Last time we heard about SoB (Son of Binladen), he was on the verge of divorcing his British grandmother-wife. Now it looks like their marriage will survive, and they are going to spread the love around.
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 al-Qaida’s militancy: Omar wants to be an “ambassador for peace” between Muslims and the West.
Omar raised a tabloid storm in Britain last year when he married a 52-year-old British woman, Jane Felix-Browne, who took on the name Zaina Alsabah. Now the couple say they want to be advocates, planning a 3,000- mile horse race across North Africa to draw attention to the cause of peace.
“It’s about changing the ideas of the Western mind. A lot of people think Arabs — especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Osama — are all terrorists. This is not the truth,” Omar told AP last Friday at a cafe in one of Cairo’s new shopping malls.
Of course, many may have a hard time getting their mind around the idea of “bin Laden: peacenik.”
And here’s a reason why:
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.
Huh? Did anyone follow that?
But back to Mr and Mrs Bin Laden’s plans for world peace:
Now they have applied for a visa to Britain. And they are planning their endurance horse race across North Africa, which they hope to start in March. They admit they are still in the planning stages, seeking approval of governments along the route. They are also looking for sponsors to help pay for the event and raise money for child victims of war.
Omar said they plan to ride 30 miles a day, with periodic weeklong rests in each country.
Teams from around the world will be encouraged to join in what the couple envision as an equine version of the famous Paris-Dakar car rally.
That rally was cancelled this year due to fears over terrorist threats made by al-Qaida-affiliated groups in North Africa.
Omar, however, said he isn’t worried.
“I heard the rally was stopped because of al-Qaida,” he said. “I don’t think they are going to stop me.”
Color me a cynic, but somehow Junior seems to be more of an ambassador for al-Qaida than one for world peace.
