USAMA BIN LADEN AND JOE BIN BIDEN: A SAUDI VIEW by BARRY WEBB
The Tuesday 22 September edition of Meshari al-Khayidi’s “maraya” (mirrors) show on al-Arabiyya TV discussed the effect that a Biden victory in America’s November elections would have on the Middle East and the war on terrorism. Meshari al-Khayidi writes regularly for the internationally distributed ash-sharq al-awsat, www.arabiya.net, and other Arabic news outlets. His maraya show has a 10-12-minute slot on Sundays through Thursdays on al-Arabiyya TV. His views can be expected to track well with the Saudi regime which owns the above news outlets.
In using the phrase “bin Laden, bin Biden” only half-jokingly in opening his show, Mr. al-Khayidi said that he chose this topic because the previous Obama-Biden administration showed a bias towards those who merchandise in political Islam such as Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and he expected that a “Biden/Obama administration” to continue that policy, which is why he felt justified in coining the term “bin Biden,” calling a potential Biden victory a huge gift for al-Qaeda.
He noted that the Democrats used to be just liberals, and not radical leftists. However under Obama they went off into a “strange direction way left.” Al-Khayidi went on to complain about the MB influence in America through CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), Turkey, and Qatar. In this regard he made reference to Ilhan Omar, Rashaida Tlaib, and Linda Sarsour as being tools of the MB. Sarcastically he said that “if you are a non-Muslim and you criticize any of that you are called an Islamophobe. Oh no, you can’t do that! They say.”
In a more serious vein he repeated that “if Biden wins it will be a great gain for al-Qaeda and all extremists in the world.” At this point in his show he played a video of the planes crashing into the WTC, with a female voice over in Arabic saying that “if Biden wins, another 9/11 could happen in the near future, or even sooner.”
This video and the comments that went along with it were based on an essay in the New York Post by Nur bint Laden, a niece of Usama bin Laden. Al-Khayidi pointed out that this niece of bin Laden was a Trump supporter from the first moment he rode down that escalator and declared his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2015, and still is. She considers his re-election to be critical for the survival of western civilization.
(Nur bint Laden’s mother is a Swiss author and she was raised mostly in Switzerland after her mother divorced her Saudi father, but claims to be an American at heart. However, as a citizen of a foreign country it is questionable that she could offer any real support to Trump’s re-election, except for moral support.)
Finally, in supporting his position that a Biden victory would be a gift to al-Qaeda and extremism in general, Al-Khayidi noted that Biden has criticized Trump for standing against extremism, and has expressed his disapproval of the assassinations of Qasim Solaimani and Usama bin Laden.
/////////////////////////////
Barry Webb has logged a 25-year career as an Arabist for the NSA, has two MA degrees in related subject matter, and is currently a Senior Fellow with Americans for Intelligence Reform www.intelreform.org. He is the author of Confessions of an (ex) NSA spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is www.barrywebbauthor.com
