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The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader and His Family
An inside look at al-Qaeda from 9/11 to the death of its founder—told through the words of Bin Laden and his closest circle
As seen on 60 Minutes
“A comprehensive, meticulously constructed and eye-opening look at bin Laden as husband, father and leader-in-hiding. . . . An engaging and persuasive read.”—Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post
“Never less than gripping. . . . [Offers] an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of al-Qaeda, both before and after 9/11, and lays bare the terrorist organisation’s closely guarded plans, ambitions and frustrations.”—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph
Usama Bin Laden’s greatest fear was not capture or death but the exposure of al-Qaeda’s secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden’s hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda’s secrets.
In this groundbreaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden’s files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda’s closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda’s hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, in his own words and those of his family and closest associates.
As seen on 60 Minutes
“A comprehensive, meticulously constructed and eye-opening look at bin Laden as husband, father and leader-in-hiding. . . . An engaging and persuasive read.”—Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post
“Never less than gripping. . . . [Offers] an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of al-Qaeda, both before and after 9/11, and lays bare the terrorist organisation’s closely guarded plans, ambitions and frustrations.”—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph
Usama Bin Laden’s greatest fear was not capture or death but the exposure of al-Qaeda’s secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden’s hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda’s secrets.
In this groundbreaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden’s files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda’s closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda’s hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, in his own words and those of his family and closest associates.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2022
119 people are currently reading
877 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 2, 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader and His Family by Nelly Lahoud
I absolutely LOVED this book—it’s hands-down one of the best things I’ve ever read on al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the whole post-9/11 jihadist world. I’ve been obsessed with this topic for years (the War on Terror, intelligence failures, the inside story of extremist groups—you name it, I devour it), and The Bin Laden Papers somehow managed to blow my mind all over again.
Nelly Lahoud spent years translating and analyzing the 6,000+ pages of documents seized from bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, and the result is pure gold. This isn’t speculation or second-hand reporting—it’s bin Laden’s own words, his letters to his wives, his whining about money, his arguments with his lieutenants, his obsession with media ops, and the slow realization inside al-Qaeda that they were losing. You see the mundane reality behind the myth: a micromanaging, paranoid, increasingly irrelevant leader hiding in a house with no internet, while the Arab Spring passes him by. It’s almost comical at times… until you remember the human cost.
What makes Lahoud’s work incredible is how calm, meticulous, and evidence-driven she is. No sensationalism, no agenda—just page after page of “here’s what the documents actually say,” and it completely upends so many assumptions we’ve carried for two decades. I finished the book feeling like I finally understood what al-Qaeda really was (and wasn’t).
If you have even a passing interest in 9/11, terrorism, intelligence, Middle East politics, or just love primary-source history that reads like a thriller, you NEED to read this. Seriously—drop whatever you’re reading and pick up The Bin Laden Papers. I’m recommending it to literally everyone: friends, family, random people on the internet. It’s that good.
100% one of my top reads ever on the subject. Thank you, Dr. Lahoud, for this masterpiece!!!
I absolutely LOVED this book—it’s hands-down one of the best things I’ve ever read on al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the whole post-9/11 jihadist world. I’ve been obsessed with this topic for years (the War on Terror, intelligence failures, the inside story of extremist groups—you name it, I devour it), and The Bin Laden Papers somehow managed to blow my mind all over again.
Nelly Lahoud spent years translating and analyzing the 6,000+ pages of documents seized from bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, and the result is pure gold. This isn’t speculation or second-hand reporting—it’s bin Laden’s own words, his letters to his wives, his whining about money, his arguments with his lieutenants, his obsession with media ops, and the slow realization inside al-Qaeda that they were losing. You see the mundane reality behind the myth: a micromanaging, paranoid, increasingly irrelevant leader hiding in a house with no internet, while the Arab Spring passes him by. It’s almost comical at times… until you remember the human cost.
What makes Lahoud’s work incredible is how calm, meticulous, and evidence-driven she is. No sensationalism, no agenda—just page after page of “here’s what the documents actually say,” and it completely upends so many assumptions we’ve carried for two decades. I finished the book feeling like I finally understood what al-Qaeda really was (and wasn’t).
