The notorious al-Qaida terrorist network may have inadvertently discovered a new way to generate revenue: By publishing novels.
As the terror war rages on, besides killing and capturing terrorists, the U.S. has busted up a number of prior al-Qaida funding mechanisms, including the freezing of suspected assets in banks around the world. The latter actions, say U.S. intelligence officials, have left the group a little strapped for cash.
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But thanks to American publisher Doubleday, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri (founder of the terror group the Egyptian Islamic Jihad), along with Osama bin Laden and Co. will have many of their own writings published. And, says the Wall Street Journal in Friday's editions, an interpreter compiling the book will also seek out "new material as well."
Zawahiri's book is expected to generate plenty of controversy, but Doubleday is sticking by its decision to publish it.
"We firmly believe we're doing a great service to America by publishing the innermost thoughts of our gravest enemy," said Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Bertelsmann's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, according to the paper.
"We knew there would be many responses, but the overriding issue is to get these writings to a wide audience," he said.
Doubleday tentatively plans to call the tome "Al-Qaida Reader," according to the Journal.
The paper said one leading historian compared the book to "Mein Kampf," written by Adolf Hitler, or "The Communist Manifesto," penned by Karl Marx.
Whether that's true or not, it is sure to generate some angst among Americans concerned about the publisher's profit motive at a time when Americans are dying on distant battlefields fighting clones of bin Laden and Zawahiri.
Editor's note:
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