Word: osama
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...years since your government assumed power in Sudan. And there were a number of problems from the get-go: poor relations with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States. At that time the southern rebels were much more powerful than the Sudanese Army. There then came the time of Osama bin Laden, more difficulties with the United States, a split in your government and now Darfur. How is it that your government has been able to stay in control for 20 years...
...leather, al-Bashir didn't appear worried. The former paratrooper came to power as part of a 1989 military coup that introduced a strict Islamic legal code to Sudan. Since then, he has survived U.S. bombings (ordered by President Bill Clinton on suspicion that Khartoum had ongoing ties to Osama bin Laden), accusations that Sudan practices slavery, a long-running civil war and the bloody conflict in Darfur. It helps that the country's fast-growing oil industry, closer ties to China and a peace deal to end the civil war have fueled strong economic growth over the past...
...confirmed, Mehsud's death would bring to a dramatic end a short but terrifying career. Over the past two years, Mehsud, who is believed to be about 35, emerged from near obscurity to claim a place in a hall of infamy along with the Saudi Osama bin Laden, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri of al-Qaeda (who are still at large) and the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed while leading the radical insurgency in Iraq. Cagey, dogged and charismatic, Mehsud had a knack for uniting disparate factions around a common cause; he transformed the badlands of South...
...never know. Saad "was a small player with a big name," says the counterterrorism official. "He has never been a major operational figure." (His brother Mohammed is thought to be more influential.) But terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, author of Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, points out that having Saad bin Laden in custody "would have been a great propaganda victory" for the U.S., greater than his death could be. Adds the Western intelligence official: "Think of how Americans would feel about Guantánamo if one of Osama's sons was among the detainees...
...Western diplomats worry that the security vacuum may allow foreign terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda to move in. Osama bin Laden is widely admired in the arid north. It has become fashionable for Muslims to name their sons after him, while his picture adorns T-shirts and posters. In a speech in 2000, bin Laden named Nigeria as among "the region[s] most qualified for liberation." "Clearly there is a lot of concern in Washington with the idea that al-Qaeda can gain a foothold within the 65 million-strong Muslim population in northern Nigeria," says the U.S. official...