If you have even a passing interest in 9/11, terrorism, intelligence, Middle East politics, or just love primary-source history that reads like a thriller, you NEED to read this. Seriously—drop whatever you’re reading and pick up The Bin Laden Papers. I’m recommending it to literally everyone: friends, family, random people on the internet. It’s that good.
100% one of my top reads ever on the subject. Thank you, Dr. Lahoud, for this masterpiece!!!
July 25, 2022
This was a fascinating work that summarizes the papers found at Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound where he lived for more than eight years before he was killed in a 2011 SEAL raid. Through these texts, luckily recovered by those operatives, we gain a fuller picture of the leader behind the 9/11 attacks and Al-Qaeda.
The book described motivations behind 9/11, primarily based in Palestinian sympathies and Western occupation in Muslim-majority lands. The attacks put Al-Qaeda on the map, though the terrorist group’s own leaders (including Bin Laden) revealed it ceased to be relevant months after America’s 2001 operation in Afghanistan. Primarily, the jihadis hid and waited while other groups popped up and claimed allegiance with Al-Qaeda. Because the U.S. focused on the critically wounded organization, others ran rampant, particularly ISIS.
The author argued that established nations should take some jihadis’ grievances seriously and learn why many feel as though they must resort to suicide bombings and terror to get their points across. Bin Laden was well versed in Islamic traditions, but the buck stopped there. His education in international relations, foreign affairs, and Western culture essentially came from television pieces and news articles. His grand vision of “umma” was just that, as terrorism cannot establish a united front. So, his impact on the global stage did not meet his expectations, though he certainly incited an oversized amount of fear. The author did a great job contextualizing much of this history in an objective, concise way. Highly recommend!
The book described motivations behind 9/11, primarily based in Palestinian sympathies and Western occupation in Muslim-majority lands. The attacks put Al-Qaeda on the map, though the terrorist group’s own leaders (including Bin Laden) revealed it ceased to be relevant months after America’s 2001 operation in Afghanistan. Primarily, the jihadis hid and waited while other groups popped up and claimed allegiance with Al-Qaeda. Because the U.S. focused on the critically wounded organization, others ran rampant, particularly ISIS.
The author argued that established nations should take some jihadis’ grievances seriously and learn why many feel as though they must resort to suicide bombings and terror to get their points across. Bin Laden was well versed in Islamic traditions, but the buck stopped there. His education in international relations, foreign affairs, and Western culture essentially came from television pieces and news articles. His grand vision of “umma” was just that, as terrorism cannot establish a united front. So, his impact on the global stage did not meet his expectations, though he certainly incited an oversized amount of fear. The author did a great job contextualizing much of this history in an objective, concise way. Highly recommend!
July 4, 2022
The author's team translated thousands of pages of documents recovered from the Bin Laden compound, and even seemingly gleaned some information that the U.S. intelligence agencies missed.
It's a little slow at times (it was hard for me to keep track of all the various Al Qaeda officers), but still contained a lot of interesting information and new insights. Would recommend.
It's a little slow at times (it was hard for me to keep track of all the various Al Qaeda officers), but still contained a lot of interesting information and new insights. Would recommend.
July 25, 2023
I was so excited about this one. Finally, some new information, straight from the horse's mouth! *mind. blown.*
But the way this was written—at least, what was written by the author as her original text, not the translated words of OBL and others—was hard to follow, unengaging, and frankly, boring.
While I understand the author needs to provide context for each of the letters featured, I think it could have been so much better if it were written in a way to engage readers. Authors such as Steve Coll and Peter Bergen have written about OBL and have done it in an engaging way that makes those books five-star reads for me.
This one, however, was not.
But the way this was written—at least, what was written by the author as her original text, not the translated words of OBL and others—was hard to follow, unengaging, and frankly, boring.
While I understand the author needs to provide context for each of the letters featured, I think it could have been so much better if it were written in a way to engage readers. Authors such as Steve Coll and Peter Bergen have written about OBL and have done it in an engaging way that makes those books five-star reads for me.
