It’s hard to verify whether America’s most wanted fugitive is still alive, let alone if he’s an author in the making, but there are reports out of Pakistan that Osama bin Laden is writing a book in Arabic about his al-qaida cause and the motivation behind his terrorist campaign.

We wish to take this opportunity to editorialize and wish only death, suffering and misery upon bin Laden, not necessarily in that order, but definitely all three in extra-large doses. He is a disgusting piece of filth worthy only of our scorn and many, many, many bullets. Ahem. Sorry, kind of lost our cool there.  Now back to the news.

Following is a report from Press Trust of India:
Islamabad, Oct 25 (PTI) World’s most wanted fugitive, Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is reportedly writing a book on the struggle of his terrorist network that dispenses money, logistical support and training to radical groups in over 50 countries.
The book, being written in Arabic, will later be translated into English. Bin Laden decided to write the book to counter “propaganda” against Al Qaeda, Geo News channel reported.

Bin Laden is writing the book with the assistance of a “young man with a Middle Eastern background who will later translate the text into English”, the channel reported. The book will reportedly highlight atrocities allegedly being committed on Muslims by the Western world.

Bin Laden will also discuss how the medieval Crusades greatly impacted the growth of Western influence in world affairs and ultimately helped the US to control the oil reserves of the Muslim states.

The book will shed light on the evolution of Al Qaeda and 9/11 terror attacks on the US.

Bin Laden, who was born in Riyadh on March 10, 1957, is a member of the prominent bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia.

The Al Qaeda leader has been indicted in a US federal court for his alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of 10 most wanted fugitives.

Though bin Laden has not been indicted for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, he has reportedly claimed responsibility for the strikes. Reports suggest he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or a degree in public administration in 1981.

Bin Laden also operated from Pakistan for a brief while in the 1980s as part of the mujahideen movement against the Soviet forces that had occupied Afghanistan.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

In The City’s End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York’s Destruction, historian Max Page writes about a kind of cult of destruction that has hung over Gotham City since at least the 1800s, with everything from comets to Godzilla to gigantic waves.
In examining these imagined cataclsums, Page tries to provide a historical perspective in relation to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Page is a professor of architecture and history at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The book is published by Yale University Press.

For more info, CLICK HERE.

I don’t know which makes me angrier: The filthy scum who perpetrated 9/11 or our government’s often inept response. (Wage war with Iraq? Sounds good to me! Underman troops in Afghanistan, the actual base of al-Qaida? Sure!) I would have been much more satisfied to see Osama bin Laden’s extremely dead head mounted on a stick. That would have been an appropriate response.

Which has me thinking twice about picking up Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11. One voice says, yes, learn the awful truth, the untold stories of unspeakable evil and amazing heroism. The other says, it’s done, why put yourself through one the worst days in our history again? I guess I don’t have to decide today.

I remember how empty the sky was in the days immediately after the attacks, how eerily empty. And then Bruce Springsteen up and writes Empty Sky on his 2002 album, The Rising.

Anyway, to learn more about Touching History, CLICK HERE.

For those who can bear it, take a look at Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11, by Lynn Spencer.
Spencer, a commercial pilot herself, was deeply touched by the events of 9/11. In the wake of the 9/11 Commission’s report, she believed part of the story remained untold. This touched off a three-year quest, which resulted in Touching History.

A Milwaukee native, her story appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

“Spencer decided to write her book after realizing there were untold stories from the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The Air Line Pilots Association sent a letter to its members asking those with stories about Sept. 11, 2001, to contact Spencer. That’s how she came in contact with Gerald Earwood, pilot of Midwest Flight 7.”
(Earwood was piloting the plane that nearly collided with United Airlines Flight 175, the second airplane to hit the World Trade Center.)

“Spencer also interviewed air traffic controllers, military pilots and Federal Aviation Administration officials and reviewed public documents to write Touching History.”

Here ’s excerpt of an excerpt:
Boston Center, Nashua, New Hampshire, 7:59 a.m.

American Flight 11 receives takeoff clearance at 7:59 and is handed over from the controllers at Logan to the FAA’s Boston Center after reaching 11,000 feet. The plane appears on Pete Zalewski’s radar screen just after passing through 20,000 feet, and he radios the flight crew climb and course instructions.

“American 11, turn 20 degrees right.”

“20 right. American 11,” comes the prompt reply from the cockpit.

“American 11, now climb/maintain flight level 3-5-0,” Zalewski continues, instructing them to head up to 35,000 feet.

He receives no response.

“American 11,” he repeats, “climb/maintain flight level 3-5-0.”

Still nothing.

“American 11, Boston,” he radios, requesting a call back from the pilots. “American 11, uh, the American on the frequency, how do you hear me?”

That was just the beginning.

Touching History, ISBN 978-1-4165-5925-2, is published by Free Press, a Simon & Schuster imprint.

Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy by Charlie Savage has won the 2008 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. The award, given annually since 1987, rewards journalists who bring clarity and public attention to issue.

The Award includes a $15,000 cash prize.

From the New York Public Library’s press release quotes Savage:

“The Bush-Cheney administration’s systematic effort to expand presidential power — a push that originated not with 9/11 but rather with Cheney’s experiences in the Ford administration after Watergate and Vietnam — is the most successfully implemented policy of the current White House. It is also one of the least understood. I wrote this book to explain how the system of checks and balances devised by the founders is changing as ever more power is being concentrated in the hands of the president and his top advisers — be they Republicans or Democrats — and to tell the dramatic stories behind this movement,” said Savage. “My thanks to the NYPL Bernstein Award committee for helping to direct wider attention to this fundamental constitutional issue, which transcends partisan politics.”

Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is a Washington correspondent for the Boston Globe.

To view the press release, CLICK HERE