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Osama bin Laden had 'Mr Bean' and a bunch of other bizarre movies at his hideout

A little peek inside the mind of once the world's most dangerous man

Osama bin Laden had 'Mr Bean' and a bunch of other bizarre movies at his hideout
02 November 2017

One thing that is almost universally acknowledged: Osama bin Laden was a Bad Dude. We all know that, but as far as any deeper understanding of the man goes, it doesn’t really stretch much further. Bad Dude, and that’s about it.

Well, according to information discovered by the CIA, we now have a smidgen more info on him - and it’s all down to the materials found on his personal computers in the Abbotabad compound, the hideout in which he was found and killed.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said: “Today’s release of recovered al-Qaeda letters, videos, audio files and other materials provides the opportunity for the American people to gain further insights into the plans and workings of this terrorist organisation.

“CIA will continue to seek opportunities to share information with the American people consistent with our obligation to protect national security.”

But what did they find? Well, obviously they discovered a load of scary terrorism-related things - documents, videos, audio files, all that horrible stuff. But far more interestingly, they also found:

  • Mr Bean videos
  • A pirate copy of Antz
  • A pirate copy of the Resident Evil film
  • A copy of Final Fantasy VII
  • A load of emulated Nintendo DS titles, including New Super Mario Bros and Animal Crossing: Wild World
  • A bunch of anime, including Devil May Cry
  • The 2008 documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden
  • A video file containing everyone’s favourite viral sensation ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’
  • Tom and Jerry cartoons
  • A video on crocheting, obviously
  • Many more stupid, inane things that you wouldn’t expect the world’s most dangerous man to be wasting his time with

Bin Laden’s favourite, apparently

Of course, he did have his family in the same compound, but I’m going with the statement that: Osama bin Laden loved crocheting while watching Mr Bean. This is a fact, forever etched into this planet’s history, never to be erased.

Dan Byman, professor at Georgetown University told The Washington Post: “When you study terrorist groups, that’s always what’s striking to people, the kind of quirky, human side of them.”

I mean, I sort of agree, but I wouldn’t necessarily describe Bin Laden as ‘quirky’.

“Oh! He’s so quirky!”

“Why? What funny stuff does he do?”

“He killed thousands of people the other day! He’s wacky!”

I wouldn’t even describe him as ‘human’, while we’re here. 

Anyway, it’s confirmed my hypothesis: bad people like Mr Bean, don’t they?