This one, however, was not.
July 3, 2025
Finished this ages ago but this is a public thank you to Nelly Lahoud for single handedly propping up a semester’s worth of essays☝️Brilliant book, but if I never have to read another Bin Laden biography I will be a happy happy happy lady.
May 2, 2022
الكتاب مأخوذ من الأوراق والمستندات التي وجودها في اللاب توب في الكمبواند في أبوت بات الي تم قتل بن لان فيه، الكتاب محاولة لربط أحداث الأوراق والمستندات مع الأحداث من بعد ١١ سبتمبر حتى مقتله
الكتاب مقسم ثلاث اجراء:
١- القاعدة المنكوبة :وتبدأ في سرد انه بعد شهر من غزو أمريكا لأفغانسان والقاعدة ليس لها أي ثقل أو وجود حقيقي في الواقع وأنهم اتخذوا من الكمون استراتيجية ولم يكن هناك دعم من اي حكومة لهم ولا حتى بعض من في طالبان بإستثناء الملا عمر
٢- بعض الأخوة أكثر اخوان من اخرين: يبحث علاقة القاعدة مع باقي المنظمات الجهادية في المنطقة وأوجه الاختلافات والصراعات التي حدثت في الفترة بعد ١١ سبتمبر حتى مقتله
٣- بن لادن وعائلته: يبحث عن علاقته مع أهله وحجم الدعم الذي كانوا يقدمونه له من أفكار وبحث ومن مساعدة في كتابة الخطابات وتصويرها
ويسهب الكتاب في محاولة تبرئة إيران من وجود أي علاقة مع القاعدة، مع ذكر بسيط لتبريئة الحكومة الباكستانية مثلا او السعودية أو حتى تخلي أغلب قادة طالبان عنه
الكتاب فكرتة الأصلية ان بن لادن حسب الأوراق أضعف مما نتصوره والقاعدة أعطيت هالة كبيرة في الإعلام الغربي بعد أحداث ١١ سبتمبر
الكتاب فيه أكثر من ذلك، كتابته ليست مبهرة ولكن جيدة نوعا ما
الكتاب مقسم ثلاث اجراء:
١- القاعدة المنكوبة :وتبدأ في سرد انه بعد شهر من غزو أمريكا لأفغانسان والقاعدة ليس لها أي ثقل أو وجود حقيقي في الواقع وأنهم اتخذوا من الكمون استراتيجية ولم يكن هناك دعم من اي حكومة لهم ولا حتى بعض من في طالبان بإستثناء الملا عمر
٢- بعض الأخوة أكثر اخوان من اخرين: يبحث علاقة القاعدة مع باقي المنظمات الجهادية في المنطقة وأوجه الاختلافات والصراعات التي حدثت في الفترة بعد ١١ سبتمبر حتى مقتله
٣- بن لادن وعائلته: يبحث عن علاقته مع أهله وحجم الدعم الذي كانوا يقدمونه له من أفكار وبحث ومن مساعدة في كتابة الخطابات وتصويرها
ويسهب الكتاب في محاولة تبرئة إيران من وجود أي علاقة مع القاعدة، مع ذكر بسيط لتبريئة الحكومة الباكستانية مثلا او السعودية أو حتى تخلي أغلب قادة طالبان عنه
الكتاب فكرتة الأصلية ان بن لادن حسب الأوراق أضعف مما نتصوره والقاعدة أعطيت هالة كبيرة في الإعلام الغربي بعد أحداث ١١ سبتمبر
الكتاب فيه أكثر من ذلك، كتابته ليست مبهرة ولكن جيدة نوعا ما
April 30, 2022
Insightful and scholarly review of Bin Laden and his organisation as told through the papers recovered after the SEALs’ raid on his compound. The focus on the rapid depletion of Al-qaeda as an international force is startling, and shows the effectiveness- initially - of the US intervention. However the papers - and the misguided aims and theology of Bin Laden which they confirm - just emphasise that a special place in hell has been reserved for that man…
January 2, 2025
I must first say I hated this book, details below. It did provoke some positive thoughts, and I will begin with those.
