Videos Show Osama bin Laden’s Secret Life

5 clips of terrorist leader portray him as someone obsessed with his own image

Video

New video shows bin Laden in hiding (MSNBC, May 7, 2011) — The U.S. government releases video of Osama bin Laden while hiding from authorities in Pakistan. (09:10)

By Courtney Kube, Stephanie Gosk, and Michael Isikoff

May 7, 2011

WASHINGTON — Video footage taken from Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, shows the terrorist leader watching news coverage of himself on television.

The five U.S. government-selected clips offer the first public glimpse at bin Laden’s life behind the walls of his compound in suburban Pakistan. The videos include outtakes of his propaganda films and, taken together, portray him as someone obsessed with his own image and how he is portrayed to the world. …

“Bin Laden remained an active leader in al-Qaida, providing strategic, operational, and tactical instructions to the group,” the senior official said, adding “He was not just a strategic thinker for the group, he was active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions inside al-Qaida.”

Officials said they removed audio from the clips because they believed it was “inappropriate” to spread the word of a terrorist, NBC News reported. Video highlights from NBC:

Video 1: A complete, unreleased message to the American people. U.S. intelligence said it was dated some time between Oct. 9 to Nov. 5, 2010. Bin Laden is shown sitting down, dressed in a gold robe, his beard is dyed black and the background is blue. There is no audio but the official said bin Laden is giving his standard message of condemning U.S. policy and capitalism.

Video 2: Bin Laden is sitting on the floor watching a television with video of his own images playing. A video of bin Laden appears on the screen. Then the camera pans over to bin Laden sitting on the floor. He has a gray beard and a black hat on, and is wrapped in a blanket. He is holding the remote control and pointing it at the television, which is sitting on a small, simple wooden table.

Video 3: A practice video. He has a dyed black beard and a wooden background, which was described as an armoire. The official said they have concluded that the armoire in the video is the same one that was found on the compound. There is no date on the video.

Video 4: Another practice clip. He has a brown background and is wearing a white shirt with a T-shirt underneath. There is no date on this video.

Video 5: Another practice video. He is in front of a wrinkled sheet, wearing a gold covering or robe and white shirt. He is wearing a white hat and his beard is dyed black. There is no date on this video. …

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, shown here in 1998, was within reach of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, according to a November 2009 U.S. Senate report. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Osama bin Laden Psychological Profile (May 2, 2011)

Osama bin Laden Dead (May 1, 2011)

Osama bin Laden Personality Profile (Dec. 6, 2009)

Bin Laden Rails Against Obama (June 4, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — May 9, 2010

Mother’s Day

Malerie Briseno, 22, left, talks to her brother, Joseph Briseno Jr., 27, as their mother Eva Briseno watches at their home in Manassas, Va. A bullet to the back of his head in a Baghdad marketplace in 2003 left Briseno Jr., paralyzed, brain-damaged and blind, but awake and aware of his condition. (Photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

One year ago today, I featured the story of Eva Briseno, mother of wounded warrior Joseph “Jay” Briseno Jr., one of the most severely wounded soldiers ever to survive.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — May 9, 2009

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