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Rating: 
Summary: "The Man, The Myth, The Devil !"
Review: I cannot believe some of these journalist! Using monsters like Bin Laden to claim their fifteen minutes of fame! As well, I cannot not believe there are...like us out there buying trash like this to help them achieve it! What a sad lot of humans we have all become!
Rating:
Summary: "The Man, The Myth, The Devil !"
Review: I cannot believe some of these journalist! Using monsters like Bin Laden to claim their fifteen minutes of fame! As well, I cannot not believe there are...like us out there buying trash like this to help them achieve it! What a sad lot of humans we have all become!
Rating: 
Summary: Osama Bin Laden Lite
Review: In this book, author Adam Robinson spends considerable time developing family background, particularly the details of Osama's well-known father, Mohammed Bin Laden. The story of Osama's father is a bootstrap tale, a rags to riches story that results in Osama being born into one of the wealthiest families in the world. A common laborer, Mohammed Bin Laden moves to Arabia to find work at manual labor. Over time, Mohammed makes himself indispensable to the Saudi kings and princes who need his growing expertise in construction. Around this period, the Kingdom finds itself awash in oil money and embarks on a large-scale building campaign of roads, palaces, mosques and public facilities. Mohammed Bin Laden gets the construction contracts. He becomes the confidante of the kings and princes of the Saudi Empire. He grows in both wealth and wives and political power to the degree that he acquires a vast fortune, many wives and about fifty children, Osama being the last.
Osama's Syrian mother, Hamida, too assertive for Mohammed's taste is more or less banished to a faraway household where she will not cause Mohammed to lose face among his fellows. The author develops a psychological profile of a sad youngster, Osama, growing up under this cloud of subtle rejection. Osama's sometimes ridiculed by some of his fifty or so other siblings. The picture emerges of a poor little rich schoolboy vying for his father's attention by excelling in Islamic teachings. But when Osama is aged ten, his successful father is killed in a Texas helicopter crash.
Whatever excellence in Islam Osama possesses is only skin deep, and Osama becomes the complete un-Islamic libertine while he continues his education at an exclusive university in Lebanon. Osama is depicted as a guided missile of lust in his pursuit of prostitutes and women in general; he's also something of a boozehound as he breaks every rule of Islamic law in his pursuit of earthly pleasures. Osama's an uglier American than anyone America has to offer, squiring his cronies and conquests about in a fleet of Mercedes, complete with driver-servants. On Osama's tab, he and his cronies eat in the finest restaurants, enjoy the casino gambling which is forbidden in their home country, and pickle themselves in the finest whiskies. Not surprisingly, Osama's behavior embarrasses his more orthodox family and he is summoned home by an angry family
A turning point is reached when a sympathetic half-brother tries to help Osama by taking him on the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca. Osama finally sees the light, a light further amplified when the Soviets enter Afghanistan to help the struggling communist regime in power there. Osama decides to use his fortune to fight the "infidels" and leaves his family to join the struggle. While little is known of Osama's actual military service against the Soviets, the Afghani mujahadeen are impressed with this person of privilege fighting alongside them, even if Osama's real contribution to the anti-Soviet war lay more in the areas of financing, organization, and propaganda than in actual combat. The author describes Osama as something of an actor, posturing for the media and for his constituents. Osama's desperate need for attention and penchant for playing a part on the world stage is frequently mentioned during the other phases in Bin Laden's progression from schoolboy to master-terrorist.
After the Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan, Osama is disillusioned with the factional fighting of the mujahadeen warlords. The country is not the Islamic utopia that he imagines; it is a country savaged by civil war and bitter infighting. In desperation, Osama returns to the family fold where he makes an attempt at being the business executive and entrepreneur he was groomed to be. Growing quickly bored, Osama longs for action and a place on the world stage. Action finally does come in the form of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, something Osama considered to be a great challenge for Islam. Osama has what amounts to a psychotic break when his offer to bring his Afghani-Arabs to protect the Saudi kingdom and to repel Saddam's army is rejected out of hand. He is outraged that the Saudis and the Kuwaitis invited the infidel Americans and other coalition members into the region. The infidels put their ugly feet on precious Muslim soil. Osama feels betrayed and wants to exact vengeance.
