THE PRECEDING NARRATIVE is based on more than 150 interviews conducted in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, and seven other countries. It also draws upon government and private archives in Saudi Arabia, the United States, Britain, Germany, and Israel, including original correspondence and bid documents that describe Mohamed Bin Laden’s work in Jerusalem during the 1950s and 1960s. State Department and British Foreign Office correspondence from Jeddah from the 1940s through the late 1960s also proved to be particularly valuable for penetrating some of the myths and generalities that have surrounded Mohamed’s life and work, and for describing with greater specificity the world his children grew up in. For more recent periods, in addition to interviews, the narrative relies extensively upon court and regulatory records, primarily from civil lawsuits in the United States and corporate filings there and in Great Britain. I am also indebted in many important ways to previously published work by journalists and historians, as the notes below describe.
Many of the interviews for this book were conducted on the record. Where an interview subject spoke on condition that he or she would not be named the notes provide as much information as possible, consistent with these agreements. For on-the-record interviews, the date and identity of the interviewer are indicated. Robin Shulman’s interviews are identified in the notes by (RS). Keach Hagey conducted several interviews for chapter 36, which are identified by (KH). I conducted all other interviews, supplemented by fact-checking re-interviews by Julie Tate.
In response to numerous requests for interviews over a three-year period, Bin Laden family members offered only very limited cooperation, other than those in Yemen; senior family members based in Jeddah granted no extensive or substantive interviews. In explaining their decision, family members and representatives cited their desire for privacy and also their concerns about civil lawsuits filed in the United States by victims of the September 11 attacks. Nonetheless, after the manuscript was substantially drafted, Julie Tate and I attempted to fact-check material about living Bin Ladens with family representatives. Through their lawyers, the family declined to respond to the great majority of written questions submitted, but the family did offer a few helpful responses, as the text and the source notes reflect.
1. Interview with Lynn Peghiny, February 7, 2006. Description of the estate is from the author’s visit, as well as interviews with a previous owner, neighbors, and two members of Winter Garden’s historical society.
2. The Ibrahims, their influence in Fahd’s court, and their Orlando investments: JeffreyL. Rabin and William C. Rempel, “Saudis Secretly Bought Stake in Marina Leases,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1989. Also, Michael Field, “Financial Times Survey: Saudi Arabia,” p. vi, April 22, 1985.
3. Peghiny interview, op. cit. A spokesperson for Shields said she had no recollection of such a project.
4. All quotations from Peghiny interview, op. cit.
5. Quotations from an interview with George Harrington, February 23, 2006. Also, interviews with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006; Peter Blum, May 5, 2006; and Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006, all of whom were involved in preparations for the Pakistan trip.
6. Harrington interview, op cit.
7. Peghiny interview, op. cit. “Briefcase containing at least $250,000”: Harrington interview, ibid.
8. Harrington interview, op. cit.
9. Johansson interview, op. cit.
10. All quotations from Harrington and Johansson interviews, op. cit.
11. “This is it”: Harrington interview, op. cit.
12. “For some reason”: Ibid. “He used to go”: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS).
13. For the dates and amounts of Saudi contributions to the Contras, see Brinkley and Engelberg (eds.), Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, pp. 49–57. Also, Bob Woodward, Veil, pp. 352–53 and 401. “I didn’t give a damn”: Simpson, The Prince, pp. 118–19. That McFarlane said the aid would ensure Reagan’s reelection: The Prince, pp. 113–
14. McFarlane later emphasized in testimony before Congress that the Saudis had volunteered these financial contributions, a claim that Bandar disputes. 14. Guest list and Piscopo: Elizabeth Kastor and Donnie Radcliffe, “Fahd’s Night: Fanfare Fit for a King,” Washington Post, February 12, 1985. Also, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, White House Photo Collection, contact sheets C27237–C27257.
15. Ibid. That Fahd decorated the boy’s palace rooms in matched style: From an interview with two former business partners of the Bin Ladens who worked on palace projects.
16. The French intelligence report was published by the Public Broadcasting System’s investigative program Frontline and is available on its Web site. The report contains a variety of material about the Bin Laden family, only some of which is accurate. “had no idea where Nicaragua was”: Interview with Dietrich, op. cit. Attorney who remembered photo of Salem and Reagan: Interviews with Charles Schwartz, May 12, 2005, and September 20, 2006.
17. Remarks by Reagan and Fahd, February 11, 1985, Office of the Press Secretary, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Box 189. The intriguing possibility is that Salem passed the video he made of Osama’s charitable work to the Reagan White House, or perhaps to the Saudi embassy in Washington, as part of the preparations for the Fahd summit. No such material has ever surfaced in previous investigations of Bin Laden’s time in Afghanistan or the history leading up to the September 11 attacks, but a great many relevant national security files from the Reagan administration remain classified. The strikingly specific language in Reagan’s welcoming remarks to Fahd—“Saudi aid to refugees uprooted…has not gone unnoticed here, Your Majesty”—is suggestive but inconclusive. CIA officials have asserted repeatedly that no CIA officer ever made direct contact with Osama during the covert Afghan campaign of the 1980s or afterward, and no evidence has yet surfaced to contradict this assertion.
18. “create a problem”: Osama’s interview with CNN, March 1977, from Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 55.
1. Author’s visit to Gharn Bashireih, March 18, 2007. Forty villages, less than ten thousand people: Alyom (Aden), January 23, 2002, from reporting on Rakiyah by the journalist Alawi Abdullah Bin Sumait. His figures are recent; he cites a population in the entire canyon of seventy-eight hundred in 2002. A ceiling of ten thousand is an approximation supported by the absence of any evidence of dense towns and by earlier British population estimates in nearby areas.
2. Interviews with twelve Bin Laden family members, primarily through their spokesman, Syed Bin Laden, in Gharn Bashireih, March 18, 2007. Their account of Awadh’s life, his dispute over the borrowed ox, and his migration to Doan is corroborated by research by two Hadhrami journalists, Alawi Bin Sumait and Awadh Saleh Kashmimi. The latter conducted separate interviews for the author with Bin Laden family members and representatives in the Hadhramawt. The author is indebted to the governor of the Hadhramawt, Abdelqader Ali Al-Hilal, for his invitation to visit the region and for his introductions to the Bin Laden family still living in Rakiyah.
3. Interview with Syed Bin Laden, op. cit.
4. Interviews with Bin Laden family members in Gharn Bashireih, op. cit. Those who remain in the family village are descendants of the Ahmed branch. According to them, the Mansour branch of the family emigrated years ago to Jizan in the Asir Province of Saudi Arabia. The Zaid branch migrated to other cities in Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
5. The death threat is from Kashmimi’s interviews, op. cit. The Bin Ladens interviewed by the author in Gharn Bashireih implied that there had been such a threat, but did not say so explicitly.
6. “parallel…on the map”: Mackintosh-Smith, Yemen, pp. 172–73. Swahili and Malay: W. H. Ingrams, Report on the Social, Economic and Political Condition of the Hadramaut, p. 12.
7. “a smooth…fellow Doanis”: Doreen Ingrams, A Time in Arabia, p. 13.
8. “Murder cases…sternal notch”: Ingrams, Report on the Social, op. cit., p. 97.
9. Ba Surra cited twenty thousand in a meeting with the Dutch traveler van der Meulen. A Time in Arabia, op. cit., pp. 38–39.
10. Kashmimi interviews, op. cit. Interviews with Gharn Bashireih Bin Ladens, op. cit. The male Bin Laden family line in Rabat appears to have been broken between the boys’ emigration for Saudi Arabia and Abdullah’s return in the late 1950s or early 1960s. However, their sisters presumably married and retained connections in the town; as is typical of research in Arabia, it was difficult to learn anything about them. It is possible that Awadh’s wife lived long enough to be reunited with her sons when they were wealthy enough to return to Doan after the Second World War, but the Bin Ladens in Gharn Bashireih were emphatic that their mother had died in Doan and had not enjoyed a particularly long life.
11. Omar’s short life, three sisters: Kashmimi interviews. Mohamed’s birth year: Among others, Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 118, uses 1908; it may have been two or three years later, if the reported recollections of his younger brother and the townspeople of Rabat are correct. On the other hand, one well-informed person close to the family cited 1904 as Mohamed’s birth year and suggested that he arrived in Saudi Arabia several years earlier than is usually described. Any date from Mohamed’s life before 1931, when he founded his company, must be taken as an estimate.
12. Kashmimi’s interviews, op. cit., suggest Awadh may have made the Hajj before his death, but this seems dubious and likely crept into oral history to honor his memory. That he died young, probably before his boys reached adolescence, is from both the Kashmimi and Gharn Bashireih interviews.
13. Father’s letter for a journey to Singapore: Quoted in Talib, “Hadhramis Networking: Salvage of the Homeland.” Iasin’s “long face”: Stark, The Gates of Arabia, pp. 126–27.
14. The version in which the storekeeper hurls keys is from interviews with two people close to the family who asked not to be otherwise identified. The version in which the iron bar strikes Mohamed accidentally is from the Gharn Bashireih interviews, op. cit.
15. This account is from the same two people who recounted the anecdote of the storekeeper’s keys, Gharn Bashireih interviews.
16. Hossein Kazemzadeh, a Persian writer who made the Hajj pilgrimage in 1910–11, is the source of this population estimate. Peters, The Hajj, p. 286.
17. “held a moisture…and sweat”: Yemen, op. cit., p. 202. “Newspapers flop…in the pocket”: De Gaury, Arabia Phoenix, p. 121. “The goods…their prey”: Peters, op. cit., p. 287. Kazemzadeh also reports the mayor’s manure estimate.
18. “hodge-podge…earth”: Peters, op. cit., p. 288. “You see rich people…the bushes”: Ibid., p. 275.
19. Ibid., p. 303.
20. Ibid., p. 288.
21. Ibid., p. 106.
22. Covered with bags: Interview with Nadim Bou Fakhreddine, April 26, 2006 (RS). “a small shop”: Interview with Hassan Mahowil Mahmoud Al-Aesa, August 10, 2005. “fruit off a donkey”: FO 371/170190, T. E. Bromley, Damascus to London, December 9, 1963. That his company was founded in 1931: Saudi Binladin Group advertisement, Washington Post, October 14, 2005.
23. Al-Aesa interview, op. cit.
24. “He knew how…schooling”: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, March 10, 2005. Al-Aesa interview, op. cit.
25. Al-Aesa interview, op. cit. His account of these years is corroborated by the Jeddah historian Sami Saleh Nawar, director of Naseef House, who has interviewed other former colleagues of Mohamed Bin Laden from this period.
1. More than fifty-two battles: Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, pp. 4–5. De Gaury, in Arabia Phoenix, offers a marvelous account of the Bedouin way of battle, pp. 48–52. Perfume to visitors: Al-Saleh, “Travels to Arabia During the Reign of King Abdulaziz.” “three things…and prayer”: Arabia Phoenix, op. cit., p. 66. “I am not…that is all I have”: Department of State 59/7209 Jeddah to Washington, April 29, 1948.
2. “like a father…this sentiment”: FO 141/1094, January 14, 1946. “Praise be…in my territory”: Ibid. “My honor”: DOS 59/7212 Dhahran to Washington, June 14, 1946. “You drink…your colleagues”: Van der Meulen, The Wells of Ibn Saud, p. 15.
3. What Abdulaziz told Philby: Howarth, The Desert King, p. 127. “The Saudi state…and enemies”: A History of Saudi Arabia, op. cit., pp. 9, 80.
4. One American diplomat in Jeddah estimated in a cable dated April 3, 1950, that there were “not more than 2,000 slaves” in the kingdom and that Abdulaziz owned “some 200.” A second American diplomat, on October 2, 1951, quoted a “reliable” estimate of 50,000 slaves in Saudi Arabia. Those numbers would seem to provide a very rough boundary of the population; the inherent difficulty of such estimates was compounded by the ambiguous position of many slaves in Saudi households, where some enjoyed considerable status and were indistinguishable from free servants.
5. Quoted in “The House of Saud,” Algeria Productions, 2004.
6. “Here we are…be modern”: “Travels to Arabia,” op. cit. Negotiating with Islamic scholars about radio knobs: Arabia Phoenix, op. cit., pp. 96–97. Royal garage of 250 cars in 1927: Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, p. 106.
7. Philby’s degree and service: “Travels to Arabia,” op. cit. “stocky, bearded…out of step”: Howarth, The Desert King, pp. 100–101. Baboons: Ibid., p. 179.
8. Philby’s contract: A History of Saudi Arabia, op. cit., p. 92. The SOCAL contract: Lippman, Inside the Mirage, p. 16.
9. Telephone interview with Tim Barger, March 7, 2006. Barger recorded some of his father’s recollections for a private oral history project; he later worked in Jeddah, where he became acquainted with Salem Bin Laden. American report, 1935: DOS 59 “The Bin Ladin Construction Empire,” Jeddah to Washington, September 25, 1967.
10. Quoted in Abdulrahman Alangari, “Mataqat Qasr Alhokm: The Development of the 20th Century.”
11. Materials at the surviving portions of the palace, which houses the King Abdulaziz Foundation, report that construction began in 1934 and ended in 1939. The Saudi historian Madawi Al-Rasheed writes that the palace was started in 1936 “out of the first cheque paid by the oil company” and was finished in 1937. A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 93.
12. “had a vision…the royalty”: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS). “many royal orders”: “Mohamed bin Awad Binladen: From a Building Laborer to the Owner of the Biggest Construction Company in the Middle East,” Transport & Communications magazine, August 2002. The profile in this magazine, which appears to draw upon information supplied by the Bin Laden family, lists Atiaqua Palace, Naseriyah Palace, Mather Palace, the Guest Palace, the Government Palace, Al-Hamra Palace, and the Mansour Buildings as some of Mohamed’s projects in Riyadh, although no dates are given. “always available…bring one hundred”: Interview with Fahd Al-Semmari, director of research at the King Abdulaziz Foundation in Riyadh, February 9, 2005. He is also the source of the saying about entrepreneurial Yemenis.
13. The figures of $38 million and $13 million are from DOS 59/7207 Murray to Acheson, January 27, 1945. This is the oft-quoted memo laying out American strategy in Saudi Arabia for decades to come; the December 22, 1944, memo quoted here, “A strong…airfields,” is from 59/7211 and probably was an earlier draft by Murray.
14. Bronson, Thicker Than Oil, p. 14.
15. DOS 59/7209 Jeddah to Washington, December 27, 1948.
16. Export figures: The House of Saud, pp. 125, 151. Al-Khozam description and history: Author’s visit, February 20, 2005.
17. Stegner in Inside the Mirage, p. 30. “phenomenal building boom…materials”: DOS 59/7210 Jeddah to Secretary of State, March 26, 1949.
18. Interview with Hassan Mahowil Mahmoud Al-Aesa, August 10, 2005.
19. Bin Mahfouz biography is from www.binmahfouz.info, the family’s official Web site, and from the author’s visit to Khraiker, March 17, 2007. Naming compact between Bin Laden and Bin Mahfouz is from an interview with a person close to the Bin Laden family. Documents submitted to an American court by the Bin Ladens in a civil lawsuit show that Aysha was born during the Hijra year 1362, which corresponded almost exactly to the Georgian calendar year of 1943. Salem’s Hijra birth year is not given. A longtime friend and employee of Salem’s, Bengt Johansson, said that Salem’s passport read that he was born in 1946, but that Salem said that his true birth year was probably 1944 or 1945.
20. Interview with Al-Aesa, op. cit.
21. Debts of $20 million and $40 million is from a conversation held by an American diplomat with Sayyid Hussain Al-Attas, a Hadhrami banker in Jeddah DOS 59/7211, August 16, 1949. The $250,000 kitchen and $600,000 trip to Paris: 59/7212, July 30, 1949, citing a conversation with a Bechtel Corporation executive. “construction projects…enormous family”: FO 371/82638 “Annual Review for 1949.”
1. Suleiman’s biography: Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 88. “frail little man…in his soul”: Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, p. 107. “knew no fatigue…money and whisky”: van der Meulen, The Wells of Ibn Saud, pp. 189–90.
2. “reputed to be a silent partner”: Department of State 59, “The Bin Ladin Construction Empire,” Jeddah to Washington, September 25, 1967. Suleiman’s palace cost $3 million: DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, April 12, 1953. Bahareth was Suleiman’s secretary: DOS 59/5471 Jeddah to Washington, October 4, 1953.
3. “sizeable…shipments”: DOS 59/7207 Jeddah to Washington, December 29, 1949. “rampant graft…so long as the King lived”: DOS 59/7211 Jeddah to Washington, September 6, 1946, quoting the British minister in Jeddah.
4. Pilgrim transport business: Long, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, p. 100. Dammam hotel with theater and bar: DOS 59/5468 Jeddah to Washington, December 18, 1950. “one of the wealthiest…fat government contracts”: DOS 59/7214 Jeddah to Washington, August 14, 1946. Stopped the water project: DOS 59/7209 Jeddah to Washington, August 16, 1946. “hitting the bottle…increasing rate”: DOS 59/7210 Jeddah to Washington, July 12, 1949.
5. King demanding wedding gifts, treasury empty: FO 371/82664 Jeddah to London, January 12, 1950. “not particularly…for his arrival”: FO 370/82639 Jeddah to London, January 3, 1950.
6. DOS 59/5469 Jeddah to Washington, July 7, 1951. The budget announced that summer provided for 21 million riyals to the Ministry of Health, and about 109 million riyals on “palaces, princes, Riyadh.”
7. Digging Faisal’s garden: DOS 59/5471 “Memorandum of Conversation,” October 25, 1951. “the headaches…the advantages”: DOS 59/57/D/298/7 “Memorandum of Conversation,” June 14, 1950.
8. King to Taif: DOS 59/5469 Jeddah to Washington, July 26, 1951.
9. “always together”: Interview with Ahmed Fathalla, April 23, 2006 (RS). Bin Laden’s work on Mecca water project: DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, April 17, 1951, and FO 371/82657 Jeddah to London, “Jeddah Monthly Economic Reports,” July and August 1950.
10. Royal Order: Annual Record, KAA Foundation, May 24, 1950. “for grading around the new residence”: DOS 59/5472 Cover letter and memorandum from Bechtel International Corp. to DOS, January 17, 1951. Bechtel reported that it had been promised that Bin Laden would soon give the machinery back.
11. “Various members…their installation”: DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, February 20, 1951.
12. Translated in DOS 59/6119 Jeddah to Washington, July 7, 1952.
13. Translated in DOS 59/5468, article dated January 3, 1951.
14. Salha’s diversion: DOS 59/5471 “Memorandum of Conversation,” April 4, 1952. The Bechtel executive, Mr. English, is quoted as saying, “there was not the slightest doubt in his mind” that Salha had stolen the $400,000, the equivalent of about $3 million in 2008 dollars.
15. “to be interested…constructional works”: FO 371/104859 Jeddah to London, Jeddah Economic Report, November 1952 to January 1953. Bahareth’s $100,000: DOS 59/5471 Jeddah to Washington, October 4, 1953.
16. Royal Order 15/12/5607 dated June 22, 1951. KAA Foundation.
17. Philby writes to the king: DOS 59/5472 Jeddah to Washington, January 12, 1950. “a marked reluctance…from the shock”: FO 371/82657 “Jeddah Monthly Economic Reports,” March and April 1950. Export insurance: DOS 59/5472 Jeddah to Washington, May 27, 1950.
