国际英语新闻:Inside Bin Laden Papers: Targeting Americans, Missing Family

Patrick Skinner of the Soufan Intelligence Group said, however, the material released by U.S. Intelligence shows that bin Laden toward the end of his life was largely an isolated individual desperate for some kind of relevancy.

“It just shows you how aspirational everything was,” said Soufan. “He was still an inspirational figure, his image, but he himself, it appears that he was really disconnected.”

Spokesman Jeffrey Anchukaitis of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the documents have been studied in detail.

“Analysts sifted through the recovered digital and hard copy materials in search of clues that would reveal ongoing al-Qaida plots, identities and locations of al-Qaida personnel, and other pertinent information of immediate intelligence importance,” he said.

Anchukaitis did not say if any terrorist attacks had been thwarted as a result.

The documents include bin Laden’s advice on how to conduct operations in Yemen, and take advantage of the upheaval in Egypt, Tunisia, regardless of the numbers of Muslims killed in achieving the ultimate goal of a caliphate.

The terrorist leader’s online library included West Point papers from its Combating Terrorism Center, a number of articles on France, a map of Iran nuclear sites, religious documents and material from other violent extremists. Inside the compound also was a guide to the video game “Delta Force Extreme 2.”

Social movement

The documents, said Seth Jones of the Rand Corporation, offer a glimpse of the inner workings of al-Qaida and the man who led the organization.

“What they provide in this sense, is transparency in how the organization operated,” Jones told VOA. “What you really gauge, frankly, is that this is a social movement, that’s not going to go away any time in the foreseeable future.”

“Now, it is important to recognize that this is only a very small tranche of thousands and thousands of documents from the trove captured at bin Laden’s complex. It’s important to keep that in context in looking at these ones that are released,” Jones added.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement that the release followed an interagency review. Hundreds of additional documents are under scrutiny for possible future declassification and release, the ODNI said in a statement.