That's basically the premise that the book offers for Osama's embrace of terrorism. The rest of the book describes Bin Laden's attempt to unite various Islamic fundamentalist groups under one umbrella, a sort of Terror, Inc. There is mention of Osama's relationships with his various mentors: Turabi of Sudan, Mullah Omar of Kandahar, and Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, the chief terror operative who accompanied Bin Laden everywhere to the degree that the author suggests a possible "homoerotic" relationship. Other innuendo is attributed to Zawahiri and to what prompted him to leave his comfortable life of privilege as an Egyptian pediatrician to join Osama in his terrorist escapades. Author Robinson states that Dr. Zawahiri wished to escape charges against him in Egypt that he was a pedophile.
I enjoyed this book though it held some small disappointments for me. One criticism I would make is that there is no bibliography to be found and very little mention of the sources from which the information was derived. I think also that the author should have refrained from his pedantic musings about the Middle East in general, meaning Israel and the West Bank territories. Robinson occasionally runs off the Bin Laden track, opining like he's got a prepared script, full of cliches, making a quick bow to political correctness. Other than these small complaints, this book is good general reading for those who want a medium-speed profile of the world's currently best-known (and possibly deceased) terrorist.
Rating:
Summary: Osama Bin Laden Lite
Review: In this book, author Adam Robinson spends considerable time developing family background, particularly the details of Osama's well-known father, Mohammed Bin Laden. The story of Osama's father is a bootstrap tale, a rags to riches story that results in Osama being born into one of the wealthiest families in the world. A common laborer, Mohammed Bin Laden moves to Arabia to find work at manual labor. Over time, Mohammed makes himself indispensable to the Saudi kings and princes who need his growing expertise in construction. Around this period, the Kingdom finds itself awash in oil money and embarks on a large-scale building campaign of roads, palaces, mosques and public facilities. Mohammed Bin Laden gets the construction contracts. He becomes the confidante of the kings and princes of the Saudi Empire. He grows in both wealth and wives and political power to the degree that he acquires a vast fortune, many wives and about fifty children, Osama being the last.
Osama's Syrian mother, Hamida, too assertive for Mohammed's taste is more or less banished to a faraway household where she will not cause Mohammed to lose face among his fellows. The author develops a psychological profile of a sad youngster, Osama, growing up under this cloud of subtle rejection. Osama's sometimes ridiculed by some of his fifty or so other siblings. The picture emerges of a poor little rich schoolboy vying for his father's attention by excelling in Islamic teachings. But when Osama is aged ten, his successful father is killed in a Texas helicopter crash.
Whatever excellence in Islam Osama possesses is only skin deep, and Osama becomes the complete un-Islamic libertine while he continues his education at an exclusive university in Lebanon. Osama is depicted as a guided missile of lust in his pursuit of prostitutes and women in general; he's also something of a boozehound as he breaks every rule of Islamic law in his pursuit of earthly pleasures. Osama's an uglier American than anyone America has to offer, squiring his cronies and conquests about in a fleet of Mercedes, complete with driver-servants. On Osama's tab, he and his cronies eat in the finest restaurants, enjoy the casino gambling which is forbidden in their home country, and pickle themselves in the finest whiskies. Not surprisingly, Osama's behavior embarrasses his more orthodox family and he is summoned home by an angry family
A turning point is reached when a sympathetic half-brother tries to help Osama by taking him on the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca. Osama finally sees the light, a light further amplified when the Soviets enter Afghanistan to help the struggling communist regime in power there. Osama decides to use his fortune to fight the "infidels" and leaves his family to join the struggle. While little is known of Osama's actual military service against the Soviets, the Afghani mujahadeen are impressed with this person of privilege fighting alongside them, even if Osama's real contribution to the anti-Soviet war lay more in the areas of financing, organization, and propaganda than in actual combat. The author describes Osama as something of an actor, posturing for the media and for his constituents. Osama's desperate need for attention and penchant for playing a part on the world stage is frequently mentioned during the other phases in Bin Laden's progression from schoolboy to master-terrorist.
