'Bin Laden's Hard Drives' Review: A chilling look at Osama's files shows that he was not done with just 9/11
In May 2011, the then-President Barack Obama addressed the United States with news that people had been waiting for nearly a decade: Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEAL raid in Bin Laden's secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Among many of Bin Laden's personal effects seized at the compound, the military seized many of his hard drives which were said to contain files of 'Tom & Jerry' and other entertainment. A new special from National Geographic titled ‘Bin Laden’s Hard Drive’ is an in-depth examination of newly declassified hard drives taken from the compound. Read on to know more about the special.
The importance of these personal effects was that it would give an insight into Bin Laden and what he had done in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks which changed the course of the United States and of the rest of the world when two hijacked airplanes crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City on September 11, 2001. Four planes were hijacked in total, with one flying into the Pentagon and another crashing in a field after the passengers thwarted the terrorists. In total, nearly 3,000 people were killed that day in one of the biggest terrorist attacks the world had ever seen.
National Geographic's latest special, 'Bin Laden's Hard Drives', takes an in-depth look at most of the declassified material that was found in Bin Laden's compounds, including personal letters and data drives recovered which contained surprising things like western entertainment such as 'Tom & Jerry', 'Mr Bean', and even pornography. Led by The New York Times best-selling author and CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen, who is the only Western journalist to have interviewed Bin Laden when he did so in 1997, 'Bin Laden's Hard Drives' brings in a range of specialists like Ali Soufan, former FBI special agent who led investigations into Al Qaeda and was one of the first to uncover the link between the terrorist outfit and 9/11, and Dalia Mogahed, American-Muslim scholar and Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.
Featuring the many diverse voices, one of the most striking aspects of 'Bin Laden's Hard Drives' is that it does not downplay Bin Laden's role in perhaps making the situation in the Middle East worse. Western military presence increased much more after the 9/11 attacks and has undoubtedly led to more turmoil in the region. The analysts talk about how many more are indoctrinated in "Bin Ladenism" now than at the time of the 2001 attacks and how Bin Laden's principles gave rise to Daesh.
Another interesting aspect of the special is that it is specified throughout that Bin Laden's and Al Qaeda's version of Islam is not the one that is practiced by a majority of the Muslims across the world. Mogahed specifically mentions that Bin Laden would often twist the words of the Quran to justify his need for killings -- when the Quran does not condone the killing of non-combatants in battle, Bin Laden used the political situation between the Middle East and the United States to justify the massive number of civilians killed during the 9/11 attacks.
Much of 'Bin Laden's Hard Drives' is not surprising, even that he was planning another attack that was much bigger than the 9/11 attacks. What it does is remind viewers of the significance of September 11, 2001, and as much as we might hate to admit it, Bin Laden is one of the few people who have been highly historically influential. Geopolitics today would be looking very different had Bin Laden not been so.
'Bin Laden's Hard Drives' airs on National Geographic on September 10 at 9/8c.
