In his final years alive, Osama Bin
Laden urged his followers to remain focused on attacking the US, newly
released documents show.
US officials have published a trove of files found at his Pakistan hideout the night the al-Qaeda chief was killed.
They include Arabic correspondence with his lieutenants, a love letter to one of his wives and an application form to join the terror group.
He also had English language books on economic and military theory.
In
one of the letters, Bin Laden instructs one of his deputies to tell
"our brothers" that they must remained focused on fighting Americans.
Their
"job is to uproot the obnoxious tree by concentrating on its American
trunk, and to avoid being occupied with the local security forces," he
writes.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
said a "rigorous" review had taken place before the spy agency ordered
the release of the documents.
There are 103 papers and videos in all, including a number of
translated letters, notes, and other materials detailing al-Qaeda
operations. Many of the documents also have a version available in
Arabic.
One letter mocks President George W Bush's War on Terror,
with Bin Laden writing that it had not created stability in Iraq or
Afghanistan.
There is also section entitled Materials Regarding
France, which includes a number of academic reports and articles about
France's military, politics and economy.
Also listed is a document
described as a "suicide prevention guide", several English language
books including Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars, several maps, and a few
video game guides.
He made a video letter to one of his wives, in
which he says: "Know that you do fill my heart with love, beautiful
memories, and your long-suffering of tense situations in order to
appease me and be kind to me."
Analysis - Gordon Corera, BBC security correspondent
They
say you can tell a lot about a person from their bookshelf. But what
can we tell about the leader of al-Qaeda from his? Firstly, he wanted to
know his enemy - he seems to have read plenty on America including
bestsellers like Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward.
Unsurprisingly, he also seemed to favour books which were critical of
American power such as by Noam Chomsky or Confessions of an Economic
Hit Man by John Perkins which recounted the author's claims of American
companies exploiting the developing world.
There's also an
element of trying to learn his opponents' weaknesses and vulnerabilities
- retired British colonel John Hughes-Wilson's book on military
intelligence blunders makes an appearance as do books on guerrilla
warfare.
There also some books which perhaps suggest a bit of
wish fulfilment - The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
for instance.
Also on the list is Imperial Hubris by Michael
Scheuer - the CIA analyst who first ran the unit dedicated to tracking
Osama Bin Laden back in the middle 90s and also, rather oddly, a book
entitled A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam. What was on Bin Laden's bookshelf? Also
on the list was Checking Iran's Nuclear Ambitions by Patrick Clawson.
When asked by the BBC about his feelings when he heard, Mr Clawson
replied sarcastically: "Wonderful, I am glad it is read in such high
circles."
Among the documents appears to be an application to join
the ranks of al-Qaeda, including questions about hobbies and a
willingness to be a martyr.
The documents are being released in the wake of President Obama's calls
for greater transparency, said Jeffrey Anchukaitis, a spokesman for the
ODNI.
"The intelligence community will be reviewing hundreds more documents
in the near future for possible declassification and release," he said.
Some of the material that has been included in the trove was previously declassified for use in federal prosecutions.
In 2012, some documents recovered in the raid were released by the research wing of the US military academy, West Point.
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