8 Insane Declassified Osama Bin Laden Secrets

8 Insane Declassified Osama Bin Laden Secrets

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most bizarre, most unbelievable discoveries made from declassifying the al-Qaeda founder’s private files.

He Plotted to Assassinate Barack Obama

A trove of letters discovered at bin Laden’s Abbottabad hideout in Pakistan revealed the increasingly out-of-touch militant leader making desperate plans for his organization’s future. One of the most ambitious was a half-formed plan to take the life of then-U.S. President Barack Obama. According to ABC News, a letter to “a newly promoted al Qaeda lieutenant in May 2010” revealed that bin Laden intended to have Obama and General David Petraeus killed — but then-Vice President Joe Biden spared. Said bin Laden in the letter, “Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis.” He would’ve been very disappointed in the result of the 2020 election, then…

He Worried That His Wife’s Tooth Was Being Tracked

Yeah, this one might take a little bit of explaining. As part of a second batch of declassified letters released to the public, one particularly eyebrow-raising detail stood out. Writing to one of his wives who lived in Iran, an increasingly paranoid bin Laden expressed the following: “I was told that you went to a dentist in Iran, and you were concerned about a filling she put in for you. Please let me know in detail ... any suspicions that any of the brothers may have about chips planted in any way.” That said, no evidence exists to suggest that bin Laden’s wife was, indeed, being tracked by any kind of foreign intelligence agency.

He Was Into Conspiracy Theories

It seems only fitting that the man who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks was also consumed by them. As such, bin Laden’s personal library was stocked full of books about 9/11 conspiracy theories. David Ray Griffin, the author of “The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11”, was amused when informed by the Guardian that his book had ended up in Osama’s collection. Said Griffin: “I’m disappointed that he only had one of my books. He should’ve read Pearl Harbor Revisited!” Similar works in bin Laden’s library included books by noted conspiracist Fritz Springmeier, Holocaust denier Eustace Mullins, and curiously, Canadian mystic Manly Palmer Hall.

He Had Big Plans For the 10th Anniversary of His Most Infamous Moment

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 were the result of meticulous planning by bin Laden and his al-Qaeda co-conspirators. That day changed the trajectory of American history forever, and completely altered the country’s perspective on matters of national security. According to declassified files found in Abbottabad, bin Laden had plans for a follow-up attack on U.S. soil, intended for September 11, 2011. The dissident was obsessively plotting it in the months and years before his killing. Said Bruce Riedel for nonpartisan think tank the Brookings Institution, “The intercepted communications focused on selecting operatives for an attack, but the target was apparently not clear in the information found in his hideout.”

He Had Four Children & Five Houses While in Hiding

You can’t say that Osama bin Laden didn’t keep busy during his time on the run from global intelligence agencies. Amal Ahmad Abdul Fateh, bin Laden’s youngest wife at the time of his death, offered up a testimony that painted a picture of what his secluded life looked like in the years following the 9/11 attacks. In those 10 years, Fateh gave birth to four children; said the New York Times, “A separate document states that she gave fake identity papers to hospital staff”. According to Peter Bergen’s “The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden”, “he followed the life of a devoted paterfamilias, taking a keen interest in the education of his offspring and presiding over family meetings.”

He Loved Animated Movies

According to files released to the public by the Central Intelligence Agency, bin Laden found more than a few ways to keep busy while hiding out. One of those ways, it would seem, was absorbing large quantities of Western media. Found on his computer were such classics of American animated cinema as “Antz”, “Cars”, “Chicken Little”, and more. Perhaps even stranger? It wasn’t just movies that were found among bin Laden’s personal effects, but viral videos and other bits of ephemera, like the “Charlie Bit My Finger” video… and several “Tom & Jerry” cartoons.

His Intricate Communication System

The al-Qaeda mastermind’s Abbottabad residence may have contained his family and all the cartoons he ever could’ve hoped to watch, but one crucial thing it didn’t have was Internet access. So, how did he communicate with the outside world? Through an extremely well-thought-out system that minimized the risk of foreign interception. According to NBC News, “bin Laden would type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet cafe.” At that point, the courier would copy the contents of the message into an email and send it. The reverse would allow bin Laden to read messages sent back to him.

He Had a Fondness For… Uh… “Adult” Films

From the time of the 2011 raid on bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, rumors persisted that a large quantity of adult films made up a significant chunk. Those rumors were finally confirmed in 2015, when James Clapper, then-director of national intelligence under President Obama, announced their existence. Anyone hoping for a lurid taste of bin Laden’s, well… tastes would be sorely disappointed. Said Clapper, “We are not going to release these materials due to the nature of their contents.” While the specifics of bin Laden’s collection will likely never see the light of day, a 2011 Reuters report noted that it was “fairly extensive.”


Which declassified secret shocked you the most? Are there any we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!