Osama's Words Coming to a Bookstore Near You

Posted on January 21, 2005

Reuters reports that Doubleday will publish a controversial new book which will feature a history of Al-Qaeda, interviews with Osama bin Laden and his associates and a tract on Islamic struggle by Egyptian terrorist mastermind Ayman al-Zawahri. Victims of 9/11 angry about the book and another controversy has erupted over royalty payments. Will Osama get a check care of the Pakistani government? Apparently not. A Doubleday spokesman says the publisher will pay the translator of the documents, not Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahri. Doubleday said it would pay royalties to the translator of the original Arabic material, Raymond Ibrahim, a Library of Congress employee who is still working on the book. Doubleday also said it will donate any profits to a charity to be named before the book is published. Still, if Osama hits the bestseller lists, expect many to be less than pleased.