Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard, Saudi Abu Jandal, recalled in an August 3, 2004, interview in Al Quds al Arabi: ” ‘[Al Qaeda’s recruits] were not escaping from their economic conditions but rather from the political conditions [in their own countries] because many of them did not find an opportunity to express their ideas. Had the Arab states had freedom of opinion and expression, many of their sons would not have left and joined al Qaeda given that some of them graduated from the best universities in the world. Some of them occupied posts with high salaries like Sayf Adel who was an officer in the Egyptian Special Forces. [Al Qaeda military commander] Abu-Hafs was an Egyptian police officer. These individuals left their countries because there was no freedom so they were forced to express their opinion in this way.’ ”
– Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know, Page 194