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Osama Diaries as credible as Hitler Diaries
by Brad Norington via quill - Murdoch's News Limited Thursday, May 12 2011, 8:58am
international / mass media / other press

Osama bin Laden wanted a repeat of 9/11, says journal ..

..so it must be true! No corpse to autopsy or other credible evidence but a 'hand written' journal we are expected to believe. However, there's that little matter of a forgery, as the purported author is dead and very little, if any, original Bin Laden handwriting is available to conduct a definitive comparison/confirmation -- though reams may magically appear at some stage, probably written by the same person that drafted the 'original' samples!

The simplistic sell just keeps coming from the White House, the CIA and Pentagon -- we should never forget that these three entities are known worldwide for their 'integrity' and 'honesty!'..

Jesus and Bin Laden, Embracing Myths - artwork by Mr Fish

OSAMA bin Laden was working on ideas for more large-scale terrorist attacks on the US, and was obsessed with replicating the carnage of September 11, 2001.

The thoughts of the al-Qa'ida leader are contained in a handwritten journal retrieved from his compound deep in Pakistan by the team of US commandos that killed him on May 2.

According to US intelligence officials, bin Laden expanded on his journal ideas in correspondence that was carried by his couriers on flash drives - miniature computer storage devices - to al-Qa'ida allies around the world.

The journal and a horde of other seized material now being analysed by the CIA indicates that bin Laden had more contact with other al-Qa'ida affiliates than previously thought.

He provided advice and was involved in plotting terrorist attacks, even if he could not exercise direct control from his remote hideout.

In his writings, bin Laden was fixated on the US and urged his followers to focus on attacking trains as well as planes.

He wanted attacks launched not just on New York but also other US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.

He even tried to calculate mathematically how many thousands of casualties it would take before the US would reconsider its foreign policy and withdraw from the Arab world.

The al-Qa'ida leader's focus on mass casualties indicates he wanted a repeat of the unprecedented terrorist attacks on the US almost a decade ago that killed close to 3000 people.

When the first material found among bin Laden's writings was released last week, US authorities warned he had considered marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks by targeting trains, although no specific plot was believed to have been conceived.

Despite not directing attacks from his compound in Abbottabad, US intelligence officials say his writings show he contributed to significant al-Qa'ida plots in recent times, including those in Europe last year.

The European plot backed by al-Qa'ida in Pakistan to launch commando-style attacks in Britain, France and Germany was foiled by intelligence agencies in September and a general alert was sent out about travel in Europe.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, has compared the hoard of material taken from bin Laden's compound with the size of "a small college library".

After killing bin Laden, the SEAL team spent most of their 38 minutes in the arch-terrorist's lair retrieving five computers, disks, more than 100 flash drives and many documents, including the handwritten journal.

Much other material was left behind, which is now in the possession of Pakistani authorities. The US would like to inspect this material too, but Pakistan's government is refusing at this stage as the two countries wrangle over Washington's refusal to give Islamabad notice of the raid.

Bin Laden wanted affiliates to concentrate their attacks predominantly on the US and Western nations, according to his writings.

He allegedly had contact through his couriers with groups including the Yemen-based al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is rated as the most dangerous threat to US interests, as well as terrorist organisations in Algeria, Iraq and Somalia.

It is not clear whether bin Laden knew the whereabouts of his al-Qa'ida deputy, Ayan al-Zawahiri, who is expected to take over as the organisation's leader.

Nor is it clear he ever had direct communication with the US-born cleric who leads al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula, Awar al-Awlaki, who could become the organisation's key figure if Zawahiri lacks support.

Senior US politicians yesterday took up the CIA's offer to provide a select viewing of photos of bin Laden's body after Mr Obama said they would not be released publicly.

Senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, said he was shown about 15 photos of bin Laden's body, most taken at the compound shortly after he was killed.

Senator Inhofe said the fatal wound appeared to be a bullet that entered or exited the al-Qa'ida leader's eye socket, with the photo showing brain matter hanging out of the eye socket. "It wasn't a pretty picture," he said.

Senator Inhofe said a further three photos he saw of bin Laden's body aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson before burial at sea were not as gruesome.

Members of the congress intelligence and armed services committees are being permitted to view photos but not take copies.

© 2011 News Limited. [naturally]

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