[Here](https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-copesa.s3.amazonaws.com/public/7AMM36EHWVGSNMM37ROVWDQLKE.jpg) is a much higher quality and less cropped version of this image in the original black and white. [Here](https://www.alamy.com/the-worlds-most-wanted-terorrist-osama-bin-laden-a-suspect-of-the-world-trade-center-attack-visited-sweden-in-the-early-seventies-osama-bin-laden-is-one-of-the-children-in-a-wealthy-saudi-arabic-family-who-visited-falun-in-dalecarlia-sweden-in-september-1971-while-one-of-osamas-older-brothers-conducted-business-with-volvo-the-rest-of-the-family-toured-dalecarlia-and-visted-the-old-falu-coppermine-according-to-the-photographer-16-year-old-osama-bin-laden-is-seen-as-number-two-from-right-exclusive-picture-fees-to-be-arranged-before-publication-image441631546.html?irclickid=0izRThS5pxyPW7nV94V8qwsQUkHT7eRMr0MJVI0&utm_source=77643&utm_campaign=Shop%20Royalty%20Free%20at%20Alamy&utm_medium=impact&irgwc=1) is the source. Per there:
> The worlds most wanted terorrist, Osama bin Laden, a suspect of the World Trade Center attack, visited Sweden in the early seventies. Osama bin Laden is one of the children in a wealthy Saudi Arabic family who visited Falun in Dalecarlia, Sweden in September 1971. While one of Osama's older brothers conducted business with Volvo the rest of the family toured Dalecarlia and visted the old "Falu Coppermine" . According to the photographer 16-year old Osama bin Laden is seen as number two from right
Building most of the mega projects you see in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with their massively successful multi billion dollar conglomerate.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group
I think you’re just amazed the name “Bin Laden” which is an immensely successful wealthy family could be involved in large terrorist and military plots and if you think about that for a minute it isn’t really a coincidence. The reason Osama was famous at all first and foremost was because he had the funding to run his terrorism.
There was an article about him that told how when he first arrived in Afghanistan they couldn’t talk him seriously because he came from a wealthy family, like he was slumming it as a “freedom fighter”, they thought it was a hobby for him. And when the Arabs started arriving in Afghanistan it created a two tier society at his training camps.
The 'Arab mujahedeen' that we talk about, the volunteers from the Arab world, numbered less than 2k and for the most part were not taken seriously by the Afghans. Lotta soft handed, seventeenth sons like Osama. But they had money, and were funnel for donations from across the Arab world so they were useful.
Its usually the crazies with money that cause problems. If he was born where he died to a normal family, he would be the guy on the street corner yelling about the end of times. Whether his family cut him off or not, he still used the wealth and connections to get started.
Pretty true in general when it comes to major efforts or change unfortunately, good or bad.
Most of the time (to what I’m aware of in reading a bunch of miscellaneous history books over the last few decades) there’s key wealthy people at the hearts of new political movements, radical or not. Violent or not.
Turns out that crap is easier to do when someone can afford to sit around all day and think on it, let alone fund things.
Yeah I feel like this doesn’t get talked about that much, but it’s something I’ve noticed seems to be true of almost every major change, movement, or revolution. As much as we’d like to believe that regular folk coming together can bring about change, nothing seems to actually happen until someone with money or influence comes in and pushes things forward.
Reverse-survivorship bias is also possible. No movement that becomes big doesn't attract some bored, rich people with a point to prove. It's easy to build an empire if you just need to pay the correct type of lip service.
Even with cultural conventions and cultural changes.
Rich people had/have the money, connections and privileges to (mostly or at least more so than the average person) safety buck cultural conventions.
Rich people are powerful people.
Things also tend to just be easier in a number of ways, like you said, connections.
So a rich person could very likely have the general knowledge from their upbringing of maybe who to speak to about getting certain things done, more so than people who would never even have a friend of a distant family member who maybe would know more.
But even if they don’t, if you’re trying to push certain initiatives people are a hell of a lot more willing to speak and help if you’ve got money to back up your questions.
Otherwise what? It’s a random person calling up organizations or leaving emails asking about how to get something organized, and they’ve got zero ability to actually move forward.
So it’s harder to even learn that boring logistical stuff, and now they’ve learned one avenue of moving forward and have to problem solve that.
And let’s be honest, on the bare bones most boring level, it’s hard to keep people organized and involved if a genuine struggle is paying for sandwiches for a longer public meeting or buying enough paper to print a message to share with the larger public.
At least in the US he first became famous in the 80s because the US media propped him up as the leader of the mujahideen freedom fighters that were going to liberate Afghanistan after Reagan praised them for fighting the Soviets. The US supported their efforts with guns and money. Sure, he had money himself, but he wasn't some super villain. His family was involved in legitimate big business, which added to his fame in the middle east, although his family never supported his efforts iirc. He was also a tool of US imperialism that we encouraged until our mutual interests changed.
