Greg Mortenson has a way to beat the terrorists with books instead of bombs.

Mortenson's book, Three Cups of Tea, has become a huge bestseller. It tells the story of how an aborted climb on K2 led him to a remote village in Pakistan where he received help, made friends and vowed to return with the money to build a school for the village children. That pledge turned into a life's work and now Mortenson, through his Bozeman-based Central Asia Institute, has helped build more than 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past 15 years.

Mortenson was in town on Thursday and I heard him speak at a breakfast gathering at Seattle University. A former soldier, mountain climber and all-around regular guy, the best word to describe Mortenson is authentic. In fact, it is his unassuming, uncomplicated demeanor that makes his story all the more compelling. He has accomplished something remarkable, but it is not because he has any more talent or brains or charisma than the rest of us. He simply had the heart and will to follow through on the kind of thing we all feel we should do. How many times have any of us thought, "Gosh, I wish I could just do something to make the world a better place." Well, you can and I can. Most of us just don't get around to it. Mortenson has. As he says, he took two wrong turns on a mountain and ended up in the right place. And I would add that he had the wisdom and compassion to recognize he was in the right place.

Mortenson said the original subtitle of his book in hardcover was something like "One man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations... one school at a time." His publisher insisted on the terrorism reference, even though Mortenson didn't like it. Hardcover sales were modest so, when the paperback came out, Mortenson got the wording changed to "One man's mission to promote peace... once school at a time." Sales went through the roof, once again proving the expert opinions of marketing departments are generally wrong.

Nevertheless, one compelling message of his work is that building schools is, in fact, a vital component in the battle against extremists who seek to ensnare and enslave people with their oppressive medieval doctrines and glorify their god with suicide bombs and terror. The great fallacy of America's War On Terror is the assumption that such a battle can be won with armies alone. The warped philosophy of groups like the Taliban and al-Qaida is their most dangerous weapon and most potent recruiting tool. The best way to counter the ideology of the terrorists is to open minds to better ideas.

Mortenson's mission statement is simple: To promote and provide community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Young people who would otherwise not have any education or who would receive tutelage only in radical madrassas, now have their eyes opened to a better, more humane way of life. Girls who have been barred from education in the past can now grow up to be Islamic mothers who lead their children away from jihad and toward compassion. The fanatics know how powerful such an education can be and what a threat it is to them. Several of Mortenson's school have been attacked and destroyed by the Taliban. But they came too late. The people had been changed and fear did not stop them from rebuilding.

Of course, what Mortenson has achieved in a few remote villages is not enough to transform an entire region. His model needs to be duplicated many times over. If even a fraction of the money that has been squandered in the Iraq quagmire could be turned to building schools, fighting poverty and liberating young woman in the Islamic world, we'd start seeing some real victories in this struggle.

A regular guy from Montana is showing the way.