Documents show bin Laden targeted Obama, Petraeus

By David Jackson, USA TODAY

Updated

Documents found in Osama bin Laden's compound detail a number of terrorist plots, including planned assassinations of President Obama and U.S. military commander David Petraeus.

NBC News reported that the Navy SEALs who carried out last year's mission against bin Laden recovered "five computers, 10 hard drives and more than 100 storage devices -- DVDs, discs and thumb drives -- that included between 10,000 and 15,000 documents and between 15,000 to 25,000 videos, including a large number of duplicate files."

Counterterrorism officials have briefed NBC on the materials, with some of the conclusions to be included in the Discovery Channel documentary Inside bin Laden's Lair to air tonight. It airs at 10 p.m. ET.

President Obama announced bin Laden's death one year ago tonight; the raid that killed him took place in the early morning hours of May 2, 2011, Pakistan time.

Michael Leiter, a counterterrorism official during the Obama and George W. Bush presidencies, told NBC's Today show that bin Laden also dreamed about another major, 9/11-style attack on the United States.

Leiter noted that, because of diminishing resources, bin Laden's plans -- including an assassination of Obama -- were more of a "wish list."

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About David Jackson

David's journalism career spans three decades, including coverage of five presidential elections, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 2000 Florida presidential recount and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the White House for USA TODAY since 2005. His interests include history, politics, books, movies and college football -- not necessarily in that order. More about David

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