Lesson 1: The battlefield can equalize radically unequal adversaries
Were there ever two men, more dissimilar than George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden? And yet, both understood warfare in the same way. Both acted on their shared, mistaken ‘understanding,’ with disastrous consequences. Both men were extremely effective at wreaking destruction, but the injuries they inflicted on each other undercut their long-term goals.
Lesson 2: Go ahead and take on a larger enemy
Osama sent his nineteen soldiers to America, armed with box cutters, and succeeded in killing 3000 American civilians, a body count of 158 per jihadi. He also succeeded in turning the attention of everyone on earth to himself and his cause. Swift action and audacity carried the day, against impossible odds.
Pick the right moment, act swiftly
The Special Operations team assigned to kill Osama bin Laden worked in remarkably similar circumstances to the jihadis, landing in hostile territory where they were severely outnumbered. They carried the additional burden of survival, which the hijackers rejected.
Speed was of the essence [raiding Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan]. Admiral William H. McRaven’s studies, combined with his lengthy and decorated experience, had taught him that most successful operations “were completed in thirty minutes.” . . . speed was critical to the achievement of “relative superiority” by a small attacking force over its larger and well-defended enemy.” The success of Special Operations missions, McRaven deduced, hinges on relative superiority, which is achieved “at a pivotal moment in an engagement.”; “any delay will expand your area of vulnerability.”
Learn from your enemy’s failures, do not imitate them
Osama thought his attack on America would result in America withdrawing its forces and interference from Islamic countries. As we know, the actual result was war and interference on a scale undreamt of before the attacks. Never assume your actions will make the enemy do what you want.
George W. Bush repeated this mistake on a scale impossible for the ragtag al-Qaeda squad. He conquered two whole countries, spent thousands of lives, with the expectation that Islamic terrorism would be hunted to extinction and western-style democracy would take hold in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just as Osama’s actions yielded the opposite of his desired result, so George’s effort at muscling the terrorists out of existence resulted in even greater hatred of America across the Islamic world.
All of this is worth serious contemplation.
False advertising
First criticism: From her title, I expected this book to let the reader see the documents discovered in the raid on Abbottabad. Instead, I slogged through hundreds of pages of Nelly explaining the history and inner workings of al-Qaeda. This was (a) not what I wanted from the book and (b) unbelievably tedious.
Darth Vader he was not
Despite his large footprint in history, Osama bin Laden is no more interesting than my downstairs neighbor who still spins conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination. In Nelly’s endless explanatory description, here is the total content of Osama’s consciousness:
Islam, Islam, Islam
Jihad, jihad, jihad
The brothers, the brothers, the brothers.
That’s it. He’s incapable of thinking, saying or writing anything else. He’s the crazy drunken party guest you call a taxi for, push him into it, then go change your phone number so he can’t call you again.
Similarly, al-Qaeda operated more like the Three Stooges than Hitler’s SS. If you read Lawrence Wright’s excellent The Looming Tower, published in 2006, you know that al-Qaeda assigned a fake name to everyone important in the “organization,” and most began with the honorific prefix “Abu-.” They pranced around each other, trading on these names, like little children who just discovered pig latin, convinced no one could penetrate their secrets. Hence, we plod through page after page of ridiculous running around:
“Abu-Daffy Duck conveyed the instructions to Abu-Porky Pig, bearing the imprimatur of Abu-Bugs Bunny.”
When authors march their readers through this drivel, they join in the pathetic delusion that it matters. Nelly also spells Osama’s name “Usama” throughout the book, perhaps to nail home her superior translation from Arabic. English readers have read his name with an “O” since the 1990s, but we wait until 2022 for Nelly to correct us. This substitution hinders comprehension, as we hear a note off-key in nearly every sentence.
Old news
The only adequate repayment for all this annoyance would be to discover something secret, something NEW in this book. Instead, Nelly ends with:
We now know from the Bin Laden Papers that the man whose post-9/11 public statements were brimming with threats was in actuality powerless and confined to his compound, overseeing an “afflicted” al-Qaeda. [end]
Um, hello. None of this is new. Lee Harris correctly deduced the hopelessness of bin Laden’s quest in his book, Civilization and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History, in 2004. Everyone following the story received conclusive confirmation in 2011, when this article and photo were released after the raid on Abbottabad:
Article, 2011
Does that look like a dangerous man to you? He’s barely keeping warm.
