CIA releases documents recovered in U. S. raid
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A journal made public by the CIA and apparently handwritten by one of Osama bin Laden’s daughters offers a glimpse into how the late al Qaeda leader viewed the world around him and reveals his deep interest in the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions that were unfolding in the months before a U. S. raid killed him.
He talks about Libya becoming a pathway for jihadists to Europe; of his time as a young teen visiting William Shakespeare’s home in Britain; of how quickly turmoil had gripped the Middle East.
The 228- page journal meanders among discussions, thoughts and reflections bin Laden shared with his family about how to exploit the uprisings, what to make of the rapid changes unfolding in the Arab world and when al Qaeda should speak out.
“This chaos and the absence of leadership in the revolutions is the best environment to spread al Qaeda’s thoughts and ideas,” bin Laden is quoted as telling his family.
Bin Laden’s wife, referred to as Um Hamza, assures him that a tape he released seven years earlier calling out the rulers of the region as unfit could be one of the major forces behind the Arab Spring protests roiling the region.
The Associated Press examined a copy of the journal uploaded by the Long War Journal to its website. The CIA released it on Wednesday as part of a trove of material recovered during the May 2011 raid that killed bin Laden, then took down the files.
The journal appears to cover conversations between bin Laden and his daughters, Miriam and Somiya, his wife and his sons, Khaled and Hamza — the latter of whom would go on to become a potential successor to lead the group his father founded.