**Wealthy Black Sheep **
Rich scions do more, even as they bicker. The Roosevelts helped their son through a breezy ascent in New York politics to become president, the Koch brothers adopted a neo-conservative economic ideology that helped create the Tea Party movement, and the Kennedys created a political dynasty. So it should be no surprise that the emblem of extremist Saudi ideology came from a wealthy scion, bickering with the rest of his family.
The Bin Ladens, like the al-Sauds themselves, come from an extremely large family of half-brothers and sisters, creating what I can only imagine would be some awkward family reunions. The patriarch, Mohammed Bin Laden, had around 22 wives. He * discerned that multiple marriages could serve as not only an outlet for a wealthy man’s lust, but also a means to build up political and economic alliances… To win support from local sheikhs he would marry the daughter of a local tribal leader, provided her with money and an impressive house… then a year or so later when the work was completed left her with a generous financial settlement and perhaps a child as well. * Just like the modern day silicon valley elite, a fascination with flying and parties served as the main attractants of an American lifestyle. When a prominent family member survived an incident while training for her pilot’s licence, one Bin Laden threw an epic party in Florida: *“Call up everybody you know, he said, call up everybody in a 50 mile radius!” *
Just like Teddy Roosevelt found himself investing in cattle in the American West, Osama Bin Laden ended up refining his ideology in the western expanse of Sudan, and both lost their fortunes doing it. Through his personal experience in Afghanistan, Bin Laden felt he knew what it took to defeat empires: bring them into a ground war in Afghanistan, and bleed them dry. After all, it worked for the soviets, why wouldn’t it work for America? What made Osama Bin Laden unique compared to other wealthy conservative families, was that he and his family already had one foot firmly planted in the currents of globalization. * Bin-Laden would make three key contributions: emphasis on diversity and inclusion, confidence about money and administration, and his attraction to technologies of global integration. * In this short book, Cole does well explaining the currents that extend far beyond the mountains of Afghanistan on the sands of Saudi Arabia that brought the struggles of one Arab family to alter the fate of the world.
51st book of 2021