Why Bin Laden disapproved of Al Qaeda in Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia

Osama bin Laden showed disdain for al Qaeda affiliates, fretted about his organization's image and was deeply worried about its security, according to documents seized from his hideout in Pakistan and released publicly on Thursday.

The Combating Terrorism Center, a privately funded research center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, posted on its website 17 declassified documents seized during the raid on bin Laden's house in Abbottabad in which he was killed by U.S. commandos a year ago.

Bin Laden "was not, as many thought, the puppet master pulling the strings that set in motion jihadi groups around the world," an analysis by the center said. Bin Laden "was burdened by what he saw as their incompetence."

RECOMMENDED: Five revelations from bin Laden's letters

The al Qaeda leader, who was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, worried about operational security, advising against meeting on roads and then traveling in cars.

Bin Laden expressed concern about Muslims being killed in al Qaeda operations and wanted women and children kept away from danger.

In an undated letter in the summer or early autumn of 2010, bin Laden asked that two teams - one in Pakistan and the other in the Bagram area of Afghanistan - be tasked with spotting and targeting the aircraft of President Barack Obama or General David Petraeus, who was commander in the region at that time.

But they were not to target US Vice President Joe Biden because if Obama were gone, Biden would be "totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the U.S. into a crisis." But killing Petraeus "would alter the war's path."

The 17 documents are electronic letters or draft letters totaling 175 pages in the original Arabic, dating from September 2006 to April 2011. They do not all specify who wrote or received them.

Several of the documents contain signoffs that U.S. experts assessed to have been used by bin Laden himself, including variations of the names "Zamarai" and "Abu 'Abdallah." Bin Laden wrote about sending messages via thumb drives or telephone memory cards - the same Arabic word is used for both.

"Bin Laden was bothered by the incompetence of al Qaeda's affiliates, such as their failure to win public support, their ill-advised media campaigns, and their poorly planned operations that led to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Muslims," said Lieutenant Colonel Liam Collins, director of the Combating Terrorism Center and one of the report's authors.

"Perhaps the most compelling revelation from the documents is that bin Laden was frustrated with regional jihadi groups," he told Reuters. "He appeared to struggle to exercise control over the actions of the affiliates, as well as their public statements."

Bin Laden appeared to have a low opinion of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born English-speaking militant preacher accused of instigating several violent al Qaeda attacks from Yemen who was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year.

WEEK BEFORE DEATH

In a letter dated April 26, 2011, a week before his death, bin Laden wrote about the "Arab Spring" revolutions that ousted leaders in the Middle East. He mentioned the need for "inciting the people who have not revolted yet, and encouraging them to get against the rulers and the methods."

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