Osama's Sermon

Osama released a new tape. Is this part of the chatter? Perhaps a warning or a signal to his sleepers and martyrs? All of this is hard to say.

What is clear is that his sermon was on martyrdom and its glories. He was saluting past martyrs and encouraging new ones. He even managed to construe a Haddith, a story about Mohammad, as having Mohammad wishing for personal martyrdom.

In my view his sermon, as with so many sermons in all traditions, was a stretch. There is a vast difference between a willingness to die in a cause—as, if you will, a secondary effect—and martyrdom being the primary object of action.

This sermon really sounded like an exhortation and it was preached in very standard Arabic. His primary audience would not have been Pakistani or Afghani. Those within ear shot had to be mostly Arabs. And the Al Qaeda's inhouse media,As Sahab, is Arab oriented.

As a side note: It is interesting that ABC News got the tape before Al Jazeera. Maybe As Sahab and Al Jazeera are not getting along. That would be a shame.