In will,Osama asks children not to join al-Qaeda

The document,which was first published in a Lebanese newspaper in 2001,has resurfaced this week following Osama8217;s death at the hands of the US navy SEALs on Sunday at his Pakistan hideout,the 8216;Daily Telegraph8217; reported.

8220;I8217;m sorry,I spent so much time on jihad.8221; It was a candid apology al-Qaeda chief bin Laden has made to his children in the document believed to be his last will.

It is thought bin Laden wrote the will in 2001 after the September 11 terror attacks in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

In the will,bin Laden compares himself to a seventh century caliph and suggests his children need to forge their own way in life rather than ride on the back of his name.

8220;As for you my children: Forgive me for not giving you except but a minimum amount of my time since I have begun my call for jihad,8221; bin Laden allegedly wrote in the will. 8220;And I advise you not to join in the work of Al Qaeda.8221;

This is in direct contrast to what one of his children 8212; bin Laden is believed to have fathered between 12 to 24 children 8212; told a British newspaper in 2009.

8220;He never asked me to join Al Qaeda,but he did tell me I was the son chosen to carry on his work,8221; Omar bin Laden,Osama8217;s son and author of 8216;Growing Up Bin Laden8217;,had said.

One of his sons Saad was killed in a 2009 drone attack was thought to have been a close confidant of bin Laden and fought alongside him in Pakistan. Another,Khalid,died with his father during the SEAL raid on Sunday.

Rohan Gunaratna,author of 8216;Inside Al Qaeda8217; and head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research,is convinced that the document is genuine.

8220;I have no doubt this document is real,8221; he told ABC News. 8220;Despite being puritanical,bin Laden had a rather modern management style,8221; Gunaratna said.

8220;He didn8217;t want them to inherit what he built simply because they were his sons. He wanted them to work from the bottom up.8221;

In the document,bin Laden also wrote that his four wives should not remarry in the event of his death.

Gunaratna also claimed the signature at the bottom of the document was that of bin Laden8217;s.

However,Michael Scheuer,a veteran CIA agent who headed the secretive bin Laden Issue Station and was later the chief of the bin Laden Unit,said the will is a fraud.

8220;It8217;s a Saudi fabrication and it8217;s been around for years,8221; Scheuer said.

He said: 8220;Nothing in it resembles bin Laden8217;s thought patterns. The structure of the language is all wrong.

8220;One thing that never appears in his documents is despair,and this thing is full of despair. It8217;s a direct contradiction to what we know about bin Laden,8221; he added.