Omar, who last saw Osama in 2000 when he decided to leave Al Qaeda, said he did not think his father was a terrorist and was sure that he must have felt “very sorry” for the September 11 terror attacks.

In an interviews to US news channels, Omar, who works as a contractor, however, expressed apprehensions that his father “doesn’t have the power to stop the movement at this moment”. Omar, said he is talking publicly because he wants an end to the violence his father has inspired by launching a movement for peace.
“I try and say to my father: ‘Try to find another way to help or find your goal. This bomb, this weapons, it’s not good to use it for anybody,” he told CNN in broken English.

He said that’s not just his own message, but one that a friend of his father’s and other Muslims have expressed to him. “They too say... my father should change (his) way.”

Omar also said he doesn’t consider his father to be a terrorist. When his father was fighting the Soviets, Washington considered him a hero, he said.

However, Omar said he differs greatly with his father over the killing of civilians. He said he left Al Qaeda because he did not want to be associated with killing civilians.

Osama and his wife Zaina are organising a major horserace in  North Africa in the name of peace, set to kick off this year. But getting sponsors to line up behind the name Laden has been difficult.

“It would probably have been easier to do a race without having Omar’s name, but then the race would just be a race, it wouldn’t be a race for peace,” his wife said.