reader ↠ Growing Up Bin Laden ☆ Jean Sasson
Umed names and fake passports Omar describes how he and his siblings were brought up in remote ranches and fortified Afghani mountain camps handling Kalashnikovs and learning desert survival skills Their eventual escape from Afghanistan would come just days before the terrible events of 911 changed the world forever With unprecedented access and exclusive family photographs Jean Sasson author of the bestselling Princess presents the story that we were never meant to hea A fascinating inside view from a son of Bin LadenI especially enjoyed the section on how the Taliban insulted Osama bin LadenOsama was very strange in many ways eg He completely avoided using electricity or modern electric appliances as he thought it was a western inventionHe used to reprimand his sons on laughing and actually used to tell them how many teeth they used to show when they laughed and not do it againI was also suprised to know he could speak perfect English and Pushto
Jean Sasson ☆ Growing Up Bin Laden book
Growing Up Bin LadenAy activities of the man they knew as a husband and father Married at fifteen Najwa describes the transformation of the uiet serious young man she fell in love with into an authoritarian husband and stern father an entrepreneur and – finally – the leader of a complex international terrorist network Uprooted from a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege in Saudi Arabia they suddenly found themselves living life on the run fleeing from country to country under ass Although I have read several books about women living under the oppression of the taliban I must admit I was still very confused believing the mujahideen taliban and al aeda to be different factions of the same group After reading Growing Up bin Laden I now realize how ignorant I was about each of these different groupsThe mujahideen were the Afghani warriors who fought the Russians when they tried to take over Afghanistan This battle was Osama's first taste of the ways of warThe taliban is a very fanatical muslim group with the objective to force all muslims into a very repressive form of IslamThe al aeda is a lot like the taliban in it's fanaticism but this group founded by Osama has the objective to force the entire world to convert to Islam through Jihad which is muslim holy warI'm really glad I'm no longer confused One of the things I love about Jean Sasson is the way she writes about Middle Eastern polotics She shares the information in the story she's telling making it easy to understand instead of writing a big chapter on the polotics of another culture which someone would have a hard time following unless they were already familiar with that cultures poloticsOne thing that bothered me in this book however was that sometimes it felt as though I were reading from the bible With terms such as and so it came to pass and so it came to be being used throughout the book This probably wasn't the intended effect but this is how it left me feelingThis was a very eye opening look into the personal life of Osama Bin Laden This man was a mad man for sure I felt so sorry for his wives and children as they had no choice but to follow this man into his created chaos The Osama did to bring about his jihad dreams the destitute his family became This book often left me feeling angry but a lot of books about muslim women do that to me It really bothered me that Osama felt seventeen was the right age for a man to be married but that eleven or twelve once a girl hits puberty was a valid age for girls to be marriedOne interesting point that Jean Sasson brought to light is that Osama's name has always been misspelled his name is actually spelled Ossama Binladen She wrote his name the way it has always been written in publications to make it easier for us who are not used to seeing it written correctly She explains all of this toward the end of the bookAnother thing I like about this book is that at the end Jean Sasson gives an update on each of Osama's children and wives I only wish we could have another accurate update now that this mad man has been sent to meet his maker