18. Tea party: DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, December 21, 1950, and January 20, 1951.
19. Soil composition: DOS 59/5472 Survey by W. J. Chalkley of Bechtel, February 6, 1951. “end of a long chain of misfortunes”: DOS 59/5468 Jeddah to Washington, November 24, 1952.
20. Eight hundred automobiles: DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, May 6, 1952. “Happily presiding…however misguided”: DOS 59/5472 Jeddah to Washington, January 7, 1953.
21. Asphalt order: DOS 59/5472 Jeddah to Washington, January 7, 1953. “about half a million…ill humor”: FO 371/104859 Jeddah Economic Report, February 1953 to April 1953. “As this is…foreign firm”: FO 371/104859 Jeddah to London, January 7, 1953.
22. “fright…do the job”: FO 371/104859, Jeddah to London, January 7, 1953. “has been given…to come from”: Ibid., Jeddah Economic Report, August 1953 to October 1953.
23. Shareholder records submitted by the family in a consolidated series of civil cases arising from the events of September 11, 2001, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 03 MDL 1570, provide the year of birth, using the Islamic calendar, of each of Mohamed’s surviving children, except for Osama and also Mohamed’s son Ali, neither of whom was a shareholder in the period described by the records. The numbers of sons and daughters born before late 1953 is taken from these filings; the number of wives that produced these children has been calculated from confidential interviews with family members and business associates of the Bin Ladens, who described which brothers, and in some cases, which sisters, were born to the same mother. That the mother of Yeslam, Khalil, Ibrahim, and Fawzia is of Iranian origin is also confirmed by Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 17. Yeslam’s birth date is from Swiss divorce pleadings translated and filed in Carmen Binladin v. Yeslam and Ibrahim Binladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BC212648.
24. Aphrodisiacs and forcing his sons to stand: The House of Saud, p. 159. Holden and Johns provide a thorough account of Ousman’s murder, pp. 170–71.
25. The scene and the king’s burial: FO 371/104868 Jeddah to London, November 24, 1953.
26. “private and secret…begin with himself” and the loan request: DOS 59/5469 Jeddah to Washington, November 10, 1953. The scene was recorded by the American chargé d’affaires.
1. $20 million per month: Oil revenue during 1954 was $234.8 million, Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, p. 180. “administrative chaos…shortage of cash”: FO 371/104867 Jeddah to London, October 11, 1953.
2. Mohamed and Abdullah, Sons of Awadh Bin Laden: Ger FM 366, WI 416-80.04-427/59 Jeddah to Bonn, September 8, 1959. “amorphous organization…ambitious plans”: FO 371/104867, op. cit.
3. “royal expenditures…their pockets”: DOS 59/4944 Jeddah to Washington, “Economic and Financial Review: Saudi Arabia 1954,” April 7, 1955.
4. The electric company and its problems: DOS 59/5472 Jeddah to Washington, June 12, 1954. Burns and Roe, “instrumental in winning”: DOS 59/4945 Jeddah to Washington, January 8, 1955.
5. Royal Order: Decree no. 21/1/138/2265, Umm al-Qura Annual Record, KAA Foundation. West German estimate of $200 million: Ger FO 146/97-649/55 Jeddah to Bonn, December 23, 1955. Bin Laden’s projects circa 1955: FO 371/114885 Jeddah to London, April 6, 1955. Gypsum deposit: DOS 59/4945 Jeddah to Washington, July 5, 1955. Bin Laden’s New York agent: Burns and Roe report, attachment, ibid.
6. Flight to Mukalla: DOS translation of article in Al-Bilad Al-Saudiyah no. 2110, March 25, 1956, 59/5371. Bought out Abdullah: DOS RG 59 “The Bin Ladin Construction Empire,” Jeddah to Washington, September 25, 1967. “Mohamed was more ambitious…wanted more”: Interview with Khalid Ameri, March 17, 2007.
7. Abdullah’s return home: Interviews with Rabat town council members and with Khalid Ameri, March 17, 2007. Bin Mahfouz school: Interview with its principal, March 17, 2007. Mohamed’s Rakiyah water project: Interviews with Bin Laden family members in their ancestral village of Gharn Bashireih, March 18, 2007.
8. Packard convertibles: Interview with Nadim Fakhreddine, April 26, 2006 (RS). “are known as…good reputation”: Ger FM 145/560 Jeddah to Bonn, September 19, 1957. “the richest company…state orders”: 277/200/WI-416-84-04.461/58 Jeddah to Bonn, July 2, 1958.
9. “They are…My head could go”: Interview with Fakhreddine, op. cit. “He told us…our upbringing”: Dateline NBC, broadcast July 10, 2004. Buraimi dispute: DOS 59/5371 Beirut to Washington, March 1, 1956. The Americans had hoped that Bin Laden would intervene with King Saud to prevent a construction contract from being awarded to a state-owned Polish communist firm, but Fouad Zahed, Bin Laden’s chief engineer, said that Bin Laden would not get involved because of “dissatisfaction United States policy re Buraimi dispute and handling of tank shipment,” as the cable reporting on the issue put it. In fact, the United States sided decisively with Saudi Arabia against Britain in this border dispute, according to Bronson, Thicker Than Oil, p. 62; nor is it clear from the documents reviewed what “tank shipment” Bin Laden was complaining about.
10. FO 371/114872 Jeddah to London, January 6, 1955. De Gaury, Arabia Phoenix, pp. 86–92. House of Saud, op. cit., pp. 174–83. Saud’s children: DOS 59/2643 Jeddah to Washington, December 16, 1964.
11. Aramco visit and quotations: DOS 59/7208 “Crown Prince Saud’s Official Visit to America: Notes on the period Monday, January 13, through Wednesday, January 22, 1947.”
12. $200 million palace: FO 371/132661, Minute by J. M. Heath, January 7, 1958. “hundreds of colored…in orange”: Van der Meulen, The Wells of Ibn Saud, pp. 234–35.
13. European quacks: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 178. Two-thirds nomads, less than one in ten in school: Vassiliev, The History of Saudi Arabia, pp. 421, 433, statistics circa 1956 and 1954, respectively.
14. Saud’s erratic conduct: FO 371/132661 Minute of December 1, 1958. Coup attempt: Bligh, “Interplay Between…”; Mackey, The Saudis, p. 297. Conspiracy to kill Nasser: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 196.
15. House of Saud, pp. 191–94. “Welcome King Saud!”: Footage in “The House of Saud,” Algeria Productions, 2004. Thicker Than Oil, op. cit., pp. 69–75.
16. FO 371 Letter in reply to British engineer inquiring about National Electricity Co., June 6, 1958.
17. Alireza, “The Late King Faisal.” De Gaury, op. cit., pp. 86ff. Field, The Merchants, p. 40. “an unbelievably patient…time to solve”: Algosaibi, Arabian Essays. “he was anxious…go ahead slowly”: DOS 59/4945 Jeddah to Washington, March 5, 1959.
18. Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005. Batarfi’s uncle worked with Bin Laden in Mecca, and he is quoting what his uncle recalled.
19. Interview with Fakhreddine, op. cit. Bin Laden’s strategy of marrying the daughters of desert leaders and town mayors was described in interviews by several people who worked with him at the time.
20. Surah 2, verse 231.
21. Interviews with several people close to the Bin Laden family. The Al-Ghanem family provided an account of the marriage, and were described as poor and relatively secular in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, November 14, 2001. For other, similar accounts, see also Randal, Osama, p. 55; Scheuer, Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, pp. 80–81; and Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 72.
22. In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 03 MDL 1570. Interviews with people close to the family, including Carmen Bin Laden, August 6, 2004, establish that four different wives gave birth to the children listed in the court records as born in 1377. Wright, The Looming Tower, cites Osama’s 1991 statement to the newspaper Al-Umma Al-Islamiyya that he was born in the month of Ragab. Shafiq’s birth date is from the 2000 annual report of Symphony Advisers Ltd., Companies House records, London.
23. According to the court records, the four sons born during 1377, besides Osama, were Ibrahim, Shafiq, Khalil, and Haider. The two daughters were Mariam and Fowziyah. However, deposition testimony by Ibrahim and Khalil in other civil lawsuits in the United States confirms that they shared the same mother, so while it is conceivable they were both born during 1377, it is also possible that the court records submitted by the Bin Ladens are inaccurate in at least this respect.
24. $500 million in debt: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 199. No pilgrim receipts: DOS 59/4944 Jeddah to Washington, December 4, 1958. Structure of debt, Faisal’s thinking: DOS 59/4946 Dhahran to Washington, February 4, 1959.
25. Telephone interview with Mike Ameen, March 1, 2006. Ameen worked in Aramco’s political office during this period and knew Mohamed Bin Laden.
26. DOS 59/4945 Dhahran to Washington, May 27, 1959, and “Memorandum of Conversation with Sam Logan,” June 23, 1959. All quotations are from the Memorandum of Conversation.
27. The negotiations are described in a series of State Department cables from Jeddah to Washington between June 1958 and November 1958. When American commercial officers checked on the Roma brothers’ claims in Italy, they were told that Finmeccanica, the construction company with whom the brothers claimed affiliation, regarded them as “financially and commercially unreliable.”
28. “Aramco…workers”: DOS 59 Jeddah to Washington, October 2, 1958.
29. “good for the country…good old days”: DOS 59/4944 “Economic Summary, Third Quarter of 1959,” Jeddah to Washington, December 15, 1959.
1. Peters, The Hajj, pp. 3–40. Aslan, No God but God, pp. 3–18. Caudill, “Twilight of the Hejaz” manuscript, pp. 21–23.
2. The Hajj, pp. 40–55. “pictures of trees…angels”: Ibid., p. 48.
3. “he asked for a cloth”: Ibid.
4. “dogs of the Hejaz”: Caudill manuscript, op. cit., p. 24. “You must imagine…loud voice”: The observation is from a man whom Peters describes as a possible Jewish spy of Napoleon disguised as a traveling pilgrim, who went by the name Ali Bey Al-Abbasi. The Hajj, op. cit., p. 198.
5. The Hajj, p. 359, quoting Eldon Rutter, an English convert to Islam, who visited Medina in 1925.
6. Abbas, Story of the Great Expansion, pp. 100–101, 260–61.
7. The official history, ibid., cites a figure of 30 million riyals for construction and 40 million riyals for eminent domain payments. DOS 59/5467 Jeddah to Washington, April 12, 1953, cites a figure of $1.35 million for construction costs in Medina in 1952 alone. Other diplomatic estimates, citing government budget documents and other sources, are similar in scale through 1955.
8. “modern architectural style” and renovation statistics: Story of the Great Expansion, op. cit., p. 278. “an impressive…piece of work”: DOS 59/2810 Jeddah to Washington, June 24, 1961.
9. Umm al-Qura, October 28, 1955, KAA Foundation.
10. Ibid.
11. “enjoyment of movies…point of view”: DOS 59/4946 Jeddah to Washington, March 29, 1958. “evil…corruption and destruction”: Published in Al-Yamamah, March 30, 1958.
12. Fifty thousand to four hundred thousand and $130 million: DOS 59/4947 Jeddah to Washington, July 24, 1956, translation of King Saud’s Mecca welcome address. “Even this sum”: Ger FM File 145, Jeddah to Bonn, October 2, 1956.
13. Medina demolition and debris removal: Story of the Great Expansion, op. cit., pp. 276–77. Osama’s account: Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 2, quoting his interview with Al-Jazeera in 1999. Bin Laden’s description of his father’s bidding for the Jerusalem project, in particular, is somewhat detailed and entirely accurate, documents from the renovation project show. Mecca demolition statistics: Story of the Great Expansion, p. 264.
14. Peters, Jerusalem, pp. 1–406, is rich with the accounts of travelers and participants in the city’s history.
15. Hussein’s initiative and the date of Nasser’s announcement are from a 1981 Egyptian report reviewing the history of renovations in the site, one in a collection of documents supplied by the waqf authorities about the 1950s and 1960s renovation project. The author is indebted throughout this section to the exceptional research in Jerusalem carried out by Robin Shulman, who collected the documents and conducted related interviews. The documents were translated in Washington by Mohamed Elmenshawy; they will be referred to in notes hereafter as “Jer Docs.”
16. “First, this is a sacred…Muslim community”: Jer Docs, MBL to Committee, July 8, 1958, written on stationery captioned “Office of Mohamed Awad Bin Laden, 51-S.” To get below the Egyptian bid, Bin Laden cut his proposal by 8,000 dinars in the very last round. The Supreme Judge said in his decision that in addition to price, the committee had been influenced by Bin Laden’s willingness to work without certain conditions named by the Egyptian bidder.
17. Jer Docs Letter MH-8-32-169, July 19, 1958.
18. Jer Docs Letter 1390, March 8, 1959.
19. “We learned…a bit of Arabic,” import details, and tipping: Interviews with Nadir Shtaye, October 31, 2005, and November 6, 2005 (RS). Other Palestinian Muslims who were in Jerusalem at the time confirm the presence of Christian workers on the job site. Late-1950s photograph: Story of the Great Expansion, op. cit. The book dates the photo to 1959 but the caption suggests it might have been taken in 1964. Photos from American pilot: Provided by Terri Daley, the pilot’s daughter. The aluminum cupola and joists Bin Laden installed on the Dome of the Rock would prove leaky and unreliable, and they were removed years later, but engineers and architects who later oversaw the mosque said the blame for this lay with the project’s oversight committee, which had been dazzled at the time of the original bidding by the promise of “modern” aluminum, about which they knew too little. A UNESCO report written in 1979 by European experts documents the problems in detail.
20. English translation: “Address on the Occasion of the Unveiling of the Restored Dome of the Rock,” April 18, 1994, which includes excerpts from the earlier 1964 speech. Accessed at www.kinghussein.gov.jo/94_april18.html.
21. Text reprinted in Palestine, August 8, 1964, p. 5.
22. All quotations: Ibid.
23. This account of the house is primarily from an interview with its owner and a tour of the home (RS). Other residents of the area who knew of Bin Laden at this time confirmed that he stayed at the house when he was in town. Two acquaintances said he took a Palestinian wife; one thought the wife was from Gaza, another thought she was from Jenin. These specific accounts could not be confirmed, but they accord with the recollections of other family acquaintances and business partners that Bin Laden had at least one Palestinian wife. Interviews conducted for the author by Israeli journalist Samuel Sockol confirm that Bin Laden owned the house and was not merely a tenant. Sockol interviewed Yehuda Semberg, a retired Israeli naval officer who lived in the house for twenty-five years, and also Aharon Shakarji, a former official of Israel’s land authority.
1. “This show is splendid…the Turks”: Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder, p. 151.
2. “only medium…will prevail”: DOS 59/7214, text of telegram, October 3, 1946. “much emotional appeal”: DOS 59/3100 Jeddah to Washington, September 28, 1960.
3. “Bin Laden’s for the asking”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, April 5, 1961.
4. “to show off…other projects”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, November 25, 1961. “extremely good connection…construction work”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, November 28, 1961. “opening the locked stable…appropriate pockets”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, October 20, 1960. “We have…strictly commercial”: FO 371/170324 FO minute, February 20, 1963. “King Saud…Bin Laden”: Ibid., Memorandum of telephone call, February 8, 1963.
5. “I spent…Bin Laden”: Ibid., Damascus to London, February 20, 1963.
6. “that Bin Laden…an enemy of him”: Ibid. “that Saudi support…a share in it”: FO 371/170190 Board of Trade to Jeddah, December 2, 1963.
7. “under severe reproaches”: Ger FO 350/217/63 Jeddah to Bonn, April 3, 1963.
8. “We read…asphalting operations”: Al-Nadwa, November 15, 1961, translated in DOS 59/3100 Jeddah to Washington, November 25, 1961.
9. All quotations: Ibid.
10. “One Roadblock”: DOS 59/3567 Jeddah to Washington, May 9, 1963. “problem was…done quickly”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, June 11, 1963.
11. “duty not to delay…shirked”: DOS 59/2810 Jeddah to Washington, August 1, 1962.
12. “dumping bids”: Ger FO 277/564-2912/56 Jeddah to Bonn, July 28, 1956.
13. Saudi Weekly, July 24, 1961, describes the Swiss TV crew visit and provides photographs of the construction site near Taif. The clipping is enclosed in DOS 59/2810 Jeddah to Washington, August 14, 1961.
14. That Faisal and Bin Laden argued: Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005. “the point was…doing it”: Interview with Hermann Eilts, March 29, 2006.
15. CIA report: Bronson, Thicker Than Oil, p. 83. That Mohamed Bin Laden had slaves, freed them, and was compensated: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, August 6, 2004. Rally and “We are your brothers!”: DOS 59/4033-4 Jeddah to Washington, April 25, 1963.
16. “He is evil…closest friend”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, February 18, 1963. Faisal asked the American delegation pointedly, “What are you, our friends, going to do about this?…We adhered to your advice and fulfilled our promise to ‘fold our arms’…How long do you think we can go on like this…How long can I face my people with his kind of placidity and inactivity?”
17. “personally take care…royal intervention”: DOS 59/3567 Dhahran to Washington, September 10, 1963.
18. Ibid.
1. Forklift: DOS 59/2810 Dhahran to Washington, December 5, 1962. Aramco paid $3.5 million: Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, p. 218.
2. Saud’s wealth in exile: DOS RG 59/2472 Jeddah to Washington, May 7, 1967.
3. “is not the case…whoever was king”: Interview with Turki Al-Faisal, August 2, 2002. “involved a surprisingly small…where necessary”: DOS 59/2642, “The Power Structure in Saudi Arabia,” Jeddah to Washington, March 23, 1965.
4. Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, pp. 121–22. House of Saud, op. cit., pp. 257–58.
5. “formally inaugurated…considerable fanfare”: DOS 59/2642 Jeddah to Washington, August 31, 1965.
6. Interviews with several friends, employees, and business partners of the Bin Ladens in Lebanon and Egypt, including an interview with Nadim Bou Fakhreddine, former head of Upper Metn Secondary School, April 26, 2006 (RS).
7. From Yeslam’s interview to the Evening Standard of London, May 26, 2006.
8. “wanted someone…spoiled”: Interview with Fakhreddine, op. cit.
9. “Most of us were afraid…somebody up, maybe”: Evening Standard, op. cit.
10. From Abdullah’s interview published in Bahrain’s newspaper Alayam, December 21, 2001.
11. Ali’s appearance and role: From several interviews with friends and employees of the family, including an interview with an employee who met Ali in Taif with Mohamed on several occasions during this period.
12. There is some uncertainty about whether Salem attended Millfield before or after he attended Copford Glebe. Several former Copford classmates said in interviews that he attended Millfield earlier, and briefly, but one former business partner thought it was possible that he had attended Millfield later. It is clear, however, that Salem was at Copford for a prolonged period during the early to mid-1960s.
13. “amazing sort of pastiche…people there”: Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006. The portrait of Salem’s life at Copford in this section is from Armitage and interviews with two other classmates who asked not to be identified.
1. Interviews with Gerald Auerbach, March 10, 2005, and April 7, 2005. Other pilots who knew Bin Laden provide similar accounts.
2. “It was completely boring”: Times-Picayune, October 13, 2001. Flight logs and photographs from the period 1965 through 1967 reviewed by the author document Bin Laden’s international travel during this period, primarily to Jerusalem, Beirut, and the United Arab Emirates.
3. “He was the law…judgment”: Ibid.
