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 The documents published by U.S. intelligence also contained
details of purported negotiations between al Qaeda, its allies in
the Pakistani Taliban and representatives of Pakistani intelligence,
and what seemed to be an al Qaeda job application.
A July 2010 letter showed that bin Laden pressed al Qaeda in Yemen,
one of the group's more active affiliates, to make peace with the
government and focus on America.
Bin Laden's view was that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
ought to sign a truce with Yemeni authorities or arrange an
accommodation in which Yemeni authorities would leave the group
alone "in exchange for focusing on America."
"The purpose is to focus on striking inside America and its interest
abroad, especially oil producing countries, to agitate public
opinion and to force US to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq,"
according to a summary of the letter by a bin Laden associate
identified as "Atiyyah."
It said the associate recommended "extra security measures" for
Anwar al Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical preacher who became one of
AQAP's principal strategists and spokesman, and also that Awlaki
should be required to "change his way of life."
 Awlaki had served as an imam at a mosque in a Virginia suburb of
Washington, which was attended by two militants who participated in
the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He fled to Yemen after the attacks and
was killed in 2011 by a CIA drone strike.
BIN LADEN'S LIBRARY
The documents released by the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence were part of a cache seized by U.S. commandos who
conducted the May 2011 raid on bin Laden's house in Abbottabad,
Pakistan when bin Laden was killed.
A document of several pages, which the United States says was
printed on stationery carrying a watermark reading "The Security
Committee - al Qaeda Organization" appeared to be a blank job
application form for would-be al Qaeda members.
It said applicants should "please answer the required information
accurate and truthfully," and "please write clearly and legibly."
It asked when an applicant had arrived "in the land of Jihad," how
much of the Koran they had memorized, which sheikhs or Muslim
dignitaries they knew, which countries they had visited, how many
passports they possessed and whether they were interested in
carrying out a "suicide operation."
Also seized were official U.S. passport application forms, formal
U.S. indictments of al Qaeda-related figures, U.S. government
accounts of al Qaeda's organization and details of the U.S. embassy
in Pakistan's "Toys for Tots" program.
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English-language books seized included "A Brief Guide to
Understanding Islam," "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," "Black Box
Voting, Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century," "The Rise and Fall of
the Great Powers" and "Military Intelligence Blunders."
There were also copies of many American media articles, including
"Is al-Qaeda Just Bush’s Boogeyman?" from the Los Angeles Times in
January 2005, and a piece in Newsweek magazine "on hawks and doves
on Iraq within the Bush Administration."
PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE LINKS
One document dated July 2010 addressed to "Abu Abdullah," which is
one of bin Laden's noms de guerre, from an operative named Mahmud
indicated links between al Qaeda and Pakistan's intelligence
services, which Pakistan has repeatedly denied.
It said that after al Qaeda leaked information that it was planning
"large-scale destructive operations in Pakistan," but had then
"halted the operations in an attempt to calm the situation and
absorb the pressure from the Americans," Pakistani intelligence
"began sending people to us."
"They sent messages to us via some of the Pakistani Jihadist groups
that they are comfortable with. ... One of their messengers came to
us conveying a message for us from the intelligence leadership ...
saying that they wanted to talk to us as Al Qaeda."
Mahmud asks bin Laden whether the "Pakistanis are serious or are
they just playing with us?"
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the release
of the documents followed a rigorous review by U.S. government
agencies as required by the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act.
The documents can be read here:
http://www.dni.gov/index.php/resources/bin-laden-bookshelf
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Will Dunham; Editing by David
Storey)
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