Steve Coll Explores Bin Ladens

Forum Introduction

		In his book "The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century," Steve Coll chronicles the lives and fortunes of the family from which Osama bin Laden came. He answers your questions here.

Are the Bushes linked to the bin Ladens? Why were bin Laden family members flown out of the U.S. after 9/11?

What happened to Osama bin Laden's older brother?

If Osama bin Laden removes the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, etc., can he create the new caliphate in this modern world?

How could Osama bin Laden's father have the influence you allege given his death when the child was but 9 years old?

How do you feel the U.S. entry into the Gulf War affected our relations with Arab countries?

How many of the bin Ladens' other 53 children of Mohammed have joined or support Osama?

What is, in your view, Osama bin Laden's ultimate goal?

You describe how the bin Ladens changed during the 1980s. What were the rest of us typically doing?


	Bob R. of Brooklyn, N.Y., asks:

	I don't quite understand how Osama's father could have had the influence you allege given his death when the child was 9. How could Osama understand this was his father's "genius"; to unite the various peoples and to ignite a need for modernization?

Steve Coll responds:

I think boys of 9 are influenced by their fathers to a considerable extent. But in any event, the legend of his father and the example of his leadership lived on in the lives of his sons for many years after the father's death. They memorialized him and heard about his deeds and achievements all the time.



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