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U.S. releases videos seized from Osama Bin Laden compound

May 7, 2011



Intelligence officials on Saturday unveiled five different videos of Bin Laden that were confiscated from the raid by U.S. forces at his Pakistan compound, which left the al Qaeda leader and four others dead.

The tapes show him watching himself on television, and preparing a video message addressed to the US.

At a news briefing in Washington, intelligence officials said Bin Laden had been actively leading al-Qaeda from the compound in Abbottabad.

In total, five videos were seized during Monday's raid.

In the first video, filmed in October or November 2010, Bin Laden is shown wearing a white skullcap and white robes as he speaks to the camera in the style of previous video addresses by the al-Qaeda leader.

There is no audio on the film, but Pentagon officials said it was a message to the United States.

Three other clips appear to be rehearsals for the video message.

It is the first such film to emerge since al-Qaeda released a video address from Bin Laden in 2007, says our correspondent.



See othe video on youtube"Osama Bin Laden watches himself on TV"
http://youtu.be/9lx5QyVPs9Q

Officials say the new videos and other information collected from the site in Abbottabad are considered to be the most significant amount of intelligence ever collected from a senior terrorist.

The video and other intelligence show that the slain al Qaeda leader was very much in control over the network's day-to-day operations, according to Pentagon officials briefing reporters.

The intelligence reveals that bin Laden and al Qaeda had a driving interest in taking on the United States and that the leader was involved in the details of plotting attacks.

There is no audio to accompanying the video, punctuating the chilling imagery and keeping his words from being used as, officials say, militant propaganda.

One video looks like a home movie, a portrait of an old man watching television, but it is an image of a terrorist and suggests how conscious bin Laden was of his image.

Sporting a white-gray beard, bin Laden is seen sitting in front of a small television, flipping through a selection of satellite channels as he intently views video footage of himself.


A hunched Bin Laden is wearing a dark wool cap with a blanket draped around his shoulders, holding a clicker and slightly rocking in his seat in spartan surroundings.
One of the videos is a message to the United States officials believe was recorded in October or November. In that video, bin Laden's beard has been dyed black and he was well-composed as he delivered his message.

The three other videos are practice sessions for videos he was planning to release to the world.
The photos were released amid the Obama adminstration's decision not to release photos of the slain bin Laden and buried the terrorist leader at sea.

A senior intelligence official briefing reporters at the Pentagon said last week's raid by U.S. forces yielded a significant amount of intelligence, and that a special federal taskforce -- including members of the CIA and FBI -- is combing through the material.

The official also said the DNA evidence unquestionably shows that the person shot and killed in the Pakistan compound was bin Laden.

The intelligence officials said they are trying to determine what bin Laden's death means to the future of al Qaeda and are combing through intelligence to get clues on where other top al Qaeda leaders are.

The No. 2 man in al Qaeda is Ayman al-Zawahiri; another top militant is Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. born militant who is a leader in the group's Yemen branch.

This week, al-Awlaki eluded a drone attack in southern Yemen as security personnel continue their hunt for him.

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