the holy city of mecca to pray. osama was always among them. for him, it was a must. reporter: it is something of a mystery why this son of a wealthy family was drawn to such rigid religious beliefs. over time, batarfi saw his best friend become even more of a fundamentalist, striving to live according to his ultra-strict interpretation of the holy koran. no pictures, no music. and after that, no tv, unless there s news. reporter: osama s religious devotion went beyond living a simple pious life. he had begun to believe it was his duty to prepare to one day fight for and defend islam. osama s training ground, the desolate saudi desert. the son of a multimillionaire
osama was always among them. for him, it was a must. reporter: it is something of a mystery why this son of a wealthy family was drawn to such rigid religious belief. over time, batarfi saw his best friend become even more of a fundamentalist, striving to live according to his ultra-strict interpretation of the holy koran. no pictures, no music. and after that, no tv, unless there s news. reporter: osama s religious devotion went beyond living a simple pious life. he had begun to believe it was his duty to prepare to one day fight for and defend islam. osama s training ground, the desolate saudi desert. the son of a multimillionaire
for him, it was a must. reporter: it is something of a mystery why this son of a wealthy family was drawn to such rigid religious belief. over time, batarfi saw his best friend become even more of a fundamentalist, striving to live according to his ultra-strict interpretation of the holy koran. no pictures, no music. and after that, no tv, unless there s news. reporter: osama s religious devotion went beyond living a simple pious life. he had begun to believe it was his duty to prepare to one day fight for and defend islam. osama s training ground, the desolate saudi desert. the son of a multimillionaire was now preparing for a life without luxuries or even basic
those who have prayed with him, lived with him, and fought for him, share the story of his gradual but deadly transformation from a quiet religious boy to the angry voice of holy war. osama bin laden grew up in the boomtown of jeddah, saudi arabia, a town his father helped build. saudi arabia in the 1960s was of course a fantastically wealthy kingdom. jeddah was its main door to the west, main port on the red sea
because he led the arab fighters into the battle for jalalabad in a very disorganized way. more than 300 of them were killed. reporter: shortly after the battle, bin laden returned home to saudi arabia. my name is turki al faisal. i first met osama bin laden in pakistan in 1985. reporter: prince turki al faisal was the head of saudi arabia s intelligence service. he told me that in 1990 bin laden offered up his army to drive out the communists from neighboring yemen, but the saudis didn t take him seriously. later that year, when saddam hussein invaded kuwait, bin laden once again offered his troops to the saudis. he asked other officials in the kingdom for the opportunity, again, to bring his mujad in, as he called them, to drive out saddam hussein from kuwait. and again he was told that that