Conclusion
Either the bin Laden papers contained almost nothing of interest,—a real shame for the men who risked their lives to grab them—or Nelly managed to talk, talk, talk around her source material until this reader missed its import entirely.
Lesson 1: The battlefield can equalize radically unequal adversaries
Were there ever two men, more dissimilar than George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden? And yet, both understood warfare in the same way. Both acted on their shared, mistaken ‘understanding,’ with disastrous consequences. Both men were extremely effective at wreaking destruction, but the injuries they inflicted on each other undercut their long-term goals.
Lesson 2: Go ahead and take on a larger enemy
Osama sent his nineteen soldiers to America, armed with box cutters, and succeeded in killing 3000 American civilians, a body count of 158 per jihadi. He also succeeded in turning the attention of everyone on earth to himself and his cause. Swift action and audacity carried the day, against impossible odds.
Pick the right moment, act swiftly
The Special Operations team assigned to kill Osama bin Laden worked in remarkably similar circumstances to the jihadis, landing in hostile territory where they were severely outnumbered. They carried the additional burden of survival, which the hijackers rejected.
Speed was of the essence [raiding Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan]. Admiral William H. McRaven’s studies, combined with his lengthy and decorated experience, had taught him that most successful operations “were completed in thirty minutes.” . . . speed was critical to the achievement of “relative superiority” by a small attacking force over its larger and well-defended enemy.” The success of Special Operations missions, McRaven deduced, hinges on relative superiority, which is achieved “at a pivotal moment in an engagement.”; “any delay will expand your area of vulnerability.”
Learn from your enemy’s failures, do not imitate them
Osama thought his attack on America would result in America withdrawing its forces and interference from Islamic countries. As we know, the actual result was war and interference on a scale undreamt of before the attacks. Never assume your actions will make the enemy do what you want.
George W. Bush repeated this mistake on a scale impossible for the ragtag al-Qaeda squad. He conquered two whole countries, spent thousands of lives, with the expectation that Islamic terrorism would be hunted to extinction and western-style democracy would take hold in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just as Osama’s actions yielded the opposite of his desired result, so George’s effort at muscling the terrorists out of existence resulted in even greater hatred of America across the Islamic world.
All of this is worth serious contemplation.
False advertising
First criticism: From her title, I expected this book to let the reader see the documents discovered in the raid on Abbottabad. Instead, I slogged through hundreds of pages of Nelly explaining the history and inner workings of al-Qaeda. This was (a) not what I wanted from the book and (b) unbelievably tedious.
Darth Vader he was not
Despite his large footprint in history, Osama bin Laden is no more interesting than my downstairs neighbor who still spins conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination. In Nelly’s endless explanatory description, here is the total content of Osama’s consciousness:
Islam, Islam, Islam
Jihad, jihad, jihad
The brothers, the brothers, the brothers.
That’s it. He’s incapable of thinking, saying or writing anything else. He’s the crazy drunken party guest you call a taxi for, push him into it, then go change your phone number so he can’t call you again.
Similarly, al-Qaeda operated more like the Three Stooges than Hitler’s SS. If you read Lawrence Wright’s excellent The Looming Tower, published in 2006, you know that al-Qaeda assigned a fake name to everyone important in the “organization,” and most began with the honorific prefix “Abu-.” They pranced around each other, trading on these names, like little children who just discovered pig latin, convinced no one could penetrate their secrets. Hence, we plod through page after page of ridiculous running around:
“Abu-Daffy Duck conveyed the instructions to Abu-Porky Pig, bearing the imprimatur of Abu-Bugs Bunny.”
When authors march their readers through this drivel, they join in the pathetic delusion that it matters. Nelly also spells Osama’s name “Usama” throughout the book, perhaps to nail home her superior translation from Arabic. English readers have read his name with an “O” since the 1990s, but we wait until 2022 for Nelly to correct us. This substitution hinders comprehension, as we hear a note off-key in nearly every sentence.
