The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century

624 Pages·2009·2.13 MB·English

by  Steve Coll

THE BIN LADENS
ALSO BY STEVE COLL
Ghost Wars
On the Grand Trunk Road
Eagle on the Street (with David A. Vise)
The Taking of Getty Oil
The Deal of the Century
T B L
HE IN ADENS
AN ARABIAN FAMILY IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY
STEVE COLL
THE PENGUIN PRESS
New York
2008
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published in 2008 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Steve Coll, 2008
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Coll, Steve.
The Bin Ladens: an Arabian family in the American century/Steve Coll.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-1-1012-0272-2
1. Bin Laden family. 2. Saudi Arabia—History—20th century. I. Title.
CS1129.B552 2008 2007042748
953.805'2—dc22
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CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
FAMILY TREE
A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
Prologue: “We All Worship the Same God” October 1984 to February
1985
PART ONE: PATRIARCHS
1900 to September 1967
1. In Exile
2. The Royal Garage
3. Silent Partners
4. The Glory of His Reign
5. For Jerusalem
6. The Backlash
7. A Modern Man
8. Crosswind
PART TWO: SONS AND DAUGHTERS
September 1967 to May 1988
9. The Guardians
10. Young Osama
11. Realm of Conspiracy
12. The Rising Son
13. Discovering America
14. The Convert’s Zeal
15. Wired
16. The Amusement Park
17. In the King’s Service
18. Anxiety Disorder
19. The Grinder
20. The Arms Bazaar
21. Off the Books
22. The Proposal
23. Kitty Hawk Field of Dreams
PART THREE: THE GLOBAL FAMILY
June 1988 to September 2001
24. Writer-Director-Producer
25. Lump Sums
26. America in Motion
27. The Swiss Accounts
28. A Rolls-Royce in the Rain
29. The Construction of Exile
30. Hedge Funds
31. A Trojan Desk
32. The Aesthetics of Worship
33. One Phone, One World
34. Lawyers, Guns, and Money
35. Bin Laden Island
PART FOUR: LEGACIES
September 2001 to September 2007
36. The Name
37. Public Relations
38. Brands
39. So What?
40. In Exile
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
AUTHOR’S NOTE
TWO JOURNALISTS now on the staff of the Washington Post made extraordinary
contributions to the research for this book. Robin Shulman conducted interviews
and dug up documents in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Spain, France, and the United
States. Her persistence, empathy, and eye for detail have made the book
immeasurably stronger. After I drafted the manuscript, Julie Tate recontacted my
interview subjects to deepen the research and recheck facts and interpretations.
Her attention to detail and nuance, her passion for the subject matter, and her
astonishing work ethic made an enormous difference.
B L
THE IN ADENS
Born from mid-1940s to 1950: S : Salem, Ali, Thabit, Mahrous, Hassan,
ONS
Omar, Bakr, Khaled, Yeslam, Ghalib, Yahya, Abdulaziz, Issa, Tareq D :
AUGHTERS
Aysha, Fatima, Sheikha, Su’add, Tayyeba, Wafa, Nour Born from 1951 to 1959:
S : Ahmad, Ibrahim, Shafiq, Osama, Khalil, Saleh, Haider D : Salma,
ONS AUGHTERS
Zeenat, Ruqqueiya, Randa, Zubaida, Najiah, Samiah, Muna, Saleha, Mariam,
Fowziyah, Raja, Huda, Seema Born from 1959 to 1967: S : Saad, Abdullah,
ONS
Yasir, Mohammad D : Raedah, Eman, Aetedal, Sahar, Ilham, Sana’a,
AUGHTERS
Malak, Muneera