The bin Laden letters revealed a man who over time lost control, not only of his organisation, but possibly also of his senses. He wanted to have US President Barack Obama and General David Petreaus assassinated but gave no clue as to how he might have wanted this done; he warned against an alliance with the Al-Shabaab terrorist group just a month before that partnership was formally announced. The letters also reveal that most of Bin Laden’s time was spent discussing media strategy, wondering which television network would give al Qaeda the most positive coverage. That Bin Laden’s instructions were apparently ignored and that he appeared to be frustrated with the al Qaeda franchises shows that the group may not be as unified as was once thought.
There are still many questions that these letters do not answer. For instance, we do not know anything, for instance, about how Bin Laden managed to evade capture for so long. No mention is made of whether he had help from the Pakistani government or military. However, these letters represent only a fraction of the documents found by the US Navy SEALS in his Abbottabad compound. They may have been sanitized to show the al Qaeda in the most impotent manner possible and to ensure that the group does not embarrass the US or its allies. We have only seen that part of the picture that the US wants us to see.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2012.
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"We have only seen that part of the picture that the US wants us to see." There wouldn't be a need to recover documents for anything that might make Al Qaeda look better. The first thing they do is go to the media and advertise it when it comes to anything they'd consider capable of boosting their image. Though anything reflecting negatively of Pakistan would probably be kept to themselves if not necessary to do otherwise. You get a lot more from watching people who think they're playing you for fools than to tip them off and have them put a halt to it.
*17 letters i mean
i just read those letters and the letter "wondering which channel to use to broadcast alqaeda" was not from osama. majority of these 19 letters are not from osama.....iprobably the us dint disclose more strategic letters on purpose of secrecy. we can not evaluate what most of osamas time was spent on....as these are only very few letters! a few blunders...