CIA Releases New Tranche of Materials Seized in 2011 bin Laden Raid

[Deeq A.]

A computer recovered in the 2011 U.S. military operation that killed Osama bin Laden contained a video collection that included kids’ cartoons, several Hollywood movies and three documentaries about himself.

The list of the videos was included in the release Wednesday by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of nearly 470,000 files found on the computer seized in the May 2, 2011, U.S. raid on the al-Qaida founder’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

It was the fourth tranche of materials, taken from the walled compound where bin Laden and his family lived, to be made public by the U.S. government since May 2015.

Materials that still have not been released are being withheld because they could harm national security, are blank, corrupted or duplicate files, are pornographic or are protected by copyright, said a CIA statement.

The copyright-protected materials include more than two dozen videos such as Antz, Cars and other animated films, the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, and Where in the World is Osama bin Laden and two other documentaries about the al-Qaida leader, the CIA said.

“Today’s release of recovered al-Qaida letters, videos, audio files and other materials provides the opportunity for the American people to gain further insights into the plans and workings of this terrorist organization,” said CIA Director Mike Pompeo. “CIA will continue to seek opportunities to share information with the American people consistent with our obligation to protect national security.”

The materials released Wednesday are posted online in their original Arabic.

They include bin Laden’s personal journal and 18,000 document files, about 79,000 audio and image files, and more than 10,000 video files, the CIA said.

The CIA said that the materials, like those released in the past, provide insights into the origins of the differences between al-Qaida and Islamic State, disagreements within al-Qaida and its allies, and the problems al-Qaida faced at the time of bin Laden’s death.

Source: – Reuters