5 striking findings from new Osama bin Laden documents

New writings released Tuesday provide a look into Osama bin Laden's thinking during the final years of his life before the 9/11 mastermind was killed in May 2011 during a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan. Here's a list of five striking findings from 113 documents seized in the raid and just made public.

1. Handwritten will

In what appears to be his handwritten will, the al-Qaeda leader wanted most of his wealth — about $29 million — to be used "on jihad." “I hope for my brothers, sisters and maternal aunts to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on jihad, for the sake of Allah,” bin Laden wrote. His  Islamist terror network was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Bin Laden planned to divide his money among his relatives. The will did not explain how he assembled his wealth.

2. Osama feared wife held tracking device 

In a letter to one of his wives, bin Laden expressed concern that a small chip could have been implanted in a tooth or under her skin during a visit to the dentist. He worried that a tracking device could have been planted by the Iranians to locate him. The Iranian dentist might have used an enlarged syringe for the implant, bin Laden wrote. He described the chip could be the size of a grain of wheat.

Letters cast light on bin Laden's private life

3. Bin Laden saw Americans failing at war 

Bin Laden reflected in one letter on the deep U.S. problems in Afghanistan. "Here we are in the tenth year of the war, and America and its allies are still chasing a mirage, lost at sea without a beach," he wrote. Bin Laden wrote that the United States thought the war would be easy and would accomplish its "objectives in a few days or a few weeks." He wrote that the U.S. was unprepared financially and that the war lacked popular support. "America appears to be hanging on by a thin thread," he wrote. "We need to be patient a bit longer. With patience, there is victory!"

4. Islamic State's brutality against Muslims  

Before the Islamic State broke off from al-Qaeda, bin Laden heard complaints from followers about the splinter group's growing brutality in Iraq. In one letter, bin Laden responds to a list of grievances about excesses by the Islamic State, then known al-Qaeda in Iraq. “We heard from more than one person at the leadership level that they are claiming to be an independent state and to have no ties with (al-Qaeda),” said the letter writer, who went by the name Abu al-Abbas. Al-Abbas described members of “the State” as seizing property and cars of Muslims “on the pretext that they don’t wage jihad,” torturing people and murdering 15 detainees of a rival militia.

New documents show bin Laden was warned of ISIL's brutality against Muslims

5. Media campaign for 9/11 anniversary

According to the documents, bin Laden and his aides were planning a media campaign to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Bin Laden sought to shape the news coverage by proposing that his media team reach out to specific news outlets and collaborate with them to obtain beneficial coverage.

Bin Laden was obsessed with media, public image

Contributing: Oren Dorell, Gregg Zoroya, both USA TODAY; and the Associated Press