A document appearing to be a blank job application form for would-be al Qaeda members was among the documents belonging to the groups late leader Osama Bin Laden. The United States says it was printed on stationery carrying a watermark reading “The Security Committee – al Qaeda Organization”. The document of several pages reads like a typical job application. It says applicants should “please answer the required information accurate and truthfully,” and “please write clearly and legibly.”
It asks when an applicant had arrived “in the land of Jihad,” how much of the Koran they had memorized, which sheikhs or Muslim dignitaries they knew, which countries they had visited, how many passports they possessed and whether they would like to carry out a “suicide operation”.
“Have you invented or researched anything in any domain?……… Any hobbies or pastimes?…………………………………. What is your favorite material: science or literature?:…………………………………………….” the document reads in part
The application also asks respondents to state their hobbies as well as what goals they intend to accomplish as jihadists. The would be al Qaeda members are also asked to state whether they have chronic or hereditary diseases?
“Who should we contact in case you became a martyr?………….. – Address:……………………………………………… – Phone numbers:…………………………………………” the application also asks. The application was among documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. They were part of a cache seized by U.S. commandos who conducted the May 2011 raid on bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad, Pakistan when bin Laden was killed.
Also seized were official U.S. passport application forms, formal U.S. indictments of al Qaeda-related figures, U.S. government accounts of al Qaeda’s organization and details of the U.S. embassy in Pakistan’s “Toys for Tots” program. English-language books seized included “A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam,” “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” “Black Box Voting, Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century,” “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” and “Military Intelligence Blunders.”
There were also copies of many American media articles, including “Is al-Qaeda Just Bush’s Boogeyman?” from the Los Angeles Times in January 2005, and a piece in Newsweek magazine “on hawks and doves on Iraq within the Bush Administration.”
PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE LINKS One document dated July 2010 addressed to “Abu Abdullah,” which is one of bin Laden’s noms de guerre, from an operative named Mahmud indicated links between al Qaeda and Pakistan’s intelligence services, which Pakistan has repeatedly denied. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the release of the documents followed a rigorous review by U.S. government agencies as required by the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act.
