Here is the latest video from Osama bin Laden, apparently released a few hours ago (Sunday, July 15th) although there is no way of knowing when it was actually recorded. There is some background from LauraMansfield.com:

He himself said ‘By Him in Whose Hands my life is!
I would love to attack and be martyred,
then attack again and be martyred,
then attack again and be martyred.’

Those are the words of Osama Bin Laden in a short clip from a longer As Sahab video.

According to CNN, however, the original video was 40 minutes long instead of the 50 seconds of bin Laden which made it to YouTube. The rest was, essentially, a motivational tape encouraging viewers to think positively of martyrdom as a career choice.

Bin Laden glorified those who die in the name of jihad, or holy war, saying even the Prophet Muhammad “had been wishing to be a martyr.”

“The happy (man) is the one that God has chosen him to be a martyr,” added bin Laden, who was shown outdoors wearing army fatigues and looking tired.

The authenticity of the video could not be verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of as-Sahab, al-Qaida‘s media production wing. It was not immediately clear when the video of bin Laden was filmed.

Bin Laden was last heard from in a July 1, 2006 audio tape in which he voiced support for the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and warned nations not to send troops to fight a hardline Islamic regime that had recently seized power in Somalia.

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