London, Oct. 16 (ANI): The first wife of Osama bin Laden has come out with a no-holes barred book revealing the complex character of the world’s number one terrorist. n her memoir written with help of her fourth son Omar, Najwa bin Laden recounts that Osama is a contradiction of personality traits.
‘Growing Up Bin Laden’ discloses that Osama was a disciplinarian who would beat his children for showing too many teeth when they smiled, but maintained a passion for sunflowers and fast cars.
“Osama’s favourite undertaking was working the land, growing the best corn and the biggest sunflowers,” Najwa said.
Najwa revealed that Osama banned the use of electrical appliances in his home and tried to toughen up his sons by making them climb desert mountains without water.
“My father would not allow my mother to turn on the air conditioning that the contractor had built into the apartment building. Neither would he allow her to use the refrigerator that was standing in the kitchen,” The Telegraph quoted Omar, as saying.
According to the book, world’s most wanted terrorist was also fond of mangos and the BBC.
Najwa married her cousin Bin Laden when he was 17 and she was 15 and went on to bear him seven sons, including Omar.
In 1979, the couple visited America. Bin Laden went to see Abdullah Azzam, a teacher and mentor of bin Laden who preached about jihad in Los Angeles, while Najwa stayed in Indianapolis with a family friend.
Najwa says Americans were kind and friendly, but the country was not to her conservative tastes. “My husband and I did not hate America, yet we did not love it,” she writes.
In lighter moments, Osama would impress his sons with tales of battles against the Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan during the 1980s, but became increasingly strict on his return from the war.
The book also reveals that Bin Laden had at least one gold-coloured Mercedes and once bought a speedboat.
Najwa says: “Nothing gave him more satisfaction than having a full day to take a speedy drive to the desert, where he would leave his automobile while he took long walks.”
In lighter moments, his sons admired his horsemanship and he liked to show off his mathematical ability by challenging people to beat his arithmetic with a calculator.
“My father was so well known for the skill that there were times when men would come to our home and ask him to match his wits against a calculator,” Omar said. (ANI)
