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Ladens son gaining power Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Bin Laden's Son Seen Gaining Power
Mon Jul 29, 2:40 PM ET
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s son Saad has become a rising star in his father's terrorist network, gaining so much new authority that U.S. counterterrorism officials now consider him among their top two dozen targets in al-Qaida.
Saad bin Laden has provided financial and other logistical support for several al-Qaida operations, said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Saad, a Saudi like his father, is thought to be in his early 20s, and is one of Osama bin Laden's eldest sons, officials said. Also, like his father, he is thought to be in the Afghanistan ( news - web sites)-Pakistan region.
Osama bin Laden, himself in his mid-to-late-40s, has at least 23 children by numerous wives, officials said.
"Some of them share his ideology," one counterterrorism official said. "(Saad) is definitely a believer."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that men like bin Laden's son will keep al-Qaida dangerous even if his father is killed.
"There are three, four, five, six, seven people who could — who know where the bank accounts are, who know the key players, the key planners, and are perfectly capable of running that operation," he told reporters. "Whether the son ends up being one of them, one never knows until there's a sort that takes place."
U.S. officials have no evidence that Saad bin Laden played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon ( news - web sites), but he is suspected to have provided support for al-Qaida's April 11 bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia that left 19 dead, most of them German tourists.
It marked al-Qaida's first successful terrorist operation outside of the Afghanistan region since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Al-Qaida leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, is believed to be a close associate of Saad bin Laden. Mohammed — who is thought to outrank Saad bin Laden in al-Qaida's pecking order — has also been linked to the Tunisia bombing, U.S. officials have said.
Officials attributed Saad's importance to simple blood ties: when most of the world is hunting for him, Osama bin Laden can trust his son.
He began his rise last year as the United States went to war on al-Qaida in Afghanistan and elsewhere, officials said.
It has accelerated even as the terrorist network decentralized its power structure. This move, under way since earlier this year, gives commanders in the field more authority to conduct terrorist operations without guidance from bin Laden's inner circle.
However, officials have no evidence that Saad bin Laden is positioned to take over al-Qaida in the event of his father's death or capture.
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