i'm khaled batarfi. i met mr. osama bin laden in the early 1970s when we lived in this neighborhood. >> reporter: this nondescript middle class jeddah neighborhood is where batarfi, then age 12, and bin laden, three years older, became neighbors and best friends. going to the mosque together, playing together, watching tv together. among their favorite shows, american westerns and bruce lee movies. >> he would watch cowboy movies and karate movies, things that -- action movies. >> reporter: batarfi took us to the field where he and bin laden played soccer as teenagers. >> and just looking, i think of a lot of memories. and i enjoyed being a captain, really, telling people what to do. >> reporter: on the soccer field, batarfi was the leader. osama, the follower. >> but i would tell him what to do. he was a good soldier. he would follow orders. usually because he was taller than most of us and older, he would play in the front because this way he could use his head to score. >> reporter: batarfi says the teenage osa