The Bin Laden Papers

An inside look at al-Qaeda from 9/11 to the death of its founder—told through the words of Bin Laden and his closest circle As seen on 60 Minutes “A comprehensive, meticulously constructed and eye-opening look at bin Laden as husband, father and leader-in-hiding. . . . An engaging and persuasive read.”—Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post “Never less than gripping. . . . [Offers] an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of al-Qaeda, both before and after 9/11, and lays bare the terrorist organisation’s closely guarded plans, ambitions and frustrations.”—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph Usama Bin Laden’s greatest fear was not capture or death but the exposure of al-Qaeda’s secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden’s hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda’s secrets. In this groundbreaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden’s files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda’s closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda’s hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, in his own words and those of his family and closest associates.

The world’s leading expert on Osama bin Laden delivers for the first time the “riveting” (The New York Times) definitive biography of a man who set the course of American foreign policy for the 21st century and whose ideological heirs we continue to battle today. In The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergan provides the first reevaluation of the man responsible for precipitating America’s long war with al-Qaeda and its decedents, capturing bin Laden in all the dimensions of his life: as a family man, as a zealot, as a battlefield commander, as a terrorist leader, and as a fugitive. The book sheds light on his many contradictions: he was the son of a billionaire yet insisted his family live like paupers. He adored his wives and children, depending on his two wives, both of whom had PhDs, to make critical strategic decisions. Yet, he also brought ruin to his family. He was fanatically religious but willing to kill thousands of civilians in the name of Islam. He inspired deep loyalty, yet, in the end, his bodyguards turned against him. And while he inflicted the most lethal act of mass murder in United States history, he failed to achieve any of his strategic goals. In his final years, the lasting image we have of bin Laden is of an aging man with a graying beard watching old footage of himself, just as another dad flipping through the channels with his remote. In the end, bin Laden died in a squalid suburban compound, far from the front lines of his holy war. And yet, despite that unheroic denouement, his ideology lives on. Thanks to exclusive interviews with family members and associates, and documents unearthed only recently, Bergen’s “comprehensive, authoritative, and compelling” (H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World) portrait of Osama bin Laden reveals for the first time who he really was and why he continues to inspire a new generation of jihadists.

These documents (released by the Combating Terrorism Center) provide a fascinating and chilling look into the minds of the world's worst terrorist **** These top secret papers captured by US forces during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad provide a previously unimaginable glimpse into the workings of Al Qaeda and their slain leader. **** This book contains the complete text of the seventeen documents released by the Combating Terrorism Center on May 3, 2012.

Despite the saturation of global media coverage, Osama bin Laden's own writings have been curiously absent from analysis of the "war on terror." Over the last ten years, bin Laden has issued a series of carefully tailored public statements, from interviews with Western and Arabic journalists to faxes and video recordings. These texts supply evidence crucial to an understanding of the bizarre mix of Quranic scholarship, CIA training, punctual interventions in Gulf politics and messianic anti-imperialism that has formed the programmatic core of Al Qaeda. In bringing together the various statements issued under bin Laden's name since 1994, this volume forms part of a growing discourse that seeks to demythologize the terrorist network. Newly translated from the Arabic, annotated with a critical introduction by Islamic scholar Bruce Lawrence, this collection places the statements in their religious, historical and political context. It shows how bin Laden's views draw on and differ from other strands of radical Islamic thought; it also demonstrates how his arguments vary in degrees of consistency, and how his evasions concerning the true nature and extent of his own group, and over his own role in terrorist attacks, have contributed to the perpetuation of his personal mythology.

“An intriguing glimpse into the aging al-Qaeda leader’s thoughts as his life neared its end.” —Washington Post “A sort of anthropology of a terror network.” —The New York Times “A rare, often fascinating glimpse of al-Qaeda and its leadership.” —BBC News On May 2, 2011, US Navy SEALs and CIA operatives raided the secret compound of Osama bin Laden, killing the founder of the jihadist militant group al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the tragedies of September 11, 2001. A year after his death, documents and personal correspondence by bin Laden found in the compound have been made public for the first time, offering a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most infamous terrorists in world history. A treasure trove of documents, including correspondence between bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders, have been translated from Arabic, accompanied by analysis and background information from members of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The Osama bin Laden Diaries details the decision making behind one of the most nefarious terrorist organizations of all time.

Electrifying investigation of White House lies about the assassination of Osama bin Laden In 2011, an elite group of US Navy SEALS stormed an enclosure in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, the man the United States had begun chasing before the devastating attacks of 9/11. The news did much to boost President Obama’s first term and played a major part in his reelection victory of the following year. But much of the story of that night, as presented to the world, was incomplete, or a lie. The evidence of what actually went on remains hidden. At the same time, the full story of the United States’ involvement in the Syrian civil war has been kept behind a diplomatic curtain, concealed by doublespeak. It is a policy of obfuscation that has compelled the White House to turn a blind eye to Turkey’s involvement in supporting ISIS and its predecessors in Syria. This investigation, which began as a series of essays in the London Review of Books, has ignited a firestorm of controversy in the world media. In his introduction, Hersh asks what will be the legacy of Obama’s time in office. Was it an era of “change we can believe in” or a season of lies and compromises that continued George W. Bush’s misconceived War on Terror? How did he lose the confidence of the general in charge of America’s forces who acted in direct contradiction to the White House? What else do we not know?.

On May 20, 2015, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a sizable collection of documents recovered during the raid on the compound used to hide Osama bin Laden. The release, which followed a rigorous interagency review, aligns with President Obama's call for increased transparency-consistent with national security prerogatives-and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a review of the documents for release. What follows are those papers exactly as released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence organized by date, when that date is known. All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to charities that support Wounded Warriors.

An inside look at al-Qaeda from 9/11 to the death of its founder--told through the words of Bin Laden and his closest circle Usama Bin Laden's greatest fear was not capture or death, but the exposure of al-Qaeda's secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden's hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda's secrets. In this ground-breaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden's files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda's closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda's hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, as told through his own words and those of his family and closest associates.