Yesterday we linked to a report in the Telegraph that a Duke University professor was releasing an “annotated, scholarly collection” of the words of mass murderer Osama bin Laden. The Telegraph quoted the author, Bruce Lawrence, describing bin Laden as “one of the best prose writers in Arabic.”

But this article at the Duke University Chronicle reveals that Lawrence goes considerably farther in his praise for Osama than the Telegraph reported, demonstrating once again that special moral obtuseness that marks so many of America’s college professors: Prof publishes bin Laden’s words. (Hat tip: Jason.)

Only days after the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, a Duke professor is trying to explain the motivations of the tragedy’s organizer—jihadist Osama bin Laden.

Bruce Lawrence, professor of religion, edited and wrote the forward to the book Messages to the World—The Statements of Osama bin Laden. The text, which goes into print today and will arrive in bookstores in the fall, is the first to include the translations of the Arabic writings of bin Laden.

The book features a collection of 22 speeches and interviews given by the leader of the terrorist organization al Qaeda between 1994 and 2004. Verso Books, a British publishing company, approached Lawrence in March, asking him to write the introduction and analyze bin Laden’s writings.

“No one has ever looked at all of his writings,” Lawrence said, adding that most of the resources about bin Laden are not written down, existing primarily as audio-cassettes or videos from al-Jazeera, an Arabic-language news network.

Lawrence said the new book focuses on understanding what makes bin Laden tick.

“If you read him in his own words, he sounds like somebody who would be a very high-minded and welcome voice in global politics,” Lawrence said. …

He added that if bin Laden were to name his own “axis of evil”—a phrase used by President George W. Bush in reference to Iraq, Iran and North Korea—it would include Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President Bill Clinton.

Lawrence noted that bin Laden is a persuasive speaker who can utilize the Arabic language for his purposes. “A major purpose of this book is to show how he manipulates the Arabic language with an extraordinary awareness of past speakers: the prophet Muhammed and his companions, passages from the Qur’an, anecdotes from early Islamic history… and Islamic poetry,” Lawrence explained.

UPDATE at 11/18/05 11:06:25 pm:

The publisher of Lawrence’s book proudly advertises itself as a radical left-wing company, featuring works by many of the most discredited “progressive” lunatics of the 20th century: About Verso.

With global sales approaching $3 million per year and over 350 titles in print, Verso can justifiably claim to be the largest radical publisher in the English-language world.

Verso (meaning in printers’ parlance ‘the lefthand page’) was founded in 1970 by the London-based New Left Review, a journal of left-wing theory with a worldwide readership of 40,000. The company remains independent to this day.

The company’s head office is located in London, where a staff of twelve produces a program of 60 new titles each year.

Originally trading as New Left Books, the company developed an early reputation as a translator of classic works of European literature and politics by authors such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Walter Benjamin, Louis Althusser, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Ernest Mandel and Max Weber. More recent translations include the work of Giovanni Arrighi, Norberto Bobbio, Guy Debord, Giles Deleuze, Che Guevara, Carlo Ginzburg, Andre Gorz, Jürgen Habermas, Gabriel García Marquez and Paul Virilio.