In addition to being a terrorist mastermind, Osama Bin Laden was also kind of an underminer. Bin Laden’s hand-written diary lists the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as major targets, but the head of Joe Biden? Meh, maybe later. A counter-terrorism official tells the Telegraph, “There is a note indicating that the vice president is not an important target because that position has less weight.” Notes in the journal also paint a picture of bin Laden as the kind of boss that would peer into your cubicle if he wasn’t hiding out in a compound:
“You could describe him as a micro-manager,” a U.S. official said. “The cumbersome process he had to follow for security reasons did not prevent him from playing a role…He was down in the weeds as far as best operatives, best targets, best timing.”
Bin Laden also disapproved of the aspirational terrorist magazine Inspire. Bin Laden said the propagandist rag, edited by an American in Yemen, reflected poorly on Al Qaeda’s good name. According to ProPublica:
The magazine, called Inspire, “apparently discussed using a tractor or farm vehicle in an attack outfitted with blades or swords as a fearsome killing machine,” the official said. “Bin Laden said this is something he did not endorse. He seems taken aback. He complains that this tactical proposal promotes indiscriminate slaughter. He says he rejects this and it is not something that reflects what al Qaeda does.”
Intelligence gathering in the aftermath of the raid continues. The U.S. has interviewed three of bin Laden’s widows, who officials described, not surprisingly, as “hostile.” The women were interviewed as a group, making it difficult for the U.S. to find inconsistencies in their accounts. Thus far, the interviews haven’t yielded any new information.
New Details in the bin Laden Docs: Portrait of a Fugitive Micro-Manager [ProPublica via Telegraph]
U.S. interviews ‘hostile’ bin Laden widows, with Pakistan officials [CNN]
SEAL helmet cams recorded entire bin Laden raid [CBS News]
Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 80 in Pakistan [NYT]
