Osama's Racehorse
"Her name is Swift Like the Wind, but a more appropriate one might be Victim of Circumstance. At 12, she's too old to race. Last year she almost starved to death. Now she spends her days in a small caged area, next to a grimy pool of water turtles.
"There was a time when the spirited white mare, dusted with gray spots, was one of a dozen prized horses that galloped in glory along the dusty stretch of track. In bin Laden's heyday here, as a wealthy exile in the mid-1990s, Swift ran in Sudan's most prestigious races. Her tail was combed, her hoofs oiled.
"But in May 1996, bin Laden, a Saudi, was driven out of Sudan by pressure from the Clinton administration, and the horse was left behind, abandoned property of the fugitive now wanted for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." Swift is now being cared for by Issam Turabi, "a flamboyant character ... known as Sudan's first cowboy." (Washington Post)
Posted by JC, Dec 12, 2004 05:55 AM