4. Kilo 170 is from interviews with Auerbach, op. cit., who flew there regularly.
5. Bin Laden’s work on the Trucial coast road from Sharjah to Ras al-Khayma is documented in British and American diplomatic cables during 1966 and 1967. The figure of $6.7 million is from DOS 59/761 Jeddah to Washington, September 19, 1966.
6. Interviews with Auerbach, op. cit. The figure of $120 million and the report that he agreed not to take on additional highway work are from DOS 59/761 Jeddah to Washington, May 24, 1966. The cable calls Bin Laden “The Old Master of Saudi highway construction.”
7. The $100 million Military Construction Project: DOS RG 59/2643 Jeddah to Washington, June 2, 1965. British military sales, missile and radar deployments: “At a glance—Saudi Arabia/November 1967,” a report then classified secret, in Burdett, Records of Saudi Arabia, 1966–1971, Volume 2: 1967, Part I.
8. Sequence of attacks and “terrorist infiltrators and saboteurs”: British report of January 12, 1967, in Burdett, op. cit.
9. Hawker Siddeley purchase: Interviews with Auerbach, op. cit. History of Kilo 7 complex: Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 36.
10. Heacock: Interview with a daughter of the pilot. “I took him out…riverbeds”: Interviews with Auerbach, op. cit.
11. All quotations in this section are from interviews with Auerbach, op. cit. The author failed to locate any of Harrington’s surviving family. Auerbach flew to the crash site with a team of pilots and other personnel on September 4, 1967, the day after the accident occurred. Mike Ameen, then working in Aramco’s political department, said he had heard that Bin Laden intended to remarry in Asir at the time of his death. Identified from his watch: Interview with Nadim Bou Fakhreddine, April 26, 2006 (RS).
1. Interview with Nadim Bou Fakhreddine, April 26, 2006 (RS). For a thorough account of Hejazi funeral and mourning rituals, see Yamani, Cradle of Islam, pp. 102–10.
2. Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006, as well as a second friend who visited Salem at the flat. Armitage recalled that Salem thought nothing about sitting around naked with his male friends and that he had the memorable habit of displaying his erect penis, which he had nicknamed “Lucky.”
3. Salem’s transformational flight: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, April 7, 2005. That Salem did not know all of his half-siblings and that he met some brothers and sisters for the first time: Interviews with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS), and Robert Freeman, April 27, 2006.
4. DOS 59 Jeddah to Washington, September 7, 1967.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Koranic principle about male and female heirs: Surah 4, verse 11. Islamic inheritance law: Interview with a Saudi lawyer who has worked for the Bin Laden family. See also Almidhar, “International Succession Laws.”
8. Interview with Adel Toraifi, February 9, 2005.
9. That the boys received 2.27 percent: Declaration of Barbara L. Irshay, January 21, 1993, Christine Hartunian v. IbrahimBinladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BD058156. The five heirs other than the children is from shareholder lists submitted by the family in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, 03 MDL 1570. The 9/11 Commission dates Osama Bin Laden’s first cash dividend to 1973, six years after Mohamed’s death. This would have been a time when more of the boys were reaching adulthood and oil revenue in the kingdom began to boom because of the Arab embargo. Salem was then running his own company and was gaining influence at his father’s firm. It is clear that a regular system of annual dividends to all Mohamed’s children evolved at some point during this period; the 9/11 Commission’s date is drawn from submissions made to the U.S. Treasury Department by family representatives prior to the September 11 attacks.
10. Interview with Michael Pochna, August 31, 2006. Interview with Gerald Auerbach, March 10, 2005.
11. “I am going to be your father now”: from Yeslam Bin Laden, quoted by The Australian, December 17, 2001.
12. Royal Ordinance: DOS RG 59 Jeddah to Washington, September 25, 1967. “was mostly in equipment…started taking over”: Interview with Turki Al-Faisal, August 2, 2002.
13. “legal situation”: DOS RG 59 Jeddah to Washington, September 22, 1967. “in an entirely personal…company going”: Ibid., Jeddah to Washington, September 25, 1967.
14. Interview with Bassim Alim, February 21, 2005. Alim is Mohamed Bahareth’s grandson. Bahareth died in 2004.
15. “He wanted…get control”: Interview with Francis Hunnewell, August 9, 2006.
16. Interviews with several friends and employees of Salem who asked not to be identified.
17. The plane on display: Interview with Peter Blum, who later served as Salem’s personal assistant, March 5, 2006. Salem’s travel to Dubai is from flight logs examined by the author.
18. Interview with Auerbach, op. cit.
19. That Ali wrote a letter to King Faisal: Interview with a person close to the Bin Laden family, who asked not to be identified. Also, on the struggle with Ali: Interviews with Carmen Bin Laden, August 6, 2004, and Fakhreddine, op. cit.
20. Sheikha’s appearance, languages: Interview with Auerbach, op. cit. The date of their marriage is uncertain, but it occurred before May 1973.
21. DOS 59/553 Jeddah to Washington, August 30, 1969; September 3, 1969; September 10, 1969; November 5, 1970; March 19, 1971; March 27, 1972; April 7, 1972.
22. Saudi loan, deal terms, Ali to U.S.: Ibid., November 5, 1970.
23. “difficult ownership…foreign ownership”: Ibid., March 27, 1972. “uneasiness…Ben Ladin organization”: Ibid., November 5, 1970. The correspondence also quotes Anwar Ali as emphasizing the Saudi government’s need to complete defense and infrastructure projects in Asir on which the Bin Laden company had been at work.
24. Interview with Hermann Eilts, March 29, 2006.
25. The advertisement for “Tarik Mohammed Bin Ladin Organization For General Civil Contracting and Crushing” appeared in a Financial Times survey of Saudi Arabia published December 28, 1970. It was filed in FCO 8/1742. A number of employees and business partners date the founding of Binladen Brothers to the early 1970s; an entry in the Graham & Whiteside Ltd. Business database dates the founding to 1972.
26. “What surprised me…each other”: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, op. cit.
27. Interviews with Hunnewell, Pochna, and Armitage, op. cit., as well as other Bin Laden employees who asked not to be identified.
28. “liked what we called…Mick Jagger”: Interview with Joe Ashkar, April 22, 2006 (RS).
29. “They wore…anything for anybody”: Telephone interview with Shirley Cottam Bowman, April 18, 2006 (RS).
30. Ibid.
31. Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 12.
32. “They were so elegantly…cellophane”: Quoted in the Melbourne Herald Sun, September 25, 2001.
1. “would lie at her feet…about something”: Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005.
2. “a shy kid…neighbors and teachers”: Transcript of interview supplied by Khaled Batarfi to the author. Excerpts from this interview appeared in several publications under Batarfi’s byline. That his Syrian relatives recalled his shyness: Interviews published in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, November 14, 2001. Also, “Bin Laden, World’s Most Wanted Man, Was a Quiet, Shy Child,” Agence France-Presse, November 15, 2001.
3. “If there was no agricultural reform…anything”: In Al-Qabas, op. cit. “I used to love it…live there”: Ibid.
4. “He considered him…gives orders”: Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 17.
5. Batarfi interview text, op. cit.
6. “He was quiet…worked hard”: Interview with Emile Sawaya, April 22, 2006 (RS).
7. All quotations: Ibid.
8. “He used to…karate movies”: Interview with David Ensor, CNN, broadcast March 19, 2002.
9. “affected…very solitary”: Agence France-Presse, op. cit. “She was all…to his father”: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit.
10. The author visited Al-Thaghr twice, including once in the company of Osama’s schoolmate, who described in detail the school’s layout during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The schoolmate’s descriptions of the school were corroborated by the accounts of Fyfield-Shayler and Seamus O’Brien, two teachers there during this period.
11. Saudi funding: DOS 59/906 Jeddah to Washington, November 17, 1966, reports on the Saudi national budget and cites a line item of 2.9 million riyals for “subsidy” to Al-Thaghr. Mohamed’s appearance at the school for fundraisers: Interview with Brian Fyfield-Shayler, February 23, 2007 (RS).
12. Kamal Adham’s discussions about the school with British authorities are described in DOS 59/2813 Jeddah to Washington, November 7, 1962. The school uniform is from photographs and the memories of several former students.
13. These details and many that follow are drawn from a series of interviews with the schoolmate of Osama, who joined his after-school Islamic study group, and who asked not to be identified. The author conducted many discussions and interviews with the schoolmate over the course of two years, and is very grateful for his contributions. The authenticity of the schoolmate’s recollections, in the author’s judgment, is beyond reasonable doubt.
14. “I was trying…making mistakes”: Fyfield-Shayler quoted in Meeting Osama Bin Laden, WGBH, 2004. “extraordinarily courteous…other students”: The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 8–9. “a nice fellow…run deep”: Interview with Seamus O’Brien, November 28, 2005. “in the middle”: From an interview with Ahmed Badeeb by Orbit Television in early 2002; a tape of the interview was provided by Badeeb to the author, who had it translated by a private firm, The Language Doctors, in Washington, D.C. From his unlikely beginnings as a biology teacher at Al-Thaghr, Badeeb became chief of staff to the director of Saudi intelligence, Turki Al-Faisal, a position that brought him into regular contact with Osama during the war in Afghanistan.
15. The Brotherhood’s influence in Saudi Arabia: Interviews with several Saudi analysts who asked not to be identified, and Saudi government consultant Khalil A. Khalil, February 10, 2005. Faisal’s skepticism: DOS 59/4944 Jeddah to Washington, May 5, 1959, reports on a meeting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Mecca and notes, “King Saud looks with favor upon the Brotherhood, but Crown Prince Faisal does not.” A dispatch the following day on the same subject reported that Saud “possibly contributes to its coffers” and that “Members of the Brotherhood are permitted to travel freely in and out of Saudi Arabia.”
16. See note 13. All quotations here and following are from the same schoolmate.
17. “joined the religious committee”: Badeeb, Orbit, 2002, op. cit. “He was a prominent member…this philosophy”: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. “started as a Muslim Brother”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002.
18. “is a membership…the movement”: Interview with Khashoggi, op. cit. Classes of membership and preference for adults: A research report on Brotherhood recruiting provided to the author by an American government contractor who asked not to be identified.
19. “a more…agenda”: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. “misused…underhandedly”: Quoted in “The House of Saud,” Frontline, 2005.
20. FCO 8/2122 June 30, 1973, Departmental Series, Middle East Department.
21. Interview with Batarfi, op. cit.; author’s visit to the house, in Batarfi’s company.
22. All quotations from interview with Batarfi, op. cit.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid. Also, Batarfi as quoted in Sunday Mirror, April 21, 2002. Details about Fury and its characters from www.brokenwheelranch.com, examined and typed, March 2, 2007.
25. “visit his Mohamed Bin Laden brothers”: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. “several”: Interview with Fyfield-Shayler, op. cit.
26. The trip to Afghanistan is from flight logs and an interview with pilot Gerald Auerbach, April 7, 2005.
1. “impudent gang” and “desecration”: DOS 59/2472 Jeddah to Washington, February 24, 1969. The cable reports: “Faisal said ‘Jerusalem cries out for salvation’…He called for jihad to liberate holy places.” That Osama identified with his campaign: Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005. Bin Laden’s mother also reported that Osama frequently spoke about the Palestinian cause as a young man.
2. Faisal’s routine: Algosaibi, “Arabian Essays”; Alireza, “The Late King Faisal…”; Sheean, Faisal; Gros, Feisal of Arabia; Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, pp. 202–3.
3. Iffat’s biography, travels, shopping: DOS 59/2643 Dhahran to Washington, August 17, 1966, “Biographic Information on Wife of King Faysal.” Also House of Saud, op. cit., p. 203.
4. “the basic causes…political expression”: DOS 59/2472 Research Memorandum, Director of Intelligence and Research, August 21, 1969.
5. Lippman, Inside the Mirage, p. 221.
6. FCO 8/2109 Memo prepared in 1973 for a visit to Saudi Arabia by the governor of the Bank of England.
7. “even put forward…Palestinian terrorists”: Quoted in House of Saud, op. cit., p. 359. “dual conspiracy”: Inside the Mirage, op. cit., p. 221.
8. Gross domestic product: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 390. $102 billion: Inside the Mirage, op. cit., p. 160. Safeway: Carmen Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, pp. 94–95. “I’ve never seen so many cranes”: “The House of Saud,” Algeria Productions, 2004. “you’d go away…a little bit crazy”: Quoted ibid.
9. Quoted in Bradley, Saudi Arabia Exposed, p. 215.
10. Musaid: Interviews with two of his former Berkeley professors. LSD conviction: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 379.
11. DOS 59/2584 Jeddah to Washington, September 26, 1973, “Prince Fahd, the King, and the Inner Circle”; Jeddah to Washington, April 18, 1973. Miss Arabia: Jeddah to Washington, November 5, 1970.
12. Interview with a former senior diplomat in Riyadh who spoke on condition that he would not to be identified. Fahd had “a great sense of humor, loved jokes,” he said, “and he was a very self-indulgent and ill-disciplined man who never kept to the point. He had a bad habit of rambling on and on and on in meetings.”
13. DOS 59/2585 Jeddah to Washington, August 29, 1972, “Discussion with Prince Fahd.”
14. DOS 59/2472 Jeddah to Washington, June 12, 1968, “Biographical Sketch of Crown Prince Khalid.”
1. “I just farted…a kid”: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS).
2. Interview with a friend and former employee of Salem who spoke on the condition that he would not be identified.
3. All quotations are from Heckmann, Hai fressen kein Deutschen, translated for the author by Petra Krischok.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. This account of Fahd’s winter camps is drawn primarily from three former employees of Salem’s who attended or worked in the camps. Two of these people spoke on the condition that they not be identified. The third was Bengt Johansson, interviewed on October 3, 2006.
7. The anecdote about what Salem told Fahd and all of the quotations are from a recorded interview with the person cited in note 2.
8. The date of the MU-2 purchase is from interviews with Johansson, op. cit., and Gerald Auerbach, April 7, 2005. “You are crazy…these days”: Interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005.
9. “The question was…do the job”: Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006.
10. “We’ve gotten paid”: Interview with Johansson, op. cit.
11. Ibid.
12. The description of the money runs is from flight records and interviews with Auerbach, op. cit.; David Grey, February 21, 2006; and two other former employees of the aviation department who spoke on the condition that they would not be identified.
13. Interview with Ashmawi, op. cit.
14. Interview with Terry Bennett, December 2005 (RS).
15. “Don’t worry…immediate bond”: Interview with Gail Freeman, April 27, 2006. Less than comfortable circumstances: Interview with Auerbach, op. cit. Three-story town house: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS). Their relationship: Interviews with multiple friends and employees of Salem, including Johansson, who said: “It wasn’t sexual, but emotional, maybe. She had a very big influence on him, and she was giving him a lot of headache, too.” Peter Blum, who later served as Salem’s personal assistant, added in an interview, “She was one of the most important persons to Salem…like the father and daughter.”
16. “He pushed Randa”: Interview with Ghoneim, op. cit.
17. Skeletons from Saudi Arabia: Interview with Ashmawi, op. cit.
18. Interviews with pilots Hinson, op. cit., and Grey, op. cit. “He was very protective of his sisters,” Gail Freeman said in an interview, op. cit.
19. Interview with Ghoneim, op. cit.
20. Interviews with Auerbach, Hinson, and Grey, op. cit.
21. “pulling back…any time now”: Interview with Wayne Fagan, May 10, 2005.
22. “When I saw…brother is a member”: Interview with Anwar Khan, May 6, 2006 (RS). Caroline was the passenger, promised to convert to Islam: Interview with a person close to the family who asked not to be identified.
23. “People were forever…I’ll sign it!”: Interview with Armitage, op. cit.
24. “the sensation…on the edge”: Interview with Don Sowell, June 2, 2005. “perfect approach”: Interview with Khan, op. cit.
25. “That would be the end”: Interview with Robert Freeman, April 27, 2006.
26. Piper, Medina accidents: Interviews with Bin Laden pilots. “I was telling God…one little engine”: Interview with Johansson, op. cit.
27. Plane inventory: Interviews with several pilots who worked at Bin Laden Aviation or for Bin Mahfouz. “Salem believed”: Interview with a Lebanese friend who spoke on condition that he would not be identified.
28. Interview with Johansson, op. cit.
29. “loose ends…a family, together”: Interview with Armitage, op. cit.
30. “very subservient…the king”: Interview with Hinson, op. cit. “No one did…time and time again”: Interview with Grey, op. cit. That Salem alone controlled salaries, allowances, and assignments is confirmed by another employee who asked not to be identified.
31. Aramco report: Telephone interview with Mike Ameen, who has retained a copy of the report, March 1, 2006. “He was perfect”: Interview with Francis Hunnewell, August 9, 2006.
32. Dates and places of Sara and Salman’s births: “Application For Appointment of Administrator,” from Ian Munro, April 4, 1991, probate filings of Salem Bin Laden, Bexar County, Texas, 91-PC-1012.
33. Munro’s biography: Interview with a former Bin Laden business partner, and interview with Charles Schwartz, May 12, 2005. London companies, dates of formation, address: Filings with Companies House, London.
34. That Salem did not see Offley Chase before he bought it: Interview with the former business partner, op. cit. The estate and village: Author’s visit, interviews with numerous other visitors.
1. Interview with Don Sowell, June 2, 2005. Author’s visit to Panama City, Sowell Aviation, Bay Point.
2. Ibid. Salem’s time in Panama City was also described by several other partners and pilots who visited him and Randa during this period, but the detailed account here is primarily from Sowell.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid. Jack Pizza declined to be interviewed. Anita Pizza spoke affectionately about Randa Bin Laden and other family members during several brief telephone conversations but ultimately declined to be interviewed.
5. “not too bubbly, not too flat”: Interviews with two former employees of Salem and Khalid Bin Mahfouz who asked not to be further identified. “sent myself…flew it back”: Sowell interview, ibid.
6. Academy Awards party: Interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005, and interview with Dave Whitney, February 20, 2006. Oktoberfest: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. Wedding of Sadat’s daughter: Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006.
7. Armored Cadillacs: Interview with Robert and Gail Freeman, April 27, 2006. Lincolns, Tabasco sauce, Mello Yello, airplane toys: Interview with Sowell, op. cit. Cacti and other plants: Binladen BSB Landscaping v. M.V. Nedlloyd, 82 Civ. 1037. The case produced a significant federal court decision involving liability for shipping damages; until 1998, this was the most notable involvement of the Bin Laden family in the U.S. federal legal system.
8. All quotations: Interview with Sowell, op. cit. Fifty thousand dollars: Interview with Freeman, op. cit.
9. Bath’s background and appearance: Interviews with seven former business acquaintances or partners. Civil litigation files also provide a rich portrait of his life during these years, particularly Sandra C. Bath v. James R. Bath, Harris County Court, 85-046927, its successor, 89-07180, and the several lawsuits between Bath and White, lodged in Harris County, Texas, and in Houston’s federal court. “a lot of fun”: Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, September 28, 1999, citing a 1990 interview with the Houston Post. The best published accounts of this period in Texas business and politics are Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud; Phillips, American Dynasty, and Beaty and Gwynne, The Outlaw Bank.
10. Fokker sale: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, April 7, 2005. “He talked”: Interview with Armitage, op. cit. “loved…that kind of stuff”: Interview with Charles Schwartz, May 12, 2005. Bath declined several requests for an interview.
