innocence shattered

Growing Up bin Laden Of course, there were warning signs: Osama banned fridges and air-conditioning. Jokes and toys were forbidden. Omar’s childhood was marked by regular beatings and survivalist training; the army of ruffians and retainers who called his father “Prince”; and that mullah who had given his father an entire mountain in Tora Bora.

Omar bin Laden – fourth son turned peace-loving refusenik of Osama – is reliant on the good graces of a number of easily offended people. The person he can afford to offend, doing so with intelligence and insight, is his father.