Osama bin Laden ‘Home Videos’ Released
The videos, released by U.S. intelligence officials Saturday, were offered as further proof that Navy SEALs killed the world’s most wanted terrorist this week. But they also served to show bin Laden as vain, someone obsessed with his portrayal by the world’s media.
One of the movies shows bin Laden, wrapped in a brown blanket and holding a remote control, flipping back and forth between clips of himself. The small television was perched on top of a desk with wires running to a nearby cable or control box.
In another, he has apparently dyed and neatly trimmed his beard for the filming of a propaganda video.
The videos were seized from bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Officials said the clips shown to reporters were just part of the largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever collected. The evidence seized during the raid also includes phone numbers and documents that officials hope will help break the back of the organization behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
For years, when it was assumed that bin Laden was living in Pakistan’s rugged, mountainous tribal region, officials assumed bin Laden might not be able to get real-time news. After the CIA discovered bin Laden’s suburban compound, they realized that a satellite dish provided a television feed to bin Laden’s compound.
Carrying picture of late Al-Qaeda chief Osama …
Egyptian Islamists, carrying a picture of late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, march to the US embassy after the weekly Friday prayer in Cairo, on May 6. Clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Egyptian capital left nine dead and more than 100 injured and a church was set on fire, medical and security officials said
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden is shown holding a remote while watching himself on television in this video frame grab released by the U.S. Pentagon May 7, 2011.
The Daily Hatch 