11. MBO Investments, trust agreement: Web site of the Texas secretary of state, examined and typed, September 9, 2005. Revolving line of credit: Transcript of White’s interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program The Fifth Estate. White confirmed for the author the accuracy of the transcript and its assertions. White claims to have a large archive of confidential documents about Bath’s business activities, including deposition testimony that Bath provided in their civil case, but he declined to make these documents available. Some excerpts of Bath’s deposition testimony are in public court files, however.
12. White transcript, op. cit. Skyway’s history is described in documents and affidavits filed by White and Bath in several lawsuits, but these documents do not make fully clear which Saudis owned the company. White has suggested that Salem Bin Laden may have an interest in Skyway. The Wall Street Journal, September 28, 1999, reported that Khalid Bin Mahfouz owned Skyway. Its assertion relied partially on a confidential court document originally cited by the Houston Chronicle in a published report. Unger, House of Bush, p. 34, also reports that Bin Mahfouz owned Skyway; Unger interviewed Bath, although it is not clear whether Bath was the source of his account.
13. Binco: Texas secretary of state, op. cit. Houston Gulf never generated significant profits: Interview with Schwartz, op. cit.
14. Saudi Bank of Paris: Salem Bin Laden entry in Who’s Who in Saudi Arabia, 1976–77 edition, and 1978–79 edition, both of which identify Salem as a “founding member” of the bank. Main Bank: Unger, House of Bush, p. 34.
15. Interview with Sheryl Johnson-Todd, former attorney for Sandra Bath, September 8, 2005. Interview with a pilot who traveled with Bath during this period and who asked not to be identified.
16. Timothy J. Finn, a Bin Laden attorney, said that Ghalib earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, but a school spokesman was unable to locate the records of his attendance. Several people close to the family recalled that Ghalib studied at Berkeley, however. USF records: Telephone interviews with Gary McDonald, March 15 and 16, 2006. USC records: E-mail communication from James Grant, March 1, 2006.
17. Yeslam’s time in Europe, his anxiety attacks: Affidavits and pleadings from Swiss divorce proceedings, Canton of Geneva, translated and filed in Carmen Bin Ladin v. Yeslam and Ibrahim Bin Ladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BC212648. “Carmen was…ambitions for him”: Telephone interview with Mary Martha Barkley, August 27, 2004.
18. Court filings: Ibid. Pontiac Firebird: Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 47. Khalif: Interview with Barkley, ibid.
19. Caesars Palace: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, August 6, 2004. Blackjack scene: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, op. cit.
20. “No sin…punish him”: From Osama Bin Laden’s statement of December 16, 2004, as translated in Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 262.
21. “You never knew…embedded in them”: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, op. cit.
22. Khalil and alcohol: Interview with a businessman who asked not to be identified. Mahrouz: Interview with a different business partner who also asked not to be identified. “kind of a party animal”: Interview with Armitage, op. cit. Carmen Bin Laden recalled that Mahrouz’s French wife also became very religious. She had a daughter from a previous marriage, Bin Laden said, for whom Mahrouz arranged a marriage to a Saudi man when the girl was quite young.
23. Theroux, Sandstorms, p. 72.
24. Ibrahim Bin Laden married Christine Hartunian, an American. As a young man, Khaled married a Danish woman. In addition to these examples, Khalil married a Brazilian woman, Isabel Bayma.
25. “It was just a really hard…always ringing” and “the family problems”: Interview with Gail Freeman, op. cit. “You have a wife…like a diplomat”: Interview with Peter Blum, May 5, 2006.
26. Hunnewell quotation from Surtees, Pa Bell, p. 237. Several pilots interviewed by the author also described this incident; it became part of the indoctrination new pilots received.
27. “He always said…wouldn’t marry him”: Interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005.
28. All quotations: Interview with Gail Freeman, op. cit.
29. “I really don’t…by herself”: Interview with Sowell, op. cit.
30. “She’s gone off…She crashed!”: Interview with Freeman, op. cit. “Over my dead body…possibility”: Interview with Sowell, op. cit.
31. All quotations: Interviews with Freeman and Sowell, op. cit.
1. Transcript of Khaled Batarfi interview, published in Al-Madinah, late 2001, translated and supplied to the author by Batarfi.
2. Interview with a friend of Salem Bin Laden who asked not to be further identified.
3. “perfectly integrated”: Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 70. Cars, desert weekends: Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005. Osama’s friend Jamal Khalifa, in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 17, recalled Osama as “a very good driver; together we go fast, mostly the two of us, so that made us very close.” “favorite hobby”: Transcript of Bin Laden’s December 1998 interview with Al-Jazeera, in Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 71. Yellow boots and Swiss Army watch: Walid Al-Khatib, interview in Sunday Times (London), January 6, 2002.
4. “I remember…bloody signature”: Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006. “just another kid brother”: Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006.
5. “interaction” began in 1973: Biography supplied by Bin Laden or his aides to Nida’ul Islam, a magazine based in Australia that published an interview with Bin Laden in late 1996, in Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 31. “As is known…wage jihad”: 1998 Al-Jazeera transcript in Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 91.
6. Transcript of interview with Nasir Al-Bahri, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 20, 2005, FBIS translation.
7. “minor figure”: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 70. “more literal”: The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 21. Soccer shorts: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. “He often…about religion”: Interview published in Al-Qabas (Kuwait), November 14, 2001. Translated for the author by Hatem Y. Mohammed.
8. “Every Muslim…for Americans”: 1998 Al-Jazeera transcript in Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 87. “incapable…past decades”: Statement of January 4, 2004, ibid., p. 229.
9. Ibid., p. 126.
10. Al-Din, Bin Laden, pp. 79–82.
11. Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. Al-Qabas interviews with Syrian relatives, op. cit.
12. Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 16. Also, interview with Khashoggi, op. cit.; The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 21; Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., pp. 70–71.
13. Class photo: A schoolmate of Osama’s showed a copy of the class picture to the author. Jamal Khalifa, who met Osama the year he graduated from high school, and who would marry one of his half-sisters, said that their beliefs meant “no photographs. That’s why I don’t have any pictures with Osama. I was photographed in high school, but when I became religious, I threw everything away.” Quoted in The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit.
14. “not the Islamic…for her”: Ibid.
15. “He did talk…hunting and shooting”: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. “simply awed…into silence”: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 87.
16. Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. Al-Khatib: Sunday Times, op. cit.
17. All quotations: Interview with Batarfi, op. cit. Also, Coll, “Young Osama,” New Yorker, December 12, 2005. Wright, The Looming Tower, reports that it was not Abdullah, but rather Osama’s second son, Abdul Rahman, who suffered from a birth defect called hydrocephalus and sought treatment in Britain, pp. 80–81.
18. Sunday Times, op. cit.
19. University land donated from Suleiman, background of its founding: DOS 59/2643 Jeddah to Washington, August 31, 1965; and 59/2471 Jeddah to Washington, November 6, 1967. Mohamed Bin Laden’s contributions: Telephone interview with Brian Fyfield-Shayler, February 23, 2007 (RS).
20. The interview was published in 1991 in Al-Umma Al-Islamiyya and is cited in Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 78. “I recall, with pride, that I was the only family member who succeeded in combining work and doing excellently in school,” Bin Laden said. “I decided to drop out of school to achieve my goals and dreams. I was surprised at the major opposition to this idea, especially from my mother, who cried and begged me to change my mind. In the end, there was no way out. I couldn’t resist my mother’s tears. I had to go back and finish my education.” The 1996 résumé was published in connection with his interview with Nida’ul Islam, op. cit.
21. Mecca project work: Abbas, Story of the Great Expansion, pp. 262–63. “He liked…by himself”: Sunday Times, op. cit.
1. Interview with Francis Hunnewell, August 9, 2006. Interview with Michael Pochna, August 31, 2006.
2. Interview with Hunnewell, op. cit.
3. All quotations: Interview with Pochna, op. cit.
4. “Do you see me?”: Interview with Dave Whitney, February 20, 2006. “Randa!…Do you believe this?”: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. Also, interview with Peter Blum, May 5, 2006; interview with George Harrington, February 23, 2006.
5. All quotations: Interview with Dietrich, op. cit.
6. Rome nightclub, son of Lord Carrington: Interview with Rupert Armitage, September 19, 2006. Also, interviews with Hunnewell and Pochna, op. cit.
7. All quotations: Interview with Hunnewell, op. cit.
8. “There must have…by tomorrow”: Interview with Armitage, op. cit.
9. All quotations: Ibid.
10. “They found…opened”: Interview with Hunnewell, op. cit.
11. “one of the…pilots”: Interview with Pochna, op. cit.
12. Ibid.
13. The initial $6.7 billion contract, Fahd’s commission, European consultants’ estimate: Surtees, Pa Bell, pp. 218–38; Holden and Johns, The House of Saud, p. 412. Salem’s flight logs examined by the author.
14. “this was one of the contracts” and scene with Walter Light: Interview with Pochna, op. cit.
15. The size of the Bell Canada portion of the contract is difficult to determine precisely. Pochna and Hunnewell, and documents from their litigation, suggest they were owed about $21 million for their 1.5 percent commission during the first five years, which would place the contract value in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion. The total announced value of the contract, including all equipment sales, was more than $3 billion. That there was $400 million in construction contracts in addition: Surtees, Pa Bell, p. 231; that these went to Bin Laden interests in the main: Interviews with Pochna and Hunnewell, op. cit. Mohammed bin Fahd’s $500 million commission: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 414.
16. Juhaiman’s origins in Sajir: Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 145; House of Saud, op. cit., pp. 514–15.
17. House of Saud, op. cit., pp. 515–26.
18. “Rules of Allegiance”: Ibid. “drunkards…the state’s money”: Vassiliev, A History of Saudi Arabia, pp. 395–96; Teitelbaum, Holier Than Thou, pp. 20–21. Quoted also in Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 28.
19. Flight logs examined by the author.
20. Mahdi divined in a dream: House of Saud, op. cit., p. 520.
21. “was frantic…unhinged”: Carmen Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, pp. 123–25. “Everyone was saying…steel there was”: Interview with the Bin Laden employee, who asked to not be further identified.
22. Gained access with Bin Laden vehicles: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 123. “Where is Bin Laden…Jackhammer it”: Interview with the Bin Laden employee, op. cit.
23. “They bored…in the hole”: Telephone interview with Tim Barger, March 7, 2006. “we were slipping”: Interview with the Bin Laden employee, op. cit.
24. Binladin International initial filings in Panama, dates, directors, successor corporation names: Documents collected and provided to the author by Douglas Farah and the Nine/Eleven Finding Answers Foundation. In other court documents, the Bin Ladens acknowledged moving money offshore quickly in August 1990, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. See chapter 27.
25. Interview with the employee, op. cit. He did not recall the identity of the second brother. Wright, The Looming Tower, p. 94, reports that Osama was with Mahrouz, citing an interview with Jamal Khalifa. Inside the Kingdom, pp. 123–24, describes Mahrouz’s arrest but does not mention a second brother; it reports that Mahrouz had a pistol in his car.
26. Interview with the employee, op. cit.
27. Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 266.
28. Osama would also have been able to borrow or obtain much larger sums to make purchases such as the apartment he bought for his expanding family. The apartment building: Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005. According to Nasir Al-Bahri, Osama’s later bodyguard, two of the wives Osama took before he moved to Afghanistan had earned doctoral degrees either in Islamic law or in Arabic. Osama seems to have married one of these wives from the Al-Sharif family during the 1980s.
29. “especially effective…problems”: Randal, Osama, p. 64, where Al-Khatib also describes the demolition work and Osama’s interaction with Europeans and Americans.
30. “I knew it meant…like him anymore”: Al-Khatib interview in the Sunday Times (London), January 6, 2002.
1. Heart surgeon: Interview with Gail and Robert Freeman, April 27, 2006. Polaroid: Interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005. Showed it to royalty: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS.)
2. Saudin Inc. filings and directors: Documents provided to the author by Douglas Farah and the Nine/Eleven Finding Answers Foundation. “should there…Saudi Arabia”: Robert Freeman, “The Saudi Connection” (unpublished manuscript).
3. “was having some cash flow problems”: Telephone interview with Aaron Dowd, February 13, 2006. Price of the property, sale terms: Freeman, “The Saudi Connection,” ibid. Book of flowers, who received the first houses: Interview with Gail and Robert Freeman, op. cit.
4. Wine prank: Interview with Anwar Khan, May 6, 2006 (RS).
5. Winter Garden and Desert Bear history: Telephone interview with Rod Reeves, former director of Winter Garden Heritage Museum, February 7, 2006; interview Julie Butler, Heritage Museum director, February 6, 2006. Also, Desert Bear history, McCarthy purchase and restoration: telephone interview with Miller McCarthy, February 10, 2006.
6. Salem told McCarthy: Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid. “the Prince…from Saudi Arabia”: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit.
7. Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid. Closing date: Orange County property records. These show the purchase price as $1.61 million. McCarthy’s recollection of a higher price may include other contiguous land. The Deed for 17920 West Colonial, the address of the main estate, was purchased by Desert Bear Limited, “a Liberian corporation,” according to the Orange County records. That Price Waterhouse arranged the company: Interview with Robert Freeman, op. cit.
8. Interviews with four longtime neighbors who asked not to be otherwise identified. “they liked…openly”: Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid.
9. “Come on up…in line”: Interview with Pat Deegan, September 8, 2005.
10. Ibid. A number of other friends and employees of the Bin Ladens described Ghalib’s accident, but Deegan, who flew ultralights at Desert Bear and visited Ghalib in the hospital after the incident, offered the most specific account.
11. Interview with Gail and Robert Freeman, op. cit.
12. All quotations: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit.
13. “was looking for deals”: Interview with Freeman, op. cit.
14. All quotations are from the interview with Gail Freeman, op. cit.
15. “We were his playthings” and “Bob, you do…humor”: Interview with Freeman, op. cit.
16. All quotations, ibid.
17. “a very quiet…through him”: Interview with a former employee of Bin Mahfouz who asked not to be identified. Asked for comment about the profile of Bin Mahfouz and his business activities described throughout this chapter, attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said that he did not ordinarily comment about his family’s personal or business relationships, and that he would not do so in this case.
18. “just as happy…care less”: Interview with a second former employee of Bin Mahfouz who asked to not be identified.
19. Hammerman Brothers shopping, “This created quite a stir”: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he had no comment.
20. “The Big House”: Transcript of White’s interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; White affirmed the transcript’s accuracy in a telephone interview. “Why do these people…in for tea”: Interview with two former employees of Bin Mahfouz who asked to not be identified.
21. Connolly and Hunt brothers on the plane, Khalid complaining about silver losses: Interview with the two former employees cited in notes 17 and 18. Khalid directed trading strategies: “Whose Rules?” in The Banker, November 1, 1990. Baker Botts: White transcript, ibid. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he would have no comment.
22. 1985 cash and deposits: The Banker, ibid. Aramco dollars and Baghdad flights: Interview with David Grey, February 21, 2006. Aid to Iraq of $25.7 billion: Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 157. Transferred U.S. weapons: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 42. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he had no comment. Salem Bin Mahfouz, the founder of National Commercial Bank and Khalid’s father, died in 1994. By the end of 2002, according to the Khalid’s attorneys, the Bin Mahfouz family had divested the last of its holdings in the bank, which remains one of the largest financial institutions in Saudi Arabia.
23. Five million too small: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit. Project Debra: Telephone interview with Andy Pugh, Metro West, February 13, 2006. $100,000 in cash, $30,000 tips: Peterson quoted in “Arabian Adventure,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 18, 2003.
24. Told McCarthy $220 million in debt: Telephone interview with McCarthy, op. cit. Backing out of yacht purchase: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. According to Orange County, Florida, records, the mortgage was taken out from Sun Bank on June 4, 1984 and was repaid on August 15, 1988.
25. Asked to launder $5 million to $10 million: Interview with Robert Freeman, op. cit.
1. Interview with an aide to Salem who asked to not be identified.
2. Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 39.
3. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 65, for the U.S. government’s 1981 fiscal year. The brief analysis of U.S. and Saudi governmental attitudes toward the war here and elsewhere in this chapter is drawn from the research for Ghost Wars, chapters 1–5.
4. Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 155.
5. The company had a zakat fund: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, September 29, 2004. Also, Rand Corporation researcher Anna Kasupski, reviewing materials about the early history of the Services Office in Peshawar, located a 1985 document describing donations from a Bin Laden family foundation. “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.”
6. Pakistani air force veterans, Mohammed Daoud: Interview with David Grey, February 21, 2006. Karachi in November 1980: Flight logs examined by the author. Osama’s first trip in 1980: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002. It is not clear what time of year he traveled.
7. Class photograph: Author’s copy. “not an extremist…polite person”: Badeeb’s 2001 interview with Orbit televsion, supplied to the author by Badeeb, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc.
8. “We cannot…they received” and using trips to Hajj to cultivate independent contacts: Interview with Ahmed Badeeb, February 1, 2002.
9. “was not trusting…real mujaheddin”: Interview with Badeeb, ibid. Rabbani and Sayyaf, stayed a month: Al-Din, Bin Laden, p. 47.
10. “The arrangement…relief work”: Interview with Khashoggi, op. cit. “Members of the government”: Interview with Khalil Khalil, February 10, 2005. Badeeb used humanitarian agencies as cover, Osama’s audiences with Nayef and Ahmed: Interview with Badeeb, and Badeeb Orbit interview, op. cit.
11. “was a very…liked him”: Interview with Bassim Alim, February 21, 2005.
12. “The training…younger brother”: Interview with Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. “That the Afghans…measure it”: Interview with Badeeb, op. cit. Vault for Osama’s jewelry donations: Interview with the aide to Salem, who asked to not be identified.
13. Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 110.
14. “a young…his feet” and more than $15 million loss: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS).
15. Azzam’s debts: Interview with Azzam’s wife by Mohammed Al Shafey, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, April 30, 2006. “meeting of money…Azzam”: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, April 4, 2005.
16. Interview with Khalil, op. cit.
17. Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 20, 2005.
18. That Azzam arrived in late 1981: Jamal Ismail in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 26. Saudi funding of $35 million: Piscatori, “Islamic Values and National Interest,” in Islam and Foreign Policy, p. 47.
19. Badeeb’s role in Sada camp: Interview with Badeeb, op. cit. That it was open by 1984: Hutaifa Azzam in The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit. p. 28. “They would…conquer Kabul”: “The Story of the Arab Afghans,” Anonymous, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, December 12, 2004.
20. Quoted in Bergen and Cruickshank, “How the Idea of Al Qaeda Was Conceived,” 2006.
21. Between $200,000 and $300,000: Anna Kasupski, “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.” Construction engineer from the Bin Laden firm: Abdullah Anas, in The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit., p. 29, identifies this engineer as Abdullah Saadi and says he was there “to guide the bulldozers. Osama borrowed him from the company.” Azzam at the Bin Laden home in Mecca; “The entire…take people” quoted in The Osama Bin Laden I Know, ibid., p. 31. The 1985 document: See note 5.
22. “When the Sheikh…same boat”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 77. “As for repelling…against him”: Ibid., p. 202.
23. Ibid., p. 239, from Bin Laden’s statement of October 29, 2004.
24. “Lucky him…in heaven”: “Early Al Qaeda Working Group,” op. cit. First four committees: Gunaratna, “Al Qaeda: Its Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses with a Special Focus on the Pre-1996 Phase,” 2006.
25. See the prologue.
26. Surah 4, verse 127.
27. “a mass movement…compassionate and patient”: Interview with Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. “Financial jihad…who don’t”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 203.
28. Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006.
29. Ibrahim’s Mayfair apartment: Interview with Wayne Fagan, former Dee Howard Company general counsel, May 10, 2005. That he bought a Gulfstream and DC-8: Interview with a Bin Laden employee involved in the transactions. On Ibrahim and Fahd, also see the prologue.
30. “He and I…a favor”: Interview with Dee Howard, March 16, 2005.
31. “Your Majesty…another one”: Interview with Howard, ibid.
32. “Some people…away with it”: Interview with a Bin Laden employee who was present. Arduous negotiations: Interview with the Bin Laden employee. Howard and Fagan declined to comment about Ibrahim’s specific demands. Several published newspaper accounts place the final value of the contract at $92 million, although Howard recalled that his initial bid was closer to $70 million, and that the price rose through additional changes and orders.
33. Cleveland Clinic and operating theater: Interviews with Howard, Fagan, and the Bin Laden employee, op. cit. Raytheon provided defenses against heat-seeking missles: Dee Howard’s 1993 testimony in Ian Munro v. The Dee Howard Co., Bexar County, Texas, 91-CI-00928.
34. Money wired, some increments of more than $10 million: Testimony of Wayne Fagan in Ian Munro v. The Dee Howard Co., ibid. “He was very interested”: Interview with Howard, op. cit.
1. Tennis parties, Yeslam and his brothers: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, August 6, 2004, and interview with Terry Bennett, December 2005 (RS). Alcohol and steak: Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 99.
2. Yeslam’s cars: “Justified Statement of Claims” for Carmen Bin Laden, September 8, 2000, Court of the First Instance of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Case No. 19750/94-11, translated from the original French and filed in Carmen Binladin v. Yeslam and Ibrahim Binladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BC212648. Ibrahim’s Rolls-Royce: Ibrahim Bin Ladin v. Paul Andrew Richey, Los Angeles County Superior Court, WEC114264. Fatal brain damage, Formula One incident: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 154.
3. Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, op. cit.; Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., pp. 109 and 115.
4. Yeslam’s compensation in 1976 and 1978: “Respondent’s statement of defense and pleas,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit.
5. Genthod property and purchase price: “Respondent’s statement,” ibid. Jewelry inventory: “Complaint for Declaratory Relief,” June 28, 1999, Los Angeles C212648, op. cit. “I admit” and cash box: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 150.
6. In his divorce application in Geneva, Yeslam’s lawyers describe him as “a very emotional man who is prone to anxiety.” Yeslam’s own statement in the case refers to his falling “ill” and seeking “medical treatment,” but does not further specify his condition. The specific reference to “panic attacks” is from Carmen’s filings in that case.
7. “hid himself…this mania”: From “Replies to Yeslam’s numbered paragraphs,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit. See also Inside the Kingdom, pp. 124 and 129.
8. “His wife seemed…into a tree”: Divorce Application, “As to Fact,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit. “everything she could…his business”: “Replies to Yeslam’s numbered paragraphs,” ibid. Six weeks in Los Angeles, condition improved: “Declaration of Yeslam Mohammed Binladin,” November 22, 1999, ibid.
9. “To dispose…make money”: From “Saudi Investment Company (SICO): An Emerging Financial Service Center,” circa 1983, filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570.
10. Falken-owned Saudi Investment Company: “Reply Memorandum In Support of Defendant Yeslam Binladin’s Motion,” In Re Terrorist Attacks, ibid. Construction work in Sudan: In an affidavit submitted in In Re Terrorist Attacks, Omar Bin Laden described the formation “in the Jersey Channel Islands in the late 1980’s” of a company called “Binladin Overseas (Pvt. Ltd.),” which was “awarded a contract for the construction of the Port Sudan airport in the Sudan.” Saudi Investment Company Panama Corp.: Panamanian filing supplied to author by Douglas Farah and Nine/Eleven Finding Answers Foundation. The incorporation papers are dated October 28, 1983. “Mohamed Binladin Organization Inc.” of Panama: Farah and NEFA documents, ibid. The company filed incorporation papers on March 21, 1984.
11. “hundreds of marketing…our customers”: From “Saudi Investment…Emerging Financial Service Center,” op. cit. Stock holdings and turnover by the end of 1983, ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. DLJ introduced Yeslam to Tickle: Telephone interview with Charles Tickle, February 16, 2006. Saudi Investors, Inc., formed in Panama: NEFA documents, op. cit., and a prospectus for Saudi Investors filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. “Mohamed Binladin Family” and Richmond, Houston, project details: Saudi Investors prospectus, ibid. “A unique concept…purchasing power”: “Saudi Investment…Emerging Financial Service Center,” op. cit.
14. “always very professional…cared less”: Interview with Tickle, op. cit.
15. “now, in effect…the princes”: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., pp. 111–12. “disagreements”: Interview with Yeslam published in V.S.B. magazine, Geneva, December 2005, translated and filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.
16. Majid: Inside the Kingdom, op. cit., p. 113; Mishal: Ibid., p. 187.
17. Purchase price of Old Geneva building, including renovations: “Respondent’s statement of defense and pleas,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit. March 11 letter: Filed in Christine Binladin v. Ibrahim Binladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BD058156.
18. “he went through…intolerant and dogmatic”: “Respondent’s statement of defense and pleas,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit. “taking him for a ride…any longer”: Yeslam’s “Divorce Application…As to Fact,” ibid.
19. “They wanted…invest globally”: Telephone interview with Auguste George James Sauter, July 15, 2005.
20. Moawalla, Falken Limited, computer system date: Regulatory filings of Russell Wood (Holdings) Limited and Russell Wood Limited, Companies House, London, 1987–1989.
21. All quotations from “Divorce Application” and “Respondent’s statement of defense and pleas,” Court of First Instance, Geneva, translated and filed in Los Angeles C212648, op. cit.
22. “burned all the hard disks”: Interview with Sauter, op. cit. He said the Bin Ladens ultimately sued some of the stockbrokers involved to recover lost client funds; British court records of this type are closed to the public, and it was not possible to locate files that would confirm his recollection. “a breakdown in accounting controls”: Russell Wood annual report, Companies House, London, 1988.
1. “Field Project Manager,” board seats: Who’s Who in Saudi Arabia, 1983–1984 edition. “who got…managed it”: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS).
2. “Where Salem…process-oriented”: Interview with Francis Hunnewell, August 9, 2006. “a very…,” “Yes, Salem”: Interview with Michael Pochna, August 31, 2006.
3. Vespa scooter, Miami-Dade, “What kind of…actually taste”: Interview with a person who witnessed the conversation and who asked to not be otherwise identified. Bakr declined comment.
4. International students: Ibis, University of Miami yearbook, 1973 edition. Jewish students, pot survey, “Three things…and pot”: Ibis, 1972 edition.
5. “We never talked…some money”: Telephone interview Joaquin Avino, February 14, 2006. “a relatively…university”: Telephone interview with John Hall, March 8, 2006. Silk shirts and Cadillac Seville: Telephone interview with Jorge Rodriguez, March 8, 2006.
6. Suburban rambler, neighbors: Polk’s Miami South Suburban Directory, a telephone book, lists Bakr and Haifa in its 1973 edition at 9435 SW 79th Avenue. Bresser’s 1973 Cross-Index Directory lists that address as “Binladen Bakery,” an apparent typo. The house is still there. Omar listed in Polk’s in 1974 at 9143 SW 77th Avenue, Apartment B701; that building apparently has been torn down. Yahya also was listed at an address near the Miami-Dade North Campus in 1972, but the author could locate no one who remembered his time there. Haifa family background: Interviews with two people close to the family who asked to not be identified. “By no means”: Interview with Rodriguez, op. cit.
7. “open minded…bathing suits”: Bin Ladin, Inside the Kingdom, pp. 80–81. “He is…not necessary”: Interview with a partner of the Bin Ladens who asked to not be identified.
8. The partner, not the same one as cited in the previous note, asked to not be identified. Bakr accompanied Osama: Interview with a senior Saudi official who asked to not be identified. Bakr declined comment.
9. Renovation details: Abbas, Story of the Great Expansion, pp. 3–9. “Many a time…open-ended account”: Ibid., in the foreword by Bakr Bin Laden.
10. “Sort of realignment…wanted him gone”: Interview with the former senior American official, who asked to not be identified. “Salem told…his family”: Interview with a business partner who asked to not be identified.
11. Azzam letter: “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.”
1. Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. As indicated in the text, a second individual, a business partner of Salem’s, separately confirmed that Osama had sent out messages to Salem asking for missiles, and that Salem went forward with the transaction through Dietrich’s contacts.
2. “An increase…staff”: Quoted in Gunaratna, “Al Qaeda: Its Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses,” 2006. Jawr battle: “The Story of the Arab Afghans,” Anonymous, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, December 12, 2004.
3. Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 150.
4. All quotations, interview with Deitrich, op. cit.
5. For one detailed account of this period of the war, see Coll, Ghost Wars, pp. 125–67.
6. Pillsbury’s meetings and conclusions: Interview with Michael Pillsbury, May 2, 2006. In his memoir, From the Shadows, p. 349, former CIA director Robert Gates, referring to the Arab volunteers in the Afghan war, wrote that the CIA “examined ways to increase their participation, perhaps in the form of some sort of ‘international brigade,’ but nothing came of it.” No contemporary U.S. government documents describing this review have yet been declassified or otherwise published.
7. Salem’s approaches to the Pentagon: Interviews with the business partner cited in note 1. “The problem…missiles”: Interview with Dietrich, op. cit.
8. Ibid. A Heckler & Koch spokesman acknowledged that the firm had a department in the Middle East specializing in brokered arms sales, but declined any comment on the transactions reported in this book.
9. All quotations in this passage are from the interview with Dietrich, op. cit.
10. Simpson, The Prince, pp. 146–49.
11. Badeeb acknowledged purchasing SA-7 missiles: Interview with Badeeb, February 1, 2002. The two individuals familiar with evidence about the South African transactions are not the same sources cited earlier in these notes. One of them, Michael Elsner, an attorney representing victims of the September 11 attacks, said that he had interviewed an individual who acted as a translator at a meeting in Peshawar, at the Pearl Continental Hotel, attended by two South African military officers, as well as Osama and Sayyaf; they discussed weapons purchases and training, by this account. The second individual, who asked not to be identified, said he attended separate meetings in Jeddah in which Salem negotiated with South African suppliers to purchase arms that would be shipped to Osama in Pakistan.
12. “Americans…in Palestine”: Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 115. “For God’s sake…issue here”: Palestinian journalist Jamal Ismail in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 60.
13. This chronology and the numbers of followers at Lion’s Den during 1986 are drawn from “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006,” and Gunaratna, op. cit.
14. Gunaratna, op. cit.
15. Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 48.
16. “very professional”: Interview with Badeeb, op. cit. Contracts with Pakistani intelligence: Interview with a former U.S. official involved. Medina volunteers: “Early Al Qaeda Working Group,” op. cit. Cairo visas: Interview with Michael Scheuer, former head of the Bin Laden unit at the CIA, July 5, 2005. Also Al-Ahram (Egypt), January 1, 2001. Peshawar construction projects for charities by Bin Laden companies: Al-Ahram, ibid.
17. Bearden: Quoted in Frontline, Hunting Bin Laden, 2001. “more practical”: Harmony AFGP-2002-600094.
18. “History recounts…Russia”: Lawrence (ed.) Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 147. “It’s an attempt…tacit agreement”: Ibid., pp. 87–88.
19. CIA logistics units provided cement and supplies: Interview with Peter Tomsen, former U.S. special envoy to the Afghan rebels, September 12, 2006. Haqqani was a unilateral: Interview with a former U.S. official involved. “hero…the Soviets”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 151. For their part, CIA case officers recorded frequent accounts of the Arab volunteers who were increasingly active along the border, but they were not interested enough to accumulate lists of names or to track weapons shipments to them. They were much more focused on collecting intelligence about Spetsnaz assault tactics, information that might one day prove useful in a European war.
20. Charities named in Al-Jihad of December 1986: “Early Al Qaeda Working Group 2006,” op. cit. “shy…pithy statements”: Turki has spoken publicly many times about his encounters with Osama in Pakistan during this period, but this quotation is from a question-and-answer interview with Der Spiegel, March 8, 2004, FBIS translation.
21. “interesting figure”: Der Spiegel, ibid. “Abdullah Azzam…sixth place”: Letter from Turki to the author, April 22, 2005.
22. “It is…Saudi Arabia”: Quoted in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 61, from an essay attributed to Al-Suri and published in 2004.
23. Badeeb’s interview with Orbit Television, late 2001, tape supplied by Badeeb to the author and translated by The Language Doctors, Inc.
1. Bath’s guns, car, plane, investments: Property partition agreement, Sandra C. Bath v. James R. Bath, Harris County Court, 89-07180. In an affidavit of September 29, 1989, Bath affirmed that he was “President and sole director of Skyways, a company wholly owed by foreign nationals.” He declined to identify the owners of Skyway; published media reports have identified Khalid Bin Mahfouz or his family as the controlling investors. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz declined to comment.
2. How Bath met Lewis: Interview with Sheryl Johnson, September 8, 2005. Cadillac, money: Sandra Bath”s Fourth Amended Petition, Bath v. Bath, ibid. In an affidavit of September 5, 1991, Bath acknowledged “my affair with Mary Ellen Lewis” and that he had financed a company that she operated. In a court filing in that case, Bath’s attorneys wrote that Bath “has agreed [to] assume that he is the biological father” of the Lewis child. The cards comparing their marriage to Dallas: Deposition testimony of Sandra Bath, ibid. How Sandra learned of the child: Interview with Johnson, op. cit. Drug allegations and denials: Bath’s Second Amended Answer, ibid. “made threats…kill me”: Bath’s affidavit of April 20, 1990, ibid.
3. “indicated that…business associates”: White pleadings, Charles W. White v. NCNB Texas National Bank, Harris County Court, 90-053147. White did not mention either Osama or Afghanistan in this earliest of his known accounts of Bath’s alleged statements about CIA activities. Expanded comments to describe Bath’s alleged air operations: Undated transcript of White’s interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, circa 2006; White confirmed the accuracy of the transcript and reaffirmed his comments in a telephone interview with the author.
4. “paranoia…against him”: Bath petition, James R. Bath v. Charles W. White, Harris County Court, 86-42551. “fantasy…agency”: Time, October 28, 1991. “There”s all…participation”: Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, p. 34. Houston station: Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 314.
5. Interview with Sheryl Johnson, op. cit., and with a second individual who worked with Bath on aviation matters during this time.
6. McDonald flew from Jeddah to Riyadh aboard one of Salem’s private jets on March 1, 1983, according to flight logs reviewed by the author. The log entry, in full, read: “Salem, Pizza, Congressman Larry McDonald, Georgia, plus two, plus money—Freeman.” Jack and Anita Pizza and Robert and Gail Freeman were frequent fliers on Salem’s planes; they were friends and business partners. “Plus two” refers to two unidentified passengers who were probably traveling with McDonald. The origins of the money referred to and the purpose of McDonald’s travel are unknown. Vinson and Elkins represented Salem: Interview with Charles Schwartz, May 12, 2005.
7. Certificate of Deposit, contact by Houston Police: White’s pleadings in Charles W. White v. NCNB Texas National Bank, op. cit. Randa’s estrangement: Interview with Gail Freeman, April 27, 2006.
8. “We have plenty…hereafter”: Quoted in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 51–52.
9. “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.” Also, Bergen and Cruickshank, “How the Idea of Al Qaeda Was Conceived,” 2006. Earliest known published account: Kim Cragin, “Early Al Qaeda Working Group.”
10. “It was obvious…that party”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002.
11. The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit. pp. 58–59.
12. Meeting Osama Bin Laden, Brook Lapping Productions, 2004.
13. Interview by Mohammed Al-Shafey, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, April 30, 2006.
14. “was approached…other countries”: E-mail statement from Bin Mahfouz attorneys at Kendall Freeman, London, to author, August 2007. At the time of the contribution, Al Qaeda had not yet been formed. The statement added: “For the avoidance of any doubt, Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz has never made any donation to Al Qaeda or any organization or person that he knew to be acting on behalf of Al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization.” “with the intention…U.S. Government”: Second e-mail statement from Bin Mahfouz attorney Laurence Harris, managing partner, Kendall Freeman, London, to author, August 2007.
15. “I think Osama”: The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 48.
1. “normal family…doing it”: Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006. Other friends, employees, and partners who described Salem”s girlfriends and marriage proposal in on-the-record interviews included Mohamed Ashmawi, Sabry Ghoneim, Thomas Dietrich, Anwar Khan, and Robert and Gail Freeman.
2. All quotations, including the note from “S,” from an interview with Lynn Peghiny, February 7, 2006.
3. Carey family: Interview with a person close to the family, as well as biographical information from a family Web site, www.careyroots.com, examined and typed, May 9, 2007.
4. Interview with Peghiny, op. cit.
5. Ibid.
6. All quotations, ibid.
7. Interview with Gerald Auerbach, April 7, 2005.
8. All quotations, interview with Peghiny, op. cit.
9. Sheikha and Rafah on birthdays: Bin Laden, Inside the Kingdom, p. 104. Mona, Huda, and Randa in Europe: Flight logs and interviews with several people who went on the trips, including Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006.
10. “village idiot”: Inside the Kingdom, p. 88. Los Angeles: Property records in Los Angeles County. Her fast driving: Interviews with two friends of Najiah who asked to not be identified.
11. Interviews with Robert and Gail Freeman, April 27, 2006.
12. All quotations, ibid.
13. “I paid you to smile!”: Interview with Johansson, op. cit. “They were bitching…would say”: Interview with Dietrich, op. cit.
14. Peter Theroux, Sandstorms, p. 114.
15. Strip mall, mining deal, cowboy movie: Interview with Wayne Fagan, May 10, 2005. London apartment with Muhammad Ali: Interview with Don Sowell, June 2, 2005.
16. All quotations, interview with Johansson, op. cit.
17. Interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005.
18. Interview with Dietrich, op. cit., and with Salem’s German assistant, Peter Blum, May 5, 2006.
19. All quotations, interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS).
20. His temper: Interview with Ashmawi, ibid., as well as many other employees, partners, and friends. The Dubai episode: Interview with two people who were present.
21. All quotations, interview with Fagan, op. cit.
1. All quotations from an interview with a person familiar with the conversations, who asked to not be identified.
2. Wedding description and guests from interviews with eight people who attended, as well as photographs of the event.
3. Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006. Swiss accounts: Interview with a friend of Salem who asked to not be identified.
4. Interview with the person cited, ibid., and with a second business partner of Salem’s who asked to not be identified.
5. Flight logs reviewed by the author.
6. All quotations from an interview with Lynn Peghiny, February 7, 2006.
7. Ibid.
8. Interview with Gerald Auerbach, April 9, 2005.
9. All quotations from an interview with Jack Hinson, May 10, 2005.
10. History of Kitty Hawk: Interview with Earl Mayfield, April 9, 2005.
11. All quotations, interview with Hinson, op. cit.
12. The sequence of events before his flight: Interviews with Hinson and Mayfield, op. cit., and a third individual present. Salem’s eyes teared: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. In addition to Dietrich, two other people who were particularly close to Salem said they believed that blurred vision caused by tears from the wind was the most likely cause of what unfolded at Kitty Hawk. There is no evidence to support alternative theories of either suicide or a disabling health event such as a heart attack or stroke. Wind speed: Written report of May 29, 1988, by Schertz Police Officer Lori Harris, who arrived at Kitty Hawk in a police patrol car at 3:34 P.M. Interview with Lori Harris, March 16, 2005.