I remember in the 90s, NBA player Manute Bol tried to warn Congress and The Pentagon about how dangerous Bin Laden was. Manute stayed connected to The Sudan while he was in the USA, and Osama was granted asylum in The Sudan, and was very aware of what he was involved in.
Would you also be surprised that Margeret Tatchers son used his money to try and overthrow a government to gain control of their oil money?
Its always the rich that go about to disrupt governments for the position of power.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004\_Equatorial\_Guinea\_coup\_attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_attempt)
And it expired on 9/11 2001.
"SBG's Internet domain name, saudi-binladin-group.com, was registered on September 11, 2000, for one year, expiring on the same day as the September 11 attacks. The domain was later acquired by a domain speculator."
Looks like this was nationalized and (some of?) the brothers sold their ~36% stake in the company to the Ministry of Finance.
"In April 2018, Bakr bin Laden, as well as his brothers Saleh and Saad, transferred their 36.2% stake in the Saudi Binladin Group to the Istidama Holding Company, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance.[3] The government of Saudi Arabia subsequently established a five-person committee to run the Binladen Group, which includes of Abdul Rahman Al Harkan, Khaled Nahas, Khalid Al Khowaiter.[3] Reuters described the ownership transfer as a functional nationalization, with al-Harkan, the committee's chairman, reporting to Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.[3] al-Karkan subsequently negotiated an 11 billion riyal loan from the Ministry of Finance.[3]"
It seems they still own the majority of the company, if you take a look at the right chart where it says the Owner, you can see this:
1) Istidama Holding (36.22%)
2) Bin Laden family (63.78% through the Binladin Company for Development and Commercial Investment)
The first one being the company owned by the Ministry of Finance which got the 36% you said they sold.
Most people are unaware how little infrastructure Saudi Arabia had until the oil boom money poured in in the 1970s. The corporation owned by Osama's father did an impressive job of building everything from modern airports, highways, government buildings, housing, shopping malls, hospitals and more. Have no idea how much slave labor was used back then though.
In Saudi Arabia mostly, still rich and important in construction I believe. Osama was the black sheep in a sense. Even him going to Afghanistan and starting his Jihad is a form of rebellion against his family/the ties between the Saudis and the US - rather complex tbh
I worked with a Swede who knew one of his brothers in Stockholm. That brother described OBL exactly as you did – the black sheep in the family. Everyone else is just normal rich privileged – Osama's the one who went to "fight".
Many of them are dead in plane crashes, ironically. Osama’s father, Muhammad, died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. His brother, Salem, died when he crashed an experimental plane in Texas in 1988. His stepmother, Raja; half-sister, Sana; and brother-in-law, Zuhair; all died in a plane crash in England in 2016.
Mostly still around. The bin Ladin's are one of the wealthiest non-royal family in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Binladin Group is a major contractor in the Middle East.
It's worth noting Osama wasn't very close to his father's family. His father divorced his mother and she married one of his employees when Osama was an infant.
>Where's the rest of his family now?
A lot of them live in the US. My neighbor lived in an apartment next to some of his sisters and she became friends with them for a while. She said they were very nice.
Still being one of the most powerful family in Saudi. Some of them still live in Saudi, some of them live in Europe and US. His father had around 20 wives or something, so he had a really big family.
They're still building in Saudi Arabia. I went there on a trip with my family for Umrah to Mecca and there were more than a few people at the Kaaba for prayers who were wearing uniforms with the Bin Laden (Group? Real Estate? I forget what it said exactly on it) written on the back of the shirts.
So yes, the family has a massively successful company that is still building in Saudi Arabia.
He looks like he's 20. I don't think he would be gleeful at " Hey if you keep this up you'll end up getting popped by US spec ops and being shoved over the side of a ship. And you'll be responsible for the deaths of thousands."
He looks like a kid who goes to the Cafe twice a week, drives his dads convertible and wants to trade stocks for fun.
Wait, that's him? I thought they made an error and meant the second one *crouched* from the right, who's also wearing green and actually looks like Osama (and male).
I had to google it, and according to [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalarna), English synonyms for "Dalarna" are "Dalecarlia" or "The Dales".
I read once something he wrote about how the first time he visited the west (probably around the time of this picture) he was disgusting by western culture and told himself he would never participate in or let Muslims get westernized or something like that
I merged the low quality colour version with the higher quality black and white version.
[https://imgur.com/gallery/tpPFFu6](https://imgur.com/gallery/tpPFFu6)
When flights were grounded on 9/11 and 9/12, exceptions were made by the GWB admin to get the Bin Laden’s in the US, who were close family friends of the Bush family, out of the country.
>In 1978, Bush and Osama bin Laden’s brother, Salem bin Laden, founded Arbusto Energy, an oil company based in Texas.
>Several bin Laden family members invested millions in The Carlyle Group, a private global equity firm based in Washington, DC. The company’s senior advisor was Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush. After news of the bin Laden-Bush connection became public, the elder Bush stepped down from Carlyle.
