With regard to bin Laden and his brand of radical Islamic fundamentalism, four important books have been published in Taiwan:

Au nom d'Oussama ben Laden (Linking Publishing) by the French terrorism expert Roland Jacquard gets the facts right and avoids an American-centric view. Jacquard explains who bin Laden is and what his aims are, as well as describing Al Qaeda and the kind of people who joined the suicide missions.

Osama bin Laden: Holy War Hero or Terrorist Tycoon (Elite) by the mainland Chinese authors Cao Jun and Cao Jian approaches the topic from the angle of warfare theory, explaining both what "terrorism" means and how it is being practiced in various places around the globe. The book includes an appendix that lists various nations' official anti-terrorism units, such as the British 305 Special Ops airborne division and India's Black Cats. With its expert research into the history and theory of warfare, this is a book that you shouldn't miss.

Ahmed Rashid, who wrote Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, is a senior Pakistani journalist with 21 years experience covering the Middle East who is now a special correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan for Britain's Daily Express and Hong Kong's Far Eastern Economic Review. He comes at the topic from a local angle, examining historical, geographical and cultural factors, describing how Afghanistan, which was fought over by Russia and Britain in the late 19th century, once again got caught up in great power competition during the late 20th century.

Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (Athena Press) by the British author Karen Armstrong was published before September 11 but sold well in the wake of the WTC attacks. A long-time researcher of religions, Armstrong objectively analyzes the character of Islam and the religious experience of the prophet Muhammad, attempting to correct people's long-held misconceptions.

These four books taken together help to bring into much sharper focus the mysterious figure of bin Laden and the shocking and world-shaking September 11th attacks.

Tycoon or terrorist?

Osama bin Laden, who tops the FBI's most wanted list and is the target of a US$5 million reward for information by the FBI, was the son of Muhammad Awad bin Laden, a businessman who relied on connections to the Saudi royal family to get the contracts for many lucrative public works projects. From nothing, he built up a US$5 billion construction and finance consortium. Its status in Saudi Arabia could be compared to companies like Audi or Porsche in Europe.

Osama, who is 44, was thus born into a family that was as rich as some nations. Tall and thin, at nearly 190 centimeters and 72 kilos, he earned an MBA at King Abdul Aziz University. In accordance with Muslim traditions, he married four wives and has 15 children. After his father died in an accident in the 1970s, bin Laden inherited $300 million and became a wealthy businessman.

When bin Laden was young, the impression he gave was of someone shy and introverted-even inhibited-but this didn't stop him from playing the part of a successful businessman. He established import-export and construction firms in Pakistan, Iran and other Persian Gulf nations. And he opened bank accounts in major international financial centers, such as Zurich, Geneva and London. The assets he held in London alone are conservatively estimated to have exceeded US$50 million.

How did this thriving entrepreneur turn into the terrorist at the top of America's most wanted list? The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a major turning point in his life.

Covetous of the natural resources (particularly oil) in Central Asia, the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Under the direction of Prince Turki al Faisal, the head of Saudi intelligence, bin Laden organized an "Afghan-Arab" militia to combat the Soviets. At 22 he was a young man full of religious zeal and idealism, and he became an important figure to those volunteers in the militia. Later he became disillusioned with the Saudi government's close relationship to America. Eventually he broke his ties with the government and instead devoted himself to the movement for an Islamic Jihad.

Within ten years, Islamic guerrilla activities made bin Laden famous, and within the Islamic world he became known as an invincible fighter. A Palestinian volunteer told Time magazine in 1996: "He was a hero to us because he was always on the front line, always moving ahead of everybody else. He not only gave his money, but he gave himself. He came down from his palace to live with the Afghan peasants and the Arab fighters. He cooked with them, ate with them, dug trenches with them. That was bin Laden's way."

Amid the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, bin Laden had at least three highly fortified camps. It is conjectured that he had his headquarters in the "Bat Cave" in Jalalabad. The Bat Cave was at the end of a small trail, and during winter the snow-covered pines obscured the cave's entry. Inside it was divided into three rooms. Bin Laden's bedroom contained many hardcover Islamic texts. In a small room that served as his armory, he stored Kalishnikovs, mortars and ammunition. In the third room there were two computers, which were hooked up to a satellite telephone. These enabled bin Laden to communicate with the outside world.

