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Osama's former ESL teacher

 
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Truth Hurts



Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 115
Location: Truthville

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 4:52 pm    Post subject: Osama's former ESL teacher Reply with quote

Taken from the http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3570751.stm

Bin Laden was born into a large, extremely wealthy Saudi family. According to Brian Fyfield-Shayler who taught the young Osama English at an elite school in Jeddah, he was taller than his classmates and very good looking.

However he was shy, reserved, too nervous to speak up in class and showed few signs of the extremism that marked his later life.

Other boys would try to convert Mr Fyfield-Shayler to Islam, but he said: "Osama was not one of those, he was not noticeable in his class for his strict religious observance or keenness."

He was happy to learn English - according to his teacher - but unlike many of his half-siblings who were educated abroad and embraced a Western lifestyle, he did not.

Instead Osama stayed in Jeddah where he went to university, to study economics, and first encountered radical Islamic thinkers.
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Cleopatra



Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Am I wrong or didn'g Osama study Engineering at King Abdulaziz University?

If so, that would figure. Apparantly, a remarkably high proportion of fundamentalists (of all religions) have a background in the sciences. The theory is that their training does not prepare them for the subtler skills involved in reading between the lines in scripture - or anywhere else. They are trained to see things in black and white, and cannot handle such notions as "allegory" or "myth" and see religious scripture as the literal truth.

I think it's an interesting theory.
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shadowfax



Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 212
Location: Pocket Universe 935500921223097532957092196

PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 5:49 pm    Post subject: Thank you Cleopatra. Reply with quote

A pretty point. And of much importance in the civilisation and education of the Arabs and others closer to home.
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Cleopatra



Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago

PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 9:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw the programme last night - and mighty intereesting it was too.

They said that Osama studied Economics - but I still have a niggling feeling that he was trained in Engineering.

The programme didn't go into much detail on his childhood and background in Saudi Arabia, which is a pity. However, one "Time" reporter who interviewed him fairly recently remarked about how petty Osama's grudges against his homeland seemed to be. Apparantly, he said things like "This prince is an idiot, this prince slagged meoff once" and so on.

And, apparantly, Osama, despite everything, is a polite hospitable guy who loves his Mum.
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