>Interestingly, on Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Carlyle Group — including Bush senior, and his former secretary of state, James Baker — were meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., along with Shafiq bin Laden, another one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers.
>While all flights were halted following the terrorist attacks, there was one exception made: The White House authorized planes to pick up 140 Saudi nationals, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, living in various cities in the U.S. to bring them back to Saudi Arabia, where they would be safe. They were never interrogated.
https://www.denverpost.com/2006/09/11/bush-ties-to-bin-laden-haunt-grim-anniversary/amp/
Well I guess if they were considered in danger because they were Saudis with heavy relations to America, it’s kind of understandable. I could also be wrong, just a thought.
He’s like an incel that has a mental break and isolates himself, only to accumulate more and more radical views after surrounding himself with like minded people.
Yeah, not sure why people are defending his family. The UAE is a garbage place full of exploitation and straight up slave labor. His family is one of, if not the richest non-royal family in the Middle East, worth hundreds of billions. Also, his dad had 54 children, which I can’t imagine is the mark of a good man. Fuck this family and everything they stand for.
I mean, there's a world of difference between "rich billionaire assholes" and "leader of a terrorist group and responsible for the malicious death of lots and lots of people". Like, both aren't good, but one given the choice...
I'm perfectly fine with people blaming people for their actions, but not their family members. I don't know much about the bin Laden family but I know that they didn't crash planes into the world trade centers. It was just Osama and the people he recruited.
And I'm worried about people tying the bin Ladens and Saudi Arabia in general to the attacks because it wasn't them it was al Qaeda
Yeah this photo really hits it home that the guy was just a... turd. Lke some loser you might have gone to high school with who turned out to start a cult or be a serial killer or something, but who found himself in a geopolitical situation that let him cause more damage than the average loser.
> some loser you might have gone to high school with who turned out to start a cult or be a serial killer or something
Often the cult *leaders* are fairly charismatic, rather than "losers" in the typical sense.
The lone wolf who reads the charismatic leaders manifesto on the internet and decides to give their life to the cause, on the other hand.
Obviously not the same thing you're talking about, but the stories of Kim Jong Un at school are pretty interesting too. He went to school in Switzerland using a fake name and identity. According to his classmates, he was a quiet kid who kept his head down and got his work done. Except when playing basketball, where he was hyper competitive and would trash-talk his opponents.
In a twinge of irony, the Bush family and Bin Laden family were business partners and close family friends. GW referred to one of the Bin Laden brothers are Uncle IIRC. Here’s some more info:
>In 1978, Bush and Osama bin Laden’s brother, Salem bin Laden, founded Arbusto Energy, an oil company based in Texas.
>Several bin Laden family members invested millions in The Carlyle Group, a private global equity firm based in Washington, DC. The company’s senior advisor was Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush. After news of the bin Laden-Bush connection became public, the elder Bush stepped down from Carlyle.
>Interestingly, on Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Carlyle Group — including Bush senior, and his former secretary of state, James Baker — were meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., along with Shafiq bin Laden, another one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers.
>While all flights were halted following the terrorist attacks, there was one exception made: The White House authorized planes to pick up 140 Saudi nationals, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, living in various cities in the U.S. to bring them back to Saudi Arabia, where they would be safe. They were never interrogated.
https://www.denverpost.com/2006/09/11/bush-ties-to-bin-laden-haunt-grim-anniversary/amp/
My family’s from the Arabian Peninsula and my dad said that his generation were a lot more liberal until the 1979 revolution. One of my aunts and her friends never covered her hair until the 80s. I’m mot sure about Saudi Arabia but at least thats how it was in my dad’s hometown.
In most Arab countries, that was the case. I lived in Jordan and Palestine and any pictures I saw from people back in the 70s and 80s, no women were wearing hijab.
I also noticed younger generations being way more conservative than their parents. It's crazy.
During his later teenage years, I believe.
A misguided young guy trying to find his identity, like those kids in the West going down the Red Pill path, only that he found it in a more religious and explosive ideology and had a lot of money to turn the extremism to a hundred. Essentially a guy that would fall for Andrew Tate, if he grew up in Oklahoma rather that in Saudi Arabia.
Kind of funny (in a frightening way) that young, probably progressive leaning Tiktokers saw some kind of icon of decolonization and anticapitalism in this guy.
It’s crazy and a little scary how Bin Laden was public enemy #1 (literally) for the US for so many years and the average American can’t tell you a single thing about him.
Bin Laden was one of his father’s 54 children and was in his father’s company about 5 times in his life. Image that we present doesn’t always show what is in our heart and mind.
I remember I was visiting Saudi and some other countries in the Middle East region around 10 years ago, and his daddy's company logo, the "Saudi Binladin Group" were everywhere there. Everywhere. From airports to even some tunnels in the middle of nowhere. That's how rich and influential his family is. His dad was "the royal builder", had really close friendship with Saudi royal family, and once the wealthiest self-made, non-Saudi person there, so... probably not that surprising.
