Osama Bin Laden Home Video Released By US Government (WATCH)
Osama bin Laden is shown watching himself on television in this video frame grab released by the U.S. Pentagon May 7, 2011. Five videos were found in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan after U.S. Navy Seals stormed the compound and killed bin Laden. The compound in Pakistan where U.S. forces killed bin Laden was an "active command and control center" where the al Qaeda leader remained in strategic and operational control of the organization, a senior U.S. intelligence official said on May 7. Source: REUTERS / Pentagon/Handout Date:05/07/2011
Newly released video and information about the cache recovered from Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan reveal a bit of vanity in the terrorist leader: He dyed his gray beard for videos and watched iconic footage of himself on television.
In a briefing by a senior intelligence officer at the Pentagon Saturday, the al Qaeda leader was described as far more than the “figurehead” of the organization. U.S. officials had dismissed bin Laden’s relevance over the years after he slipped away from capture at Tora Bora a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Far from a strategic or symbolic leader of a global terrorist network, the videos reveal bin Laden was an active player in plotting new attacks that focused on transportation and infrastructure targets.
“This compound in Abbottabad was an active command and control center for al Qaeda,” said a Pentagon official, who spoke on condition he not be identified by name. Bin Laden “was not just a strategic thinker. He was active in operational planning” for attacks, he said.
When pressed for evidence of plots masterminded by bin Laden, though, the official gave no examples. He also would not say whether the videos have so far provided any actionable intelligence that would allow the United States to target other al Qaeda leaders.
It is unclear whether this week’s drone attack in Yemen, the first there since 2002, that missed Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was the result of information taken from bin Laden’s compound.
The official said the vast array of computers, hard drives, printed material, hand-written material, videos and other evidence could take months to sift through.
