- The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is bin Laden family.
The immensely rich bin Laden family, intimately connected with the innermost circles of the Saudi royal family were thrown into unexpected prominence through the public actions of Osama bin Laden. The family's internal policies are generally extremely secretive, like those of all multi-billionaire dynasties. The bin Laden family own and operate a global corporation annually grossing 5 billion dollars, based upon the largest construction firm in the Islamic world, with offices in London and Geneva. [1] (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?011112fa_FACT3)
The family traces its origins in Saudi Arabia to Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden (died 1968), a native of the Chafeite (Sunni) Hadramaut coast in Yemen, who emigrated to Arabia before World War I. He came to Abdul Aziz ibn Saud's attention through construction projects and was awarded contracts for major renovations at Mecca, where he made his initial fortune from exclusive rights to all mosque and other religious building construction not only in Saudi Arabia, but as far as Ibn Saud's influence reached. Until his death Mohammed bin Laden had exclusive control over restorations at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Soon the bin Laden corporate network extended far beyond construction sites.
Mohammed's special intimacy with the king was inherited by the younger bin Laden generation and the numerous princes, the sons of Ibn Saud. Mohammed's sons attended Victoria College, Alexandria Egypt, the former educational bastion of the British Empire (the British teachers, however, were sacked en masse in 1956), where they studied alongside schoolmates many of whom would become influential and powerful in the Middle East. At Victoria College the bin Laden sons attended classes along with schoolmates such as King Hussein of Jordan, Zaid Al Rifai, the Kashoggi brothers (whose father was one of the king's physicians), Kamal Adham (who ran the Saudi [security] services under King Faisal), present-day contractors Mohammed Al Attas, Fahd Shobokshi and Ghassan Sakr and even actor Omar Sharif.
When Mohammed bin Laden died in 1968 he had fathered at least 54 children with his wives. His son Salem bin Laden took over the family enterprises. The groupings of the family, presented as based on the nationalities of the various wives, results in a "Syrian group" of bin Ladens, a "Lebanese group," and an "Egyptian group" that employs 40,000 people as Egypt's largest private foreign investor.
The Mecca event
The severe strain on the bin Laden connection with the House of Saud and the mark of its special position came in 1979, when Islamist insurgents briefly took control of the mosque at Mecca. Bin Laden trucks that came and went at all hours had been used to smuggle arms into tightly controlled Mecca. Mahrous bin Laden had been the enabler, working with the Islamist insurgency. His connection was through the son of a Sultan of Yemen who had been radicalized by Syrian members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mahrous was actually arrested for a time, but is now managing the Medina branch of the bin Laden enterprises.
Any other family would have been stripped of influence. The Saudi authorities' decision to issue an arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden on May 16, 1993 did not betoken a breach of connection.
bin Ladens and King Fahd
The two closest friends of the King were Prince Mohammed ben Abdullah (son of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud's youngest brother) who died in the early 1980s and Salem bin Laden who died in 1988, when his light plane crashed in Texas. The plane's flight log had been a subject of some interest, for the same plane was alleged to have been used to engineer the so-called "October Surprise" negotiations in the summer of 1980.
Business connections of the Bush and bin Laden families
Michael Moore's highly critical documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 alleges strong business connections between the Bush political family and the bin Laden family. Moore based most of his claims on Craig Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud which relates how Salem bin Laden invested through James R. Bath,the sole U.S. business representative for Salem bin Laden, some money in Arbusto Energy, a company run by George W. Bush [2] (http://www.michaelmoore.com/_media/images/documents/salem-bath-trust-agreement.jpg).
Some two dozen members of the bin Laden family in the United States at the moment of the attack, most of them to study were quickly called together by Saudi Embassy officials, according to The New York Times in fear that they might become victims of American reprisals. With approval from the F.B.I., the bin Ladens flew by private jet from Los Angeles to Orlando, then on to Washington, and finally to Boston where they were safely secluded. As soon as the F.A.A. permitted overseas flights, the bin Laden jet flew to Europe, freeing the bin Ladens from any possible questioning with American legal jurisdiction. [3] (http://www.michaelmoore.com/_media/images/documents/salem-bath-trust-agreement.jpg).
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