2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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news
worldnews
al-qaeda
8522799
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# Osama bin Laden tape praises Arab Spring uprisings
## Al-Qaeda has released an audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he
lavished praise on the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and called for
more "tyrants" to be toppled.
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TelegraphPlayer-8522750
[Link to this video][1]
[![Rob Crilly][2]][3]
By [Rob Crilly][4], Islamabad 8:21AM BST 19 May 2011
[Follow Rob Crilly on Twitter][5]
Islamists have played little role in the uprisings that began in Tunisia
leading analysts to suggest that al-Qaeda had lost its relevance to angry
Muslim youth even before bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces.
But in a message apparently recorded a week before his death, bin Laden tried
to wrest the initiative back from a new generation of leaders by hijacking
their largely secular protest movements.
"The sun of the revolution has risen from the Maghreb," he said during the
12-minute recording posted on Islamist websites. "The light of the revolution
came from Tunisia. It has given the nation tranquillity and made the faces of
the people happy." Speaking from beyond the grave, he congratulated the
leaders on their victories.
And he offered advice to the revolutionaries, suggesting they set up
"operations rooms" to foment unrest and councils to advise new governments as
they take power.
"I believe that the winds of change will envelope the entire Muslim world," he
said. "There is a serious crossroads before you, and a great and rare historic
opportunity to rise up with the Ummah (Muslim community) and to free
yourselves from servitude to the desires of the rules, man-made law, and
Western dominance."
## Related Articles
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18 May 2011
He added: "The youth must prepare what is necessary and must not make any
decision without consulting those of experience and honesty who avoid half
solutions."
Analysts suggested it may be too little too late to reinvigorate his terror
movement, which lost its charismatic leader and been relegated to the
sidelines of Arab dissent.
"It seems a pretty transparent attempt to rewrite history and put al-Qaeda at
the heart of the revolutions," said a security expert in Pakistan. "I think
the young Arabs on barricades in Libya, Syria and Yemen will see through
this." US Navy Seals killed bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, a garrison
town near the Pakistani capital on May 2. The incident has deeply embarrassed
the country's military and spy agencies and led to calls by members of the US
Congress for a tougher approach toward the country.
Bin Laden had not publicly reacted to the wave of demonstrations sweeping Arab
countries before his death.
However, in a statement, al-Qaeda said he had recorded a commentary only a
week before he was killed.
American intelligence officials are now poring through a trove of data
collected from the Abbottabad house for clues that will lead them to his
accomplices.
This week it emerged that al Qaeda had appointed Saif al-Adel, who was close
to bin Laden during the 1980s, as temporary leader although Ayman al-Zawahiri,
the deputy leader, remains favourite to take control eventually.
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Telegraph
## [Al-Qaeda][15]
* ### [News »][16]
* ### [World News »][17]
* ### [Asia »][18]
* ### [Pakistan »][19]
* ### [Rob Crilly »][3]
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