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Friend says bin Laden was a quiet boy

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A childhood friend of Osama bin Laden in Saudi Arabia says he expected him to become a highly successful businessman but never as a terror group's leader.

Khaled Batarfi told CNN in an interview in Jeddah that he grew up with bin Laden and described him as a quiet teenager who liked karate movies, drove an American car, went to the mosque several times a day.

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Batarfi, now the managing editor of Saudi Arabia's leading newspaper al-Madinah, said his reaction after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States was shock.

Batarfi's interview is part of CNN's documentary titled, "In the Footsteps of bin Laden," which premieres Wednesday.

Batarfi said he had always thought of bin Laden as one who wanted to make peace, someone who wanted to avoid violence. But at the same, bin Laden was also becoming involved in religion-oriented goals, especially after Israel took over Jerusalem. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden found his cause, says the report.

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