A look into one of the former most wanted man’s recreational life.
On November 1, The CIA released 470 000 additional files from Osama bin Laden’s hard drive to the public that was captured during the May 2011 raid where Bin Laden was killed.
Even though most of his files included personal memoirs, photos, and videos about himself and his family, there were also files of Western and Japanese movies and video games, and internet pictures and videos that could show us what he or his family could have been doing during their down time.
It turns out that bin Laden had a collection of animated movies in his computer. The following were found during the raid on May 2011: Antz, Batman Gotham Knight, Cars, Chicken Little, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Home on the Range, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. They did recover one live-action movie on his hard drive, which was Resident Evil. These films could potentially be for either him or his family members living with him in their hiding place.
Not only did he have movies on his hard drive, he also had a few video games on his files as well. Some of these games were familiar titles such as Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, New Super Mario Bros, Metroid Prime Hunters, and Yoshi’s Island DS, which all were for the Nintendo DS. He also owned other Nintendo DS games such as Naruto Saikyou Ninja Daikesshuu 3, One Piece— Gear Spirit, and Battles of Prince of Persia.
Documentaries about the world around him and himself were also found within his files. Some of them featured documentaries about wildlife, ancient and modern military forces, and one about animal venom. In addition, he also keept documentaries about himself, including a CNN documentary and comedy documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden.
Other than movies and video games, he also kept a few random pictures and videos on the internet. These videos include a clip of a viral video “Charlie Bit My Finger,” “HORSE_DANCE,” and several cute cat videos as well. In addition, he had a picture of a stuffed monkey along with other clipart in his picture collection.
Along with his personal entertainment, the 470 000 files also included never-before seen personal videos and pictures about himself and his family. Some of these videos include his son Hamza’s wedding, which gave the world a look on how Hamza looked like as a young adult. There was also a childhood photo of Hamza superimposed with a photo of the World Trade Center, which was used to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Also included were bin Laden’s personal memoirs, which revealed his thoughts about Al Qaeda and its place in the world, and the 2010 Arab Spring uprisings. According to the CIA, his memoirs mentioned his plans to exploit the Arab Spring uprisings in some way.
There were some files that were not released to the public due to concerns of national security or that it contained malware, copyrighted materials, and other offensive content. However, we are now able to look at what bin Laden’s personal life must have been like during his hiding.
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