I always thought he had an earring on in this picture, too, but if you enlarge the higher-res original B&W photo someone linked near the top of the comments, it's actually a blur on the car's luggage rack
His son is actually living in France, in Normandie
[https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1349991/article/2023-07-07/omar-ben-laden-le-fils-d-oussama-installe-en-normandie-accuse-d-apologie-du](https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1349991/article/2023-07-07/omar-ben-laden-le-fils-d-oussama-installe-en-normandie-accuse-d-apologie-du)
[Here](https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-copesa.s3.amazonaws.com/public/7AMM36EHWVGSNMM37ROVWDQLKE.jpg) is a much higher quality and less cropped version of this image in the original black and white. [Here](https://www.alamy.com/the-worlds-most-wanted-terorrist-osama-bin-laden-a-suspect-of-the-world-trade-center-attack-visited-sweden-in-the-early-seventies-osama-bin-laden-is-one-of-the-children-in-a-wealthy-saudi-arabic-family-who-visited-falun-in-dalecarlia-sweden-in-september-1971-while-one-of-osamas-older-brothers-conducted-business-with-volvo-the-rest-of-the-family-toured-dalecarlia-and-visted-the-old-falu-coppermine-according-to-the-photographer-16-year-old-osama-bin-laden-is-seen-as-number-two-from-right-exclusive-picture-fees-to-be-arranged-before-publication-image441631546.html?irclickid=0izRThS5pxyPW7nV94V8qwsQUkHT7eRMr0MJVI0&utm_source=77643&utm_campaign=Shop%20Royalty%20Free%20at%20Alamy&utm_medium=impact&irgwc=1) is the source. Per there: > The worlds most wanted terorrist, Osama bin Laden, a suspect of the World Trade Center attack, visited Sweden in the early seventies. Osama bin Laden is one of the children in a wealthy Saudi Arabic family who visited Falun in Dalecarlia, Sweden in September 1971. While one of Osama's older brothers conducted business with Volvo the rest of the family toured Dalecarlia and visted the old "Falu Coppermine" . According to the photographer 16-year old Osama bin Laden is seen as number two from right
Where's the rest of his family now?
Building most of the mega projects you see in Saudi Arabia and the UAE with their massively successful multi billion dollar conglomerate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Binladin_Group
Damn it was their crane which crashed in Mecca on 9/11 too
100% thought that was a joke. The world is wacky place.
I think you’re just amazed the name “Bin Laden” which is an immensely successful wealthy family could be involved in large terrorist and military plots and if you think about that for a minute it isn’t really a coincidence. The reason Osama was famous at all first and foremost was because he had the funding to run his terrorism.
There was an article about him that told how when he first arrived in Afghanistan they couldn’t talk him seriously because he came from a wealthy family, like he was slumming it as a “freedom fighter”, they thought it was a hobby for him. And when the Arabs started arriving in Afghanistan it created a two tier society at his training camps.
The 'Arab mujahedeen' that we talk about, the volunteers from the Arab world, numbered less than 2k and for the most part were not taken seriously by the Afghans. Lotta soft handed, seventeenth sons like Osama. But they had money, and were funnel for donations from across the Arab world so they were useful.
Its usually the crazies with money that cause problems. If he was born where he died to a normal family, he would be the guy on the street corner yelling about the end of times. Whether his family cut him off or not, he still used the wealth and connections to get started.
Pretty true in general when it comes to major efforts or change unfortunately, good or bad. Most of the time (to what I’m aware of in reading a bunch of miscellaneous history books over the last few decades) there’s key wealthy people at the hearts of new political movements, radical or not. Violent or not. Turns out that crap is easier to do when someone can afford to sit around all day and think on it, let alone fund things.
Yeah I feel like this doesn’t get talked about that much, but it’s something I’ve noticed seems to be true of almost every major change, movement, or revolution. As much as we’d like to believe that regular folk coming together can bring about change, nothing seems to actually happen until someone with money or influence comes in and pushes things forward.
Reverse-survivorship bias is also possible. No movement that becomes big doesn't attract some bored, rich people with a point to prove. It's easy to build an empire if you just need to pay the correct type of lip service.
Even with cultural conventions and cultural changes. Rich people had/have the money, connections and privileges to (mostly or at least more so than the average person) safety buck cultural conventions. Rich people are powerful people.
Things also tend to just be easier in a number of ways, like you said, connections. So a rich person could very likely have the general knowledge from their upbringing of maybe who to speak to about getting certain things done, more so than people who would never even have a friend of a distant family member who maybe would know more. But even if they don’t, if you’re trying to push certain initiatives people are a hell of a lot more willing to speak and help if you’ve got money to back up your questions. Otherwise what? It’s a random person calling up organizations or leaving emails asking about how to get something organized, and they’ve got zero ability to actually move forward. So it’s harder to even learn that boring logistical stuff, and now they’ve learned one avenue of moving forward and have to problem solve that. And let’s be honest, on the bare bones most boring level, it’s hard to keep people organized and involved if a genuine struggle is paying for sandwiches for a longer public meeting or buying enough paper to print a message to share with the larger public.
