Osama Bin Laden ‘a nice guy really’
A terrorist responsible for 9/11 and the death of thousands, but Al Qaeda’s new chief Ayman Al Zawahri wants us to believe there was a softer side to his former boss
Here’s how the new head of Al Qaeda remembers Osama bin Laden – a sensitive man who cried when his friends lost family members, remained close to his children despite the hard life of an international jihadist, and fondly remembered by name the 19 men who carried out the deadliest ever terrorist attack on US soil.
Bin Laden’s long-time deputy Ayman Al Zawahri, now the terror group’s head, related these and other memories in a video posted on jihadist websites, in which he said he wants “to show the human side” of Bin Laden.
In doing so, he is also likely attempting to boost his own popularity by emphasising his closeness to the terror group’s former, more charismatic leader. Bin Laden, who built Al Qaeda into the world’s most feared and despised terror organisation, was killed by US Navy SEALs in May during a raid in Pakistan. Al Zawahri assumed control shortly afterwards.
Throughout the 30-minute video, apparently the first in a series, he emphasises what he calls the “nobility” of Bin Laden’s character. “People don’t know this man was tender, gentle, kind, with refined feelings, even if life was hard,”
Al Zawahri said. “We never saw a man like him.”
He recalls one occasion when he and Bin Laden were hiding in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora, saying the leader wrote death certificates for each one of the 9/11 hijackers, fearing he would be killed “without remembering these heroic martyrs”.
He tells stories of how Bin Laden remembered Al Qaeda members who died fighting jihad, or “holy war”, giving special mention to the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks in the United States, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Al Zawahri also relates getting the news that some members of his family had been killed, recalling Bin Laden came to him with tears and hugged him.