Osama Bin Laden/Talk

Older talk is at Usama Bin Laden/Talk.

why the capitalization of Bin? Not to get into transliteration issues (Ussama was fine with me - see [American language/Talk]? for my the roots of my flexibility on variant spellings), but it just means "Son of" and is usally not capitalized in English usage; I taught Islamic Art & Architecture last term and read heaps of material and seldom if ever saw 'bin' (son of) or 'bint' (daughter of) capitalized. Not that I'm very bothered. --MichaelTinkler

currently:

Pakistan's state security services, the front of the CIA's covert operations against the Soviet invasion.

Pakistan's state security services is surely (given the nature of governments) MORE than a front for the CIA. This needs to be recast.

Usama bin Laden, sometimes spelled Ussamah Bin Laden) Saudi Arabian freedom fighter and terrorist.

bin Laden a fredom fighter? Who he whants to free? Are we talking about press, religion and political freedom?

I guess whoever wrote this is referring to the origins of the Afghani struggle during the Cold War when the USSR invaded Afghanistan. bin Laden and a number of other freedom fighters,(whom no doubt we would all like to disassociate ourselves from with the benefit of hindsight), were sponsored (to use the term loosely) by the Western powers as a means of thwarting what were perceived as Soviet expansionist ambitions. sjc

I removed 'freedom fighter' on the grounds that bin Laden never fought in order to achieve freedom. The idea that people should be free is alien to his values system. If he is in bed with the Taliban, then clearly he thinks people should not be free. - Tim