Was Sa’ad Bin Laden Managing Al-Qaeda from Iran?
Osama bin Laden's son may be more than just a "low-level" target, as U.S. counterterrorism official once described him.
When Osama bin Laden was banished from Sudan in 1996, he left the country in a rented Soviet jet — an aged and antique Tupolev flown by a Russian pilot he did not trust. With him were a few bodyguards, his military commander, Saif al-Adel, and two sons named Sa’ad and Omar — both young men in their late teens.
Although it was the corrupt Islamic government of Sudan that had robbed Osama bin Laden of much of his vast personal wealth, he blamed America for his misfortunes, according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Lawrence Wright. “He held America responsible for the crushing reversal that had led him to this state,” Wright explains.
At least one of those sons, Sa’ad, was deeply influenced by the angry sentiments of the father. He would soon become a player in his father’s al-Qaeda terrorist network, which Bin Laden would build inside Afghanistan — the only country that would take him after Sudan gave him the boot.
Sa’ad’s rising prominence in the organization would become clear on April 11, 2002, when an explosive-laden vehicle disguised as a natural gas delivery truck made its way past security at the El Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia — the oldest synagogue in Africa — and exploded into a fireball, vaporizing several of its 21 victims. Fourteen German tourists, five Tunisians, and two French nationals were killed in what was al-Qaeda’s first successful terrorist attack after 9/11.
Sa’ad bin Laden played a prominent role in that synagogue bombing by acting as a facilitator between the suicide bomber, a Tunisian national named Nizar Ben Muhammad Nawar, and a European co-plotter named Christian Ganczarski, a German citizen of Polish descent and a convert to Islam (Ganczarski was ultimately captured and, in 2009, sentenced to 18 years in prison by a French court).
The “Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Sites” claimed responsibility for the attack in Tunisia, the same al-Qaeda arm that told the London-based Arab daily Al-Quds al-Arabi that it blew up two U.S. embassies — in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — in 1998.
After seven years on the run, according to an unnamed “senior U.S. counterterrorism official,” Sa’ad bin Laden is now dead. Maybe. On July 21, National Public Radio reported the source as saying he was “80 to 85 percent” certain that Sa’ad bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan.
And then, in a bizarre downplaying of the terrorist’s death, this senior counterterrorism official told NPR that Sa’ad was allegedly not the target, that he was just a low-level al-Qaeda who was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The official added: “We make a big deal out of him because of his last name.”
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Annie Jacobsen writes about aviation and intelligence. She blogs at TheAviationNation.com and is working on a new book for Little Brown and Company.
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16 Comments
1. Tao Jones:It did rather seem as if the world had become a better place recently.
Let’s have another…
Jul 29, 2009 - 4:02 am 2. Marie Claude:that is what is said in “aware” middles here too
Jul 29, 2009 - 5:20 am 3. David W. Lincoln:Foggy Bottom, Langley, the NSC, and now counter-terrorism officials: the poison of wanting it both ways, is spreading.
Jul 29, 2009 - 6:55 am 4. Rob:You do realize that it is probably preferable to keep most of this information under the radar?
Jul 29, 2009 - 8:46 am 5. dan:So in 1996 bin Laden left Sudan in a rented Tupalov flown by a Russian pilot he didn’t trust? Gee, think that pilot was KGB or GRU?
This idiot trustfund baby couldnt do anything without his handlers. When the hell are we going to start talking seriously about this. Silence is *not* preferable.
Jul 29, 2009 - 8:53 am 6. Lynn B.:I don’t care who killed him or how, just glad he is dead. I actually hope his disgusting pos father was standing right next to him.
Jul 29, 2009 - 11:02 am 7. abi:I’m truly surprised that Obama did not condemn this…
Jul 29, 2009 - 12:07 pm 8. jvon:The reason they are downplaying it is because if he happened to be there during the attack, it was a bombing with casualties. If we intentionally vaporized a specific person, that’s assassination. Obama is supposed to be above such things (though I hope he is not).
Jul 29, 2009 - 12:14 pm 9. The Toad:Any bin Laden that get the chop is OK in my book. And I hope his 72 virgins all look like Helen Thomas.
Jul 29, 2009 - 1:49 pm 10. Steve DeMarcus:Too bad they didn’t get rid of more of them. Hey guys join us to fight against the infidels and you get to blow yourself up. What a campaign, oh yeah you will go to paradise and get seventy six or so virgins but they are actually all piglets not sure what you will do with them but at least you have them to do as you please.
Jul 29, 2009 - 2:36 pm 11. Angry White Dude:Why would the CIA admit to anything? Obama and his Eric Holder would only throw them in jail for killing terrorists. I think an apology to the bin Laden family is in order!
Angry White Dude
Jul 29, 2009 - 9:13 pm 12. Doc99:Rumors of his death may be greatly exaggerated.
Jul 30, 2009 - 6:39 am 13. X Contra:I have been blogging this bin Laden/Iran angle recently.
http://xcontra.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/more-about-lashkar-gah/
Some unusual results.
Jul 30, 2009 - 8:51 am 14. dck:ok, here is another interesting question from the hall of mirrors:
Why is it that Rush Limbaugh, who has many intelligence community and military “contacts,” implies strongly that Bin Laden himself is dead, and has been since Tora Bora?
and…
why is it that my brother-in-law, who works in defense electronics (”black boxes”) and routinely deals with military “spooks” at a high level, indirectly says exactly the same thing–and said it years prior to Limbaugh’s remarks.
He can’t, of course, say anything directly, but he can ask rhetorical questions in response to a casual discussion on why we can’t “catch” Bin Laden:
He: “What if Bin Laden is already dead, and has been for years, since the Tora Bora offensive in Afganistan?”
Me: “Why would they not tell us?”
He: Grins and shrugs knowingly. “Who knows?”
Jul 30, 2009 - 1:37 pm 15. tanstaafl:Interesting background information on “the son”, thank you.
I’ve been convinced from the getgo, since he reportedly migrated there after the US went to Afghanistan, post 911, that Saad bin laden has been acting on behalf of his father with the approval of and protection of the Iranian government.
The confusion, intentional or otherwise, of intelligence agencies over Saad’s high level/low level status may be interesting to them but does absolutely nothing to clarify the overall terrorist picture.
Like previous to 911, games agencies play only muddy the waters.
Jul 30, 2009 - 6:23 pm 16. WhyamInotsurprised?:#9 Toad – I guess we each have our version of hell. In mine, it would be either Hillary or Michelle that would be the worst. One with a schrill, screeching voice, the other with hate filled eyes shooting death rays with jutting, clenched jaws that could rival a massive croc.
Jul 30, 2009 - 7:41 pm