News

This Is Osama Bin Laden's Reading List

by Melissah Yang

In case you were wondering what it would have been like to be in a book club with the world's most wanted man, it definitely would have skewed non-fiction. Osama bin Laden's reading list was released Wednesday as part of a collection that included more than 100 documents, ranging from an al Qaeda job application to personal letters to family. Bin Laden's book preferences showed the al Qaeda leader was heavily dedicated to understanding America.

His bookshelf included everything from U.S. military strategies and 9/11 conspiracies to the Illuminati. What must bin Laden have thought about the very culture he sought to destroy? For one, bin Laden was interested in seeing America critique its own foreign policy, particularly when it came to the Middle East. The high-minded list wasn't made up of offshoot blog posts (though one conspiracy theory definitely make the cut), but included prominent writers such as journalist Bob Woodward and academic Noam Chomsky.

The reading list emerges as the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released more than 100 of bin Laden's documents that were obtained during the 2011 raid of his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. That would be the same raid during which bin Laden was killed, according to the White House. Bin Laden was known to be a devoted reader, but the latest list shows a man paranoid and determined to understand his enemy through its own words and language.

-/AFP/Getty Images

On America

  • Rogue State: A Guide To The World’s Only Superpower by William Blum
  • The Taking of America, 1-2-3 by Richard Sprague
  • Necessary Illusions: Thought Control In Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky

On America's Military

  • America's Strategic Blunders by William Matthias
  • America's "War On Terrorism" by Michel Chossudovsky
  • Bounding The Global War On Terror by Jeffrey Record
  • Guerilla Air Defense: Antiaircraft Weapons and Techniques for Guerilla Forces by James Crabtree
  • Killing Hope: U.S. Military And CIA Interventions Since World War II by William Blum
  • Military Intelligence Blunders by John Hughes-Wilson
  • Project MKUltra, the CIA’s program of research in behavioral modification. Joint hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-Fifth Congress, first session, August 3, 1977. United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence.
  • Unfinished Business: U.S. Overseas Military Presence In The 21st Century by Michael O'Hanlon

On America's Foreign Policy

  • The Best Enemy Money Can Buy by Antony C. Sutton
  • Checking Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions by Henry Sokolski and Patrick Clawson
  • Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (only the book’s introduction) by C. Christine Fair and Peter Chalk
  • Handbook of International Law by Anthony Aust
  • Hegemony Or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
  • Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer
  • International Relations Theory And the Asia-Pacific by G. John Ikenberry and Michael Mastanduno
  • Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward
  • The U.S. And Vietnam, 1787-1941 by Robert Hopkins Miller
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On 9/11 And Its Conspiracies

  • Crossing The Rubicon by Michael Ruppert
  • New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About The Bush Administration And 9/11 by David Ray Griffin
  • “Website Claims Steve Jackson Games Foretold 9/11” article posted on ICV2.com

On America's Economy

  • Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering In The 21st Century by Bev Harris
  • The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
  • Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
  • Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins

On The World

  • Conspirators’ Hierarchy: The Committee of 300 by John Coleman
  • Oxford History of Modern War by Charles Townsend
  • The Rise And Fall Of The Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
  • New Political Religions, Or Analysis of Modern Terrorism by Barry Cooper
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On Islam

  • A Brief Guide To Understanding Islam by I.A. Ibrahim
  • Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies by Cheryl Benard
  • In Pursuit Of Allah’s Pleasure by Asim Abdul Maajid, Esaam-ud-Deen and Dr. Naahah Ibrahim
  • Christianity And Islam In Spain A.D. (756-1031) by C. R. Haines

Special Reading

  • Blood Lines Of The Illuminati by Fritz Springmeier
  • The Secret Teachings Of All Ages by Manly Hall
  • The 2030 Spike: Countdown To Global Catastrophe by Colin Mason
  • Al-Qaeda’s Online Media Strategies: From Abu Reuter To Irhabi 007 by Hanna Rogan

Images: Getty Images (3)