Little Osama

September 24, 2001 4:16 PM

Little Osama Check out the Brady Family photo of young Osama Bin Laden and his 22 brothers and sisters, published in The Sun... Full story here.
posted by crunchybird (30 comments total)

My lord. If they all reproduce at this rate, there could soon be quite a formidable army consisting solely of Bin Ladens. Maybe that's his plan? Evil bastard.
Not a bad lookin bunch, though, considering, ya know, some of them are evil.
posted by Doug at 4:25 PM on September 24, 2001

I'm thinking more Partridge than Brady, but it's still bizarre seeing it. Now I'm kinda curious about all the other sons and daughters- how did they turn out? I don't think, as Doug suggests, the rest of the family is "evil"- after all, wasn't he cut off from much of his inheritence and booted from Saudi Arabia precisely because he's a fanatic? Are the other kiddies equal recipients of the bin Laden fortune, except instead of skulking from tent to tent are they living in palatial mansions and driving fancy cars and otherwise embracing the western lifestyle? Do they live in that part of the world still, or do they have homes on the Riviera, or in Rio, or in the good ol' US of A? And are they ashamed of Li'l "O" and how his life turned out, much the way parents or siblings of serial killers must be?
posted by hincandenza at 4:27 PM on September 24, 2001

I didn't say there were all evil. But at least one of his brothers has been linked to terrorist groups, unless I'm mistaken. So, some are evil. That wouldn't stop me from dating any number of his sisters, though. Maybe at the time. Hello Fatwah!
posted by Doug at 4:34 PM on September 24, 2001

That doesn't even tell the whole story; Osama bin Laden was the seventh son among 50 children!
From a biography on Frontline.
posted by boaz at 4:35 PM on September 24, 2001

Hold on, hold on... These all came from one couple? Wow. That's just one after the other, eh?
posted by whatnotever at 4:42 PM on September 24, 2001

Hold on, hold on... These all came from one couple? Wow. That's just one after the other, eh?

No, there was a high degree of parallelism involved - his father had four wives.
posted by jeffbarr at 4:44 PM on September 24, 2001

I read that bin laden's family has denounced him. how would it feel to see your son turn into bin laden (or timothy mcveigh or....)
posted by rebeccablood at 4:45 PM on September 24, 2001

Whatnotever, his father, Mohammed Awad bin Laden, had ten wives.
*Chickabowwow*
According to this piece.
posted by Catch at 4:47 PM on September 24, 2001

there was a high degree of parallelism involved - his father had four wives

Perhaps, but I tend to think there was a whole lot of sex involved.
posted by gazingus at 4:50 PM on September 24, 2001

that is funny, not as interesting as some of the girls on the sun's site...and definately fake. [the bin ladens, not the girls, they look real.]

but yes, funny.
posted by th3ph17 at 4:57 PM on September 24, 2001

Handy:

'But she didn't mean anything honey - it was just mindless parallelism. Better? Well, it was different paralleli - ow!'
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:25 PM on September 24, 2001

the "story" link is dead
posted by curiousg at 6:29 PM on September 24, 2001

Look at the 180 he's done. None of his sisters are wearing veils or any other kind of religious garb. He certainly is not wearing anything like he is now. I wonder how he snapped. They all look so happy.

Makes me wonder if this is true.
posted by geoff. at 6:52 PM on September 24, 2001

funny how they denounce shaving their beards as immoral but having 10 wives is not out of the ordinary.
posted by alex3005 at 6:57 PM on September 24, 2001

Interesting that there is not a beard or veil (let alone burqa) in the bunch.
posted by ilsa at 7:16 PM on September 24, 2001

Is that a big pink Cadillac? How cool is that? Elvis would be proud (or not).
posted by elvissinatra at 7:26 PM on September 24, 2001

ah, this is when we all start flogging old colonialist paradigms:

"damn, a-rabs are dirty, and they reproduce like crazy! we've got to stop them before they take over the world!"

on with the fun.
posted by fishfucker at 7:37 PM on September 24, 2001

No wonder he's so pissed at western culture. Look at what he was forced to wear.

That prominent block lettering "FYND" in the window instantly caught my eye. Eerie anagram of the "FDNY" we've seen on so many jackets and hats over the last 2 weeks.
posted by pardonyou? at 7:40 PM on September 24, 2001

no, fishfucker, this is when we blow everything out of proportion by using pseudo-intellectual phrases like "colonialist paradigms" to characterize tentative attempts at humor in the wake of tragedy.
posted by pardonyou? at 7:45 PM on September 24, 2001

Is it just me or does that photograph look rather expertly (yet noticeably) altered?

Forgive the gullibility if this thread was subtly poking fun at the fake photo.
posted by precocious at 8:16 PM on September 24, 2001

Yay, Pardonyou? hasn't been here long, but has got the hang of this metafilter thing.
Burn, fishfucker!
Cackle.
posted by Catch at 8:19 PM on September 24, 2001

check owt the disco duds on the 4th guy from the right. hey! i've seen him before, singing for ther bee gees!
posted by quonsar at 8:43 PM on September 24, 2001

It looks like a Benneton ad.
posted by schlyer at 9:03 PM on September 24, 2001

The geeza in the purple pimp suit and shades on top of the boogie buggy is the cherry on the cake. If this pic is doctored they got a wicked sense of humour. Shit.. What's happenin with that mans tie. His belt buckles straight outa sesame street. They've even superimposed Sammy Davis jnr's head onto Clint bin Eastwoods boyfriend. Magic. Still, i'd have to do a little jihad of my own if they climbed all over my car.

Hang on.. Is that a crystal earing hanging from O's left ear?
(Where the groove in the wall just sorta... stops)
posted by Kino at 4:46 AM on September 25, 2001

The Google cache has a copy of the article.
posted by Big Fat Tycoon at 5:37 AM on September 25, 2001

Another story in the Australian Advertiser. Is this real, or what? I'm beginning to believe...
posted by curiousg at 6:03 AM on September 25, 2001

Dunno. If so it's a fair old dollop of heavy bad karma coming his way. Sporting them dodgey pants he's managed to shame the Arab world twice in one lifetime.
posted by Kino at 6:32 AM on September 25, 2001

Kino - looks like that interruption in the wall groove behind "o" could just be a doorbell or something on the wall.
posted by Tubes at 10:20 AM on September 25, 2001

It's a real photograph, but apparently the picture agency issued it in monochrome. It was colourised (rather over-enthusiastically) and published in the Mail on Sunday (another UK newspaper) before the Sun picked it up. See this diary column in today's Guardian, which also has an article about bin Laden's upbringing.
posted by Owen Boswarva at 1:45 PM on September 25, 2001

Thanks for the info, Owen. Pretty scary stuff.
posted by curiousg at 2:29 PM on September 25, 2001