If you want to get him

Peter Bergen’s the Longest War (2011) and Holy War,INC. (2001): Bergen is an authority on al-Qaeda. He produced the first television interview of Osama in the western media in 1997,four years before the fall of the Twin Towers. In that,sitting in a hideout somewhere in Afghanistan with a rifle beside him,Osama declared his jihad on America “for killing people in Palestine and Iraq”,for “arrogance”,for “occupying Arabia”. Bergen followed it up with Holy War,INC. in 2001 where he traces Osama’s early life and family,al-Qaeda’s modus operandi and how it has turned into this mega corporation-like organisation spread across nations. His latest book The Longest War is essential reading to understand the decade-long war on terror,the inner workings of al-Qaeda and its continued centrality in Islamist militancy. Bergen’s criticism of America’s post-9/11 offensive,however,has now been entirely marginalised by the success of Operation Geronimo.

Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower (2006): This amazingly well-researched book traces the events leading up to 9/11 in riveting detail — how a band of men came together to wreak an audacious attack on the heart of America,what informed their insanity and prompted their jihad. And how a group of counterterrorism experts tried equally desperately to zero in on them before catastrophe struck.

Michael Scheuer’s Osama bin Laden (2011): A CIA veteran,Scheuer has served as the chief of the Bin Laden Unit. In this biography,he strips Osama of the many caricatures superimposed on him over the years and portrays him,among other things,“as a rational,intelligent,patient and pious Muslim who understands us far better than we comprehend him”. Not any longer,Obama would say to that.

Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars (2004) and The Bin Ladens (2008): Ghost Wars is an exhaustive analysis where Coll tries to connect the dots from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to September 11. His other book takes a close look at the bin Laden clan,the rags-to-riches story of the patriarch Muhammad bin Laden and how Saudi Arabia shaped the militant ideology of Osama.