Newly released documents have revealed how paranoid Osama bin Laden became while the U.S. hunted him.
Intelligence documents reviewed by Reuters have revealed that the terrorist group’s commanders were growing increasingly worried about spies in their midst, drones in the air and secret tracking devices reporting their movements as the U.S.-led coalition closed in on bin Laden’s Pakistani hideout.
U.S. intelligence agencies translated the stash of 113 documents which are dated between 2009 and 2011, and have just now been declassified and made public by Reuters.
The documents reveal that while al Qaeda was unwavering in its commitment to global jihad, its core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan were under pressure on multiple fronts.
In one document, bin Laden orders al Qaeda members holding an Afghan hostage to be alert for possible tracking technology attached to the ransom payment. In a letter he writes: “It is important to get rid of the suitcase in which the funds are delivered, due to the possibility of it having a tracking chip in it.”
The al Qaeda chief was also wary of U.S. drones patrolling the skies, warning the negotiators not to leave their house in the Pakistani city of Peshawar ‘except on a cloudy overcast day.’
In a May 11, 2010 letter to his now deceased second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al Rahman, bin Laden cautioned him for arranging an interview with al Jazeera journalist Ahmad Zaidan, claiming that America could track his movements through devices implanted in his equipment, or by satellite.
He wrote:
You must keep in mind the possibility, however, slight, that journalists can be under surveillance that neither we nor they can perceive, either on the ground or via satellite.
In fact Bin Laden became so paranoid that he was even worried over his wife’s visit to a dentist while in Iran, claiming that a tracking chip ‘about the length of a grain of wheat’ could have been implanted with her dental filling.
The documents also reveal bin Laden was out of touch with his organisation, planning a media campaign to capitalise on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and wanted to expand al Qaeda’s reach in the U.S. despite the organisation being effectively crippled by poor leadership.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.