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Bin Laden's son to father: Change your ways
* Story Highlights
* Bin Laden's son, Omar, says his father should
change his ways
* Omar bin Laden split with his father in 2000;
says he hasn't heard from him since
* Omar bin Laden says he doesn't believe his dad
is a terrorist
* "I don't think 9/11 was right personally"
By Aneesh Raman
CNN
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Omar bin Laden has a message for
his father, Osama: "Find another way."
The son of the most-wanted man in the world spoke
Sunday to CNN in a quiet, middle-class suburb about an
hour outside Cairo, Egypt.
Omar, who works as a contractor, said he is talking
publicly because he wants an end to the violence his
father has inspired -- violence that has killed
innocent civilians in a spate of attacks around the
world, including those of September 11, 2001.
"I try and say to my father: 'Try to find another way
to help or find your goal. This bomb, this weapons,
it's not good to use it for anybody,' " Omar said in
English learned in recent months from his British
wife.
He said that's not just his own message, but one that
a friend of his father's and other Muslims have
expressed to him. "They too say ... my father should
change [his] way," Omar said. VideoWatch whether Omar
bin Laden thinks his father will ever be caught »
He said he hasn't spoken to his father since 2000,
when he walked away from an al Qaeda training camp in
Afghanistan with his father's blessings. He said he
has no idea where his father is, but is confident he
will never be caught because locals support him.
Asked if his father might be living along the
Afghan-Pakistan border, he said, "Maybe, maybe not."
"Either way, the people there are different," he said.
"They don't care about the government."
Now, Omar and his wife are preparing to launch a
movement far different from the one his father Osama
launched. They are pursuing a movement for peace.
At first glance, Omar appears to have little in common
with the man who has eluded international efforts to
find him. The 26-year-old's hair is bound in neat
braids, he drives a Jeep and is married to a British
national twice his age.
But the physical resemblance quickly sinks in, even
without the long beard his father favors. It is a
resemblance Omar doesn't avoid. "Being Osama's son, I
don't hide it. I don't hide my name," he said.
"I am proud by my name, but if you have a name like
mine you will find people run away from you, are
afraid of you."
He said he doesn't consider his father to be a
terrorist. When his father was fighting the Soviets,
Washington considered him a hero, he said.
"Before they call it war; now they call it terrorism,"
he said. He said his father believes his duty is to
protect Muslims from attack.
"He believes this is his job -- to help the people,"
he said. "I don't think my father is a terrorist
because history tells you he's not."
However, Omar -- who was 14 when he began training in
al Qaeda camps -- said he differs greatly with his
father over the killing of civilians.
Was 9/11 a just attack?
"I don't think 9/11 was right personally, but it
happened," he said. "I don't think ... [the war] in
Vietnam was right. I don't think what's going on in
Palestine is right. I don't think what's going on in
Iraq is right.
"If we make what is right and not right, we will make
a very big list," he said.
Omar said he left al Qaeda because he did not want to
be associated with killing civilians. Omar said his
father did not try to dissuade him from leaving al
Qaeda.
"I told him I was going, and wanted to try life and
see what it was like outside because, from a young age
I was with my father, and I only saw and heard my
father and his friends. My father told me, 'If this is
what your choice -- your decision -- is, what can I
tell you? I like you to be with me, but this is your
decision.' "
So father and son went their separate ways.
But for Omar, there has been no running from the bin
Laden name, not after the events of 9/11. On that day,
Omar was in Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the 19 hijackers
were from.
Asked if, upon learning of the news, he knew his
father had been behind it, he replied, "Yeah, maybe."
Omar said he felt sadness for those killed. "I don't
think 9/11 was right personally," he said. "I don't
agree with 9/11 or with any war where only civilians
are dying."
Asked why he did not protest more strongly his
father's role in the killing of civilians, Omar said
it is up to the religious clerics close to his father
to tell Osama to change tactics in the name of Islam.
And even if that most unlikely scenario were to occur,
he said, al Qaeda would not stop. "My father doesn't
have the power to stop the movement at this moment."
Sitting by his side throughout the hour-and-a-half
interview was Omar's wife, Zaina. The two are
organizing a multi-month horse race through North
Africa in the name of peace, set to kick off this
year.
But getting sponsors to line up behind the name bin
Laden has been difficult. "It would probably have been
easier to do a race without having Omar's name, but
then the race would just be a race, it wouldn't be a
race for peace," Zaina said.
Omar said his relationship with his father was
limited. He is the fourth of 11 children born to
Osama's first wife, and he is one of 19 children Osama
has fathered. "Most of the time he busy, so busy, all
the day he's busy [with] his friends. He was working a
lot."
Omar is now undertaking perhaps an impossible task:
trying to rebrand the name they share.
But he said he is not looking for approval from his
father. "My life, I take care of my life," he said.
"My father he take care of his life."
All AboutOsama bin Laden Al Qaeda
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Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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