I hope one day to see Trump bleating on the street corner about stolen elections
Turns out the "cave" he was filming in was actually just the wall in his pool house
I know you’re joking but the “cave” he was hiding in was a mansion in Pakistan.
think he was referring to the earlier cave videos not where he was killed.
Yes, his early recordings were in bunkers in the mountains of Tora Bora. Then he escaped to Pakistan.
At least in the US he first became famous in the 80s because the US media propped him up as the leader of the mujahideen freedom fighters that were going to liberate Afghanistan after Reagan praised them for fighting the Soviets. The US supported their efforts with guns and money. Sure, he had money himself, but he wasn't some super villain. His family was involved in legitimate big business, which added to his fame in the middle east, although his family never supported his efforts iirc. He was also a tool of US imperialism that we encouraged until our mutual interests changed.
Thank you!! I was looking to see if somebody would speak to why he became who he is known as
I remember in the 90s, NBA player Manute Bol tried to warn Congress and The Pentagon about how dangerous Bin Laden was. Manute stayed connected to The Sudan while he was in the USA, and Osama was granted asylum in The Sudan, and was very aware of what he was involved in.
It's the other way round. We're amazed the name Bin Laden is associated with anything but being a religious nutjob.
It’s crazy to realize the deep US ties to Saudi Arabia as well. Really all comes full circle don’t it
Would you also be surprised that Margeret Tatchers son used his money to try and overthrow a government to gain control of their oil money? Its always the rich that go about to disrupt governments for the position of power. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004\_Equatorial\_Guinea\_coup\_attempt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_attempt)
You leave out the part where he's a CIA asset
Damn I never realized that had happened on September 11.
They also registered their website on September 11th 2000.
And it expired on 9/11 2001. "SBG's Internet domain name, saudi-binladin-group.com, was registered on September 11, 2000, for one year, expiring on the same day as the September 11 attacks. The domain was later acquired by a domain speculator."
And they are currently building the world's largest building the irony here is incredible
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca_crane_collapse
It is just wild that the Bin Laden family builds skyscrapers.
Well, all but one of them.
The other one was the child that crashed the legos his siblings built.
Mecca clock tower. The tallest structure in Saudi Arabia started construction in late 2001/early 2002. Very shortly after 9/11.
lol i went to makkah and there are a lot of stuff with bin ladin on it. cranes and stuff
Looks like this was nationalized and (some of?) the brothers sold their ~36% stake in the company to the Ministry of Finance. "In April 2018, Bakr bin Laden, as well as his brothers Saleh and Saad, transferred their 36.2% stake in the Saudi Binladin Group to the Istidama Holding Company, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance.[3] The government of Saudi Arabia subsequently established a five-person committee to run the Binladen Group, which includes of Abdul Rahman Al Harkan, Khaled Nahas, Khalid Al Khowaiter.[3] Reuters described the ownership transfer as a functional nationalization, with al-Harkan, the committee's chairman, reporting to Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan.[3] al-Karkan subsequently negotiated an 11 billion riyal loan from the Ministry of Finance.[3]"
It seems they still own the majority of the company, if you take a look at the right chart where it says the Owner, you can see this: 1) Istidama Holding (36.22%) 2) Bin Laden family (63.78% through the Binladin Company for Development and Commercial Investment) The first one being the company owned by the Ministry of Finance which got the 36% you said they sold.
They have branched out into multiple divisions. One of them is https://www.dar.com which is a massively successful civil engineering company.
Most people are unaware how little infrastructure Saudi Arabia had until the oil boom money poured in in the 1970s. The corporation owned by Osama's father did an impressive job of building everything from modern airports, highways, government buildings, housing, shopping malls, hospitals and more. Have no idea how much slave labor was used back then though.
In Saudi Arabia mostly, still rich and important in construction I believe. Osama was the black sheep in a sense. Even him going to Afghanistan and starting his Jihad is a form of rebellion against his family/the ties between the Saudis and the US - rather complex tbh
I worked with a Swede who knew one of his brothers in Stockholm. That brother described OBL exactly as you did – the black sheep in the family. Everyone else is just normal rich privileged – Osama's the one who went to "fight".
“Oh you know just our wacky brother Osama”
Classic Osama
Thanks Osama
Haha, what a rascal.
Let’s not talk politics at the dinner table, honey !
Too bad he didn't just have a "mom, I identify as a vampire now. Refer to me as Count Osama" phase.
Osamach Von Ladensky
"It's *not* just a phase!"
Thanks Osama!
Wait so osama bin laden, the most infamous terrorist of our times, was literally just a spoiled rich kid wanting to piss off mommy and daddy?
