In a wide-ranging interview with the Saudi magazine Al-Majalla, the wife spoke about her life with America's No. 1 enemy, saying he took tranquilizers, suffered from kidney ailments and became enraged when she asked him who was behind the bombings of the U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998. 

The magazine did not say where or when the interview was conducted with the wife, who spoke on condition that she be identified only by the initials A.S. The magazine published a photograph of the wife's identity card -- issued by an unidentified Arab state -- but with her photograph and essential details blurred. 

The wife also said she believed bin Laden is alive although she has no proof. 

"I feel inside me that he is still alive and, if he were dead, the whole world would know because the death of Osama cannot be concealed," she said. 

The wife revealed that bin Laden had disagreements with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban regime that hosted him in Afghanistan, and feared the Taliban would betray him to the United States. 

She said the last time she saw bin Laden was at their home in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar before the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. 

"He came home and gave me a telephone and asked to me to speak to my mother and tell her that we are going to another place and I will be out of touch for a long time," the wife said. 

One of bin Laden's sons and some guards took her family to "a place south, close to Pakistan's border, in a house belonging to one of the tribal chiefs," she said. 

"After several days we heard about the explosions in America and that it had declared war on Osama and the Taliban." 

Cave life
She said that after the United States began bombing positions of bin Laden's al-Qaeda group and the Taliban on October 7, "we moved to a mountainous area with some children and lived in a cave for two months." 

Then, they moved again when bin Laden's son and tribesmen "took us, without our knowing where we are going, to Pakistan where they handed us over to the Pakistani government." 

In the months leading up to September 11, bin Laden used to come late at night and lie on his bed for hours without speaking, his wife said. If she tried to speak to him, he got angry. 

"Lately he looked continuously worried, exhausted and tired because of his long nights awake. Most days, he used to take tranquilizers and medicine to help him sleep," she said. 

"He used to complain of pains in his kidneys and once he told me he was going to Pakistan for treatment," she said. That was nearly two months before September 11, the wife said. 

She said she had not asked bin Laden if he was responsible for the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, "because he did not like to talk to me about these issues and, when once I tried to ask him, he got mad at me and ordered me not to discuss such issues with him." 

A U.S. court has indicted bin Laden for blowing up the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998, killing 231 people. 

America his enemy
She heard bin Laden talk about the embassy attacks, saying that some "youths, guided by God, taught America a lesson." America was his enemy and was out to kill him, she recounted him saying. 

"He always used to talk to me that he has a great project in mind and that he has committed himself to face them (America and Israel)." 

She recalled bin Laden's accusing America of "humiliating" Arabs and saying that he had "a large group of mujahedeen youth who hate America and are ready to fight against it." 

She said bin Laden disagreed with the Taliban's educational policies which held that children should study only religion at school. He arranged for their children to receive private lessons to learn Arabic, English, mathematics, science and how to operate a computer. 

Bin Laden told her that Mullah Omar and the Taliban leaders were harassing him "because they probably did not want him to stay with them any more." 

He was also worried that the Taliban would "turn against him and get rid of him and that America would pay money for someone to get rid of him," she said. 

She believed bin Laden is still in Afghanistan, saying "he always wished to die there and he once told me if he ever leaves Afghanistan, he will leave to meet God." 

Asked if she had any regrets about marrying a man whom the world considered a terrorist, she said: "I don't have any regret because this is God's will, and I don't consider him to be a terrorist." 

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