On Osama’s funny playlist

Andrew Griffin

Osama bin Laden had funny YouTube videos of cats and babies delivered to his compound when he was hiding, according to a new release.

Bin Laden didn’t have an internet connection when he was at the Abbottabad hideout, so that he couldn’t be traced. That presumably means that the videos were instead brought to him on a hard drive or similar, and loaded onto his computer for watching later.

The videos include a compilation of funny cat videos and the viral hit Charlie Bit My Finger, in which a baby named Charlie bites a toddler’s finger. They are named descriptively, apparently so that the man who planned the 9/11 attacks could access them later — one video is called “funy_cats”, for instance.

Some of the videos had to be excluded from the release, because they contained copyrighted content — including footage from the film Antz and Ice Age.

The CIA claimed that it had released the files — leaving out any that included sensitive information — so that people could get a more detailed look at how al-Qaeda worked. But most of the hard drive appeared to be filled with viral videos, and other footage like games trailers and pornography.

“Today’s release of recovered al-Qa‘ida 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 organisation,” 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.”

According to news reports, the Navy Seals who stormed Bin Laden’s compound in 2011 recovered an estimated one million documents. In its press release, the CIA pointed to the more than 10,000 video files included in the release. But it chose to focus on “a video of Hamza Bin Ladin as a young adult, al-Qa‘ida ‘home videos,’ draft videos or statements by Usama Bin Ladin, and jihadist propaganda”.

In fact, many of the files are simply viral videos, apparently downloaded off YouTube to entertain Bin Laden and the family that was staying with him.

— The Independent