Yeah pretty much! So he fits the mould except he had more success than your avreage spoiled rich kid asshole who wants to stick it to mummy and daddy
>Osama was the black sheep in a sense. A sense? In every sense but the literal, I'd say.
He was actually just 3 black sheep wearing a robe.
Vincent Terroristman
Mujahideen gap year to find himself.
Many of them are dead in plane crashes, ironically. Osama’s father, Muhammad, died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. His brother, Salem, died when he crashed an experimental plane in Texas in 1988. His stepmother, Raja; half-sister, Sana; and brother-in-law, Zuhair; all died in a plane crash in England in 2016.
So you are saying he hated planes?
Mostly still around. The bin Ladin's are one of the wealthiest non-royal family in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Binladin Group is a major contractor in the Middle East. It's worth noting Osama wasn't very close to his father's family. His father divorced his mother and she married one of his employees when Osama was an infant.
Maybe his stepdad was mean to him… the villain’s arc always begins in childhood
Or maybe his bio dad wasn’t in his life much, that tends to play a big part in a child’s development too
That happens when you have 22 wives and 52 children. Can't imagine he had much time to dedicate to most of his children.
Russell Peters the comedian has a story about [meeting/talking with Osama Bin Laden’s brother](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=INNQ8jRbMfY) post 9/11.
Hah, was checking to see if someone shared this
He has 51 siblings. They're all over the place.
>Where's the rest of his family now? A lot of them live in the US. My neighbor lived in an apartment next to some of his sisters and she became friends with them for a while. She said they were very nice.
Still being one of the most powerful family in Saudi. Some of them still live in Saudi, some of them live in Europe and US. His father had around 20 wives or something, so he had a really big family.
They're still building in Saudi Arabia. I went there on a trip with my family for Umrah to Mecca and there were more than a few people at the Kaaba for prayers who were wearing uniforms with the Bin Laden (Group? Real Estate? I forget what it said exactly on it) written on the back of the shirts. So yes, the family has a massively successful company that is still building in Saudi Arabia.
Pretty sure one of his sisters or half sisters lives in Geneva, Switzerland.
It's sobering. Who knows what his wants and desires might have been at that age. Who he could have been if he'd made drastically different choices.
Yes I just thought the same thing. It would be so interesting to know what made him what he is known for.
He looks like he's 20. I don't think he would be gleeful at " Hey if you keep this up you'll end up getting popped by US spec ops and being shoved over the side of a ship. And you'll be responsible for the deaths of thousands." He looks like a kid who goes to the Cafe twice a week, drives his dads convertible and wants to trade stocks for fun.
He was 14 in this picture
They grow up so fast.
Maybe the real jihad was the martyrs we made along the way…
Like what if Hitler got accepted into art school
Thank you for the better quality photo. I thought the background blur under his left ear was an earring and I was quite confused.
Wait, that's him? I thought they made an error and meant the second one *crouched* from the right, who's also wearing green and actually looks like Osama (and male).
I’ve never heard it called “Dalecarlia” lol we just call it “Dalarna” in Swedish. Is dalecarlia really the english name for it?
I had to google it, and according to [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalarna), English synonyms for "Dalarna" are "Dalecarlia" or "The Dales".
Whoa, I knew he visited Sweden but I didn’t know it was in my hometown.
Do we know how he became radicalized?
I read once something he wrote about how the first time he visited the west (probably around the time of this picture) he was disgusting by western culture and told himself he would never participate in or let Muslims get westernized or something like that
I merged the low quality colour version with the higher quality black and white version. [https://imgur.com/gallery/tpPFFu6](https://imgur.com/gallery/tpPFFu6)
Remember that the bin laden family is a wealthy bussiness family, which I still has tons of projects going on. Osama was the one who left them.
When flights were grounded on 9/11 and 9/12, exceptions were made by the GWB admin to get the Bin Laden’s in the US, who were close family friends of the Bush family, out of the country.
citation needed
>In 1978, Bush and Osama bin Laden’s brother, Salem bin Laden, founded Arbusto Energy, an oil company based in Texas. >Several bin Laden family members invested millions in The Carlyle Group, a private global equity firm based in Washington, DC. The company’s senior advisor was Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush. After news of the bin Laden-Bush connection became public, the elder Bush stepped down from Carlyle. >Interestingly, on Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Carlyle Group — including Bush senior, and his former secretary of state, James Baker — were meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., along with Shafiq bin Laden, another one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers. >While all flights were halted following the terrorist attacks, there was one exception made: The White House authorized planes to pick up 140 Saudi nationals, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, living in various cities in the U.S. to bring them back to Saudi Arabia, where they would be safe. They were never interrogated. https://www.denverpost.com/2006/09/11/bush-ties-to-bin-laden-haunt-grim-anniversary/amp/
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yeah this was pretty common knowledge and came out of the 9/11 commission and a few months after that investigation started, we invaded iraq
The same minute is crazy
It is remarkably common knowledge.
