November 2001 - Remember, a name is for life ***Some years ago, a Venezuelan lawyer with Marxist sympathies named his three sons Vladimir, Illich and Lenin. Well, if revolutionaries were what he wanted, he certainly got his wish with one: Illich Ramirez Sanchez grew up to be the international terrorist better known as Carlos the Jackal. Who knows what effect being named after a Russian Bolshevik had on the boy? Let's hope that baby Osama doesn't feel he's got something to live up to. ***
Carlos the Jackal, whose real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez, praises Osama Bin Laden's "shining" example in a selection of writings from his prison cell in France which went on sale on Thursday.
A convert to Islam since his imprisonment for three murders, Sanchez preaches "revolutionary Islam" - which is the title of his book - as the new, post-Communist answer to what he calls US "totalitarianism".
The book, excerpts of which have been published by Le Monde newspaper, has also raised questions over how it could have seen the light of day as the French prison system is supposed to strictly control all correspondence between inmates and the outside world.***