No book royalties for Bin Laden

An English translation of interviews with Osama bin Laden and writings by his second in command, Ayman Zawahiri, will be published by Doubleday. The book, tentatively titled “The al-Qaida Reader,” is scheduled to come out next year.

“It’s important to know what our enemy is thinking,” Doubleday spokeswoman Suzanne Herz said Thursday. “It gives us a beeline into their thoughts, ideas and teachings.”

Herz said the book mostly consists of translations of two separate works released in Arabic: a collection of interviews with Bin Laden that came out in Egypt and a book of Zawahiri’s writings, “Bitter Harvest,” published in Jordan. The book will also feature additional interviews with Bin Laden that appeared in the Arab press.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Herz said Doubleday regards the texts as “historical documents” and that the publisher would not pay royalties to either terrorist leader. She said Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Inc., had not discussed whether it would give any proceeds to charity.