Old news
The only adequate repayment for all this annoyance would be to discover something secret, something NEW in this book. Instead, Nelly ends with:
We now know from the Bin Laden Papers that the man whose post-9/11 public statements were brimming with threats was in actuality powerless and confined to his compound, overseeing an “afflicted” al-Qaeda. [end]
Um, hello. None of this is new. Lee Harris correctly deduced the hopelessness of bin Laden’s quest in his book, Civilization and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History, in 2004. Everyone following the story received conclusive confirmation in 2011, when this article and photo were released after the raid on Abbottabad:
Article, 2011
Does that look like a dangerous man to you? He’s barely keeping warm.
Conclusion
Either the bin Laden papers contained almost nothing of interest,—a real shame for the men who risked their lives to grab them—or Nelly managed to talk, talk, talk around her source material until this reader missed its import entirely.
September 27, 2022
There's a lot of detail here, though with all the names and groups presented, it became very confusing for me. Bin Laden is infamous for 9/11 but his attempt to bring America to its knees failed as did the idea that it would force the U.S. out of countries he thought they had no business in. He never anticipated the kind of response the U.S. mounted, forcing him to lead the rest of his life in hiding.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2023
Informative and detailed but at times (maybe even by need) repetitive. Very good if you are willing to ignore the poorly disguised military propaganda… then again, it’s not like we can side with the other guys…
October 19, 2023
If one wanted to perform a comparative personality analysis of Usama Bin Laden, a likely parallel would be found in Tony Soprano. Both had seen their halcyon days pass and had an incredible amount of neuroticism, along with anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
While not a psychological analysis, in The Bin Laden Papers - How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader, and His Family (Yale University Press), author Nelly Lahoud has written a fascinating book that details what went on during the last years of Bin Laden’s hermit-like life at his Abbottabad compound. Lahoud, fluent in Arabic, went through the documents obtained at Abbottabad and revealed what bin Laden was doing and thinking during his years of seclusion.
The mission to capture bin Laden, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was years in the making. Navy Admiral William McRaven, commander of the United States Special Operations Command, gave the Neptune Spear team 30 minutes to complete the raid on bin Laden’s compound. The team was able to do that but requested additional time to collect bin Laden’s computer equipment. And in those eighteen minutes, it took to do that, the documents they recovered were later used to uncover some of bin Laden’s and al-Qaeda’s biggest secrets. And these secrets are detailed in this engaging book.
One of the more interesting insights in the book is that bin Laden entirely and utterly misread what America’s response to 9/11 would be. He never expected the US to attack Afghanistan. Instead, he thought there would be a small number of attacks. He also was utterly demoralized by the use of drones to kill countless al-Qaeda leaders and many of his immediate family.
The book shows how bin Laden was a many of countless contradictions. While he had no qualms about launching an attack that would kill thousands of people. He tells his daughter not to spank her children to discipline them but raise them with kindness and warmth. The same man behind the 9/11 attacks disapproved of corporal punishment. And while bin Laden’s occasional letters and videos would terrorize the world with their threats, he himself was living in fear in his compound.
The raid on bin Laden killed a dangerous man, but a man who had been defeated. At the time of his death, bin Laden was a beaten man imprisoned in a safehouse that left him not only incapable but out of touch with the world. This is a fascinating and engaging read and essential for anyone who wants to understand one of the evilest men of recent times.
While not a psychological analysis, in The Bin Laden Papers - How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about al-Qaeda, Its Leader, and His Family (Yale University Press), author Nelly Lahoud has written a fascinating book that details what went on during the last years of Bin Laden’s hermit-like life at his Abbottabad compound. Lahoud, fluent in Arabic, went through the documents obtained at Abbottabad and revealed what bin Laden was doing and thinking during his years of seclusion.
