CAIRO: A new audiotape featuring a 14-minute speech by Osama Bin Laden in praise of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers was released on Tuesday to mark the six-year anniversary of the attack on the US.
The 47-minute long recording entitled “The Wills of the Heroes of the Raids on New York and Washington, The Will of the Martyr (As We See Him) Abu Musab Walid Al-Shehri, With a Forward by Sheikh Osama bin Laden was obtained by US terrorism expert Laura Mansfield before appearing on Islamist websites known for carrying Al-Qaeda propaganda.
The new tape comes only four days after the release of Bin Laden s first video recording in three years, which surfaced on Friday.
IntelCenter, a US-based organization that monitors militant websites, stated that it had acquired a copy of the new video and provided it to Associated Press Television News.
We believe that the new Bin Laden video is an audiotape with a still picture, director of the organization Ben Venzke told AFP.
The video bears the seal of As Sahab, the symbol for Al-Qaeda s video production house, and is a dedication to Abu Musab Waleed Al-Shehri, one of the hijackers of American Airlines flight 11 that was flown into the World Trade Center in New York.
Appearing in a still image with 9/11 images in the background consisting of burning buildings and fleeing people, Bin Laden praises the will and courage of Al-Shehri.
This talk of mine consists of some reflections on the will of a young man who personally penetrated the most extreme degrees of danger and is a rarity among men: one of the 19 champions (may Allah have mercy on them all), Bin Laden stated in his opening remarks.
In addition to praising the courage of Al-Shehri, Bin Laden urged young Muslims to take action.
It remains our duty to do our part. So I tell all Muslim men among Islam s youth: it is your duty to join the caravan until sufficiency is completed and the march to aid and the High and Omnipotent continues . so go forth and disperse the darkness of Kufr [apostasy], O firebrand, Bin Laden said.
Following the introduction, the tape shows Al-Shehri wearing a white turban and reading his will into the camera, as his image is blurred with a photo of a World Trade Center in flames. Al-Shehri is the seventh of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers to appear in a videotaped testament.
We shall come at you from your front and back, your right and left, Al-Shehri emphasized in his last speech.
Al-Qaeda has previously issued video tapes in commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks with the wills and testaments of the hijackers.
In 2006, an hour-long video featuring the wills of two of the hijackers was released.
An excerpt of the new anniversary tape is available at: http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/default.asp.
