bookshelf: Bin Laden bio, The

National Guard, Dec 2001 by Goheen, John

Holy War, Inc. Inside the Secret Wold of Osama bin Laden

By Peter L. Bergen The Free Press 304 Pages

By John Goheen

For news junkies or anyone else following the nation's war on terror- AN ism, Holy War, Inc. fills in the gaps in coverage of the shadowy figure in the cross hairs.

The book is the product of years of research by CNN's Peter Bergen. In 1997, he nabbed Osama bin Laden's first interview with the English-speaking world. During the conversation, the Saudi exile revealed his organization's role in the 1993 ambush of U.S. troops in Somalia.

Since then Bergen has continued to pursue bin Laden, speaking with his friends and enemies around the world, reading widely and gathering an impressive amount of information on the man and his terror network.

Holy War, Inc. takes readers deep into bin Laden's organization. AI-Qaeda, we discover, is truly global, comprising hundreds of educated young men who are using 21 st-century technology to force the Islamic world back to its 7th-century origins.

Bergen compares al-Qaeda to a multinational holding company-hence the book's title. Bin Laden serves as its visible board chairman, formulating the overall strategy while leaving tactical matters to others, in some cases subsidiary militant organizations.

This structure enables bin Laden to claim he had no role in the events of Sept. 11 even though Bergen sees his group's fingerprints all over the attacks. It would also seem to permit al-Qaeda operations to continue should bin Laden be killed or captured.

Bergen also dispels many of the rumors and legends surrounding the world's most-wanted man. Bin Laden, says the author, is not a CIA creation gone bad. Rather, he is the product of militant Islamists, who over the years have served as his father figures. Bin Laden was 10 when his father, a Saudi construction mogul with close ties to the Royal family, died in a plane crash.

Holy War, Inc. was originally submitted to its publisher in August for a planned mid-2002 print date. Sept. 11 changed many things, including this book. It was quickly updated and rushed to production. Even so, the book is a very quick, coherent and timely read.

GuardFACT

The National Guard turns 365 years old this month. It is the nation's oldest military organization.