‘Home Videos’ Show Bin Laden Watching Himself On TV

Intelligence officials released five “home videos” of Osama Bin Laden recovered from the Al Qaeda leader’s compound after he was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday. We know what you’re wondering: None of them, so far, are sex tapes.

Instead, the five videos—excerpts of which are below—are mostly outtakes from his propaganda films, plus, apparently, footage of Bin Laden watching himself on television (wouldn’t you, too?). They’ve curated by the Pentagon from what a senior intelligence officer called “the single largest collection” of Al Qaeda material, and put on, we guess, some kind of special “Osama Outtakes” DVD that was shown to reporters today.

The government is releasing the videos without sound so as not to “spread the word of a terrorist,” giving enterprising young YouTubers a golden opportunity. (Someone get on the “Yakety Sax” overdub, quick!) But the truth is, there’s not much new to learn here, as the release of the videos is as much propaganda as the videos themselves: Bin Laden was obsessed with his image and appearance! He dyed his beard! He made goofy mistakes!



Meanwhile, Al Jazeera got its hands on footage from inside Bin Laden’s compound, which turns out to be, well, filthy, as you can see on your right.

[CNN, MSNBC, images via CNN]