13. Salem’s flight trajectory: Interviews with Hinson, Mayfield, and the third individual, op. cit. A fourth individual who viewed the videotape described the same sequence. The author was unable to locate a copy of the video, but several people who saw it all described the same sequence.
14. Notes from the ambulance run report provided to the author by Schertz Police Chief Steve Starr, examined and typed, April 8, 2005. The run report and the Harris police report describe witness accounts of how Salem was lifted from the ultralight by those who initially arrived and was given CPR.
1. “Mickey Mouse plane”: Interview with Mohamed Ashmawi, November 26, 2005 (RS). Particular acuteness: Interview with a business partner who asked to not be identified. “family tragedy”: Interview with ABC’s 20/20, broadcast March 29, 2002. Barbara Walters asked Abdullah what he recalled of Osama at the funeral. “I don’t recall things because it was a family tragedy,” he replied.
2. Interviews with two friends of Salem’s who met the plane in Geneva.
3. Interview with one of the friends who was present.
4. “You haven’t…him now”: Interview with the friend, who asked to not be identified.
5. Interviews with two people present. For Hejazi and Wahhabi burial rituals, Yamani, Cradle of Islam, pp. 102–20. Bin Mahfouz declined to comment.
6. Buried with a child: Interviews with two people present. In an attempt to fact-check the reporting and interpretations in this book, I submitted to the Bin Ladens’ principal American law firm, Jones Day, scores of specific questions and factual summaries for comment, correction, or clarification. Apart from several matters concerning the relationship between the family and Osama after he became radicalized, Jones Day responded to only one of these questions, involving the account here of the burial of a young girl with Salem. The letter offered a review of the appropriateness of such burial practices under Islamic law and appended an article from a humanities journal published in Helsinki in 1965, which described the existence of this practice in a Jordanian village. The Jones Day attorney who wrote the letter, Timothy J. Finn, stated that “we have not been able to confirm whether anything like this happened” in Salem’s case, but then continued, “We have been told that Islamic custom does permit joint burial of an infant or small child who dies at the same time as an adult but that this is accomplished…by digging a notch at the foot of the adult grave where the child is laid to rest…both as [an] expression of community solidarity and, simply, as a convenience, since Islamic tradition requires immediate burial within 24 hours of death, with very simple or no grave markings. We have also found in Islamic tradition a little-known theological underpinning for this occasional practice to the effect that the angels of death will not treat the adult harshly in the presence of a child.”
7. Osama was present: Abdullah Bin Laden, to 20/20, op. cit., and interview with a second person close to the family, who asked to not be identified. “like a father…great deal”: Transcript of interview with Khaled Batarfi, supplied to the author by Batarfi.
8. Ghalib worried about a conspiracy: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, May 11, 2005. “Manner of Death: Accident,” Bexar County, Office of the Medical Examiner, report 759–88. “was a big event”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, March 17, 2006.
9. Date and place of Sama’s birth: “Application for Appointment of Administrator,” Bexar County probate proceeding, 91-PC-1012.
10. Bergen and Cruickshank, “How the Idea of Al Qaeda Was Conceived,” citing an interview with Osama Rushdi, an Egyptian militant living in Peshawar at the time.
11. “Abdullah Azzam wanted…is welcome”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002. “from many different places…borders and walls”: in Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 96.
12. From transcripted interview published by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, April 30, 2006.
13. All quotations, including those attributed to Banjshiri, come from Al-Surayhi. Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 83.
14. The notes were seized by Bosnian authorities during a 2002 raid on an Islamic charity. Unclassified document sets have been released subsequently under the title, drawn from the originals, “Tareekh Osama,” or “Osama’s History.” The quotations here are from a meeting on August 11, 1988.
15. Ibid. The second meeting began on August 20.
16. Messages to the World, op. cit., pp. 119–20.
17. Interview with a former business partner and also with Peter Blum, who worked occasionally with Ghalib and his family, May 5, 2006.
18. Flight logs examined by the author.
19. “some cash”: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, May 11, 2005. “They were almost…fences”: Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006. “the cash…camps”: e-mail communication from Timothy J. Finn, November 24, 2007.
20. For an account of the assault on Jalalabad, see Coll, Ghost Wars, pp. 190–95. Night-vision equipment: “Lion’s Breeding Grounds of the Arab Partisans in Afghanistan,” 1991, “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.” About one hundred: Bergen and Cruickshank, op. cit.
21. All quotations, interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002.
22. “At that point…Arab agents”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 77. The first assassination plot in which Bin Laden is known to have been involved was an attempt on the life of the exiled king of Afghanistan, in 1991.
23. Badeeb, Orbit Television, late 2001, tape of interview supplied to the author by Badeeb, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc. Badeeb said, in full, “I suggested to [Osama] and the others to return to Saudi Arabia, since the task for which they came to Afghanistan was achieved. And in fact, [Osama] did return to the kingdom. We also began to thin out the presence of individuals on the Pakistani-Afghani borders who were involved in assistance. We did not have lists of names of individuals who came to Afghanistan. We believed that these people came and offered their services as a religious duty and thus we did not have any doubts about them.”
24. Apple computers: Interview with Daniel Coleman, August 31, 2005. Coleman is a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who worked on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda investigations for about ten years, beginning in 1995.
25. “Saudi is…reward them”: Harmony AFGP-2002-60246. Several government investigators said in interviews that they believed the Golden Chain documents were credible and authentic. “Bin Laden brothers”: “Government’s Evidentiary Proffer…” in United States of America v. Enaam Arnout, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 02-CR-892. “only a list…Al Qaeda supporters”: Casey’s Opinion on jurisdictional issues, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570, January 18, 2005. “I have never…any kind”: Affidavit of Bakr Binladin, In Re Terrorist Attacks, sworn in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 25, 2006.
26. “a number of times…brother would”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, March 17, 2006, op cit.
27. All quotations, ibid.
1. The profile of Bakr here is drawn from interviews with fifteen business partners, employees, family members, government officials, and pilots who have known or worked closely with him.
2. “All his life…his brother”: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, a longtime Bin Laden employee in Cairo, November 14, 2005 (RS).
3. All quotations, interview with Yahia El Agaty, November 19, 2005 (RS).
4. The 2.27 percentage is listed in Ibrahim Bin Laden’s “Schedule of Assets and Debts,” as cited in “Declaration of Barbara L. Irshay,” January 21, 1993, in Christine Binladin v. Ibrahim Binladin, Los Angeles County, BD058156. I have presumed that this is the ownership percentage of all male sons, and that female heirs own half as much, as provided by Islamic law.
5. “stocks that I inherited”: Excerpted deposition testimony of Ibrahim Bin Laden, ibid. “Each beneficiary…clearing house”: “Declaration of Linda Pergament Swift,” May 24, 1993, ibid.
6. Al-Shammary (ed.), Top 1000 Saudi Companies, 1990. The directory listed the National Commercial Bank as the kingdom’s eighth-largest business enterprise, with about $1.3 billion in annual revenue.
7. Interview with a Bin Laden business partner who asked to not be identified.
8. What the family told the FBI: Interview with Daniel Coleman, August 31, 2005. Coleman is a retired FBI agent who conducted interviews about these financial issues. The reorganization, Bakr’s affidavit, the valuation of Osama’s holdings circa 1993: Documents submitted by Bin Laden defendants in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570. That he owned about 2 percent of each firm: Osama’s MBC holding is projected from Ibrahim’s deposition testimony, op. cit. SBG holding of “about 2 percent” is disclosed by attorneys for the company in “Defendant Saudi Binladin Group’s Reponse…To Plaintiffs’ Objections…Dated July 26, 2007,” p. 4, In Re Terrorist Attacks.
9. All quotations: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS).
10. “The amount received…$20 million”: Associated Press, October 29, 2001. Yeslam’s tax returns: Nine/Eleven Finding Answers Foundation documents, provided to the author by Douglas Farah. The 9/11 Commission investigation and findings: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Staff Report to the Commission by John Roth, Douglas Greenburg, Serena Wille, August 2004. He remained a partner: Bin Laden documents submitted in In Re Terrorist Attacks, ibid.
11. In Re Terrorist Attacks documents, ibid. These court filings by Bin Laden defendants affirm that Osama was a partner in both MBC and SBG after the reorganization, but they do not describe the size of Osama’s SBG position.
12. No will, beneficiaries: Bexar County, Texas, probate case of Salem Bin Laden, 91-PC-1012.
13. “Deeds Issued by Shari’ah Courts, Registration No. 123, Submission No. 398,” Abdul Moshen Bin Abdullah Al-Khayyal, President of the Jeddah Courts, translated and filed in Ian Munro v. The Dee Howard Company, Bexar County, Texas, 91-CI-00928.
14. Dietrich settlement: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. Bell Canada settlement: Interview with Michael Pochna, August 31, 2006. Shopping center: Interview with Wayne Fagan, May 10, 2005.
15. Ian Munro v. The Dee Howard Company, op. cit. Interview with Charles Schwartz, who represented Salem’s estate, May 12, 2005. Also, interview with Keith Kaiser, who represented Howard, February 21, 2006.
16. “Financial Position…financial affairs”: Letter from Bakr M. Binladin to Ian Munro, July 25, 1993, filed in Ian Munro v. The Dee Howard Company, ibid.
17. NCB settlement: Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006, and a second individual who asked to not be identified. “He didn’t…debts”: Interview with Ghoneim, op. cit.
1. Attended USC, did not graduate: E-mail communication, James Grant, USC, March 1, 2006 Khalil majored in mechanical engineering and took classes between the autumn of 1975 and the autumn of 1980, before leaving without a degree. Profile of clothing, cars, habits, competition at card games: Interviews with three individuals who spent extensive time with him and who asked to not be identified, as well as with several neighbors who knew him less well. Aspects of his personality are also available from documents and deposition testimony in more than one dozen civil cases in which he or his companies were involved; see specific citations below.
2. Isabel: Interviews and court documents, ibid. Jonesboro Drive: Los Angeles County property records, examined and typed, June 28, 2005. $600,000 renovation: Khalil Binladin and Isabel Binladin v. American Builders Association et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court, C663911.
3. As of mid-2007, Cappello was managing director of Cappello Capital Corporation, an international investment firm.
4. “If I don’t know…say no”: Interview with an individual who worked with Bin Laden. Business interests: Interviews cited in note 1.
5. Kabeltan Corporation, Carrollton building, Dividend Drive: Dallas County, Texas, property records, examined and typed, February 16, 2006; author’s visits to properties. Cappello is listed as Kabeltan’s president in Dallas County records of December 30, 1983. Kenny Rogers horse loan: Interviews with two individuals familiar with the transaction, who asked to not be identified. These people differed slightly in their recollections of the loan amounts but described the deal and the profit margin in closely similar terms. A representative for Kenny Rogers did not respond to requests for comment.
6. Interviews with three individuals, op. cit. In a written declaration filed in America in Motion Corporation and Khalil Binladin v. Ron R. Goldie et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court, WEC13994, Khalil identified Mark Love as an employee since 1985. BIN Corporation is identified in Dallas County property records as a “successor by merger” of Kabeltan Corporation.
7. Tax cases: Dallas County v. Kabeltan Corp., Dallas County, Texas, 92-32136. Los Angeles County real property records document 99-1789705 describes a tax lien against Kabeltan, dating to 1986, involving a total liability of just over $172,000. See also 98-1432057, 97-1237072, 96-1849398, and 97-154966, which describe tax proceedings by Los Angeles County and the State of California against Kabeltan and BIN Corporation. Vituperative lawsuits: Khalil Binladin and Isabel Bin Laden v. American Builders, op. cit., and cross complaints.
8. Interviews with three individuals, op. cit. Frisaura said that Khalil Bin Laden was an honorable businessman, but that he would make no additional comment.
9. Leasing dispute history: America in Motion Corp. v. Magnum Aircraft International, Los Angeles County Superior Court, NWC043648. “a small corporation…$225,000 jet”: Declaration of Darius Keaton, ibid., March 9, 1989. No judgment or settlement: E-mail communication from Kevin S. Marks, attorney for Clint Eastwood, September 7, 2007.
10. “a chartered accountant in Pakistan”: Proposed Joint Statement of the case, Ron R. Goldie, America in Motion and Khalil Binladin v. Ron R. Goldie, op. cit. Also, Khan’s statement of the case, Khalil’s deposition testimony and declarations, ibid.
11. “an undivided…Massachusetts”: Goldie proposed statement, ibid. Resun history: Company Web site, examined and typed, June 5, 2007. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
12. “Rebate”: Excerpted deposition testimony of Khalil Bin Laden, ibid. “kick back”: Letter from Ali-Khan to Khalil Bin Laden, February 28, 1989, ibid. Debt to Indosuez exceeded $3 million: Letter from Ali-Khan to Khalil Bin Laden, May 31, 1989, “Situation Report.” Default: In excerpted deposition testimony, Mark Love acknowledges receipt of a default notice from Indosuez, although he describes this as “just a technical issue on behalf of the bank.”
13. “loan”: Letter from Ali-Khan to Bin Laden, May 26, 1989, “Re: Your Fax…” ibid. “my personal guarantee”: Letter from Ali-Khan to Bin Laden, May 31, 1989, “Situation Report.” “Please provide…a copy”: Letter from Bin Laden to Ali-Khan, May 23, 1989, “Re: Your fax…” “The faxes…guaranteed”: Letter from Khalil Bin Laden to Ali-Khan, date illegible, June 1989. All from court file, ibid.
14. “the $130,000…by Khan”: Declaration of Khalil Bin Laden, July 13, 1992, ibid. September 22, 1989: Los Angeles Police Department preliminary investigation report, ibid. “if this…this form”:” Excerpted deposition testimony of Khalil Bin Laden, ibid.
15. The People of the State of California v. Mussarat Ali Khan, “Felony Complaint for Arrest Warrant.” “possible international…in Paris”: “Declaration for Bail Deviation,” filed in America in Motion Corporation and Khalil Binladin v. Ron R. Goldie et al., op. cit.
16. Declaration of Geoffrey Morson, ibid.
17. Declaration of Khalil Bin Laden, ibid.
18. “unable to leave…pay monies”: Elizabeth Borges responses to interrogatories, Isabel Binladin v. Elizabeth Borges, Los Angeles County Superior Court, SC003124.
19. All quotations, Elizabeth Borges responses to interrogatories, ibid.
20. “slanderous…Saudi Arabian visas”: Bin Laden complaint, September 5, 1990, ibid.
21. All quotations, ibid.
22. All quotations, Borges answer to the complaint, ibid.
23. Interview with an individual familiar with the transaction who asked to not be identified.
1. The August 6 meeting has been described similarly, with slight variations, in a number of published accounts. Schwarzkopf on his knee: Freeman quoted in The House of Saud, Algeria Productions, 2004. See also Bronson, Thicker Than Oil, pp. 194–95; Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 57–59. Lippman, Inside the Mirage, pp. 300–1.
2. “Don’t you think…take your point”: Freeman, ibid. “Okay”: Lippman, ibid.
3. “to increase…of Muslims”: Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, pp. 198–99.
4. Family foundation, previous accounts in a Swiss bank: Interviews with international banking officials who asked to not be identified. The Swiss Bank Corporation account documents were submitted as exhibits by lawyers for the Bin Ladens in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 157. “Sub-accounts…invasion of Kuwait”: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks.
5. All account document quotations, dates, financial transfers, from original account documents submitted by attorneys for the Bin Ladens in In Re Terrorist Attacks, ibid.
6. “has been forbidden…your economy”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 167.
7. Interview with Khaled Batarfi, February 19, 2005.
8. Islamists in South Yemen: Interview with Dominic Simpson, former British intelligence officer who served in both Saudi Arabia and Yemen, May 17, 2002. “did have…funded everything”: “Interview with Shaykh Al-Fadli On Aden-Abyan Islamic Army…” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, November 8, 2001, FBIS translation. See also “Yemen’s Enduring Challenges…” TerrorismMonitor, Jamestown Foundation, Volume II, Issue 7, April 8, 2004, interview with former U.S. Treasury official Jonathan Winer.
9. “had reportedly asked…regime”: Against All Enemies, op. cit., p. 59. “came to see me…not acceptable idea”: Quoted in Meeting Osama Bin Laden, Brook Lapping Productions, 2004.
10. Badeeb: Interview with Orbit Television, tape provided by Badeeb to the author, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc. Raid on Bin Laden’s farm: Sharaf Al-Din, Bin Laden…the Arab Afghans, pp. 52–53.
11. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 222. Prince’s identity: Osama says it was the “deputy minister,” who at the time of the meeting would have been Abdul-Rahman, but at the time of Osama’s statement, the deputy was Khalid Bin Sultan.
12. Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 257.
13. “This shy…changed”: Quoted in Meeting Osama Bin Laden, op. cit.
14. Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. All quotations from the U.S. military are from documents submitted by Bin Laden attorneys in In Re Terrorist Attacks.
15. Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 168.
16. Ibid., p. 167. Also, Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, pp. 48–52.
17. “He apologized…peaceful way”: Interview with Abdulaziz Al-Gasim, February 8, 2005.
18. Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. All quotations from Khashoggi, “To Be Strong by Spreading Fear,” Al Watan Al Arabi, April 5, 2005.
19. May 1: Messages to the World, op. cit. p. 33. Left voluntarily: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, In Re Terrorist Attacks, January 25, 2006. Sudan rentals, farm north of Khartoum, $250,000, Egyptian lawyer: Testimony of Jamal Al-Fadl, United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, S 98 Cr. 539, February 6, 2001. “spent some time…economic activities”: Interview with Khalil A. Khalil, February 10, 2005.
20. Messages to the World, pp. 49–50.
21. All Bruderlein quotations from Affidavit of Yves Bruderlein, In Re Terrorist Attacks, January 24, 2006, and “Minutes of a Witness Statement,” The Office of the Swiss Federal Public Prosecutor, Bern, October 9, 2001, submitted as an exhibit in the same case.
22. Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, op. cit.
23. October 28 transfer: Account documents, op. cit., In Re Terrorist Attacks. Money went initially to Haider’s custody: Interview with two individuals familiar with the transaction, who asked to not be identified. Last known use of Western banks: Michael Scheuer, writing as “Anonymous,” the former chief of the CIA unit that tracked Osama’s finances during the late 1990s, writes in Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, p. 35: “My own pre–11 September 2001 research found no data showing that any money tied directly to Bin Laden had been located, blocked or seized in the West’s [banking and financial] system.”
1. All quotations from the beginning of the chapter through “adequate” are from “Declaration of Christine Binladin,” February 18, 1992, filed in Christine Binladin v. Ibrahim Binladin, BD058156, Los Angeles County Superior Court.
2. Ibrahim with Dodi Fayed: Interview with Jack Kayajanian, August 25, 2005; Kayajanian represented Christine after her divorce litigation resumed in 2002. Never filed a tax return: Christine’s “Trial Brief,” Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit. “a very…young lady”: Telephone interview with Michael Balaban, June 15, 2005. Denim and Diamonds: Décor described in Time, March 15, 1993.
3. Interview with Balaban, ibid. Representatives for McCartney did not respond to requests for comment.
4. “In the end…pay for this’ and Ibrahim’s comments about work: Interview with an employee of the Bin Ladens who asked to not be identified.
