A Peek Inside the Mind of Osama Bin Laden

The public now has unprecedented access into the life and mind of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. On May 20, the U.S. Office of the National Director of Intelligence declassified a collection of documents that were recovered from bin Laden's home in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during the operation that resulted in his death. This is the fourth and largest installment of documents released. The first is a group of letters published in 2012 by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The second is a letter disclosed during the March 2013 trial of Abdeladim El-Kebir for plotting attacks in Germany. The third is a group of documents publicly released during the trial of Abid Naseer, who was convicted in March of participating in a thwarted 2009 bomb attack.
 
This most recent release comprises letters and correspondence and a digitized list, titled "Bin Laden's (digital) Bookshelf," of English-language books found in the bin Laden compound. The publications show the wide variety of material bin Laden read, including books and articles on international law, guerrilla warfare, foreign affairs, and even on 9/11 and Illuminati conspiracies. He even had a copy of the 9/11 commission report.