The Bin Ladens

Around 5 years after 9/11, I started to become interested in the factors that led to that infamous day, easily the defining world event of my life and a turning point in the escalating clash between Eastern and Western Civilization. In the first few years after the attack, researchers focused on two key questions: how had the CIA failed to thwart the attack and what chain of events led to the rise of Bin Laden and Al Qaida. Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies and Robert Baur’s See No Evil (the inspiration for the film Syriana) provided excellent recounts of oversights within the CIA, the carelessness of the Bush Administration, and the failure of government agencies to work together to identify threats. Other prominent works include Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower, which did an excellent job charting the rise of the Al Qaida, and Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars, a must read examination into how the Afghanistan War created a culture of resistance in the Arab world, leading to the Jihad on America. Both The Looming Tower and Ghost Wars won Pulitzer Prizes, and thankfully, Steve Coll has continued to examine 9/11 with his new book, The Bin Ladens.

In studying Osama Bin Laden’s rise and excommunication from the wealthy Bin Laden family, The Bin Ladens moves past Osama in taking a close look at those in the family who curried the favour of Saudi Arabia’s royal family to earn numerous construction contacts. The Saudi Royal Family spent billions of dollars in the 20th century on palaces and mosques, using its fortuitous oil reserves to spend lavishly on themselves, giving little thought to generating an economy. The rise of the Bin Ladens, led by Mahammed Bin Laden, is a fascinating story, expertly described by Coll, who focuses on the family’s entrepreneurial drive in a book that has closer parallels to Richard Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity, than to other books centered on the events of 9/11. First Mahammed, then his oldest son Salem, Osama’s half-brother, are described for the leadership roles they took in creating one of the most successful corporations in the Saudi Kingdom. In fact, the family’s passion for flying would have helped them get along well with Branson, whose wild ways mirrored those of Salem Bin Laden, a businessman who did not like to involve himself in religion or politics, and lived a life that was more suited to a Hollywood movie star than a prominant figure in one of the most religious societies in the world. Compared to his father Mahammed, who fathered more that 50 children, and his half-brother Salem, Osama’s pious and narrow minded views, and contradictory rhetoric, make him a fairly uninteresting figure.

Osama’s actions hang over Coll’s story from start to finish. As he describes the personalities and accomplishments of the Bin Laden children, including a Harvard PHD and a multitude of accomplished businessmen and engineers, Osama’s betrayal makes tragic figures of the extended Bin Laden family. Coll examines numerous legal documents and conducts an extensive series of interviews which seem to exonerate the Bin Laden family from any wrong doing associated with Bin Laden’s war, and he paints a picture of a proud family, ashamed by Osama’s action, which makes them more noble than the droves of individuals in the Arab world who consider Osama to be a hero. Coll does the Bin Laden family a great service with this recount of their rise to prominence, and except for his occasional attacks on Osama’s hypocritical actions and unfounded religious doctines (much deserved), he maintains an unbiased view throughout the book. In describing the rise of the Bin Ladens, the concomitant rise of the Al-Saud family is nicely outlined as well, providing insight into the birth of Saudi Arabia and the work of the Saudi Royal family in making Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammed, and Medina, the place of his exile, the glamorous centers of the Muslim world, possibly the only good use of their oil wealth to date.

Steve Coll is one of the foremost experts on Osama Bin Laden’s world, and his works give us important details on Osama’s rise, his psychological state-of-mind, and his leadership role in Al Qaida. His books are riveting, I read this recent 600 page epic in 4 days, unable to stop sometimes late into the night. Hopefully, someday soon, Osama will be found, and I sincerity hope Coll will tell that story too.