BREAKING: CIA Releases Hundreds of Thousands of Documents from Osama bin Laden

An invaluable resource finally becomes public.

Jonathan V. Last reports: Over at the Long War Journal, Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio have the first analysis of the massive trove of documents, files, and images which were recovered at Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, during the raid in which bin Laden was killed.

The cache of documents, released today for the first time by the CIA, are an amazing stockpile of information that has never before been public. Per Joscelyn and Roggio:

* For the first time, there’s a picture of Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s secretive son, who’s never before been photographed.

* There’s a file with bin Laden’s hand-written, 228-page private journal.

* There’s a good deal of evidence that at the time of his death, bin Laden was still actively leading al Qaeda.

* Also, there’s a great deal of information on bin Laden’s ties to Iran and Iraq.

Here’s Joscelyn and Roggio on al Qaeda and Iran:

One never-before-seen 19-page document contains a senior jihadist’s assessment of the group’s relationship with Iran. The author explains that Iran offered some “Saudi brothers” in al Qaeda “everything they needed,” including “money, arms” and “training in Hezbollah camps in Lebanon, in exchange for striking American interests in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.” Iranian intelligence facilitated the travel of some operatives with visas, while sheltering others. Abu Hafs al-Mauritani, an influential ideologue prior to 9/11, helped negotiate a safe haven for his jihadi comrades inside Iran. But the author of the file, who is clearly well-connected, indicates that al Qaeda’s men violated the terms of the agreement and Iran eventually cracked down on the Sunni jihadists’ network, detaining some personnel. Still, the author explains that al Qaeda is not at war with Iran and some of their “interests intersect,” especially when it comes to being an “enemy of America.” Read the rest of this entry »