After the Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan, Osama is disillusioned with the factional fighting of the mujahadeen warlords. The country is not the Islamic utopia that he imagines; it is a country savaged by civil war and bitter infighting. In desperation, Osama returns to the family fold where he makes an attempt at being the business executive and entrepreneur he was groomed to be. Growing quickly bored, Osama longs for action and a place on the world stage. Action finally does come in the form of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, something Osama considered to be a great challenge for Islam. Osama has what amounts to a psychotic break when his offer to bring his Afghani-Arabs to protect the Saudi kingdom and to repel Saddam's army is rejected out of hand. He is outraged that the Saudis and the Kuwaitis invited the infidel Americans and other coalition members into the region. The infidels put their ugly feet on precious Muslim soil. Osama feels betrayed and wants to exact vengeance.
That's basically the premise that the book offers for Osama's embrace of terrorism. The rest of the book describes Bin Laden's attempt to unite various Islamic fundamentalist groups under one umbrella, a sort of Terror, Inc. There is mention of Osama's relationships with his various mentors: Turabi of Sudan, Mullah Omar of Kandahar, and Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, the chief terror operative who accompanied Bin Laden everywhere to the degree that the author suggests a possible "homoerotic" relationship. Other innuendo is attributed to Zawahiri and to what prompted him to leave his comfortable life of privilege as an Egyptian pediatrician to join Osama in his terrorist escapades. Author Robinson states that Dr. Zawahiri wished to escape charges against him in Egypt that he was a pedophile.
I enjoyed this book though it held some small disappointments for me. One criticism I would make is that there is no bibliography to be found and very little mention of the sources from which the information was derived. I think also that the author should have refrained from his pedantic musings about the Middle East in general, meaning Israel and the West Bank territories. Robinson occasionally runs off the Bin Laden track, opining like he's got a prepared script, full of cliches, making a quick bow to political correctness. Other than these small complaints, this book is good general reading for those who want a medium-speed profile of the world's currently best-known (and possibly deceased) terrorist.
Rating: 
Summary: A lively, intriguing coverage
Review: Osma Bin Laden presented himself as a freedom fighter taking on the giant power of the U.S., and representing the causes of Muslims everywhere; but this new biography of Osma Bin Laden charts his infamous progress from a rich kid into a terrorist determined to bring jihad to the U.S. Members of his family contributed information and rounded out Robinson's independent research, resulting an a biography which examines the making of the man and his network. A lively, intriguing coverage.
Rating:
Summary: Gives you a complete portrait of the terrorist mastermind...
Review: This biography of Bin Laden gives more detail into his life than any other book that I have read on the subject. Particular attention is given to Osama's childhood and upbringing and how these years may have led him to become the terrorist mastermind that he his today.Hopefully, this book will not be the final word on this evil man. If we are lucky, a revised edition will one day have to be issued to include chapters on his capture and prosecution, but, until that time, this book gives the most complete portrait of Osama Bin Laden.
Rating:
Summary: Osama - still out there, still dangerous
Review: This is the most detailed and up-to-date biography of the world's leading terrorist. Osama bin Laden comes from a super-rich, well-connected Yemeni/Saudi family; he was traditionally raised and is desert-hardened; he was a playboy for a time (sex, drink, and drugs), but then returned to fundamentalist roots; he possesses great administrative skills and charisma, which he first put to use in fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Why his great hatred of both America and the Saudi royal family? What was the insult that most motivates him? The author penetrates into Osama's psychology, with the benefit of exclusive interviews with many bin Laden family members.
Osama spent 10 years in creating Al-Qaeda, the network of volunteer "freedom fighters"; and another 10 in organizing what has been called "Terror Inc." - a modern, global enterprise. Does Osama's terror have a rational goal after all? What would satisfy Osama? You'd be surprised at the author's conclusion.
Every public library, scholarly library, embassy, international police agency, secret service, political scholar, and informed citizen should take a look at this book. After all, Osama is presumably still out there, armed and dangerous. Bombs do not seem to have brought him to justice, so maybe a more thoughtful approach is called for. I think some clues for finding him may be found in this book.
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