Freshly released documents seized from Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideout show the Al Qaeda founder had a peculiar habit, watching everything from Tom and Jerry cartoons to beheading films.
Nearly half a million files found on the computer seized in the May 2, 2011 American commando raid on his hideout at Abbottabad were released by the CIA.
These files include personal photographs of his family and insight into the Al Qaeda's global leadership, the media reported. The massive amount of new material released on contains nearly 4,70,000 items which make up 321 GB of data.
Apart from the sensitive and personal files in the data, what’s noteworthy is that many Bin Laden’s interests could have passed off as quirky and even childish.
The then Al Qaeda chief, who once topped the FBI's most-wanted list, had collected kid movies Antz, Chicken Little and Cars. He watched Tom & Jerry too.
According to an Indian Express report, amidst the news reports on security measures for the 2010 Hockey World Cup in Delhi, Bin Laden also had a compilation video of “Best FIFA World Cup goals” featuring Garrincha, Roger Milla and Fernando Torres. Bin Laden also watched other similar football compilations like best world cup goals and another video which taught introductory English using football as context.
It appears that Bin Laden also liked Bollywood music, for in his collection were also videos of songs like ‘Ajnabee mujhko itna bata’ from the Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha, the title track from Dil Tera Aashiq and ‘Tu chand hai poonam ka’ from the 1994 film Jaane Tamanna.
In addition to the more serious documentaries on himself, there were BBC and National Geographic videos including World's Worst Venom, Inside the Green Berets, and Kung Fu Killers.
According to the CIA, there were also documents and videos that give an insight into Al Qaeda's internal fissures and disputes -- between it and its allies.
It was the fourth tranche of materials to be made public by the US government since they were taken from the walled compound where bin Laden and his family lived since May 2015.
Some materials are still being withheld because they could harm national security, are blank, corrupted or duplicate files or are protected by copyright, said a CIA statement.
The copyright-protected materials include more than two dozen videos and two other documentaries about the Al Qaeda leader.
Osama Bin Laden photo courtesy: Jacquelinekato/Wikimedia Commons