Say Anything Blog

Bin Laden’s Son Wants to be Peace Activist

Of course, by the first paragraph, it already starts to smell a little fishy:

Omar Osama bin Laden bears a striking resemblance to his notorious father _ except for the dreadlocks that dangle halfway down his back. Then there’s the black leather biker jacket. The 26-year-old does not renounce his father, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, but in an interview with The Associated Press, he said there is better way to defend Islam than militancy: Omar wants to be an “ambassador for peace” between Muslims and the West.

It’s hard to buy the claims of a man who claims to want peace, but who will not renounce his own father’s terorism. That and he believes there’s a “better way than militancy to defend Islam”. Which, of course, implies that militancy is not a bad way...just not the best. Other passages in the article support this:

Omar lived with the al-Qaida leader in Sudan, then moved with him to Afghanistan in 1996.

There, Omar says he trained at an al-Qaida camp but in 2000 he decided there must be another way and he left his father, returning to his homeland of Saudi Arabia.

“I don’t want to be in that situation to just fight. I like to find another way and this other way may be like we do now, talking,” he said in English.

He suggested his father did not oppose his leaving _ and Alsabah interjected that Omar was courageous in breaking away, but neither elaborated.

No doubt they don’t wish to elaborate because the truth shall not, in this case, set them free. He’s trained in al Quida, under the guidance of his father for four years. Then suddenly he has an epiphany? And his father approves? If you’re not buying it, you’re not alone. His own words undermine his “messenger of peace” schtick.

Omar doesn’t criticize his father and says Osama bin Laden is just trying to defend the Islamic world.

“My father thinks he will be good for defending the Arab people and stop anyone from hurting the Arab or Muslim people any place in the world,” he said, noting that the West didn’t have a problem with his father when he was fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Omar is convinced a truce between the West and al-Qaida is possible.

“My father is asking for a truce but I don’t think there is any government (that) respects him. At the same time they do not respect him, why everywhere in the world, they want to fight him? There is a contradiction,” he said.

Omar is not a man of peace. He is simply another jihadist trying a different tactic than his father. His rhetoric is no different from his father’s. If only the West would stop being so militaristic, peace could be possible with al Quida. It’s not that Osama is a bad guy...everyone is out to get him! al Quida is standing up for the little guy, while the West is out to crush innocent Muslims everywhere.

What Omar doesn’t mention is what peace with his father will entail. Standing by while Israel is destroyed. Withdrawing from Muslim lands. And converting to Islam.

Omar is a man in his father’s mold. Like the jihadist apologists of the West, he lays blame for the whole situation at America’s feet. And he lies about what peace will entail. It is not that he has renounced violence. It is that he has abandoned it in favor of a better, and more successful tactic. That he is pursuing the same goal, with a different tactic is why his father blessed him leaving the al Quida compund. Omar understands what his father does not. That that corrode of society from within, the slow creep of Sharia from groups like CAIR, that slowly breaks down a society’s resistance as they succumb to the message of a peaceful Islam (all while submitting to it), is more effective than suicide attacks and terrorism, which has proven, time and time again, to strengthen the resolve of America.

That makes Omar bin Ladin a more dangerous man than his father could ever dream of being.