Why write a biography of bin Laden?
I wrote the book because I have an old-fashioned view of history: People matter. It’s impossible to understand al-Qaeda without the personal stories of Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri. And it’s not as if either of them has now disappeared from history: Not only did bin Laden affect history with the 9-11 attacks, but he continues to influence it. Through his cassettes and videotapes, he is playing an active role in al-Qaeda. You have bin Laden on tape ordering the attack on Coalition partners of the United States, and then you see the Madrid bombing. Al-Zawahiri called for attacks on President Pervez Musharraf [of Pakistan], and some time after, they were carried out. What were bin Laden’s early formative experiences? The picture of the young Osama is someone who was hyperreligious, even by the standards of 1970s Saudi Arabia. But he was also very polite, mild-mannered, and shy. And by all accounts, a selfless individual. He was hard working too, although he didn’t gr
