CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Al-Qaeda's online magazine, "Inspire", is out with its summer issue. This 6th edition is the magazine's first since the death of Osama bin Laden. The cover article, entitled "Sadness, Contentment & Aspiration", makes Osama bin Laden out to be a martyr.
A secondary headline adds "the al-Qaeda organization will only strengthen", despite his death. The author of the article is a former Charlotte-man who fled last year to the country of Yemen.
Federal sources tell us "Inspire" is used to recruit for al-Qaeda. It is a slick, glossy-like magazine which terrorism experts say they fear attracts impressionable young kids.
The author of this newest cover story, Samir Khan, is one of the magazine's editors. He has written articles in most of the six editions published so far. In this issue, the former-Charlotte 20-something reports two articles, including this cover story on bin Laden.
He starts the four page ode to Osama by describing how he – Samir Khan – felt when he heard the news.
"All of a sudden," he writes, "the world felt a bit empty. Was it really his time? Did Allah really take the soul of the lion?... …It was hard to absorb due to his iconic status of resistance against wrongdoing and American intervention."
Khan also writes, "He [bin Laden] was truly the hand that swung the sledgehammer of jihad against the enemies of Allah. They feared him like no other personality in history. He swayed and knocked down their financial idol, operational headquarters, military personnel, and established infrastructures. And even in his death, they still feared him as they are afraid of the repercussions of showing his body to the public."
Khan moved from Charlotte in the summer of 2010. Three years before that, WBTV approached him in a parking lot to ask about an anti-American blog he was running of his parent's north Charlotte home. At that time he denied he was promoting terrorism or recruiting for al-Qaeda (see the question and answer in the attached video story).
Federal sources say Khan is on their radar and a danger to Americans. So why then, last year, was he able to hop a flight to Yemen from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport without any problem? How did the federal government let him slip through its fingers by not putting him on a "No-Fly" list? Back then we asked North Carolina State Representative Sue Myrick those questions.
"I know," she said. "It's crazy [he could fly so easily]. I'm asking the same questions right now."
In this latest edition of "Inspire", not only does Khan himself write an ode to Osama, but the magazine also includes specific instructions – down to the measurements – on how to make the explosive, acetone peroxide. There's also a "how-to" with Ak-47's.
Despite the pro-Jihad propaganda behind the articles in "Inspire", three sentences seem to give a real glimpse into the truth of life right now for bin Laden followers.
"We apologize for the delay in the publication of this magazine," the editors write on page three. "Things have been quite hectic over here. The country is falling apart and our brothers are busy picking up the pieces."
Click the attached video to see the full report.
