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US releases seized Osama bin Laden videos

US officials on Saturday released extraordinary videos of Osama bin Laden seized in the daring raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief, saying the material shows he was a hands-on leader who took pains to shape his public image.
The tracking of bin Laden and the May 1 raid, in which more than 20 US Navy SEALs swooped on his hideout in
Abbottabad, Pakistan and shot him dead, represented an intelligence coup on a historic scale, a senior US intelligence official said.
The Al-Qaeda leader “was far from a figurehead, he was an active player,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The seized material includes digital, audio and video files, printed items, computer equipment, recording devices and handwritten documents.
“As a result of the raid, we have acquired the single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever,” the official said.
“This is the greatest intelligence success perhaps of a generation,” the official said.
Five videos were made public, including an extraordinary one in which the Al-Qaeda chief is seen holding a remote and sitting with a blanket over him, watching images of himself on television in a spare-looking room.
In that video, bin Laden has a gray beard, but in other videos that were apparently meant for distribution as propaganda his beard appears to have been dyed black.
Audio was removed from the videos to avoid any possible terror messages, US officials said.
One video is styled as a “message to the American people” and is believed to have been recorded in October or November. Bin Laden is groomed and is speaking from a prepared text.
Three others recordings appear to be propaganda message rehearsals. The official said these show missed “cues” and problems with lighting.
“This clearly was an Al-Qaeda leader who was very interested in his own image,” the official said. He “jealously guarded his image.”
It remains an “open question” now who will succeed bin Laden as head of the terror network, the official said.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon long considered Al-Qaeda’s number two, “is obviously the presumed successor.”

10:22 | |

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