Bin Laden warned of ISIL brutality
Al-Qaeda leader expressed disbelief in letters.
Years before the Islamic State broke off from al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden heard complaints from followers about the splinter group’s growing independence and brutality in Iraq, new documents released Tuesday show.
Bin Laden’s thoughts about al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State’s precursor, are revealed for the first time in his own words in 113 documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The documents, including letters to associates, family mem- bers and “dear Muslim brothers and sisters,” were seized during the May 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the founder and spiritual leader of al- Qaeda was killed.
The letters include his will and discussions on how to handle ransom funds received in return for a released Afghan ambassador. In one letter, bin Laden responds to a list of grievances about excesses by al- Qaeda in Iraq, and reports from its leadership that it no longer answered to al- Qaeda’s central leadership.
“We heard from more than one person at the leadership level that they are claiming to be an independent state and to have no ties with (al- Qaeda),” said the letter writer, who went by the name Abu al-Abbas.
Al- Qaeda of Iraq formally broke with the parent group in 2014, when it renamed itself the Islamic State.
Bin Laden, who admitted being far from the battlefield because he was hiding in Pakistan, responded with disbelief to much of what was reported to him. “My brother, all of these strange stories are unfounded and unreliable and they contradict what we are already certain of,” he wrote.
Al-Abbas described members of “the State,” as al- Qaeda in Iraq called itself even then, as seizing property and cars of Muslims “on the pretext that they don’t wage jihad,” torturing people “just because they are suspicious of them” and murdering 15 detainees of a rival militia, the 1920 Revolution Brigade, in Iraq’s Diyala province.
Bin Laden said he expected al-Qaeda fighters to refrain from attacks on anyone fighting American forces.
In his handwritten will, bin Laden claimed he had about $29 million in personal wealth — the bulk of which he wanted to be used “on jihad, for the sake of Allah,” the Associated Press reported.
In a document written three years before he was killed, bin Laden considered the possibility of a violent death. “If I am to be killed,” he wrote in a 2008 letter to his father, “pray for me a lot and give continuous charities in my name, as I will be in great need for support to reach the permanent home.”
In another letter, addressed to “The Islamic Community in General,” bin Laden offered an upbeat assessment of progress in his holy war since the 9/11 attacks he orchestrated. The letter is undated but appears to have been written in 2010, according to the AP.
“America appears to be hanging on by a thin thread. Due to the financial difficulties,” he wrote. “We need to be patient a bit longer. With patience, there is victory!”