17. For a Medieval Fundamentalist, Osama Bin Laden Sure Kept a Lot of Videos
Osama bin Laden (1957 – 2011), Al Qaeda’s founder, probably history’s best-known terrorist, and the twenty-first century’s most notorious villain (so far – looking at you, Putin), hardly needs an introduction The terror attacks masterminded and carried out by his organization, particularly those of September 11th, 2001, have seared his name in global, and especially American, memories. Less known, however, is how bin Laden liked to pass his free time when he was not running a virtual terror state.
Apparently, he did not spend all his time issuing fatwas against Jews, infidels, and backsliding Muslims, or declaring and waging Jihad against opponents of his ‘Make Islam Great Again!‘ vision. In 2017, the CIA released over 470,000 files seized from his compound in the 2011 raid that ended him. The contents included about 174 gigabytes of video, 7.4 gigabytes of image files, and 18 gigabytes of assorted documents. As it turned out, bin Laden had some hobbies and interests that stood in jarring contrast to his reputation and image.