Osama bin Laden's elopement with Yemeni girl upset his family: Adrian Levy

Bengaluru: Osama's midlife crisis, which involved him running off with a young Yemeni girl, Al Qaeda’s real involvement (or lack thereof) in the 9/11 tragedy and the "palpable lies" of Zero Dark Thirty, all covered in investigative journalist Adrian Levy's latest book, The Exile, written with his wife Kathy Scott Clark, was aptly described by Rohini Mohan as "extremely gripping." Written like a spy thriller, Levy and his wife make their way into the homes of the families of some of the world's most feared leaders, on the trail that led to the capture of Osama bin Laden. 

“In journalism, you learn that 'no' means 'maybe' and 'maybe' means 'yes', so you keep pushing," said Levy, describing the years of trust-building that went into getting information for the book. Literature on terror abounds, most of it written, said Levy, by Caucasian men. "Where then, does one find the truth? How can you know the truth without the other side?" The ultimate manifestation of a situation says little about the forces that drive it and bin Laden's elopement with a young woman threw his family into an upheaval. “They disapproved of the lifestyle of a man they once had on a pedestal and his wife, Amal, was ostracised. This was a real situation, full of jealousy and wariness – it had its role to play in what took place on the frontlines." 

The story began, he says, in the homes of the people who were left behind. The wives and children were given an asylum in Qatar, in a beautiful gated community. “We had a lot of colour the food they ate and the lovely cars they drove, but no information that would give us real leads.” This relationship took over two years to build, initiated on social media, which Levy calls a most useful method. In the end, it was a Mauritanian, who had served as the leader of Al Qaeda's religious arm, who emerged with a meticulously kept diary. “He was an amazing, annoying person, a real man of prayer and a true scholar," Levy said. This was the man who brokered an agreement for Al Qaeda to be given asylm in Iran in 2001. 

But why would a Sunni seek sanctuary in Shia territory? “In 1995, he had approached the Gulf, who wanted no dealings with them whatsoever,” he said. Sadam Hussein turned them away, though the offer received the interest of the revolutionary guards, who offered them training. “The deal never came to anything but a door had been opened,” he said. Iran, on the other hand, wanted to normalise its relationship with the West. "They sought peace and a progressive dynamic with the West," he said. They decided to offer up Al Qaeda members to America and held meetings with Ryan Hopper of the State Department and an emissary of the President. Between 2002 and 2003, all the religious heads of Al Quaeda were offered up to America, who didn't want them. “Cheney turned them down, for they wanted to say Iraq was sheltering Al Qaeda. This narrative worked for them and they didn't want to let it go.” 

The CIA, FBI-driven narratives often depart from the truth, Levy declared. “Zero Dark Thirty begins with the lines, Everything you are about to see is true, when most of it was palpable lies. Torture has never worked as a form of interrogation and it is immoral. I don't support it." 

9/11, he says, was opposed by the Al Qaeda itself. The attacks were carried out by a man who had never sworn an oath to bin Laden. "There is propaganda on both sides, but I try to give an equal platform to all truths. The idea, really, is to see how the human story drives the movement.”