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Televisionisation and the wish to personify have turned Usama bin Laden into a kind of Robin Hood. Many recall the United States manhunt for General Mohamed Farah ‘Aydeed’. For the international Islamist movement, this usefully distracts attention from its highly organised, motivated and financed network. It also presents Bin Laden as richer than he may be: he is variously described as a billionaire and as having US$250 million. Our sources say his wealth may be $15 mn. His financial significance is above all as a covert channel for funders....

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Keywords:

Usama bin, Laden, Robin Hood, United States, Mohamed Farah ‘Aydeed’, Sudan, Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin, Somalia, Saudi Arabian, Mohamed, bin Laden, Soviet, Iran, Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia, Bosnia, Iraq, Syria, Filipinos, Ugandan, Chinese, Lebanon, Egypt, Abdullah, Yemen, Mohhal Hassan Akhund, Mohamed Omar, mujahideen, El Hejirah, Wadi el Aqiq, El Shamal, Africa Confidential, inter alia, kufar, Majlis el, Fatwa, El Gama’a el Islamiya, Front Islamique du Salut

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