The Longest War

"Peter Bergen was able to do what I have never been able to do, which was to actually interview Bin Laden. He is a first-class journalist who probably knows more about Al-Qaeda than anyone else. I differentiate between him and Lawrence Wright, who is an academic. Peter Bergen is a journalist who has become an academic. Interviewing Bin Laden was still very difficult in the 1990s but Peter Bergen managed to do it. After 9/11 it became totally impossible. There is no substitute for a journalist having actually met and interviewed an individual because you get a first-hand account. My judgement of so-called “terrorists” is very much guided by the impressions that I get when I meet them. Peter Bergen is streets ahead of me in his hinterland, because he has been doing it longer than I have and, critically, he met the man himself. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . The impression that most of the few people who have interviewed Bin Laden leave you with is that he was calm, he was composed, he was thoughtful. He wasn’t what you expected him to be. And that is the case from my experience of many so-called terrorists I have met. When you meet them they challenge the stereotype, and I think the lasting impression you get from Peter Bergen’s interview with Osama bin Laden is that he was not what you would expect. June 24, 2011. Updated: September 10, 2020 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]"