Fast forward to current day, and there are exterior walls painted an unusual shade of pale magenta. Remnants of the formal gardens still exist, though most of the plants are long dead. Tall weeds have overtaken grassy lawns. Stone fountains are empty and crumbling, and the blacktopped motorcourt is cracked in several spots. Florence Mattar of Coldwell Banker has the listing. Business Real Estate. By Variety. Show Caption. Harvard officials say they have no reason to believe that the donations were in any way linked to Osama bin Laden.
Still, Harvard officials have spent the week explaining to angry alumni and radio talk show hosts that the bin Laden family group, who represent about 20 of Osama bin Laden's siblings, disavowed his politics and actions a long time ago.
We'll notify you here with news about. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Comments 0. The modern day kingdom, proclaimed in , left both sides — the clerics and the rulers — too powerful to take the other on, locking the state and its citizens into a society defined by arch-conservative views: the strict segregation of non-related men and women; uncompromising gender roles; an intolerance of other faiths; and an unfailing adherence to doctrinal teachings, all rubber-stamped by the House of Saud.
Many believe this alliance directly contributed to the rise of global terrorism. This he sees as essential to the survival of a state where a large, restless and often disaffected young population has, for nearly four decades, had little access to entertainment, a social life or individual freedoms. There have been changes to the labour markets and a bloated public sector; cinemas have opened, and an anti-corruption drive launched across the private sector and some quarters of government.
The government also claims to have stopped all funding to Wahhabi institutions outside the kingdom, which had been supported with missionary zeal for nearly four decades. Contradictions abound: some officials and institutions eschew conservatism, while others wholeheartedly embrace it. Meanwhile, political freedoms remain off-limits; power has become more centralised and dissent is routinely crushed.
An erudite man now in his mids, Turki wears green cufflinks bearing the Saudi flag on the sleeves of his thobe. Before, he was very much an idealistic mujahid. He was not a fighter. By his own admission, he fainted during a battle, and when he woke up, the Soviet assault on his position had been defeated.
As Bin Laden moved from Afghanistan to Sudan, and as his links to Saudi Arabia soured, it was Turki who spoke with him on behalf of the kingdom. Then — and 17 years later — relatives of some of the 2, killed and more than 6, wounded in New York and Washington DC refuse to believe that a country that had exported such an arch-conservative form of the faith could have nothing to do with the consequences. Certainly, Bin Laden travelled to Afghanistan with the knowledge and backing of the Saudi state, which opposed the Soviet occupation; along with America, the Saudis armed and supported those groups who fought it.
The young mujahid had taken a small part of the family fortune with him, which he used to buy influence. When he returned to Jeddah, emboldened by battle and the Soviet defeat, he was a different man, Turki says.
He wanted to evict the communists and South Yemeni Marxists from Yemen. I received him, and told him it was better that he did not get involved. The mosques of Jeddah were using the Afghan example. He was told to stop. I also saw him there. He went to Sudan, where he built a honey business and financed a road.
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