A fascinating set of writings from Osama bin Laden's final hideout made public today reveal the al Qaeda boss' growing anger with his underlings - and the group's shocking plan to assassinate President Obama.
The documents were part of the 'treasure trove' of material seized by U.S. Navy SEALs during the raid of bin Laden's compound in Abottabad, Pakistan in which the terror leader was killed.
The documents were posted online today by the U.S. Army's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.
The center's 62-page report details 17 newly declassified documents from the terror leader, dated between September 2006 and April 2011, just before his death.
Bin Laden wished especially to target airplanes carrying Gen David Petraeus and even President Obama, reasoning that an assassination would elevate an 'totally unprepared' Vice President Joe Biden into the presidency and plunge the U.S. into crisis.
The terror leader writes: 'I asked Shaykh Sa'id, Allah have mercy on his soul, to task brother Ilyas to prepare two groups - one in Pakistan and the other in the Bagram area of Afghanistan - with the mission of anticipating and spotting the visits of Obama or Petraeus to
Afghanistan or Pakistan to target the aircraft of either one of them.
'The reason for concentrating on them is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make Biden take over the presidency for the remainder of the term, as it is the norm over there. Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.
'As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour in this last year of the war, and killing him would alter the war's path.'
The revelations come two days after Obama made a surprise visit to the region, where Obama appeared at Bagram Air Force Base to declare that a defeat of al Qaeda is 'now within our reach.'
One selection of documents - written last year - describe al Qaeda's campaign ahead of the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and the best American media channels to 'deliver our messages.'
In particular, the notorious terror group expresses its disdain for Fox News, says CNN is working for the U.S. government and ABC is 'all right.'
The letters, purportedly written by al Qaeda operative and spokesman Adam Gadahn, say: 'From the professional point of view, they are all on one level except (Fox News) channel which falls into the abyss as you know, and lacks neutrality too.'
'As for the neutrality of CNN in English, it seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others.'
It goes on: 'ABC channel is all right; actually it could be one of the best channels, as far as we are concerned. It is interested in al Qaeda issues, particularly the journalist Brian Ross, who is specialized in terrorism.
'The channel is still proud for its interview with [bin Laden]. It also broadcasted excerpts from a speech of [Gadahn] on the fourth anniversary, it also published most of that text on its site on the internet.'
 |
| Watching the raid: A selection of documents seized in the raid, pictured being watched here by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, were posted online today |
Later, Gadahn says he is open to sending materials to all of the networks except Fox News, saying 'let her die in her anger.'
In other letters written by bin Laden himself, he fretted about dysfunction in his terrorist network and the loss of trust from Muslims he wished to incite against their government and the West.
In a 2010 missive, the terror boss wrote: 'I plan to release a statement [announcing] that we are starting a new phase to correct [the mistakes] we made; in doing so, we shall reclaim, God willing, the trust of a large segment of those who lost their trust in the jihadis.'
While bin Laden saw al Qaeda's standing with Muslim populations at risk of crumbling, the documents show he remained focused on attacking Americans and coming up with plots, however improbable, to kill U.S. leaders.
The correspondence shows a leader revered but sometimes ignored by field commanders, who dismissed him as out of touch even as he urged them to keep attacking U.S. targets.
Gadahn urged bin Laden to disassociate their organization from the acts of al Qaeda's spinoff operation in Iraq, known as AQI, and bin Laden told other terrorist groups not to repeat AQI's mistakes.
The correspondence includes letters by then-second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi, taking Pakistani offshoot Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan to task over its indiscriminate attacks on Muslims.
The al Qaeda leadership "threatened to take public measures unless we see from you serious and immediate practical and clear steps towards reforming [your ways]and dissociating yourself from these vile mistakes that violate Islamic Law," al-Libi wrote.
