Bin Laden at home: Videos expose frailty — and vanity

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Saturday released five videos recovered from Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that an intelligence official said show him threatening the United States, condemning capitalism and at some points flubbing his lines and missing a cue. In the most candid scenes, bin Laden can be seen watching news coverage of himself on television.

The videos, which were made public without sound to avoid disseminating terrorist messages, were the first materials to be released from what a senior U.S. intelligence official described as "the single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever." The collection, which includes hundreds of computer-file-storage devices, hard drives, videos, documents and personal papers, was seized by the U.S. assault team that killed bin Laden early Monday.

The administration released the videos to promote an intelligence triumph and to try to further diminish bin Laden's legacy and popular appeal. The videos, viewed together, showed bin Laden both as a frail man and as the polished al-Qaida leader who took care with his appearance and image.

Appearance matters

The intelligence official who briefed reporters at a Pentagon news conference Saturday took pains to point out that bin Laden, 54, had dyed his white beard black for his appearances in the videos — suggesting vanity or at least a desire to appear younger in videos made for distribution worldwide.

"He took very seriously and engaged heavily in al-Qaida propaganda operations," said the official, who asked not to be named because of ground rules imposed by the administration. "Our take-away is that he jealously guarded his own image."

The official said the administration released the videos without sound to avoid broadcasting a bin Laden message of terrorism and anti-Americanism after his death. But the lack of sound prevented an independent assessment of bin Laden's words, phrasing and tone.

Directing image

The most revealing video shows bin Laden sitting on the floor of a small room, wrapped in a blanket as he watched news clips about himself on television. Wearing a black cap and wrapped with a brown blanket, he is seen stroking his gray beard and directing a cameraman to film images from the television set.

The old television set with a tangle of power cords running into a control box is visible as bin Laden appears to flip through channels on the menu screen of a satellite-TV service. The television and the satellite-input box sit on a shaky computer desk. Next to bin Laden is a pillow. The room is barren, with what appears to be peeling paint on the wall.

The intelligence official said analysts had not determined when or where the video of bin Laden watching himself on television was recorded. But since one of the images flickering on bin Laden's screen was of President Obama, the video appeared to date from after January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated. The video was likely recorded in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, where he lived from 2005 until his death.

Two videos consist of outtakes from bin Laden's recorded messages to his followers: one in which the intelligence official said bin Laden misspoke and had to start over and another in which he was said to have missed a cue.

The official said that in those videos, bin Laden's beard had been dyed black to make him appear younger. The video of him watching television, however, shows him with a mostly white beard. Bin Laden's beard was similarly white when he was killed, the official said.

Contrasting view

Echoing assessments by the CIA last week, the official said bin Laden's concern about his appearance suggested he was intensely interested in the image he presented to his supporters and was deeply immersed in the propaganda efforts of the terrorist organization al-Qaida. That view contrasts sharply with earlier theories that he had become a marginal character who served as a figurehead for the group.

The official described the bin Laden compound as a command-and-control center for al-Qaida, where bin Laden plotted attacks and was deeply involved in directing the operations of al-Qaida lieutenants.

The official wouldn't say whether bin Laden plotted attacks against U.S. troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan. He also didn't say anything about al-Qaida's finances or how much al-Qaida coordinated with the Taliban.

Officials haven't given any evidence of plans for a specific attack. The intelligence official, however, said transportation and infrastructure continued to be al-Qaida's targets.

Bin Laden's compound was in Abbottabad, which serves as a base for military garrisons and the country's top military academy. The location has fueled suspicion that Pakistan's intelligence service was complicit in protecting bin Laden.

The senior U.S. intelligence official said that after a preliminary review of the seized material, "we have no indication that the Pakistani government was aware that bin Laden was at this compound in Abbottabad."

But the official indicated the CIA and other agencies are exploring the data, and the names that have surfaced in the records, for any Pakistani government links. "We're asking some questions, and the Pakistanis ... are asking questions of themselves," the official said.

Indeed, the director general of Pakistan's military-run intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, was scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for meetings with CIA Director Leon Panetta. He was expected to face questions about what his agency knew about bin Laden's presence.

Wife's information

Bin Laden lived on the second and third floors of a house in the Abbottabad compound for years, with as many as 12 children, one of his wives told Pakistani officials.

News reports Saturday suggested that bin Laden previously lived in a village in Haripur district, Chak Shah Mohammad, about a 40-minute drive from Abbottabad, based on a leaked interrogation of the wife by Pakistani intelligence.

Amal Ahmed Abdul Fattah, 29, now in the custody of Pakistani authorities, reportedly told investigators that she and bin Laden had lived in the village between 2003 and 2005, when they moved to Abbottabad. The village, like Abbottabad, is in a mainstream area of Pakistan.

However, a reporter visiting Chak Shah Mohammad found no evidence of a house that had been used by the al-Qaida chief or any activity by Pakistani police to suggest that they were trying to find it.

The village is a collection of about 150 scattered houses amid farmland.

"We always find out who's living here, even if they're here for two days, let alone two years," said Qari Ghulam Haider, a resident of Chak Shah Mohammad. "There's no concept of renting out homes here."

Likely successor

Al-Qaida has confirmed the death of its founder but did not announce a successor. Intelligence officials have taken that as an indication that the attack dealt a heavy blow to the organization. The most likely successor, al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, is not as charismatic as bin Laden and is not as popular in the group. Officials have said he is unlikely to galvanize followers as bin Laden had.

A task force headed by the CIA is working through the seized material, combing through it round the clock to find clues to plots that might already be under way. The U.S. launched airstrikes in Pakistan and Yemen last week, but the U.S. official would not confirm whether the bin Laden intelligence has already led to attacks.

Arabic speakers from around the intelligence community have been tapped to help review the material. The team includes code-breakers at the National Security Agency, satellite specialists from National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the FBI.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.