Osama's Prodigal Son

It is after midnight when Osama bin Laden's fourth-born son, Omar, leads me into a nightclub called Les Caves de Boys in the center of Damascus. Marked only by a small neon sign on a side street in an upscale quarter of the city, the basement bar is dark and secluded, enveloped by an air of exclusivity. Omar brushes past the two heavyset Syrian thugs at the door and picks a booth in the back. A dozen or so wealthy Arab men are drinking whiskey and watching Russian strippers put on a show. By Western standards, the performances are tame, a succession of scantily clad women in burlesque costumes — Little Bo Peep, pigtailed schoolgirl, pole-climbing gymnast. But as Omar sips a 7 Up, he follows their every move with boyish wonder. Russian women, he tells me, are the most beautiful in the world. "It is as if their bodies are shaped with plastic, like dolls," he says.

As a teenager in the mountains of Tora Bora, Omar had been his father's chosen successor, the favored son meant to lead Al Qaeda and carry on global jihad. Then, in 2001, a few months before Osama bin Laden was to become the world's most wanted man, Omar abandoned his father's compound in Afghanistan. He left behind almost certain death for this: the world, Les Caves de Boys, life.

I was wading through the sludge and slime at Democratic Underground and came across this article, printed in January this year, about Omar Bin-Laden. The article was, IMHO, interesting in its own way and was approximately 7 pages in length; skip my comments below if you plan on reading the article because the article is so much more articulate and interesting.

The Dem loonies were speaking approvingly of Omar's wisdom and quoting the part of the Rolling Stones article that claims Clinton was 'too wise' to allow himself to be drawn into Afghanistan and that Osama was delighted that Bush was elected because Bush was the right sort of 'bull who chases after the red flag'. This part of the article made me think that Osama or whomever is left is using Omar to once again try to sway public opinion. (Omar claims to respect Obama as refined etc. but suggested that Obama was about to make a massive mistake sending troops into Afghanistan). Near the end of the article, "Michael Scheuer, the former head of the bin Laden desk at the CIA..." indicates that Omar is a disinformation agent for Osama and that even Omar's autobiography was written to make Osama even more famous and respected - although it describes a man viewed as repellent and abusive to Westerners.

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