The mission to capture bin Laden, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was years in the making. Navy Admiral William McRaven, commander of the United States Special Operations Command, gave the Neptune Spear team 30 minutes to complete the raid on bin Laden’s compound. The team was able to do that but requested additional time to collect bin Laden’s computer equipment. And in those eighteen minutes, it took to do that, the documents they recovered were later used to uncover some of bin Laden’s and al-Qaeda’s biggest secrets. And these secrets are detailed in this engaging book.
One of the more interesting insights in the book is that bin Laden entirely and utterly misread what America’s response to 9/11 would be. He never expected the US to attack Afghanistan. Instead, he thought there would be a small number of attacks. He also was utterly demoralized by the use of drones to kill countless al-Qaeda leaders and many of his immediate family.
The book shows how bin Laden was a many of countless contradictions. While he had no qualms about launching an attack that would kill thousands of people. He tells his daughter not to spank her children to discipline them but raise them with kindness and warmth. The same man behind the 9/11 attacks disapproved of corporal punishment. And while bin Laden’s occasional letters and videos would terrorize the world with their threats, he himself was living in fear in his compound.
The raid on bin Laden killed a dangerous man, but a man who had been defeated. At the time of his death, bin Laden was a beaten man imprisoned in a safehouse that left him not only incapable but out of touch with the world. This is a fascinating and engaging read and essential for anyone who wants to understand one of the evilest men of recent times.
December 15, 2023
Interesting background to what was actually going in Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. The intelligence services learnt a lot from this.
The big takeaway is that after Bin Laden was expelled from Afghanistan and went into hiding he was pretty much finished but Al-Qaeda was running a franchise at that time with other groups wanting to merge with them. They were not really in control and were discussing such things such the state of the young men who were in the mountains who they didn’t have money to allow them to marry. Also the fate of fighters who escaped to unfriendly Iran and were secretly hidden/jailed there was interesting.
In the end people on all sides do bad things because they believe that they are for a higher good.
The big takeaway is that after Bin Laden was expelled from Afghanistan and went into hiding he was pretty much finished but Al-Qaeda was running a franchise at that time with other groups wanting to merge with them. They were not really in control and were discussing such things such the state of the young men who were in the mountains who they didn’t have money to allow them to marry. Also the fate of fighters who escaped to unfriendly Iran and were secretly hidden/jailed there was interesting.
In the end people on all sides do bad things because they believe that they are for a higher good.
November 10, 2024
The story behind the book is very interesting. Some very interesting facts about the man who was directly and indirectly involved in killings of thousands and waging wars that lead to the killing of hundreds of thousands. It portrays the man surprisingly humane in comparison with his contemporary terrorists. It as well highlights many of his weaknesses and soft spots. It questions who was the de facto leader of the major terror group for at least the last five years of Osama's life. How did they live, where and how did they communicate. All interesting to know. But I got lost in the many names and intertwined storylines.
March 11, 2025
Great book. Examines the documents found in Bin Ladens possession at the time of his killing and explains what can be told about him, his organisation and his family. This covers a lot of ground and always tries to be objective and factor in the motivations and aim of any particular document to judge how reliable it is. The wider story is filled in for context and to give contrasting account of things bit it strives to tells it mainly from the perspective of the recovered documents. Very well put together.
August 8, 2025
Critical insight, great translations, and a truly Herculean effort on the part of the author and her team to sift through hundreds of thousands of documents and distill a loose narrative such as this. With no seeming bias or unnecessary dramatism, the author conveys a picture of Osama’s life, his family’s lives, and their inclinations, which shed so precious little insight into why they might’ve undertaken such actions.
March 13, 2024
This isn’t an intro book to Al-Qeada. You will want an understanding of Afghan Pakistani Iraqi politics. The book isn’t an easy read. Not because of the subject matter. But the authors careful consideration to unfold networks not chronologically but geographically.
If you want a good book to read before this one. Steve Colls Ghost Wars and Directorate S are recommended.
If you want a good book to read before this one. Steve Colls Ghost Wars and Directorate S are recommended.
February 18, 2025
I had high hopes that this book would give a detailed account of who UBL really was and in a sense it did, but it was very scattered. There were a few chapters that were very engaging and talked of what Al Queda was post 9/11, but mostly the authored rambles haphazardly through what could have been a much more engaging story.