5. An unsigned copy of the agreement was filed in Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit.
6. Christine’s excerpted deposition testimony, ibid.
7. Consecrated under Islamic law: “Final Divorce Judgment,” July 6, 1993, ibid. “and the wine…sight!”: Freeman, “The Saudi Connection,” unpublished manuscript.
8. All quotations in this passage from Ibrahim’s excerpted deposition testimony, Binladin v. Binladin, op. cit.
9. “Declaration of Christine Binladin,” December 1992, ibid.
10. “I see very…unhappy man”: “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” December 22, 1992, ibid.
11. Christine’s excerpted deposition testimony, op. cit.
12. “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” op. cit.
13. “She only started…from me”: “Declaration of Ibrahim Binladin,” ibid. “remained with…long enough”: “Respondent’s Memorandum of Points and Authorities For Trial,” January 21, 1993, ibid.
1. Contract in 1989: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570. Contract price, role of Saudi Overseas Development Fund: Okaz, June 25, 1992, translated and filed in the same case by Bin Laden attorneys.
2. Testimony of Jamal Al-Fadl, United States of America v. Usama bin Laden et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, S 98 Cr. 539, February 6, 2001.
3. Bosnia fundraiser: Arab News, July 6, 1992. Osama’s team to Bosnia: “Former Bin Laden ‘Bodyguard’ Discusses ‘Jihad’ in Bosnia, Somalia,” interview with Nasir Al-Bahri, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 24, 2005. “Gifts of charity…weapons”: Harmony AFGP 2002-003214–Statement 18, “Tragedy of Bosnia and Deceit of Saudi Arabia,” August 11, 1995.
4. Interview with a Bin Laden employee who asked to not be identified.
5. Al-Fadl testimony, February 6, 2001, op. cit.
6. “a new airport…joint venture”: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 136. “built the Port Sudan airport”: Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 122–23. “to the best…controlled by Osama”: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, op. cit.
7. “This project…participated in it”: Okaz, June 25, 1992.
8. “guest of honor”: “Part One of Series of Reports on Bin Laden’s Life in Sudan,” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, November 24, 2001. “To the best…the Sudan”: Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, op. cit.
9. Bakr met with Osama during 1992: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. “accompanied by…set”: Letter to the author from TimothyJ. Finn, October 31, 2007. “almost nine”: Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 55. “Late 1992…States”: Affidavit of Tareq Bin Laden, January 25, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks.
10. “became clear…refuse to return”: Badeeb interview with Orbit Television circa late 2001, tape provided to the author by Badeeb, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc.
11. Interviews with two individuals who asked to not be identified. “I apologized…against them”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 55.
12. “He was out of touch…so important”: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. Osama’s Sudan activity: Al-Fadl testimony, op. cit.; The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit., various testimony, pp. 126–32.
13. For example: “Global Network Provides Money, Haven,” by Steve Coll and Steve LeVine, Washington Post, August 3, 1993. Drawing upon LeVine’s visit to Khartoum, where he unsuccessfully sought an interview with Bin Laden at his villa, the story reported: “Today Bin Laden lives in exile in a posh neighborhood of Khartoum, Sudan, building roads and airports for Sudan’s new radical Islamic government, financing a lavish guest house for itinerant Arab veterans of the Afghan conflict and lecturing at times on revolutionary Islam, according to Sudanese businessmen, officials and diplomats.” The story also made particular reference to the government of Egypt’s antipathy toward Bin Laden and the exiled radicals he harbored in Sudan.
14. “Everything appeared…the regime”: Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, p. 119.
15. Ibid., p. 181.
16. Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, op. cit.
17. Ghalib’s Al-Taqwa account and all quotations from documents filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. Ghalib’s 1989 visit: See chapter 24. U.S. Treasury assessment: Letter from George B. Wolfe, Treasury deputy general counsel to Claude Nicati, office of the Swiss prosecutor general, January 4, 2002.
18. “Todeprive…companies”: Letter from Timothy J. Finn, op. cit. “Osama’s…Middle East”: Affidavit of Tareq Bin Laden, op. cit. “brother-to-brother”: Interview with Khashoggi, op. cit. “With God’s grace…go back”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 55.
19. Messages to the World, ibid.
20. “take this money…other relatives”: Interview with Abdulaziz Al-Gasim, February 8, 2005. Gasim said that in his work as an attorney, he had “seen legal papers, very secret, describing all this.” About $9.9 million and all Bakr quotations: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, op. cit. If, as court documents indicate, Osama owned about 2 percent of each of the two main family companies, and if the $10 million price of his shares reflected full value, this would mean the total market value of the Bin Laden enterprises in 1994 was approximately a combined $500 million.
21. Al Nadwah, February 20, 1994, translated and filed by Bin Laden attorneys, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.
22. Government announcement: Riyadh Daily, April 7, 1994. “never had access…control”: “Defendant Saudi Binladin Group’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Objections…Dated July 26, 2007,” In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.
23. Al-Fawwaz’s education: Al Majallah, March 14, 1999. Arrest, movements: Prosecutor’s closing statements, United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al., op. cit., May 1, 2001.
24. Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, op. cit., p. 181.
25. Ibid., p. 182.
26. The author is grateful to Bruce Hoffman, Kim Cragin, Nadia Oweidat, Sara Daly, Heather Gregg, and Anna Kasupski of the Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group for access to these texts from the “Harmony” collection, many of which were translated during 2006. “Supreme Council for Damage,” Harmony AFGP 2002-003214–Statement 10, October 15, 1994.
27. “shady history…Muslims”: Harmony AFGP 2002-003214–Statement 10.
28. “has a shady past…on its people”: Harmony AFGP 2002-003214–Statement 13, “Prince Salmanand Charity Offerings in Ramadan,” February 12, 1995. “tricksters”: Ibid., Statement 16, “Prince Sultan and Flight Commissions,” July 11, 1995. “hostile to Islam and Muslims”: Ibid., Statement 18, “Tragedy of Bosnia and Deceit of Saudi Arabia,” August 11, 1995.
29. Affidavit of Carmen Bin Laden, February 1, 2006, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.
30. Testimony of Jamal Al-Fadl, op. cit. “We had…his people”: Quoted in Bergen and Cruickshank, “How the Idea of Al Qaeda Was Conceived…” 2006.
31. Harmony Statement 13, op. cit., February 12, 1995.
32. “she could not…hardship”: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 30, 2005. “because my father…to my desires”: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, October 21, 2001. “avoided mentioning…hurt by him”: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 30, 2005.
33. Khalifa: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, May 4, 2002. Government put them on notice, donated to king’s charities: Interview with a Bin Laden employee in Jeddah at the time, who asked to not be identified.
34. Affidavit of Omar Bin Laden, op. cit.
35. “I am tired…nostalgic I am”: Hassan Al-Surayhi, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, op. cit. p. 126. Osama’s interest in asylum in Britain was disclosed by Michael Howard, who was Home Secretary during the mid-1990s. Times (London) September 29, 2005.
36. “Emigration…Day of Judgment,’ Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 19. “I tell you…pleasure of God”: Messages to the World, p. 91.
1. Interview with Chas Freeman, June 15, 2005, and with other officials who asked to not be identified.
2. Ibid.
3. Articles of incorporation filed by attorneys for Saudi Bin Laden Group in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570.
4. Interviews with former and current Bin Laden employees and partners who asked to not be identified.
5. Lucrative GE contracts: Arab News, April 18, 1996. Saudi Gazette, April 19, 1996. Party for Welch: Jane Mayer, New Yorker, November 12, 2001. Sarkissian office in New Jersey, Dallas-area projects: Interview with an individual familiar with the partnerships, who asked to not be identified. Directors of SBG (USA): Records submitted by Saudi Bin Laden Group, In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit.
6. Rihani’s background: Interview with a colleague who asked to not be identified. His title, board service at Middle East Policy Council, Freeman as chairman: www.mepc.org, examined and typed, June 29, 2007.
7. A brother might open a travel agency, an American firm hired to inventory holdings: Interview with an individual close to the Saudi Bin Laden Group who asked to not be identified. “tank tops…denims…” and varied business lines: Saudi Bin Laden Group directory, from corporate Web site examined and printed by Peter Bergen prior to September 11, 2001. The author is grateful to Peter Bergen for access to these documents.
8. Loans to offshore companies: Russell Wood Limited filings, Companies House, London, 1996. The firm had outstanding loans to Celta Finance SA (117,669 pounds), Tropiville BV (2,048,498 pounds), and Saudi Investment Company (International) BVI (1,772,304 pounds). “We are unable…all respects…”: Russell Wood Limited filings, Companies House, London, 1991. The auditor was Stoy Hayward. Securities and Futures Authority required: Russell Wood (Holdings) Limited filings, Companies House, 1997.
9. Moawalla background, Pilley: Russell Wood Limited filings, Companies House, London, 1987–1997. “You don’t have a need”: Interview with a former colleague of Moawalla who asked to not be identified.
10. Hotel rooms, appearance: Photographs examined by the author, interviews with three acquaintances of Shafiq. January 1958: Symphony Advisers Ltd. filings, Companies House, London, 2000. USF: Telephone interviews with Gary McDonald, March 15 and 16, 2006. Could hold his own: Interview with a colleague who asked to not be identified. Investment committee: Interview with a second business partner who asked to not be identified.
11. Briody, The Iron Triangle, pp. 1–89.
12. Ibid., pp. 69–80.
13. Raised $1.3 billion and California Public Employees: Ibid., p. 85; Soros: Ibid., p. 84.
14. Briody: Ibid., p. 145, quotes Basil Al-Rahim, an exiled Iraqi financier, saying that he brought the Bin Ladens into the Carlyle investment. The thrust of this account was confirmed by an individual familiar with the investment who asked to not be identified. The Bin Laden investment in Carlyle was about $2 million at the time it was sold in the autumn of 2001, but Briody’s reporting suggests that the family may have made and cashed out larger investments during the 1990s. “knew them…favorite politician”: Telephone interview with Charles Schwartz, September 20, 2006.
15. Saudi purchase, Middle East Broadcasting support: Interview with Tobin Beck, former UPI editor, October 12, 2005. “I don’t appreciate…service”: Interview with Arnaud de Borchgrave, March 10, 2005.
16. “clearly a man”: Interview with Borchgrave, ibid.
17. Interviews with two family members and several Desert Bear neighbors who asked to not be identified.
18. The portrait is drawn from interviews with several former classmates and Abdullah’s academic adviser. Range Rover: Telephone interview with Nada Abdelsater-Abusamra, January 2006 (RS). Near Beacon Street, Papa Razzi: Telephone interview with Lama Abu-Odeh, January 15, 2006 (RS).
19. “I would tease…you can tell me”: All quotations from interview with Abu-Odeh, ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. “It could well be…feasible”: Bin Laden, “Western Banking Practices…” p. 2.
22. “the academic…religion”: Interview with Frank Vogel, December 2005 (RS).
23. “They were interested…Middle East”: Interview with Vogel, ibid.
24. Interview with Andrew Hess, December 2005 (RS).
25. Ibid.
1. Car bomb: United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, staff report, September 12, 1996. Former Vinnell board member: Briody, The Iron Triangle, p. 67.
2. Christmas 1995, Bakr flew guests from America: Interview with Gerald Auerbach, May 11, 2005.
3. Interviews with several guests and members who have visited since the 1990s. The author visited the club as a guest more recently. 201 bedroom chalets and studios: Saudi Bin Laden Group Web site, pages examined and printed by Peter Bergen prior to September 11, 2001.
4. Interview with Auerbach, op. cit.
5. Ibrahim family real estate holdings: Los Angeles Business Journal, July 26, 1993, citing a press release from Newfield Enterprises International, a family holding company. “heart of hearts…next king”: Interview with Wyche Fowler, June 1, 2005.
6. “abrupt, impulsive…popular”: in Burdett (ed.), Records of Saudi Arabia, 1966–1971, Volume 2: 1967, Part I.
7. CIA request, all quotations from Scheuer: Interview with Michael Scheuer, July 5, 2005. Clarke on Yemen: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 59.
8. Interviews with four former U.S. officials familiar with the bugging incident and its aftermath. Robert Baer, a former CIA officer, in his book Sleeping with the Devil, apparently tried to disclose this incident publicly for the first time but had the material redacted by CIA censors, to whom he was required to submit his manuscript because of his previous government service. To show readers where censors had taken out material from his draft, Baer inserted black lines in his published book. On page 18, he wrote, “I often wondered why [Nayef] hated the U.S. so much.” This sentence is followed by five redacted lines. (Baer was not a source for the disclosure here, so it is possible that he was trying to make a different point.)
1. Hammoudi, A Season in Mecca. “Through the window…firmament”: pp. 74–75. “shop-windows…neon-lit boards”: pp. 82–84. “‘Modernity’ ravaged everything”: p. 111.
2. Ibid., pp. 109–15.
3. “deliberate desire”: Ibid., p. 114. The $25 billion figure is regularly cited in press accounts, e.g., Time, October 7, 2001. The Bin Ladens themselves, in their self-published book Story of the Great Expansion, refer to “more than 50 billion Saudi riyals” in total spending, or at least $12 billion.
4. Prophet’s Mosque about one-tenth the size of the Grand Mosque: Abbas, Story of the Great Expansion, p. 371. Other details of the projects, and their sequence, are drawn from this official Bin Laden company account.
5. Interview with Anwar Hassan, York International Corporation, October 13, 2005, and written briefing materials supplied to the author by Hassan and his colleagues.
6. All quotations from Hassan interview, ibid.
7. Angawi’s background and “to preserve…holy cities”: Interview with Sami Angawi, April 25, 2005.
8. Ibid.
9. “The largest…souls”: Caudill, “Twlight of the Hejaz” (manuscript), pp. 74–75.
10. Story of the Great Expansion, op. cit., pp. 51–64.
11. Interview with Angawi, op. cit.
12. “This is where…heritage”: Interview with a Jeddah professional who asked to not be identified.
13. Interview with Angawi, op. cit.
14. Ibid.
15. Story of the Great Expansion, op. cit., dedication by Bakr Bin Laden.
16. All quotations from “The Saudi Regime and Repeated Tragedies of the Pilgrims,” Harmony AFGP 2002-003214, Statement 19.
1. Independent (London), May 18, 1998.
2. Whalen, “Communications Satellites: Making the Global Village Possible,” www.hq.nasa.gov, examined and typed, July 17, 2006.
3. Around 1987, about $5 billion: New York Times, April 11, 2000. Motorola’s fixed-price contract of about $3.5 billion: Securities and Exchange Commission, Iridium LLC, S-4 filing, July 21, 1997.
4. Swiss conference, “drop down…”: Telephone interview with F. Thomas Tuttle, July 19, 2006.
5. Trinford Investments: S-4 filing, op. cit., July 21, 1997. The two $40 million cash contributions are described in this document and by Tuttle, ibid., and a second former Iridium executive who asked to not be identified. Raised $3.46 billion: S-4, ibid. The final amount of equity investments may have been higher; it was supplemented by bank lending.
6. Iridium Middle East in Washington, Hassan at board meetings: Interviews with four former executives, three at Iridium, including Tuttle, who were familiar with the operation.
7. Johnny Walker sessions, and “has been ex-communicated”: Interview with a former Iridium executive. Hassan’s nocturnal habits were described in interviews by two former colleagues in the United States and several of his acquaintances in Beirut and Jeddah.
8. Major shareholder in Hard Rock Middle East: E-mail communication from Hard Rock spokesman, January 23, 2006. Slang, every pinball machine: Interview with a colleague in Beirut who asked to not be identified. Youth in Beirut, Layla, lived in hotels: Telephone interview with Layla Moussa, April 24, 2006 (RS). Cars, Al-Ittihad, Umm Kulsum: Interview with the Beirut colleague, op. cit., and a second Beirut acquaintance.
9. Opening night, list of paraphernalia: Interview with a colleague who attended; details posted on the restaurant’s Web site, examined and typed by R.S., April 2006; site visit by R.S., April 2006.
10. Market size, 14 million wireless customers: S-4 filing, op. cit., July 21, 1997. Phones three thousand dollars, calls up to seven dollars per minute: New York Times, April 11, 2000.
11. “complete the telephone…very proud”: Washington Post, August 21, 1999.
12. “I had a Mongolian”: Interview with a former Iridium executive, who asked to not be identified. “What we had”: Interview with Tuttle, op. cit.
13. S-4 filing, op. cit., July 21, 1997.
14. Transcript of Khaled Batarfi interview with Osama’s mother, supplied to the author by Batarfi.
15. “Bin Laden ‘Bodyguard’ Details Al Qaeda’s Time in Sudan, Move to Afghanistan,” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 28, 2005. FBIS translation.
16. Public Broadcasting System translation. www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html, examined and typed, July 10, 2007.
17. “Former Bin Laden ‘Bodyguard’ Discusses Al Qaeda Training Methods, ‘Libraries,’” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 26, 2005. FBIS translation.
18. “What is…all and sundry”: ‘Bodyguard Interviewed on First Meeting With Bin Laden,” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 26, 2005. FBIS translation.
19. Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 165.
20. “like sort…a fish”: Ibid., p. 181. “did not like…very late”: “Bin Laden’s Wife Interviewed…” Al-Majallah, March 10, 2002. FBIS translation.
21. Testimony of Detective Inspector Noel Feeney, United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 98CR1023, March 27, 2001.
22. The News (Islamabad), June 16, 1998. English original, FBIS transmission.
23. Purchase November 1, 1996: Trial stipulations, U.S. v. Usama Bin Laden et al., op. cit., March 27, 2001. Inmarsat history, market position: Interviews with two former Iridium executives.
24. Call records: Sunday Times (London), March 24, 2002, and Newsweek, February 25, 2002.
25. Interview with Michael Scheuer, July 5, 2005.
26. Scheure (as “Anonymous”), Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, pp. 22–23.
27. Interview with Tuttle, op. cit. Statements to press: Daily News (New York), August 27, 1998. Interspace, September 9, 1998.
28. Only fifty-five thousand subscribers, write-offs of more than $2.5 billion: New York Times, April 11, 2000.
29. Department of Defense transcript, news briefing, December 8, 2000.
1. Interview with Daniel Coleman, August 31, 2005.
2. That the Sudan files were very detailed: Interviews with two U.S. officials who read the files later. Two defectors in 1996, first introduction of the term “Al Qaeda”: Interview with Coleman, ibid.
3. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” Staff Report to the Commission by John Roth, Douglas Greenburg, Serena Wille, August 2004, p. 35.
4. Scheuer’s skepticism about money investigations: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” ibid., p. 36. Also, interview with Michael Scheuer, July 5, 2005, and interview with Coleman, op. cit.
5. Interview with Coleman, op. cit. Griffin declined to comment.
6. “proper conversation…talking about”: Interview with Coleman, op. cit.
7. All quotations from interview with Coleman. Urowsky declined to comment.
8. “at the senior…kind of trouble”: All quotations from interview with Scheuer. Freeh declined to comment.
9. “They said…economic system”: Ibid.
10. “Okay…establishments”: Ibid.
11. Interviews with Wyche Fowler Jr., June 1, 2005, and John Brennan, September 13, 2006.
12. Ibid.
13. Investigators for the 9/11 Commission, after a thorough review of classified U.S. records, reported that neither the White House nor the intelligence community understood the details of Osama’s inheritance until 1999 or 2000. It is possible, however, that some of this information surfaced earlier, at least in outline form; for instance, as part of Dan Coleman’s early interviews with Osama’s half-brothers. If so, the information never reached the National Security Council.
