Durham (North Carolina): A US professor, who has compiled and edited the al-Qaeda's writings, said that Bin Laden is a sophisticated and cool customer.
He added that Western society misunderstands Osama bin Laden because only "scraps and sound bytes" which have portrayed him in the past.
Bruce Lawrence, a religion professor and authority on Islam and medieval religion at Duke University says that some of bin Laden's letters have been inaccessible, and previous English translations from Arabic have been flawed.
But the picture that comes out of the comprehensive collection of bin Laden's writings, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, shows the terrorist chieftain has considerable talent to challenge the beliefs of others, Lawrence said.
"For Bin Laden, it's all about religion, and it's geopolitics wrapped in religion," he said.
"Bin Laden's work "makes clear that he is a sophisticated, cool customer. He's not just a crazed religious fanatic," Lawrence added.
Bin Laden refers to the Palestine-Israel conflict in the context of a US-led attack on Muslims, he said.
Another regular theme is what bin Laden calls atrocities committed by the Christian West against Iraq.
"What's really fascinating when you read all these letters together is, it shows how obsessed bin Laden has been about Iraq," Lawrence said.
Lawrence said that Bin Laden has ?completely ignored Saddam Hussein,? mentioning him perhaps twice in letters.
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