Bin Laden told children 'live in peace in the West' AFP â Sun, Feb 12, 2012 Slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden urged his children to go live peacefully in the West and get a university education, his brother-in-law said in an interview published Sunday. Zakaria al-Sadah, the brother of bin Laden's Yemeni fifth wife Amal, told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that the Saudi-born extremist believed his children "should not follow him down the road to jihad." "He told his own children and grandchildren, 'Go to Europe and America and get a good education,'" al-Sadah told the Sunday Times. Al-Sadah said bin Laden told them: "You have to study, live in peace and don't do what I am doing or what I have done." Bin Laden was killed in a commando raid in May 2011 by US Navy SEALS at a house in the garrison town of Abbottabad, northwest Pakistan, where he had been living for several years. Al-Sadah said that in November he had seen his sister for the first time since she was shot in the knee during the raid, and had since been allowed to have a number of meetings with her in the presence of guards. He said the three wives and nine children who were in the compound -- some are bin Laden's children and others are his grandchildren -- have been held for months in a three-room flat in Islamabad. They are guarded by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, he said. The Sunday Times published what it said was the first photograph to show some of the young children from the compound: two sons and a daughter, and two grandsons and a granddaughter. The children were still traumatised after seeing the raid in which bin Laden died, al-Sadah said. "These children have seen their father killed and they need a caring environment, not a prison -- whatever you think of their father and what he has done," he said. A Pakistani commission investigating the raid said in October that it had lifted travel restrictions on Bin Laden's family and al-Sadah flew to Islamabad in November to take Amal and her children home. But he said Pakistani officials had refused to let him take them. There was no immediate response to the claims from Pakistani officials. http://news.yahoo.com/bin-laden-told-children-live-peace-west-163431838.html
It reminds me a scene in the Godfather, where Vito said to Micheal that he did not want his life for him. He was hoping for more than thuggery, but there was not enuf time. Osama bit the hand that fed him, and the penalty for that is severe, always. I hope his kids to learn that one lesson, do not bite the hand that feeds you.
What this tells me is, even bin Laden had the sense to appreciate what we have, unlike some on this board.
That is the lesson of OBL? Is that the slate or the Maher version? Out of all the lessons that is the one you highlight? Why not be more cynical... how about don't target a country who has drones and satellites or you will be forced to dress like a women and live in caves or your own prison. Why not something more in line with the story from his family Don't hate the west, join it. or Don't be a merceny for empty rhetoric.
What this tells me is what I know all along -- that people are not the cardboard heroes and villains the press, the politicians, and particularly the neocons, try to make them out to be. For example, while Ahmadinejad has some extreme views and like any sensible person I disagree with him on many things, he doesn't have horns and a tail and isn't the Next Hitler (TM)*. I certainly appreciate what this country has. I just hate how the politicians and our corporate overlords are taking it all away. We used to have a strong economy. Now we have trillion dollar federal deficits and a huge and permanent trade deficit. We used to have the Bill of Rights. Now people seem happy to undergo a strip search just to get on a plane, and the TSA is promising to extend the practice to trains and buses. * Next Hitler is trademarked by the neocons, all rights reserved.
He told his own children and grandchildren, 'Go to Europe and America and get a good education,'" al-Sadah told the Sunday Times. Al-Sadah said bin Laden told them: "You have to study, live in peace and don't do what I am doing or what I have done." The more I think about this, this is the most compelling thing in the war on terrorism we could have possibly see. OBL endorses the west for his family. How come people are not making a bigger deal about this. This message should be countering terrorist recruiting. This is a message which should decrease jihad.
By "people" you just meant those like bin Laden and Ahmadinejad, right? You didn't mean to include neocons, Zionists, AIPAC whores, or anyone who's not for Ron Paul, did you?