The Story of O (BL)

O stands for Osama, Osama bin Laden, that is.

In this outstanding piece of journalism, Der Spiegel Online paints a picture of a less than innocent bin Laden family. This far-flung family, with businesses, bank accounts and internecine links throughout the world, has basically been out of bounds for investigators of 9/11. And I doubt that the reason Bush allowed so many Saudis, including many members of the bin Laden family, to leave the United States in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 will be answered any time soon.

One of the astonishing figures in this piece is the fact that Osama was his father's 17th child in 1956, but that ten year's later, his father sired his 54th child, his last. If one believes that blood is, indeed, thicker than water, it is hard to believe at the same time that the entire bin Laden family has "disowned" Osama and repudiated al-Queda.


PART I
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,359690,00.html

PART II
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,359831,00.html