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LONDON (Reuters) - A London-based magazine said on
Friday it was publishing a will written by Osama bin Laden, the
world's most wanted man, in which he complains of betrayal by fellow
militants in Afghanistan.
The Arabic-language al-Majallah said the
will, typed and signed by bin Laden and dated December 14, 2001, was
obtained a week ago from a "very reliable" source in
Afghanistan.
It said the will, typically packed with
versus from the Muslim holy book the Koran, depicted a man who
appeared desperate and on the verge of death.
"Reading it, you get the impression of a
dying man. It may be that he was wounded and felt he was dying,"
Majallah Editor-in-Chief Hani Nakshabandi told Reuters of the will,
which is due to be published on Saturday.
;)
The date on the will suggested it was
written at the height of U.S. military strikes on Afghanistan in
retaliation for the September 11 attacks, which ended in the ouster
of bin Laden's Taliban protectors from Afghanistan.
There was no independent confirmation of
the authenticity of the document.
Nakshabandi said while wills are normally
revealed after the death of their author, it was impossible to
verify if bin Laden had actually died.
The Saudi-born militant, Washington's
prime suspect as mastermind for September 11, disappeared after U.S.
troops launched its war on Afghanistan in October 2001. U.S. troops
combing the mountains where he was believed to be hiding have failed
to find him.
But some television stations and Web
sites close to his al Qaeda network have published letters
attributed to him or messages in his voice, although the dates of
these messages was not verified.
BETRAYAL
In the will, bin Laden repeatedly
complains of betrayal by fellow militants, including the Taliban who
shielded him.
"We saw the cowardly Crusaders
(Christians) and the lowly Jews hold fast while fighting us, while
soldiers of our nation raised the white flag and surrendered to
their enemies," bin Laden wrote in the will, studded with versus
from the Koran.
"Even the students of religion (Taliban),
only a handful of them were steadfast, while the rest fled before
they met the enemy," it adds.
Bin Laden also asks for forgiveness from
his children, saying he had given them only a little of his time
since he embarked on his path of jihad (holy war).
"I have chosen a path filled with dangers
and endured much hardships...treachery and betrayal," he wrote. "If
it wasn't for betrayal, conditions would have been different and the
outcome would have been a different one."
Urging his children to remain faithful to
God, he advises them "not to work for al Qaeda," without giving an
explanation.
But he said his advice was based on an
example set by prominent early Muslim leader, Omar bin al-Khattab,
who urged his son to shun the post after him.
Bin Laden described the New York and
Washington attacks as "part of escalating strikes directed toward
America" starting with a 1983 attack on a U.S. marine barracks in
Lebanon and the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
The United States has blamed bin Laden
for the twin attacks on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. But it
has accused Lebanon's Shi'ite Hizbollah group for the suicide attack
on its barracks in Beirut in which 241 servicemen were
killed | 