The U.S. government this week provided an unprecedented insight into the mind of Osama bin Laden when it released 103 documents of his that were retrieved by Navy SEALs during their May 2011 assassination raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Among the letters released was one that described the Mumbai terror attacks as a “blessed operation,” adding that it was a “heroic Fidai operations in Bombay — India’s economical capital — in which several western targets were struck in which many Americans and other Westerners were killed.”
German bakery attack
The letter, which was written to bin Laden by Abu Salih al-Somali, believed to be a top external operations lieutenant and long-time al-Qaeda insider, went on to note, “Following that, was the beautiful huge bombing-also in India — of the western German bakery mainly visited by Jews and western nationals in general.”
The documents published by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday revealed not only that the al-Qaeda boss was obsessed with attacking Americans, but also painted nuanced portrait of letters that he exchanged with his four wives and many sons and daughters emerging as a “much-loved and admired father who doted on his children.”
The declassified documents shed new light upon how bin Laden managed his security during his years as a fugitive master-terrorist, and his fierce determination to strike back at the West until his very last days. With an abundance of time for reading, which his bodyguards facilitated by bringing him secure PDF copies of downloaded documents supplied via pen drive, bin Laden pored over everything from the case of 26/11 mastermind David Coleman Headley to Bob Woodward’s book Obama’s Wars, and Noam Chomsky writings.
‘Plagued by paranoia’
However he was “plagued by paranoia” over surveillance by Western agencies, had a fixation with the terror group’s media image, and admitted to deep concern over sustained drone strikes.
“The focus should be on killing and fighting the American people and their representatives,” bin Laden wrote, adding, that drone strikes had “led to the killing of many jihadi cadres, leaders and others … This is something that is concerning us and exhausting us.” The documents provide insight into the structure of al-Qaeda’s operations too, and give the impression of bin Laden serving as the “Director of Human Resources at a struggling multinational.”
The group even had an intake form for new entrants that asked: “Please enter the required information accurately and truthfully. Write clearly and legibly. Name, age, marital status. Do you wish to execute a suicide operation? Who should we contact in case you become a martyr?”
The documents do not appear to corroborate the version of bin Laden’s assassination that was recently released by U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