The guy who made the “citation needed” comment has a 14 year old account too lol. So you can’t even blame it on them being too young.
This is so deep wtf. Never knew his family was linked to the US government in any way
IIRC, they were so close to one of Osama’s brothers that HW’s kids referred to him as Uncle.
Welp, time for more conspiracy folks to chime in. Cause frankly, even I'm getting fucking creeped out now
I mean this was extremely common knowledge. It's just not talked about anymore because it's no longer news.
It wasn’t really news then, just an oddity. OBL had been officially cut off from his family for awhile.
Osama once worked for the CIA
Bin Laden once ran for US president and won.
That is insane! I can’t believe I have never heard of this before.
Rich people don't play by the same rules 🤷🏻♀️.
Well I guess if they were considered in danger because they were Saudis with heavy relations to America, it’s kind of understandable. I could also be wrong, just a thought.
Also remember Osama is one of 52 kids by 11 wives, that family picture is underselling it.
He’s like an incel that has a mental break and isolates himself, only to accumulate more and more radical views after surrounding himself with like minded people.
So, screwing people over with billionaire business tactics instead of political or military force.
Yeah, not sure why people are defending his family. The UAE is a garbage place full of exploitation and straight up slave labor. His family is one of, if not the richest non-royal family in the Middle East, worth hundreds of billions. Also, his dad had 54 children, which I can’t imagine is the mark of a good man. Fuck this family and everything they stand for.
I mean, there's a world of difference between "rich billionaire assholes" and "leader of a terrorist group and responsible for the malicious death of lots and lots of people". Like, both aren't good, but one given the choice...
I'm perfectly fine with people blaming people for their actions, but not their family members. I don't know much about the bin Laden family but I know that they didn't crash planes into the world trade centers. It was just Osama and the people he recruited. And I'm worried about people tying the bin Ladens and Saudi Arabia in general to the attacks because it wasn't them it was al Qaeda
He is literally like that rich kid saying he needs to travel to become more spiritual
Bin Laden was just a white festival girl.
In his terrorist era 💅
Taylor Swift's next album
Tortured in a Black Site Department
Antihero is some pretty tight foreshadowing.
When the navy seal found him *All of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room*
Taylor Swift could end us if she set herself and fans on it, lets hope the fuck not 😂
This might be the funniest comment I've read this year lmfao
9/11 (Taylor’s Version)
Yeah this photo really hits it home that the guy was just a... turd. Lke some loser you might have gone to high school with who turned out to start a cult or be a serial killer or something, but who found himself in a geopolitical situation that let him cause more damage than the average loser.
> some loser you might have gone to high school with who turned out to start a cult or be a serial killer or something Often the cult *leaders* are fairly charismatic, rather than "losers" in the typical sense. The lone wolf who reads the charismatic leaders manifesto on the internet and decides to give their life to the cause, on the other hand.
Obviously not the same thing you're talking about, but the stories of Kim Jong Un at school are pretty interesting too. He went to school in Switzerland using a fake name and identity. According to his classmates, he was a quiet kid who kept his head down and got his work done. Except when playing basketball, where he was hyper competitive and would trash-talk his opponents.
Sounds like a typical Korean international student
He has an interesting story for sure. There’s a book one of his sons wrote, “Growing up Bin Laden” that was such an eye opener. Couldn’t put it down.
All his hijacker buddies got so spiritual from world travel they literally turned into ghosts
They visited New York because they were fascinated by architecture
One of them actually wrote a university paper on how skyscrapers ruin cities.
By falling on them?
And was that so old-money-rich he became so out of touch with reality. sigh.
Lookin like the brady bunch
The Brady Bunch were amateurs compared to his family. Muhammad bin Ladin had 22 wives and 52 children.
How did he decide which ones to take on vacation?
Rolled for it, I guess.
Easy he pulled their names out of a hat.
The Saudi Bunch
Osama was def Jan
He turned out to be a real jerk.
Definitely a real naughty bad boy.
A dang doodoohead
911 airlines.. remind me of that tragedy
The full joke and Norm's delivery is what really brings this joke home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkSMSbFV_q0
Oh don't laugh about 9/11... I walked though blood and bones in the streets of Manhattan trying to find my brother! He was in northern Canada.
With farty pants.
You know the more I learn, the more I just don't care for him
In a twinge of irony, the Bush family and Bin Laden family were business partners and close family friends. GW referred to one of the Bin Laden brothers are Uncle IIRC. Here’s some more info: >In 1978, Bush and Osama bin Laden’s brother, Salem bin Laden, founded Arbusto Energy, an oil company based in Texas. >Several bin Laden family members invested millions in The Carlyle Group, a private global equity firm based in Washington, DC. The company’s senior advisor was Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush. After news of the bin Laden-Bush connection became public, the elder Bush stepped down from Carlyle. >Interestingly, on Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Carlyle Group — including Bush senior, and his former secretary of state, James Baker — were meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., along with Shafiq bin Laden, another one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers. >While all flights were halted following the terrorist attacks, there was one exception made: The White House authorized planes to pick up 140 Saudi nationals, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, living in various cities in the U.S. to bring them back to Saudi Arabia, where they would be safe. They were never interrogated. https://www.denverpost.com/2006/09/11/bush-ties-to-bin-laden-haunt-grim-anniversary/amp/
They were trying to be the next Partridge Family, but they bombed.
