanticipated”/?wedding/?“so conservative”/married life/11 children: bin Ladens & Sasson, 8–, 12–, 17, 19–, 22, 25, 270, Bergen, OBL I Know, 17;

63 arduous work: Scheuer, Osama bin Laden, 35;

64 shaking hands, etc./rules: Bergen, OBL I Know, 20–, 14–, bin Ladens & Sasson, 19–, 41, Carmen bin Ladin, The Veiled Kingdom, London: Virago, 2004, 76, 91, Le Monde, 10/13/02, Wright, 75–;

65 “Around 18 or 19”: “Dateline,” NBC, 7/10/04;

66 “His family”: Carmen bin Ladin, 77;

67 “following the example”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 22;

68 economics: transcript, int. OBL by Hamid Mir, 3/18/97, Bergen, OBL I Know, 16, bin Ladens & Sasson, 29;

69 “I was almost”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 16;

70 Osama no longer: ibid., 16, 21, Wright, 77, bin Ladens & Sasson, 187;

71 “impassioned”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 22;

72 Syrian teacher/Muslim Brotherhood/Qur’an: Coll, Bin Ladens, 144–, Lacey, Inside the Kingdom, 59–, Wright, 78;

73 wept re Palestine: Wright, 75–;

74 “religious chants”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 15;

75 ’73 war/embargo: Hollingsworth with Mitchell, 93–, 98, Dore Gold, Hatred’s Kingdom, Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2003, 84–;

76 new century: Peter L. Bergen, Holy War Inc., NY: Free Press, 2001, 48.

77 toppling monarchy Iran: Iran, of course, ascribes overwhelmingly not to the Sunni but the Shia branch of Islam. The former predominates in Saudi Arabia;

78 “For forty years”: int. OBL by Hamid Mir, 3/18/97.

79 Mahdi/Grand Mosque seizure: Trofimov, refs. & see esp. 46–, 66–, 69–, 160–. During the siege, according to Jamal Khashoggi, Osama and his half-brother Mahrouz were arrested on suspicion of involvement, but released. Osama’s friend Batarfi said Osama had thought it crazy to “seize the holiest place in Islam, then bring in weapons and kill people.” An Afghan journalist, on the other hand, has quoted him as saying that the men who seized the mosque were “innocent of any crime … true Muslims” (arrested: Trofimov, 247, Wright, 94; Batarfi: Lacey, Inside the Kingdom, 59; Afghan journalist: Burke, Al-Qaeda, 57, 41).

80 40,000/100,000: “The 1978 Revolution & the Soviet Invasion,” www.globalsecurity.org;

81 terrible conflict: Coll, Ghost Wars, 49–.

82 “My father”: Bergen, Holy War Inc., 52;

83 “I was put”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 176;

84 “the nightmare”: Mail on Sunday (U.K.), 12/23/01.

CHAPTER 18

1

Badeeb:

Coll,

Bin Ladens

, 248–;

2

“decent”:

ibid., 249, citing Badeeb int. Orbit TV, 2001;

3

Turki:

profile at

www.saudiembassy.net

;

4

GID/CIA liaise:

Coll,

Ghost Wars

, 79–, Wright, 99;

5

shuttling/ISI/worked together:

ibid., 82–.

6

“When the invasion”:

The Independent

(U.K.), 12/6/03, Scheuer,

Osama Bin Laden

, 49. Some historians doubt that bin Laden involved himself in the Afghan episode as promptly as he claimed, but there is no special reason to question his account. One can speculate that his early visit or visits, to Pakistan rather than Afghanistan itself, were made at bin Laden’s initiative—and triggered GID’s decision to use him.

7

“To confront”:

France-Soir

, 8/27/98, citing int. of 1995;

8