Evil Women

Recently on the Passionate Eye, a CBC news show, I watched a BBC documentary about this fifty-something English woman, Jane Felix-Browne, who had married one of Osama bin Laden’s sons, Omar Ossama bin Laden, a man in his twenties. Osama has a lot of sons, some of whom are wanted for terrorism and in hiding with him, and some, such as Omar, who are not. All of bin Laden’s sons, including Omar, had undergone training with him at his CIA funded camps to learn to fight against the Russians.
Omar does not seem to want to live the life of a terrorist; in fact, he seems rather lost, unsure of just what sort of life he does want to lead. because of his father, he has been rejected by the members of his family who are not hunted criminals. He has been rejected by much of society for that same reason. And, he has been rejected by his father for not being a terrorist.
When Omar speaks of his father, he speaks with longing. He does not condemn Osama, because he loves him. One gets the felling if Omar only knew where to find his father, he would happily join him, just to be by the man’s side. Omar may have once decided that terrorism is not for him, but his moral compass appears ungrounded, and this lost boy could perhaps be persuaded into a life of terrorism to regain his father’s love.
Even more eerie is the woman who married him. I found her behavior puzzling. She licked her lips constantly, an action I found disturbing. Like a poker bluffer’s “tell”, her tongue darted in and out as thought defying the viewer to catch the lies it presaged. Jane is always heavily made up. In the airport at Heathrow, she wears a niqua. Yet in a Saudi nightclub, she goes bareheaded. She seems to choose her outfits based on their ability to taunt her audience. She proclaims her love for her husband, but yet her eyes do not speak it. Her body language, words and gestures are all highly protective of him, more like an overbearing mother than a new wife. As though she seeks to keep him to herself, to gain control over him and guide his actions.
Her sideways stare at the camera reminded me of that infamous photo of Karla Homolka. As I listened to Jane launch into a tirade about how Osama is not evil and the western world judges him wrongly, her mask fell, and I saw her for what she is. The same type of woman as Karla. A woman who feeds on dangerous men. In my opinion, Jane sought out Osama’s son, all the way from her lower middle class home in England, because she wants to be near his terrorist father. I think She wants to lead his son back to Osama so she can join in.
I hope someone’s keeping an eye on her.

Rhinoceros

For regular readers of my blog, if there are any, you will have noticed I have been silent for over a month now. That is because I have been having a crisis of spirit. I have received so many rejection letters for my writing, my prime passion in life, that I have considered giving up. I know one needs a thick skin in this business, but mine has been scraped away. Rejection has taken all the joy out of my writing, bleached it dull. Perhaps, after nearly eight years of effort, it is time to call it quits, say the dream was good, I gave it a good try, but clearly it was not meant to be, and move on.
So I took a sabbatical. Stopped writing, said so there, you win, to all those stupid publishers with their little encouraging hand-written notes, telling me I have a strong voice and they loved my story, but they just can’t print it. Bleah on you.
I found there is nothing else I want to do. I like to write. But if nobody but me reads it, why bother? Does writing then become a silly hobby?
My sabbatical continued.
Now I’m back, but on my own terms. I’m going to write for the sheer pleasure of writing, and not worry about commercial potential. I may or may not send my work to market, but that will not be the point. I may never be famous, but ditto. I am still writing. Bleah.