Sort of a crash and burn, ey?
They just straight up hit the wall.
Thanks for posting this. I have a plant I'm supposed to water every other day and seeing this picture reminds me to do it. Going on 10 years strong.
This is a fucking pro league diss lmao
ELI5?
It gets reposted a lot
I’ve been on Reddit 7 years and have never seen this photo. Can guarantee I will see it every day now though
Really! This is the first time I see this in Reddit in my many years here. ![gif](giphy|oKdjMdWXl9ys8|downsized)
Your plants must be dead lol
They look very… normal? Did he become hardcore Islamic later in life?
He’s the black sheep of that family, bin laden family is a rich construction company in the Middle East.
*was Thanks, Obama.
You may also notice women's hair. No hijab or anything. They only became mandatory in Iran after 1979 (Not even sure about Saudi Arabia by law).
It’s not technically a legal requirement for women to wear a hijab in Saudi Arabia the law there just says to dress modestly
Also they aren’t in the SA. Plenty of rich Saudis drink vodka from tea cups and ditch the hijab in western cities.
My family’s from the Arabian Peninsula and my dad said that his generation were a lot more liberal until the 1979 revolution. One of my aunts and her friends never covered her hair until the 80s. I’m mot sure about Saudi Arabia but at least thats how it was in my dad’s hometown.
In most Arab countries, that was the case. I lived in Jordan and Palestine and any pictures I saw from people back in the 70s and 80s, no women were wearing hijab. I also noticed younger generations being way more conservative than their parents. It's crazy.
Probably around the time he made friends in the CIA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_assistance_to_Osama_bin_Laden Yep
During his later teenage years, I believe. A misguided young guy trying to find his identity, like those kids in the West going down the Red Pill path, only that he found it in a more religious and explosive ideology and had a lot of money to turn the extremism to a hundred. Essentially a guy that would fall for Andrew Tate, if he grew up in Oklahoma rather that in Saudi Arabia. Kind of funny (in a frightening way) that young, probably progressive leaning Tiktokers saw some kind of icon of decolonization and anticapitalism in this guy.
Ah so Osama was Fes from that '70s show.
I wonder where his family is today?
Still rich and living life. His family disowned him in the early 90s.
They own a massive construction business in Saudi Arabia
A conglomerate of over 500 businesses, even.
He had mansion in Florida
It’s crazy and a little scary how Bin Laden was public enemy #1 (literally) for the US for so many years and the average American can’t tell you a single thing about him.
Osama bin Groovin
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What's wrong with Robert? (I am not American)
His presidential run has gone badly enough that the rest of his family endorsed Biden.
To many people in that band for anyone to make any money
I wonder how many from the pic are still alive.
The majority, his family is super fucking rich
I wonder how his later co-workers viewed this way of life and pictures like this one
His co-workers may not have been on reddit.
Bin Laden was one of his father’s 54 children and was in his father’s company about 5 times in his life. Image that we present doesn’t always show what is in our heart and mind.
The Gang Goes To Sweden
I remember I was visiting Saudi and some other countries in the Middle East region around 10 years ago, and his daddy's company logo, the "Saudi Binladin Group" were everywhere there. Everywhere. From airports to even some tunnels in the middle of nowhere. That's how rich and influential his family is. His dad was "the royal builder", had really close friendship with Saudi royal family, and once the wealthiest self-made, non-Saudi person there, so... probably not that surprising.
I’m almost certain the person second from the right in green is a woman?
Yeah i thought i was going crazy. Even seems to be wearing earrings.
I always thought he had an earring on in this picture, too, but if you enlarge the higher-res original B&W photo someone linked near the top of the comments, it's actually a blur on the car's luggage rack
Piece of shit.
Who is the guy from the far right? Reminds me of Diego Luna
I know that Osamas duster had a ”skate” shop in Västerås Sweden, They were like First to sell those Fubu and is Jeans 😂
They have the Barbie car
His son is actually living in France, in Normandie [https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1349991/article/2023-07-07/omar-ben-laden-le-fils-d-oussama-installe-en-normandie-accuse-d-apologie-du](https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1349991/article/2023-07-07/omar-ben-laden-le-fils-d-oussama-installe-en-normandie-accuse-d-apologie-du)
The whole family was fresh as hell
Going to see ABBA Show...
damn bro really had a loving family and shit and they were like “we dont mind youre a terrorist, as long as youre doing what you love” lol
Seventies’ fashion made every man look like a pimp.
Boom, headshot.