[imagesource: AP]

When Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad in 2011, Navy SEALs recovered hard drives and computers from the al-Qaeda compound.

What they found was unexpected, to say the least.

Apart from some weird application forms and some interesting reading material that included conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks that he masterminded, as well as the Illuminati, they found an extensive porn collection.

It also looked like he enjoyed ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ memes, a hoax documentary about 9/11, and the movie Ice Age.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see any of that coming.

Much of the information on the drive was classified at the time but Bin Laden’s Hard Drive, National Geographic’s new deep dive into the materials discovered at the terrorist’s compound, reveals new insight into what bin Laden might have been doing with all that porn, alongside new information about the man

According to The Daily Beast, bin Laden didn’t like using email to convey messages or instructions, because “encryption couldn’t be trusted”, which is why most of his interactions with the outside world happened via couriers.

However, the idea is raised by [Peter] Bergen’s show (directed by Aaron Kunkel) that the al Qaeda bigwig might have been hiding encrypting instructions in his pornographic files—a devious means of avoiding detection by marrying murderous commands to the very sort of sinful content he purportedly decried.

This isn’t the only perspective outlined in the documentary. Forensic psychologist and CIA consultant Reid Meloy says that it’s also possible that bin Laden was simply a regular guy who liked to get off to porn from time to time.

I’m not sure ‘regular guy’ applies here, but okay.

Here’s the trailer for the doccie, which aired on September 10.

Throughout the documentary, the strange collection of videos, media footage, and conversations found on the hard drive suggest that bin Laden was a man of contradictions.

While some describe him as a man of devout faith, who loved his family, he also comes across as a bit of a narcissist, having collected an obscene amount of news reports and documentaries about himself, as well as multiple takes of those videos that he was famous for, in which he demanded perfection.

The Daily Mail also notes that the hard drive revealed his growing paranoia, in one instance believing that his wife had a tracking device implanted in her tooth after a dentist’s appointment.

‘Exploring these hard drives, it’s clear that digital information can say a lot. Osama bin Laden’s files left behind an imprint of a complex man, responsible for the murder of thousands of people. History will remember him for that but, in order to cut through the perception of this ascetic in a cave on a holy crusade, it’s important for us to see how he crafted the videos that went out to his followers,’ Bergen said.

It turns out that despite ranting about female newscasters every time they appeared on television, he wasn’t above asking his wives to read and write his incendiary speeches.

To watch as he inculcated his children and grandchildren into an ideology of hate leading to acts of violence against animals and the recitation of jihadist poetry. Understanding him is vital in order to combat other potential bin Ladens in the future.’

He sounds like a confused and terrifying person.

I’m hoping there’ll be some info on those memes.

I have a lot of questions.

[sources:dailybeast&dailymail]