Terror mastermind Osama bin Laden may have visited the United States as a young man, long before declaring jihad against America and its allies, the 'New Yorker' magazine has reported.The weekly, in its December 13 edition set to hit US newsstands on Monday, reported that according a longtime acquaintance from his native Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden made at least one trip to the United States, in about 1978, with his wife and oldest son, who needed medical treatment.
The friend Khaled Batarfi, a Saudi journalist who lived down the street from Bin Laden in the 1970's, told the magazine that one aspect of his trip that made a strong impression on Bin Laden was the curious stares by airline passengers at his wife, an observant Muslim who was dressed in a draping gown and full head covering - attire unfamiliar to many Americans at the time.
Some passengers even went so far as to snap pictures Batarfi told the New Yorker, adding that when Bin Laden returned to Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he told people that the experience was like "being in a show."
The visit took place before he traveled to Afghanistan to participate in violent jihad, and about ten years before he founded Al-Qaeda.
Spokesmen at several government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, told the New Yorker they they had no knowledge of a visit by bin Laden to the United States, while a State Department official said its consular section had no record of having issued a visa to bin Laden, although it no longer keeps complete data from that time.