Is bin Laden a folk hero of sorts in Saudi Arabia?
Bin Laden is a folk hero to a lot of Saudis who are followers of the Salafi school of Islamists. It would seem to me that he’s a folk hero because he defies the United States, or he defies the royal family, no? Yes. He is a folk hero because he defies the United States, and because he defies the royal family. And because he is a symbol of this rich man who left all of this, and lost his relationship with the royal family, who gave him millions and millions of dollars to stand behind his message. … When I asked Prince Bandar about the Saudis involved in Sept. 11, he said, “They’re a very small minority in the country. They’re like Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany, or the Weather Underground in the United States,” that it’s a fringe group. It’s not really a fringe group, because these people were recruited from Saudi Arabia just recently, less than two years ago. There are a lot of them who are willing to do the same. And bin Laden in Afghanistan has a few hundred Saudis with them, with
