Peter Bergen Reassessing Osama bin Laden
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2021
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The U.S. raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that brought Osama bin Laden to ultimate justice also recovered nearly half a million files. In 2017, these files were publicly released, but few people have the expertise, the experience and the time to go through those materials, as well as interview family members of bin Laden and former associates to try to paint a full picture of the man. One person who fits that description is Peter Bergen, the author or editor of eight books, including "Holy War, Inc.," the definitive early study of bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Peter is also a vice president at New America and a national security analyst for CNN. Most recently, he is author of "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden," a cradle-to-grave biography that takes advantage of a lot of this new material.
David Priess sat down with Peter to talk about bin Laden's evolution from a shy, humble, religious young man to the leader of a global terrorist network bent on killing thousands of civilians. They talked about the development of al-Qaeda as an organization and the U.S. response to al-Qaeda attacks, but they focused especially on what Peter learned from the 470,000+ files and his interviews that made him change his mind about a few things regarding al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
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Transcript
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| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:33.9 | They talk about plan military operations against Pakistani targets. |
| 0:37.4 | As you know, I'll try to kill General Meshara for on those two occasions. |
| 0:42.4 | And the Pakistani said arrested by the number of key al-Qaeda leaders not least, Tallah |
| 0:46.7 | Sheikh Mohammed, the operational commander of 9-11. |
| 0:50.9 | I'm David Pries and this is the LawFair podcast, August 4, 2021. |
| 0:57.2 | The US raid on the compound in Abadabad, Pakistan that brought Osama bin Laden to ultimate |
| 1:02.8 | justice also recovered nearly half a million files. |
| 1:07.6 | In 2017, these files were publicly released, but few people have both the expertise and |
| 1:13.3 | the experience and the time to go through those materials as well as interview family |
| 1:18.5 | members of bin Laden and former associates to try to paint a full picture of the man. |
| 1:24.0 | One person who fits that description is Peter Bergen, the author or editor of eight books, |
| 1:29.2 | including Holy War Inc, the definitive early study of bin Laden and al-Qaeda. |
| 1:34.7 | Peter is also vice president at New America and a national security analyst for CNN. |
| 1:40.4 | Most recently, he is the author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, a cradle to grave |
| 1:46.8 | biography that takes advantage of a lot of this new material. |
| 1:51.0 | I sat down in the virtual jungle studio with Peter to talk about bin Laden's evolution |
| 1:56.0 | from a shy, humble, religious, young man to the leader of a global terrorist network |
... |
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