According to his visitors, bin Laden's life in the cave was hard, and the only food was coarse bread, cheese and tea. Abdel Bari-Atwan, a London-based Arabic-language journalist, is one of the few outsiders to have actually seen the cave: "He was the most wanted person in the world, but tears would come to his eyes at the mention of Mecca and Medina and heathens." Bari-Atwan believed that bin Laden's greatest wish was to become a martyr.

Bin Laden and the Taliban

The Indian poet Allama Iqbal once described Afghanistan as the "heart of Asia." An ancient myth describes how Allah, after making the rest of the world, saw some rubble and shattered rock scattered here and there. He swept it all up and put it in a pile, and that pile became Afghanistan.

Historically Afghanistan was a focus of contention between Persian and Turkic peoples. Ancient religions such as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Manicheism have all thrived here, which resulted in constant streams of pilgrims. It was through Afghanistan that Buddhism migrated to China and Japan.

Modern Afghanistan has an area of 647,500 square kilometers, which makes it 18 times the size of Taiwan. The Hindu Kush mountains cut through the middle of the country. Within Afghanistan there are more than 20 ethnic groups, and more than 30 languages. Twenty years of incessant war beginning in the 1970s destroyed life for Afghanistan's ordinary people. The fighting took the lives of 1.5 million people and turned more than 3.6 million into refugees.

According to international aid organizations, Afghanistan places among the worst countries in most quality of life indexes. Men and women have a life expectancy of only 42.3 years. The infant mortality rate stands at 163 per 1,000, and one out of four children will not make it past their fifth birthday. Most childhood deaths can be attributed to measles and dysentery.

Such a nation-full of death, hopelessness and continual turmoil-proved to be fertile ground for the growth of a new political group like the Taliban.

The Taliban suddenly rose up in the summer of 1994. Most of them came from the Pashtun, a southern ethnic group that was largely poor, conservative, and uneducated. Within just four years, they occupied two-thirds of Afghanistan, and their numbers grew from 2,000 to 60,000. Islamic mullahs exerted most of the power within the Taliban, and most of them had been educated at Islamic schools in Pakistan.

The Taliban barred all women from attending school and banned all forms of visual or auditory entertainment and most kinds of athletic competitions. The men were required to grow a beard at least as long as a hand.

Forty-two year-old Muhammad Omar was selected as the leader of the Taliban. Some members of the group, however, believed that Omar didn't have any political or military ability, but was largely chosen because of his unwavering commitment to Islam. Furthermore, he has close ties to bin Laden (Omar married one of bin Laden's daughters). Some Western observers have conjectured that bin Laden was actually the brains behind the Taliban's exercise of political power.

A new look at Islamic civilization

The September 11 attacks have only imprinted more deeply the negative image that most people have about Islam: a zealous faith that encourages killing and terrorism.

In actuality the word "Islam" represents the demands that Moslems believe their faith places on them: obeying Allah, the one true lord, with all their heart and mind. The Arabic word for "Islam" comes from the word "peace" or "making peace." The 19 terrorists who caused the destruction on September 11 have twisted the meaning of "Jihad." The original meaning of Jihad was a strict test of control and determination. The so-called "holy war" referred to a Moslem's assiduous self-improvement from within and providing help for one's place of birth. The emphasis was put on cultivation of moral discipline and respect for Islam and political action, rather than on the violence of "an eye for an eye."

Hatred and revenge will not be enough to resolve the problems of this new century. This is the idea that these four books ultimately convey to their readers.

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Osama bin Laden: Holy War Hero or Terrorist Tycoon takes different points of view to look at this figure, who combines a saint and villain into one man.

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Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia offers incisive analysis into complex religious, political and economic conflicts in central Asia.

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Au nom d'Oussama ben Laden explains the origins of bin Laden's anti-Americanism.

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Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet explicates the differences and similarities between Islam, Judaism and Christianity, as well as the histories of these three faiths that share the same origins.