Washington: Freshly released documents seized from Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout show the Al Qaeda founder had a peculiar habit, watching everything from Tom and Jerry cartoons to beheading films.
Nearly half a million files found on the computer seized in the May 2, 2011 American commando raid on his hideout at Abbottabad were released by the CIA on Wednesday.
The then Al Qaeda chief, who once topped the FBI’s most-wanted list, had collected kid movies “Antz”, “Chicken Little” and “Cars”. He watched Tom & Jerry too.
In addition to the more serious documentaries on himself, there were BBC and National Geographic videos including “World’s Worst Venom,” ,”Inside the Green Berets” and “Kung Fu Killers”.
According to the CIA, there were also documents and videos that give an insight into Al Qaeda’s internal fissures and disputes — between it and its allies.
It was the fourth tranche of materials to be made public by the US government since they were taken from the walled compound where bin Laden and his family lived since May 2015.
Some materials are still being withheld because they could harm national security, are blank, corrupted or duplicate files or are protected by copyright, said a CIA statement.
The copyright-protected materials include more than two dozen videos and two other documentaries about the Al Qaeda leader.
“Today’s release of recovered Al Qaeda letters, videos, audio files and other materials provides the opportunity for the American people to gain further insights into the plans and workings of this terrorist organization,” said CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
The seized material included bin Laden’s personal journal and 18,000 document files, about 79,000 audio and image files and more than 10,000 video files, the CIA said.
The CIA said the materials provide insights into the origins of the differences between Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, disagreements within Al Qaeda and its allies, and the problems Al Qaeda faced at the time of bin Laden’s death.
Wednesday’s release comes less than a week after President Donald Trump decided to release some but not all files pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, reports CNN. (IANS)