Want to read
May 29, 2022PLS Doesn’t;t have it yet; HPB does
January 15, 2023
Well researched (perhaps) but what is one really to believe when it comes to the folly of humankind, and their esthete that they're killing their way to peace?
April 22, 2024
The information is illuminating but I wish the writing was more engaging. Still, I’d recommend it to anyone interested in an analysis of the Bin Laden Papers.
December 26, 2025
As part of the 2 May 2011 raid on the compound in Abbottabad Pakistan that killed Osama Bin-Laden, the US Navy Seals team recovered a substantial catch of computer hard drives, memory sticks and paper documents. It was some years before most of the contents of these documents were released to the public and this book, after briefly summarising the raid and recovery of documents, presents what they reveal, in light of preceding and subsequent events. The first such event was the US-led invasion of Afghanistan which Bin-Laden did not expect and which forced him to withdraw from the country and go into hiding. He first sought refuge in Iran, but anti-Shia attacks by Al-Qaeda in Iraq made him unwelcome there.
The book continued summarising Al-Qaeda’s liaison with the Taliban and noting that it was unable to continue its international attacks after the invasion, although it was able to maintain a media presence, and that the drone attacks in NW Pakistan, helped by spies for the West in that country, were effective in limiting Al-Qaeda’s operations there. The book went on to summarise Bin-Laden’s assessment of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) as being neither as ideologically correct nor pure or as sensible as Bin-Laden thought they should have been. Bin-Laden also noted that UN Charter article 1(3) states human rights are independent of gender and religion, which conflicts with Islamic law. Bin-Laden also perceived the USA to be militarily “occupying” Moslem lands which he equated with America’s experience in Vietnam. The book summarised Bin-Laden’s family matters, his attempts to secure the release of some members imprisoned in Iran and his attempts to enlist the help of his non-Al-Qaeda brother in Saudi Arabia to secure their release. The book also summarised Al-Qaeda’s dealings with Iran and other states and its liaison with other jihadi groups, some of which wanted to merge with Al-Qaeda but which some were quite small and poorly organised and again citing the drone attacks in Waziristan were very successful killing Al-Qaeda leaders there. There was some presentation of Bin-Laden’s response to the Arab spring, but the raid would appear to have occurred before he got very far on that topic.
The purpose of the book was to make the material captured during the Abbottabad raid available to a reading public and it did this competently but with all the excitement of an internal Foreign Affairs briefing document.
The book continued summarising Al-Qaeda’s liaison with the Taliban and noting that it was unable to continue its international attacks after the invasion, although it was able to maintain a media presence, and that the drone attacks in NW Pakistan, helped by spies for the West in that country, were effective in limiting Al-Qaeda’s operations there. The book went on to summarise Bin-Laden’s assessment of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) as being neither as ideologically correct nor pure or as sensible as Bin-Laden thought they should have been. Bin-Laden also noted that UN Charter article 1(3) states human rights are independent of gender and religion, which conflicts with Islamic law. Bin-Laden also perceived the USA to be militarily “occupying” Moslem lands which he equated with America’s experience in Vietnam. The book summarised Bin-Laden’s family matters, his attempts to secure the release of some members imprisoned in Iran and his attempts to enlist the help of his non-Al-Qaeda brother in Saudi Arabia to secure their release. The book also summarised Al-Qaeda’s dealings with Iran and other states and its liaison with other jihadi groups, some of which wanted to merge with Al-Qaeda but which some were quite small and poorly organised and again citing the drone attacks in Waziristan were very successful killing Al-Qaeda leaders there. There was some presentation of Bin-Laden’s response to the Arab spring, but the raid would appear to have occurred before he got very far on that topic.
The purpose of the book was to make the material captured during the Abbottabad raid available to a reading public and it did this competently but with all the excitement of an internal Foreign Affairs briefing document.
May 22, 2022
Interesting and clearly put together.
June 14, 2022
The first half was a broad history of terrorism, recounted in many existing books. The second half focused on the Bin Laden family and events leading up to his death.
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