By Alan CarubaPoor Omar bin Laden. He is the fourth of eleven children Osama bin Laden fathered with his first wife and one of a total of nineteen children.
After seeking political asylum, Spain recently told him he cannot live there. Even though he had nothing to do with it, the likelihood is that the train bombings that killed more than 190 people commuting into Madrid on March 11, 2004 is still as fresh in the minds of Spaniards as 9/11 is for Americans.
Before Spain turned him down, England made it clear to Omar that he was not welcome to settle down in the village of Moulton in Cheshire. A former scrap-metal merchant, Omar was seeking a settlement visa, but no luck. It didn’t help that jihad bombings in London and an airport in Scotland made for a chilly reception.
Despite 9/11, I would still suggest that America give Omar and his wife, Zaina Alsabah, refuge here. There is precedent for it.
Svetlana, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, the dictator who shaped Soviet Russia, lived out her final years in America. The last president of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, lived out his final years in Miami after the takeover by Fidel Castro in 1959. Today, the son of the former Shah of Iran, Reza Pallavi, lives in the Washington, DC area and is an outspoken critic of Iran’s current regime.
It didn’t help Omar much when he initially said he could not be certain that Osama, his father, was behind 9/11, but Osama made it clear to the entire world that he was. Omar, however, has made a number of statements in interviews condemning violent acts. Because of Arab culture, he is unable and unwilling to criticize his father by name. It’s just not done.
For me, providing refuge for Omar and his wife would be a kind of poetic justice. It would probably make Osama bin Laden even crazier than he already is. Imagine Osama waking up every day knowing that one of his sons is enjoying life in America?
It didn’t help Omar much when he initially said he could not be certain that Osama, his father, was behind 9/11, but Osama made it clear to the entire world that he was. Omar, however, has made a number of statements in interviews condemning violent acts. Because of Arab culture, he is unable and unwilling to criticize his father by name. It’s just not done.
For me, providing refuge for Omar and his wife would be a kind of poetic justice. It would probably make Osama bin Laden even crazier than he already is. Imagine Osama waking up every day knowing that one of his sons is enjoying life in America?
Yes, America should let him settle here. He has nothing to do with his fathers attacks. I say YES
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