14. Interview with Brennan, op. cit.
15. “a decided reluctance…his brothers”: Interview with Scheuer, op. cit.
16. Interviews with Fowler and Brennan, op. cit. Fowler also said, “One will recall that all the members of the Bin Laden family in the U.S. were allowed to return to Saudi Arabia in the days after September 11, which is because the FBI and the White House had cleared them of any terroristic activities, and because of the complete cooperation of the Bin Laden family in the three or four years preceding 9/11.”
17. Inventory of CIA concerns: Interviews with four former U.S. officials familiar with the CIA’s investigations, including Scheuer, op. cit. Khalfa used M.B.C. travel office: Affidavit of M.B.C. employee Eulalio Dela Pat. December 1, 2005, In Re Terrorist Attacks.
18. “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., p. 39.
19. Interviews with three former U.S. officials involved in the discussions.
20. That Abdullah Bin Awadh of WAMY is a nephew of Osama: Affidavit of Omar M. Bin Laden, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570, January 25, 2006. The same information is also cited in “Supplemental Declaration In Support of Pre-Trial Detention,” an affidavit by Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Senior Special Agent David Kane, filed in U.S. v. Soliman S. Biheiri, September 11, 2003; Kane attributes the information to an interview with Biheiri, who said he managed investments from Abdullah. None of these documents identifies which of Osama’s half-brothers or half-sisters is Abdullah’s parent, however. Two of Osama’s half-sisters, Iman and Nur, are identified by Biheiri as investors in the same projects as Abdullah, according to Kane.
21. More than fifty offices, five continents: Kane affidavit, ibid. Abdullah’s account of his activities, including all quotations from “the deliberate…” through “good word” are from “Saudi Arabia: Paper on Efforts to Promote Islam in U.S.,” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, October 19, 1997, FBIS translation. The quotations appear to be the journalist’s paraphrase of Abdullah’s remarks.
22. Kane affidavit, op. cit.
23. Interview with Coleman, op. cit.
24. Kane affidavit, op. cit. Also, notes from a Biheiri interrogation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in June 2003, filed in Alexandria federal court: Notes from the transcript taken by Washington Post reporter Mary Beth Sheridan and generously shared with the author by her.
25. “has long acted”: “Declaration in Support of Pre-Trial Detention,” affidavit of David Kane, United States of America v. Soliman S. Biheiri, United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, 03-365-A. August 14, 2003. “indirect investment…on request”: Letter from George B. Wolfe, Deputy General Counsel, U.S. Treasury Department, to Claude Nicati, Office of the Swiss Prosecutor General, January 4, 2002. Ghalib’s account history and lawsuit: Documents submitted in In Re Terrorist Attacks, op. cit. “seeking to put the bank out of business”: “Defendant Saudi Bin Ladin Group’s Response to Plaintiffs’ Objections…Dated July 26, 2007,” ibid.
26. An offshore entity controlled by Saudi Bin Laden Group: Declaration of Johann DeVilliers, Global Diamond chairman, Mood v. Global Diamond Resources, United States District Court, Southern District of California, 99cv01565. DeVilliers referred to the controlling entity as “The Bin Laden Group.” He described Al-Qadi as a “principal of one of the Middle Eastern investors.” Al-Qadi designation: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/sdnlist.txt. Examined and typed, July 16, 2007. “front”: Citation quoted in Chicago Tribune, October 28, 2001. Al-Qadi denied, met Osama in 1980s: Chicago Tribune, ibid.; “Saudi Businessman on U.S. List…Dismisses Charge,” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, October 14, 2001, FBIS translation.
27. Scheuer, as “Anonymous,” Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, p. 34.
28. “lots of talk…been named”: Interview with Dominic Simpson, May 17, 2002.
29. “always got…for him”: Ibid. “generally turned away”: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., pp. 17–18.
30. November 1998 CIA report, “reasonable estimate”: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., p. 20. DIA report: Redacted and released, Judicial Watch, Inc.
31. “This is insane…from daddy”: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 191.
32. Interviews with former U.S. officials.
33. The account of the meeting in Saudi Arabia is from several former U.S. officials. See also Clarke, op. cit., pp. 191–95, and “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., which provide similar accounts.
34. Interviews with three U.S. officials and former officials familiar with the discussions.
35. For the details of what the Bin Ladens finally disclosed to Treasury, see also “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., p. 20. This otherwise admirable study, in seeking to debunk the $300 million myth publicly, contains one dubious assertion, referring to Osama’s forced sales of shares in 1994: “The Saudi freeze had the effect of divesting Bin Laden of what would otherwise have been a $300 million fortune.” This is a considerable overstatement: even today, after inflation and growth in the Bin Laden empire, ownership of between 1 and 2 percent of the Bin Laden companies, as Osama seems to have possessed in 1994, would almost certainly be worth much less.
36. Interview with Coleman, op. cit.
37. “We presently…his cause”: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., p. 18.
38. Interviews with two individuals who reviewed the FBI’s pre-9/11 files on Bin Laden finances.
39. Interview with Coleman, op. cit., and a second senior former FBI official.
40. “hampered…disruption”: “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” op. cit., p. 6. Africa $10,000, 9/11 about $400,000: Ibid., pp. 27–28.
41. Estimates of Al Qaeda budgeting, late 1990s: Ibid., pp. 18, 28. Omar’s palace, mosque, shopping market: Author’s visit to Kandahar, 2002. Even these Al Qaeda budget figures are at best approximations, little more than educated guesses. As the authors of the monograph, who systematically reviewed U.S. intelligence in this area, conceded, “There is much the U.S. government did not know (and still does not know) about Bin Laden’s resources and how Al Qaeda raises, moves, and spends its money.”
1. “There’s only one sheikh…family”: Interview with an individual close to the Bin Laden family, who asked to not be identified. The portrait of Bakr that follows is drawn primarily from interviews with this person and three other people, who asked to not be identified, who interacted with Bakr during this period.
2. Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Amman Grand Hyatt: Saudi Bin Laden Group Web site pages printed by Peter Bergen in the summer of 2001 and shared with the author. United Medical Group: www.umgco.com, examined and typed, July 20, 2006.
3. Badging policy, severance policy: Saudi Bin Laden Group employment policy documents filed in Mood v. Global Diamond Resources, et al., United States District Court, Southern District of California, 99cv01565.
4. Interviews with individuals close to the family who asked to not be identified.
5. Caudill, “Twilight in the Hejaz” (manuscript), pp. 138–39.
6. Agence France Presse, February 18, 2001; Mail on Sunday (London), February 18, 2001; Observer (London), February 18, 2001; Press Association (London), February 17, 2001.
7. Ibid. The exchange was reported in the same way by multiple British journalists, all of whom were traveling in Saudi Arabia with Prince Charles at the time and all of whom sourced the exchange to a person present at the event.
8. Preferred the plural “Faiths”: Daily Telegraph (London), January 11, 2005. “misunderstandings…from Islam”: “Islam and the West,” Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, October 27, 1993.
9. Press Association, February 17, 2001, op. cit.; www.shell-me.com examined and typed, September 6, 2006.
10. Interviews with three individuals familiar with the contacts with State and Bush. Also Daniel Golden, James Bandler, Marcus Walker, Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2001.
11. Meetings with Carter, donations: E-mail communication from Deanna Congileo, the Carter Center, October 12, 2005. One of only two trips to the U.S. since 1973: Affidavit of Bakr Bin Laden, In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570, January 25, 2006.
12. “for as long…acts of violence”: Police report of Michele Smith filed in Franklin Frisaura v. Regina Frisaura, Orange County, Florida, DR97-3754. Examined and typed, January 24, 2006. Franklin Frisaura declined to comment.
13. All documents and quotations, ibid.
14. The Marina, Bin Laden Island: Interviews with visitors, including Yahia Agaty, November 19, 2005 (RS) and a second individual who asked to not be identified. Robin Shulman visited and photographed the resort.
15. The 9/11 Commission Report, p. 154.
16. “theater…superterrorist”: Ibid.
17. Ibid., pp. 154–55.
18. Wedding video: Meeting Osama Bin Laden, Brook Lapping Productions, 2004. Four to five hundred guests, the scene: Zaidan in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, pp. 255–56.
19. Ibid., p. 255.
20. Ibid., p. 256.
21. Ibid.
1. Interview with Jason Blum and Ricardo Pascetta, July 1, 2007 (KH). Interview with Ricardo Pascetta, June 2, 2007 (KH).
2. Interview with Blum, ibid.
3. “how horribile…at her”: Ibid. “violence…Islam”: Redacted FBI documents released and published by Judicial Watch as a result of its FOIA filings and lawsuit, Judicial Watch v. Department of Homeland Security & Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States District Court, District of Columbia, 04-1643 (RWR). The document describing the interview with Najiah, and quoting her, has redacted her name, but the context makes clear that it is her.
4. Interview with Blum, op. cit.
5. “The guy turned…out of here”: All quotations from interview with Blum, ibid. The circumstances of the flight crew’s revolt were also described by Pascetta, op. cit.
6. The other groups of Saudi royals: Judicial Watch documents, op. cit. That Bandar did not discuss the flights with Bush, and “Those people…no problem”: Simpson, The Prince, pp. 314–16.
7. Interview with Fred Dutton, May 24, 2005. Dutton died about a month after this interview, on June 25, 2005, at the age of eighty-two.
8. “what to do…bad apple”: Interview with Dutton, ibid.
9. All quotations, ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. The meeting, “solicitous and kind”: Interview with Chas Freeman, June 15, 2005.
12. Ibid.
13. Yeslam has given several similar interviews describing his experiences and thinking on September 11 and afterward. See, for example, Dateline NBC, broadcast July 9, 2004. The quotations here are from a published question-and-answer interview in VSB, Geneva, December 2005, translated and filed in In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570.
14. “Bin Laden’s half-brother condemns U.S. attacks,” Agence France Presse, September 12, 2001.
15. “the possibility…Saudi Arabia”: Dateline NBC, op. cit.
16. “The strong…Islamic faith”: Guardian (London) September 21, 2001. “This is a criminal act…who died”: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS). “bloody Arabs”: The author was present when the conversation occurred; the person who received the phone call relayed the language after hanging up.
17. “Even if I do not condone…deserve it”: Interview with Bassim Alim, February 21, 2005.
18. “a large amount…his family”: From FBI documents released by Judicial Watch, op. cit.
19. Interview with Blum, op. cit.
20. Ibid.
21. Redactions in the FBI documents released to Judicial Watch make it difficult to be certain about the identity of the Washington passenger who was not interviewed. There were only five Washington passengers, however; of these, two were Shafiq and Akber Moawalla, who were clearly interviewed. Two others were college age. The fifth was Omar, who was then thirty-one years old.
22. Interviews with Blum and Pascetta, op. cit.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. “Believe me…human being”: Boston Globe, October 7, 2001.
26. The Record (Bergen County, NJ), September 27, 2001.
27. All quotations, ibid.
28. Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, pp. 111–12.
29. Ibid., pp. 117–22.
30. Ibid., pp. 124–25.
31. Hamud (ed.), Osama Bin Laden, pp. 75–79.
32. “a certain posture…corporation”: Interview with Andrew Hess, December 2005 (RS).
33. Sunday Telegraph (London), December 16, 2001.
34. All quotations, ibid.
1. The account of the delegation’s trip and the exchange with Bakr Bin Laden is primarily from interviews with officials familiar with the Treasury Department’s work during this period. See also “Testimony of R. Richard Newcomb, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of Treasury Before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversights and Investigations,” June 16, 2004.
2. Interviews with two former U.S. officials involved in the discussions, who asked to not be identified.
3. Boston field office on September 11: Boston Herald, September 18, 2001. Other FBI investigations: Interviews with two former FBI officials and with several former Bin Laden partners and employees who were interviewed by the FBI or Department of Homeland Security investigators after September 11. FBI struggled with analysis: Declassified FBI files obtained by Judicial Watch show that much of the bureau’s written analysis of the family’s history and activity remained poorly developed.
4. Interviews with former Bin Laden partners and employees, and with former FBI officials, ibid. See chapter 24, footnote 19.
5. Telephone interview with Charles Tickle, February 16, 2006.
6. “couldn’t help…a threat”: Interview with Dale Watson, May 27, 2005. Interview with Dennis Lormel, May 25, 2005.
7. Interview with Lormel, ibid.
8. Interview with a former U.S. official who asked to not be identified.
9. Declassified e-mail obtained and released by Judicial Watch.
10. “who were emotional…the victims”: Interview with Peri Bearman, December 2005 (RS). Fellowships suspended: E-mail communication from Frank Vogel, Harvard University.
11. “The family wasn’t”: Telephone interview with John McManus, February 13, 2006. Bakr’s reaction: Interview with an individual who spoke with him, who asked to not be identified.
12. “is fully separated”: Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2001. “a very honored name…cover”: Associated Press, October 7, 2001.
13. Senior brothers did not go back: Interviews with two individuals close to the family who asked to not be identified. “I don’t know…this way”: Interview with Gail Freeman, April 27, 2006. Scotland Yard: Interview with an individual familiar with the incident, who asked to not be identified. London assault: Express (London) and Sun (London) August 16, 2002. German hotel: Interview with a second individual familiar with the incident.
14. Interview with a member of the Harley club, who asked to not be identified.
15. Transcript of 20/20 broadcast, March 15, 2002.
16. Interview with a person involved with the 20/20 broadcast who asked to not be identified. Barbara Walters did not respond to requests for comment.
17. Interview with Khaled Al-Maenna, February 20, 2005.
18. Interview with an individual who worked with Bridges and who asked to not be identified.
19. Interview with a person involved in the episode who asked to not be identified. Barbara Walters did not respond to requests for comment.
20. Broadcast transcript, op. cit.
1. Interview with Jack Kayajanian, August 25, 2005.
2. “I began…September 11”: “Supplemental Declaration” of Ibrahim Bin Laden, September 30, 2002, filed in Christine Binladin v. Ibrahim Binladin, Los Angeles County Superior Court, BD058156.
3. Interview with Kayajanian, op. cit. Christine’s financial condition from her Income and Expense Declaration, filed December 18, 2002, ibid.
4. Interview with Kayajanian, op. cit.
5. “my own safety…many individuals”: Supplemental Declaration, September 30, 2002, op. cit.
6. Interview with Kayajanian, op. cit.
7. Much of the record concerning the custody struggle over Sibba that erupted in 2002 remains sealed, but the $4 million bond order is part of the public court file; it was an aspect of the court’s rulings on custody issued October 4, 2002.
8. The attitude of Bakr and the brothers around him: Interview with two individuals close to the family, one of whom discussed the matter directly with Bakr; they asked to not be identified.
9. “I feel…like yours”: Associated Press, December 23, 2005.
10. “The name…the ocean”: Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2002.
11. “accepted moral standards”: Associated Press, January 18, 2002. “insensitive”: Bloomberg News, January 22, 2002. “I am not…a newspaper”: Time, November 8, 2004.
12. Boutique, watches, perfume blends: Author’s visit, December 2006. “shy, quiet…narrow legs”: Marianne MacDonald, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Evening Standard (London) May 26, 2006.
13. All quotations, MacDonald, ibid.
1. “She’s still…good to Sama”: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS). Caroline remarried about eight years after Salem’s death: Interview with a person close to the family who asked to not be identified.
2. The author is grateful to Robin Shulman for her enterprising field research, which brought her to the horse show where she made all of the observations and conducted all the interviews reflected in this section. Much of the descriptive language is also hers.
3. All quotations in this section, ibid. The brochure about Rabab was provided to Robin Shulman during her visit to Khaled’s estate.
4. Interviews with General Fathy Fathalla and Manfred Baier, Cairo Airport Company, November 21, 2005 (RS).
5. “My father…camel again”: Interview with Bengt Johansson, October 3, 2006.
6. Interview with an individual who discussed the issues with Yahya and who asked to not be identified.
7. House of Saud, coproduced by Martin Smith and Chris Durrance for Frontline, 2005.
8. “The B.A.E. files,” by David Leigh and Rob Evans, Guardian (London), June 7, 2007.
9. “under…to Al Qaeda”: from “First Amended Complaint” (the insurers’ complaint), In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 03 MDL 1570. Legal bills exceeded $10 million: Interview with a Saudi official who asked to not be identified.
10. Interviews with three people in the Orlando area who made inquiries about the property.
11. Abdulaziz Bin Bakr: Gulf News, November 18, 2006.
12. Interview with Anwar Hassan, October 13, 2005, and written materials provided by Hassan.
13. “were furious…themselves”: Ibid.
14. Worldwide Projects, Inc., July 1, 2003.
15. Economic City plans: Al-Bawaba (Saudi Arabia), December 21, 2005. “could either make…huge in scope”: Interview with a Bin Laden executive who asked to not be identified.
16. Washington Post, October 14, 2005.
17. Worldwide Projects, Inc., April 1, 2006.
1. Author’s visit, December 2005.
2. Brochure quotations from Fame materials obtained by the author. Abdullah’s business and lifestyle: Interviews with four colleagues and acquaintances in Jeddah, who asked to not be identified. See also “Bin Laden’s Eldest Son Speaks…” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, October 21, 2001.
3. At least twenty-three children: Associated Press, November 4, 2002. Arranged for at least one wife’s departure: “Bin Laden’s Wife Interviewed…” Al-Majallah, March 10, 2002. Yemeni wife home by December: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, December 29, 2001. Her return was confirmed by several Yemeni journalists during the author’s visit to the country in March 2007.
4. “Saudi Interior Minister on Bin Laden’s Sons…” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, July 3, 2004.
5. “Osama did…the family”: Quoted in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 384.
6. “Omar is wary…misses his father”: Times (London), July 11, 2007. “Polygamy…she was forty”: Express (London), July 16, 2007. Sun (London), September 20, 2007.
7. All quotations from “Al-Majallah Obtains Bin Laden’s Will…” Al-Majallah, October 27, 2002, FBIS translation.
8. All quotations, ibid.
9. All quotations from Bergen, op. cit., p. 371.
10. “I am…whole world”: Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 208.
11. “a rare…world infidelity”: “FBIS Report in Arabic,” May 6, 2004.
12. Reward scheme: Ibid. “It is true…foreign one”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 255.
13. “shows that…Islamic world”: “FBIS Report,” op. cit.
14. “The Americans…intellects”: Messages to the World, op. cit., pp. 126–27.
15. “Some American…from you?’: Ibid., pp. 161–62.
16. All quotations, Ibid., pp. 162–68.
17. “The swimmer…rain”: BBC Monitoring, January 19, 2006.
18. “The freedom…America”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 169.
19. “America…Zionist lobby”: Ibid., p. 110. “the idiots…from a lion”: “Bin Laden Calls Saudi Initiative ‘High Treason’…” Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 28, 2002.
20. “I miss…wolves”: Messages to the World, op. cit., p. 248.
21. “that when…evil”: Ibid., pp. 254–55.
22. “demonstrate…ugliness”: Ibid., p. 194.
23. “underline…God Almighty”: Ibid., p. 183. “war winners”: Scheuer (as “Anonymous”), Through Our Enemies’ Eyes, p. 66.
24. All quotations, BBC Monitoring, op. cit.
25. All quotations, ABC News transcript, abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/transcript2.pdf.