Oh, I see we've met bin Laden's PR chief.
"I persuaded bin Laden – much against his will – to talk about those days. And he recalled how, during an attack on a Russian firebase not far from Jalalabad, a mortar shell had fallen at his feet. He had waited for it to explode. And in those milliseconds of rationality, he had – so he said – felt a great sense of tranquillity, a sense of calm acceptance, which he ascribed to God."
This story is quite similar to that of another evil demigod in WWI (i.e. Hitler). He too felt that providence had saved him during war. What a dreadful thing it is when you have intelligent and evil people who somehow survive war and rationalize any barbaric action as "fulfilling their mission."