Osama Embraces His Inner Al Gore: A Kinder, Gentler Terrorist

He's moved on from mass murder to climate change. How special.

Osama bin Laden criticized relief efforts in Pakistan and called for action against climate change in what appeared to be a new audio tape from the al Qaeda leader issued on Friday in an Islamist forum.

He's also seeking more help for flood relief. Maybe he should hold a benefit concert. ABC wonders: A Kinder, Gentler Terrorist?

In several recent messages bin Laden has shifted slightly from militancy and addressed geopolitics, climate change and environmental disasters, seeking to appear as a humanitarian. His previous message, however, threatened the US with violence if 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammed is executed by the US government.

Maybe he's part of the 10:10 movement. They also enjoy blowing people up. Of course he's still into mass murder, so his environmental buddies have quite a conundrum on their hands.

"The number of victims caused by climate change is very big ... bigger than the victims of wars," said the voice, whose authenticity could not be immediately verified and made available by SITE Intelligence Group today.