WASHINGTON - From a shabby, makeshift office, he ran a globalterrorist empire. The world's most wanted man watched newscasts ofhimself from a tiny television perched atop a rickety old deskcluttered with wires.
For years, the world only saw Osama bin Laden in the rarepropaganda videos that trickled out, portraying him as a charismaticreligious figure unfazed by being the target of worldwide manhunt.
On Saturday, the U.S. released a handful of videos, selected toshow bin Laden in a much more candid, unflattering light. In theshort clips, bin Laden appears hunched and tired, seated on thefloor, watching television wrapped in a wool blanket and wearing aknit cap.
Outtakes of his propaganda tapes show that they were heavilyscripted affairs. He dyed and trimmed his beard for the cameras,then shot and reshot his remarks.
The videos were among the evidence seized by Navy SEALs after apre-dawn raid Monday that killed bin Laden in his walled Pakistanicompound. The movies, along with computer disks, thumb drives andhandwritten notes, reveal that bin Laden was still actively involvedin planning and directing al-Qaida's plots against the U.S.,according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who briefedreporters Saturday and insisted his name not be used.
"The material found in the compound only further confirms howimportant it was to go after Bin Laden," said CIA director LeonPanetta in a statement Saturday.
The notes and computer material showed that bin Laden's compoundwas a command and control center for al-Qaida, where the terroristmastermind stayed in contact with al-Qaida affiliates around theworld through a network of couriers, the intelligence official said.Bin Laden was eager to strike American cities again and discussedways to attack trains, officials said, though it appeared that plannever progressed very far.
Officials said the clips shown to reporters were just part of thelargest collection of senior terrorist materials ever collected. Theevidence seized during the raid also includes phone numbers anddocuments that officials hope will help break the back of theorganization behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The videos showing "out-takes" - miscues by bin-Laden that weredestined for the cutting room floor - rattle the image he worked sohard to craft.
"It showed that bin Laden was not the superhero he wanted hispeople to think," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of theHouse Homeland Security Committee.
One video clearly shows the terror leader choosing and changingchannels with a remote control, which he points at what appears tobe a satellite cable box. U.S. officials have previously said therewas a satellite dish for television reception but no Internet orphone lines ran to the house. Cellphones were prohibited on thecompound.
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