Bin Laden and his wives. Publisher of Al-Quds Al-`Arabi, `Abdul-Bari `Atwan, wrote an interesting account of Al-Qa`idah and Bin Laden (`Abdul-Bari `Atwan, Al-Qa`idah: At-Tandhim As-Sirri, Saqi books, 2007). He tells the story of traveling to Afghanistan and spending two days with Bin Laden. But in this sentence his admiration for Bin Laden comes through: "In any way, [Bin Laden's] wives lived happily together under one roof over several years." But he then adds this: "especially that Shaykh Bin Laden did not permit any quarrels among them."(p.71) You want to ask the writer how he was able to verify that they were living "happily together"? If the evidence of happiness was the absence of quarrels, he just informed us that they were not even permitted to quarrel. Is `Abdul-Bari suggesting that Bin Laden and his wives qualify for a reality show on E!? `Atwan was also impressed that Bin Laden lived a simple life in his cave in Afghanistan. But what choice did he really have? He was in hiding.